The server stability issues and the hacking that most of the negative reviews bring to attention have long since been fixed. A robust anti-cheat has been implemented, no more cheating, no more DDoS attacks. The devs have been insanely diligent at rolling out updates, not just bugs but game balance issues (looking at you 70mm smoke shell) are fixed not long after the community makes note of them.
With that preface out of the way, this is a game that scratches a particular itch. It is an extraction shooter, you can enter either a battle royale mode or a persistent map that doesn't have a timer, loot, kill, raid, and extract with what you can. Another part of it is Rust style base raiding, blowing open doors and entering an enemy camp in search of loot and slaughter. Except that base has legs and you might need to ram it with your base before you can board it.
And that's where this game shines, the ship to ship combat. It has been superficially compared to Sea of Thieves and Guns of Icarus, but how it enthralls you is hard to put into words. The sound design is impeccable, cannon fire sounds satisfying to unleash, distant explosions actually sound distant, but not faint. The art style isn't so cartoonish as to break immersion, and might actually be preferable to realistic graphics. The compartmentalization of tramplers implicates everything: construction, combat, even the aforementioned raiding. Use empty compartments to create standoff between your reactor and enemy shells, put doors between enemy raiders and the captain's quarters. On the other hand may your aim be true, because the difference between hitting an empty compartment and hitting their reactor could cost you all your spoils.
This game isn't for everyone, but then again, the best games never are.
