I had heard great things about this game and that everyone was raving about it when it came out. I decided to finally play it and initially I thought it was great. I like that the game is challenging and doesn't hold your hand. However, the lack of any kind of combat tutorial and seeming nonsensical game logic that I experienced has left a sour taste in my mouth.
I entered the Bakery with Katie and she was armed with a knife. While still in Scavenging mode, I opened a door and saw what looked to be a family of 3 (possibly a married couple and their in-law). They didn't exclaim at me so I walked through their room and didn't steal their things. As I went through the building I heard someone trying to pick the lock into the building and it sounded like they wanted to kill the man I saw earlier. I hid against the wall and two intruders entered the Bakery. I stealth killed the 2nd one and the 1st one turned around and attacked me (I guess he was too close to his friend?).
The intruder suddenly had a knife icon that was half shaded and a circle around it. I thought I had to click this to attack him but clicking on it did nothing. I tried to click on my attacker and again nothing was happening and he continued to flay Katia into ribbons. Katia died and I was unable to attack the intruder. I was not in Scavenging mode as I clearly saw my knife was out. It was a frustrating moment since every survivor counts and since the game explains nothing, I feel like I'm being punished by the game. It would be one thing if I attacked someone and died, but I wasn't even able to attack back. Obviously I'm missing something but the game should clearly show the player what to do in combat as either a pop up or a tutorial of some kind. Survivors are everything in this game and to lose one due to a system that isn't clear at all is terrible.
To make matters worse, I sent another survivor to see if I could loot Katia and maybe get revenge on her killer. There was no sign of the killer so I went to check on the family. The minute I opened the door they rushed at me and attacked me saying they wanted to kill me. Why was Katia able to be seen and walk through their home without issue and my other survivor is suddenly the freaking devil?!?!?! Needless to say the man and woman quickly killed me. I was at that point done with the game and quit out.
Maybe what I ran in both described instances were bugs, but I have no idea. All I know is it was a terrible game experience. I'm really perplexed that there isn't just a simple screen on explaining how basic systems in the game work. It doesn't change the challenge in the game from a design point of view.
