Trench Tales

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.)