Trench Tales

Excellent atmosphere. Looks like a game. Feels like a bug report. I almost never write reviews, but after playing this, I felt it was my civic duty to warn others. Bought it to play a dark WWI shooter, ended up beta testing quest triggers, broken interactions, questionable AI, and progression that leaves you wondering whether you're stuck because you missed something or because the game forgot what it's supposed to do. If I had made this, I'd still be sending builds to friends asking "does this even work?" instead of putting it on Steam. The atmosphere is genuinely great, which somehow makes it even more frustrating when the game constantly gets in its own way. Uninstalled. Maybe check back in a year.

its a good game but its still needs a LOT more time in the oven. im gonna refund because im broke as hell, but if i wasnt id keep this in my library and follow development. will definetly rebuy once the game is a bit more baked. the cosmetic design is better than some AAA games, thats for sure.

To start off, I love the concept, setting, and look of this game. It has massive potential in that regard and I am happy to throw money towards its continued development by buying it in EA. That being said, the game is an abject mess. The first issue I encountered were the controls. Some of the keybinds do not register or work (for example I cannot crouch). The crouch is somehow bound to right click instead of C which is also bound to shoot. So every time I shoot I crouch lol After that I switched to my PS5 controller which seems to be fully supported but does not feel great at all. Aiming and shooting feels very stiff and the target lock is all over the place. I imagine they were going for a GTA style target lock but it mostly locks onto the legs of enemies and sometimes the head. Hits don't register with enough feedback and there is no audio for weapon reloads. Also, I sometimes get locked into this ready stance that I cannot get out of where I walk slowly with my weapon at the ready. All of this makes encounters a nightmare. Gameplay issues aside I also have little to no idea what this game is about. There is hardly any context given or mission parameters and enemies are kinda just there, or appear out of thin air. The shrine system is confusing and does not have a great interface that shows or explains your abilities, stats etc. The menus in general are a mess and not easily navigated (esp when I was forced to switch to controller). And after switching to controller my mouse arrow just stays in the middle of the screen. I have more concerns but I will leave it at that for now. The game needs a lot more time to cook and I cannot recommend it, even for fans of the setting. I decided to pick the game up after the most recent trailer dropped because it looked like a more coherent experience than the initial gameplay I saw, but it still has a very long way to go. Massive potential though and I still stand by that.

There is an INCREDIBLE potential here.... Please dev do not waste it... Leaving a positive review for support. I enjoyed whatever was thrown at me in the game. Just to let you know, as much as I loved it, the game requires a lot of work so if you are looking for a complete game then its not ready yet

It's a game with potential, a LOT of potential and i want to see it become something phenomenal but very early access.

Do not trust the reviews that say that this game is "rough around the edges", this game is rough in the core and brilliant around the edges: Superficially is cool as all hells, but it's the core gameplay and design that drag it down. The combat is janky as hell, the map feels empty, large for the sake of being large. Aiming the rifle is extremely slow, but only the rifle, the smg is always quite accurate, the pistol is more accurate and for some reason louder... The NPCs are all impossibly tall, sometimes gigantic. The map, that in my opinion should not be here to start with, is distracting, but necessary because of the world design I would have preferred if the world was smaller, with very little sections of no man land, and mostly trenches (the player cannot get out of) connecting the various points of interest, because as it is I am constantly afraid I am running out of the map in some deserted area. The fast travel seem to imply that you might want to backtrack, that I only did to meet merchants. In my opinion the biggest flaw of this game is that it's spending too many resources into making a open world, while focusing on making interesting paths in the trenches and well thought center pieces would have probably made for a better experience. I like the premise of this game, I will play it after updates, but otherwise I would not recommend anyone to buy this at this state: it's an art project disguised as a game. if you buy it, buy it as such.

im going to be honest this game needs a lot of work, exiting dialogue was rough it wouldn't let me move at all and at one point had to restart the game because a door at the beginning wouldn't even open for me, the game looks great honestly ill give it that but it does need work on and honestly the ai voice actors does throw it off a bit for me

So, I haven't played a whole lot of the game and it is fun but it's not without it's many faults. The premise is nice and unique a WW1 approach on the Souls-like formula and it isn't that often we receive souls style games where we have firearms, often it's the same dark fantasy concept done a million times. So, this is a welcome change! Visually it looks great as well and has smooth performance, I haven't experienced any frame rate issues and that's always a pro when dealing with sandbox shooters; especially one where mistakes aren't often forgiven. There's a pretty decent amount of customization with weapons and gear as well however, finding these items isn't always the easiest which can make weapon and gear progression a pain. Now let's talk negative as there's quite a bit here! 1. Storyline: Crimson Desert has a better storyline than this game and it doesn't even try to implement a story. The story is immediately forgettable and anytime you encounter moments that have to do with quests or world building you could care less as they seem inconsistent and lack luster themselves. 2. Prologue: The opening prologue is filled with issues; from glitches that glitch the camera out. Which require game restarts, to your mouse not going away when choosing dialogue. Even the game being vague about where to go and what to do. It's super short but buggy for the whole 3-5min it lasts. 3. Controller Support: I prefer mouse/keyboard but I still gave the controller a chance because I have friends who are interested in the game who don't find the Mouse/keyboard super comfortable. Controller feels clunky, I tried playing with both PlayStation and Xbox preferences and it felt stiff and undesirable. As if the developer was merely checking a box for controller support but didn't place a lot of intuitive thought process into things. Also, no controller rebinding is an issue. 4. Environment/Map Design: Some parts of the map feel detailed and made with precision and time; while many of the maps locations feel thrown together an AI generated; they don't all feel like they have love and attention and the inconsistency hurts exploration. 5. Enemy/AI: The enemy AI are inconsistent with their reactivity as well as overall threat perception. Sometimes they recognize you from afar; whilst other times you could be five feet from them and they don't react to you at all until you shoot first. The other issue with the AI has to go into their placement on the environment..., it's absolutely random feeling. Sometimes you'll find like eight dudes in a small building and nothing in the building worth grabbing while other times you'll find one or two dudes in a room guarding something worthy. 6. Equipment Stats: The equipment stats feel inconsistent there's one about camo which definitely feels non-existent as the enemy sees you from absurd distances or doesn't notice you at all. So, either the stat functions or the combination of the broken AI reaction times and distances is breaking the whole function of this perk. (How I feel the game as a whole: I can recommend the game because there is potential and the developer does update the game periodically; however, you must ask yourself are you willing to deal with early game jank and some questionable development decisions. Something I will mention is that the game is a good entry point for souls genre, because there is a difficulty slider. I kept things default which seems to be a good middle ground.)

played for 4hrs straight has so much potential needs to fix controller jank and a few bugs, cant wait to see it finished

They are charging $25 for a game where the first npcs you meet are static and speak without their mouths moving.