While the idea of the game is great and innovative, especially paired with art direction, the main issue is that gameplay-wise it's very, very raw.
It is okay for Early Access, but the thing is that, judging by what I saw in the game (keep in mind that it was published in 2024, plus its potential "longevity" is somewhat dependent on the player base since it has an online component), most likely, it won't be able to get "fixed" enough to become significantly better after leaving EA. At least if the team won't seriously double down on the aspects of the game that I will talk about below.
I will list Pros and Cons so you can, hopefully, see what I mean.
[b]Pros:[/b]
- Great art direction
- The atmosphere and the world
- Lore and the message that the game tries to convey
- Anti-power fantasy perspective, which is a very bold idea to try and convey in an (online) game
- The game evokes the desire for exploration
[b]Cons:[/b]
- Bad enemy AI, which is supposed to be as believable as possible since you're trying to replicate the feeling that "the Player is not the hero of the story". But when you see them dum-dums, this feeling dissolves completely. You still are the hero. It's just that NPCs can stunlock you in the corner or shoot you with laser precision in the head.
- Questionable animations and rigs. Just look at how hands bend when your character aims.
- Bad quest design. Spawn on the map, use 2 consumables to run to the exit in 90 seconds or less. Come on, guys.
- Economy balance. I wish I could expand on that more, but as a balancer myself, I'm pretty bad, so I'll just leave it as a "player feeling". Sorry for that :< I will only say that quest rewards probably should be reviewed, and items pricing in soft currency demands too much grinding at the moment.
- Weapons balance.
For example, there's no incentive to buy any weapons, because the "default" ones are good enough, unless you're trying to down a boss. The shotgun is overpowered. The way I see it is that you can make the default weapons (and ammo) crazy cheap while making the weapons weak through severely limiting their maximum ammo or shooting speed, while simultaneously making other weapons incrementally (!) more expensive+useful.
I can see that the devs tried to balance the starting weapons (only 10 shots for the rifle, only 5 for the shotgun), but it doesn't seem to work. It needs to be weakened more. You can "support" this change by slightly boosting the melee attack or improving stealth. The latter will require the rework of the AI, which will cost more. And yes, this can completely break the current player/world power balance, but oh well, game as a system is a fickle interconnected thing, nothing you can do about it :)
Maybe you can introduce a hidden "armor penetration" parameter for enemies and weapons and take it from here. I must say that I haven't played that much (10+ hours), so maybe there is armor penetration somewhere down the road. As I mentioned before, I never felt the need to use anything other than the starting weapons.
- Weird game design decisions.
For example, your base "spends" your water supply every day (-1). Some functions of the base operate only on a certain water supply threshold (below it, you lose access to the function until you get to the threshold again).
Plus, if your water supply reaches 0, other players can raid your base and steal all your loot from the cache. Sure, you have a hidden stash, but only with 10 slots.
While I understand that this system was made to raise retention (it is supposed to form a habit of playing the game regularly by using fear), in my opinion, it can only frustrate people, especially new players. The game should already be interesting and polished enough so mechanics of this kind could work as intended. Otherwise, most people will just go play something else.
As I see it, the water supply is basically an account level. Instead of punishing the Player by downgrading their hard-earned base functions (you do spend time to get them, after all), I'd rather make it so that when you unlock a new base function for the first time, you won't lose it if your water supply gets low.
Split every unlockable base function into two parts. The first one, for casual players: it never locks away, even if you lose water. The second one, for hardcore players: bonuses that are accessible only if a certain water threshold is being kept.
That being said, both parts should be planned according to long-term meta and in-game economy. Especially the second part.
- UI is not good. For example, the Rig's UI. The items are tiny, and the lists are a pain to use. Or, have you tried to use the skin for a character? Not only the UI for this feature is bad, but it is also buggy. Needs QAs. Or...where can you see your character's stats? How can I see what stat boost I get from the Prestige? No info on the UI. The UI "sins" list goes on and on...
- Lots of weird collision boxes on levels. For example, on the Scorched Enclave, there is a weird place if you hug the level wall while moving from the pipe extraction point towards the tank spawns.
- Art direction. Let me explain. While I think the world looks great, including the enemies, I can also see that the functionality was sacrificed for the style. For example, it's sometimes hard to discern the enemies (which faction is which), since the only way to tell them apart is the silhouette (which does not work all the time, at least for me) or manual tagging. It would be better to have more visual distinction between the two. Colors, sound, UI - there are lots of options that can be not that destructive in terms of art direction. The balance between style and practicality is achievable.
The last paragraph touches on the feeling that I get from this game.
This feeling, or rather, an assumption, is that the game was directed by the art department, who, mostly, did their job well. But in the process, the other departments (or parts of them) were left on the outskirts of the pipeline. I am talking about GD, UX, QA, and Animations.
[h3]Overall, I still think that this game is a great achievement, if only for the boldness of its core concept.[/h3]
I just feel sad that, at the moment, it looks like a lost opportunity to prove that risk and innovation can and should be as rewarding, both for the devs and the players, as your average-industry-standard "safe" game.
