Recent reviews by HouTexjr

After playing the Rend Alpha for 60+ hours, I have quite a few things to saw about it. To start off, I want to say that Rend is an amazing concept of a game. I know many people will compare it to Ark or other survival games, but to me it seems unique in that it feels like an MMO, and the faction gameplay gives a reason to really dig into the game and contribute. Of course, it doesn't execute all things perfectly, but it hits the marks that I consider important. I'll be dividing this review up into multiple sections to make it easier to organize my thoughts and to read.

• MMO Aspects
  
• Base Building
  
• Factions
  
• Gameplay (PvE)
  
• Gameplay (PvP)
  
• Performance (How Well it Runs)
  
• Developers
  
• Why EA Already?

MMO
Rend attempts at the "Massively Multiplayer" feel by having 60 players occupy the same game map, split into 3 seperate but identical faction zones. Your faction (as of now) can only have 20 players on at a time, and you work with them to beat the other factions in various aspects. Rend isn't WoW, and it's not trying to be. What it's offering in this aspect is a survival gameplay experience on much larger scale, where you rely on your faction, and it relies on you. I personally think the scale is fine, though servers with lower populations might suffer from a lacking experience of player interaction.

RPG
It's important that you understand what aspects of a role-playing game Rend offers before you go into it. There's no story telling or complex character creation to find here which is fine, it's a survival game at heart where your whole faction is trying to survive. What it does offer in terms of roles is being able to customize your character through Archetypes (basically classes) and skill trees which great unique passives and skills. You can make you character a gatherer for your faction and focus on leveling gathering and choosing Archetypes that help you with that. Or you can be a fighter or builder in the same way.




I have a base building guide on this game that can show you mechanically what it's like in Rend, but this section will cover the functionality of bases and how well Rend executes them.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1457285746

The building diversity in Rend depends on what structure you're building. For example, building a personal base is relatively simple, and there's not much customization other than what you place inside. On the otherhand, building a Stronghold or Capture Point base can be complex, requiring you to plan out defences for enemy faction attacks and to build a much more expansive structure.

The mechanics for base building are generally simple. The game prioritizes function over form, and while you can still build some amazing castle-like structures, don't expect to be building the Taj Mahal.




Factions are, in my opinion, the most important factor to Rend's individuality. I know there are games out there that have already have faction based gameplay, but Rend does it pretty well alongside them.

Factions give players incentives outside of themselves to play the game. You can unlock faction-wide research to advance crafting and weapons, gather resources for other players, or help defend your bases. In a lot of survival games I get to the point where I sit there thinking "Well, what do I do now?" but Rend seems to always offer something to do for your faction, and there's always the work towards winning through spirits.

There is a ranking system in the factions, and you can gain higher ranks by playing more and contributing to the faction. As of right now though there really isn't a permissions system in place with the ranks, so team-killing and abuse of faction resources are real possibilities, though the developers have addressed this and are trying to add a system to fix it.




Environment

The environment in Rend has some absolutely beautiful moments. The art style gives a classic MMORPG feel, and the different zones feel unique and each offer unique reasons to go and explore them. The map is fairly large, and the developers have already talked about adding more high-end zones in the future. Certain zones also have unique or changing seasons requiring special gear or potions.

Creatures

Rend handles creatures like an MMO. They have their own levels and stats that change as you go from zone to zone. Higher end zones have higher level creatures, and the creatures have unique fighting styles so it's important to learn while you fight. You can gather both food and crafting resources from the creatures you kill in this game, and you can even tame any creature to become your pet for fighting or as a mount that will level up with you.

The AI isn't exactly polished, and there are a few annoying bugs that can make combat or taming tedious. While I get frustrated sometimes from these things, it's never been enough to say that it detracts from the core gameplay or to stop me from progressing.

Gathering

Gathering is very enjoyable in Rend. Everything in the game offers 2 gathering options through left or right-clicking with your mouse so it's fun figuring out all that a resource can give you. The skill system offers notable progression, and you can feel your character becoming better at gathering the more you focus on it which makes the grind easier. I love grinding, and Rend offers a grind that is acceptable and interesting, especially as you starting requiring new resources or when you gain new gathering abilities. I really have no complaint with gathering in this game.

The Reckoning

This is Rend's big, bad, PvE defence event that happens at schedule times. It's a great concept, but the servers can't handle it and it honestly sucks right now. If this is what you're looking forward to, wait.




I will admit that I'm not a big PvP player, so I can't talk much on it. Early on in the game players really don't go to other faction zones, giving you time to build up. Factions can attack/defend capture points that help with researching, and can attack the opposing faction strongholds during the reckoning. Open world skirmishes exist, though aren't that common. Balance between classes and weapons aren't where they need to be, but this is mostly due to bugs, not mechanics.

Fighting another player is interesting and requires you to take note of each archetype's abilities, and it's important that you work with your faction to protect eachother.




Rend runs well, and I only occasionally suffer from frame rate issues in the much larger zones. The main problem as of now is lag from too many players on the server. It affects almost everything in the game and can be quite a turn off. It only happens with the servers get close to being full, and the developers have already released patches trying to address this issue.




From what I've seen, the developers are friendly and are committed to making Rend better. They answer questions on the discord, and frequently release patches to address issues that players report. The only thing I'm not fond of is that they haven't completed their Alpha Roadmap and the game is going EA, though they might complete everything soon after.




Rend can be considered a full, standalone game at this point, so I have no problems with that. Like I said, they haven't finished their Alpha Roadmap so it seems weird that it's going EA so soon. I think they're releasing it because they need funding for better servers, which is the main thing holding the game back. If you buy Rend and the possible lag is your main issue, give it time to get better servers and revisit it.

Otherwise, this game is ready for you to enjoy!