I'm so sorry to do this. Especially considering it is my first review on this account. But it is my first review for a reason. And before I get started, I just have to say that if I get into the look and "appeal" of the characters in this game this review is going to be much MUCH longer than it already turns out to be (not in a good way, if you hadn't caught that). That said, I have been a tester for a number of years, and it has been a long time since a game has hit me this hard in the worst of ways.
The atmosphere and aesthetics are absolutely beautiful in some ways, I will say that at least. The randomization of maps, great idea. The premise as a whole? Well, that's a yes and no. These types of killer/survivor games are very popular now and if done right could really be great. But it really just feels like the devs have hollowed out Monstrum, added a bit of fluff around the edges, and tossed it out as a money grab with buyable skins and a "2" on the end of a DBD knockoff with their name.
[co-op story mode, maybe?... ANY kind of story mode possibly?]
The game is extremely clunky and arcadey. I have a new computer and no matter what I did with my settings, the FPS was off-the-charts wonky. Everything(ykwim) twitched and stuttered. Trying to go through the tutorials was a nightmare. On the prisoner one, I kept getting doors that would open and immediately close no matter how many times I restarted it. On the ceiling crawler, I couldn't ever finish the tutorial because the "prisoners" I was supposed to be getting would phase through the walls so they were completely unable to get got. I really don't even want to go on because I know for a fact I'm not the only one who has had these issues, and I can guess they've already been covered in other reviews. If not, I'll come back and fix it [edit: most I've seen have, and the list is so extensive it's hard to remember it all to be frank].
It's not hard having fun playing ANY game with a friend. But still, a friend pulled me into a private game to attempt to help me learn the controls and tasks, and that was really the only fun I did have with it. At least, as long as the devices I was using chose to work to let me even do my tasks... once I was actually able to load into the lobby.
I used to play the original on a friend's account and loved it. This game is simply not ready to be put out. Early access or not, this game feels like it is in the alpha phase at best, not even ready for beta testing.
Asking me to pay for this game as is really just feels like an insult to me at this point. And I'm sorry to say that I'm so SO glad that each time I attempted to pre-order, the pre-order page went into utter shock and just couldn't get itself together.
Yes, I appreciate DBD, but I really wasn't expecting this kind of rehashing. The animations and more than extreme one sided power scale for monster vs prisoner is a real let down as well. I might not have gotten to the point of playing against other players in a proper game myself before becoming so insanely frustrated I just threw my hands up, but I did watch that friend I mentioned earlier do it extensively. And while I get that there will probably be some tweaks here and there on the power dynamic later down the line, it was absolutely intolerable even when I was watching him play the monster itself.
Rarely would I give a thumbs up or down in the first place without being paid, and I absolutely wouldn't usually give a thumbs down without playing a game for much, much longer. But there wasn't even any suspense or fear factor in this game. Just frustration after frustration after frustration. And I get that this is an insanely minute point but thank GODS devs allowed the change of key bindings, because that was the worst possible finger placement devs could have chosen for very small hands. And Gods know it can't be played on a freaking controller without giving yourself away and/or losing too many functions due to most of the same buttons turning on the flashlight and/or throwing away the things you've just picked up when attempting to use them even after you've changed the bindings. There was no combination whatsoever that I could put together that didn't do this either.
Again, I'm sorry about this, but I honestly don't feel that this game should be put into EA yet. I definitely don't feel that it's anywhere near the level where you should be asking for money for it. I really just can't recommend it in the least. And I'm also sorry that I don't even know if I'll be able to once it's been worked on knowing how this game is going to have its start in just a couple days after putting out their demo/beta (depending on who's doing the talking).
Mostly though, I'm sorry for being so greatly excited for it in the first place. Because aside from the absolutely beautiful graphics (which didn't displease with the map... but again I won't start on the clunky, horribly disappointing characters with 'neat' buyable/unlockable skins), I honestly wasn't expecting anything out of it aside from greater development from the last one; a pleasing to the eye, suspenseful horror game that could at least compare... And somehow this game managed to sink so low below that bar....
Please, please work on this game HEAVILY starting very, VERY soon.
Edit: grammar, spelling, clarification.
