Recent reviews by Gentle Puppet

It's such a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ good community made mod ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥!

This belongs in the Half-Life universe, or well the universe before the Alyx retcon/alt universe.

Review version 2. My first review was back in 2022.

The game is relatively fun but it still runs poorly after all the "optimization" updates since I started playing Feb 17, 2022, especially if a friend joins you and it just gets worse the longer you play in a world.
Solo in an open world I get around 50-70 fps, after less an an hour I drop to 40-50.
When a friend joins I drop to 30-40 and in less than an hour I drop to 15-30 fps.

When yer asking 35$ minimum, not including the 45$ for both the expansion, I do expect better performance from a relatively strong PC such as mine.
Game Settings

Got head from a large virtual dragon.

This is such a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ good game. It is absolutely worth the cost of admission to play through and there is a lot more to this game than appears. There is quite a bit of hidden lore and I wouldn't be surprised if there was an ARG out there this game was leading to.

I greatly enjoyed the hell out of this game. It feels awesome to be able to completely wreck the machines later in the game as you progress and both get stronger gear and learn the tricks to avoid attacks and master hitting the machine's weak points.
Highly recommend buy this game.

This game is really spooky. It's ok to play alone, it's better with friends.

This game ages well, great voice acting, unique characters, fun story, trippy levels, fun movement, solid controls.

Update as of 8/21/22: The game is dead, the devs stopped supporting it and adding any new updates and abandoned it. Don't buy this game and don't support these devs.


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I wish I could recommend this game, But it is Not Worth the Full Listed 30$.
Keep Reading and I'll Explain.

This game is fun for the first 8+ hours. Once you play long enough you start to realize just how....... Lacking the content is. If you are the kind if person who enjoys stealth games as well as grinding then I'd fully recommend this game. You'll enjoy yerself greatly. But if you don't like grindy games you'll only end up playing for a couple hours before you probably get bored.

You have to level up to unlock new area's and new missions. Now this isn't a problem when yer starting out, but once you hit level 5 the speed it takes to level up drops significantly. Meaning you'll be doing the same 6 or so types of missions in the same small area over and over, each time you level up 1 new mission is added and a small portion of the map is unlocked.

There is no end. There is no reason to level up.

Take a look at the amount of Experience Per Level.[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com] Now generally, per mission, you'll get roughly 600 XP depending on what mission you get (they are random), how many parts there are, and the bonus you get. Sometimes you'll only get around 300 where as sometimes you'll get over 800. Also keep in mind how long the missions will last. The mission shown in this screenshot took me well over 30 minutes to complete. And Depending on the mission and whether or not you rush it they can tick well into 1-2 hours time.

Also note you will gain less experience if you are playing solo. There is a reward multiplier based on how many people are in the group (up to 4 people or 4x) so if you plan on playing alone you are punished and yer going to be spending a lot more time grinding out xp, than you would if you played with at least 1 friend, just to level up and unlock another small portion of the map that you'll spend 3 minutes in and to gain 1 more perk point. Even if you fail you still get xp for all the parts of the mission that you did complete. So if you get caught on the way out you still get a majority of the XP from the mission.

Also take into mind the average daily player base is about 48 people. If you plan on jumping into the matchmaking don't be surprised if you never find a group since a large amount of the people playing are most likely in a private group or are too far away for you to be connected. The matchmaking uses the steam servers so if steam says you are to far away there is not much you can do about it. I wouldn't go as far to say that the game is dead, but it is certainly on life support. Also the entire time I've been playing the game my flashlight has never worked, It's bugged and doesn't turn on

BUT, even though you have unlocked a new section of the map when you go and start a new mission you will be taken back into the old sections of the map.

There are 2 types of perks. Minor powers[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com] and Major Powers.[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com]

These are the main ability that you get. There are 4 Major Powers to unlock and you can only equip 1 at a time. They cost 1 perk point to unlock and then it costs 2, 3, 4, and 5 perk points per level to upgrade it.
The 4 Major Perks are:
• Drone[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com]
• Hacker[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com]
• Takedown[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com]
• Unstoppable[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com]

These are the secondary perks that you can equip alongside the Major Power. There are 6 Minor Powers and 4 Minor Power Slots that you unlock at levels 2, 6, 12, and 16.
The 6 minor perks are:
• Atlas: Sprint While Carrying KO'ed Enemies
• Improved Stamina: 10% More Stamina
• Locksmith: Start with a Lockpick
• Medic: Start with a Bandage
• Nutritionist: Start with an Energy Bar
• Lucky Loot: Sometimes get 2 items when you pick up a gear item while in a mission
All perks cost 1 point to unlock, with the exception of lucky loot which requires 2 points. Only a few of these really matter that much TBH. IMO Locksmith, Medic, Lucky Loot, and then Improved Stamina are the best choices. The others are kinda pointless, But I play slow and stealthy.

There are 3 Hero Items you can choose from before starting a mission. You can only hold 1 at a time. Picking up a different one will replace yer current one (You'll drop it if in a mission).
The 3 Hero Items are:
• Stun Gun: Temp Stun Enemies allowing you to escape or pin them. (recharges overtime)
• Grappling Hook: Can be thrown onto most surfaces. After a small moment, the hook will drop a rope that you can climb. (Can be thrown at enemies to stun them, Including the Shape).
• Crossbow: Shoots Tranquilizer Darts that are found in the field to KO enemies.
Use the grapple hook, the others are pointless don't bother with them. The Crossbow relies on rare to find ammo and the stun gun is situational. The grapple hook is always useful.

Field items are items found during missions in supply crates throughout the map.
There are 8 Field Items that you can find:
• Bandage[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com]
• Energy Bar[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com]
• Flash Bang[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com]
• Foam Grenade[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com]
• Lockpick[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com]
• Noisemaker[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com]
• Sleep Tripwire[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com]
• Tranquilizer Dart[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com]

There are 3 Major Enemies and 1 Player Controlled Enemy (you can disable this enemy).
• Sleepers: These are sleepwalking adults. They can't see you but they can hear you. They just wander around.
• Lucids: These are like sleepers but they can see you as well as hear you. Sometimes they carry flashlights.
• Stalkers (Players): Stalkers are an opt-in mode that lets Enemy players invade yer mission. They work with the other enemies to make you fail yer mission.
• The Shape: Basically if you are caught enough times in a mission the shape will spawn and hunt you down. It is invisible unless you close yer eyes.

• Acoustic Mine[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com]
• Enemy Drone[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com]
• Security Camera[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com]
• Sonic Fence[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com]
• Speed Trap[theblackoutclub.gamepedia.com]

There are only 2 ways to reassign points. The only way to get any spent points back is to either delete yer save and start over or to "Sacrifice" yerself, which resets yer XP to 0 and puts you back at level 1 while putting how much XP you had, before sacrificing, up on a leaderboard. Everything you unlocked (New enemies, traps, and sections of the map) will be re-locked as if you restarted the game. And you can understand why you wouldn't really want to do either given the previous points about leveling up.

I love just about everything about this game.
Great Visual Style
Great Audio
Fun Gameplay

I can not express how much I love this game, wether its gathering materials to build your massive base, diving into the deep with terror on your mind as you hear the creatures of the deep roaring in the caves, or you're getting stalked by the warpers. The feeling of looking down and seeing nothing but the deep black of the ocean is a spine chilling sight to behold. Sure it can get tedious gathering the materials you need to move on, but thats one of the things that make this game great, forcing your self to leave the comfort zone, and going out at night to get that one item you need to craft something big. Exploring the wreck of the aroura hearing it shake and temble around you, Pieces falling off from a great explosion, Or Diving down to deepest reaches seeing all the beatiful fauna swimming around, glowing in the dark. Not to mention the story, oooo, it's a goodin.

Just remember things are going to keep changing, since the game is still in early access, so keep an open mind!