I think the core gameplay can be very fun with friends. Solo gameplay isn't the worst, it just seems like it's meant to farm resources and not much else. Ship design is fun and interesting, and the game really seems to excel when your crew is engaged in a good landship duel.
The bad, however.....well, it's quite bad. Hacking is a pretty atrocious issue. On top of that, bugs are a-plenty (my personal favorite being no raid-start animation, so you watch your character fall to their death from the sky). That's a great way to start a raid: running to grab gear you were set to spawn in with.
While the naval guns feel fairly smooth and fun to battle with, the hand weaponry is quite janky. It feels slow and rather unresponsive. You can still get kills with firearms, but it's nowhere near as polished as the naval guns.
I think my biggest critique is the matchmaking. You may be using an early-tier, dumpy walker because you've played less than 20 hours. Better armor? Better weapons? Better mobility? All of that is unlocked behind quite a bit of resources grinding, as you chip away at a tier-based research tree.
The natural consequence of a tier-based research system, and a grind to unlock those tiers, would seem to be...tier-based matchmaking. Why put early-tier dumpy walkers in the same raids as late-tier, fully armored walkers that vastly outgun the early walkers? The easy fix would be a free-for-all mode (for all tiers) vs. a tier-matched mode.
As the game currently stands, I ultimately do recommend this game to either (a) those with a dedicated group of friends who will invest hours together, to get a decent walker, or (b) someone who wants to grind away in rat-mode solo play. When the game gets significant updates, cheater protections, and alternative matchmaking - if the multiplayer base survives that long - I think it'll be an absolute gem.
