Disappointing first impressions - is there hope for the future?

[p4nnus]

I have followed the dev't of RoN since it was announced. I almost got it at the early stages of its early access, but as I had no friends who were very interested in it I decided not to. The PVP playtest and following removal of PVP was also sth that made me decide to just wait and let the devs cook - it seemed they were a bit lost with the game at some point. Ive followed on Steam too and read a lot of the patch notes & dev updates + even what people commented on them, to get some idea how the game is evolving.

I finally bought the game with a few friends, all of us long time tactical shooter fans (Ive played tactical shooters for over 20 years). We played the first three maps yesterday. My initial impression is big disappointment. The game just feels completely unfinished. In my first map I had a suspect downed, ziptied and they started flickering in and out of existence. In the 2nd there was a suspect that was bleeding some silver colored substance. In the third, one that went partially inside a wall once ziptied in prone and started shaking like crazy. Also, in the third one, had a suspect die due to a blast, called it in, ziptied the body and then it resurrected and just got up to the kneeled position. There was some other lesser stuff as well. The AI also felt really stupid and worse than what SWAT 4 had, though I havent played that for a while. For example, we had some AI enemy do some back and forth strafing in a door way like they were a bad counter-strike player. If we took rounds, it felt like it didnt really impact our performance in any way - in one of the maps I was hit in 3 different body parts and it didnt really affect my performance in any way.

Are these immersion breaking bugs & glitches really this common or did I just get unlucky? I paid 35e for the game and tbh I feel like its not worth even that at its current state. The game definitely feels like its still very much in early access. I had some glimpses of the games tone, but just couldnt really enjoy it as the immersion breaking bugs were so common.

Some other things Id like to know: is PVP still completely canned or are the devs planning on adding it to the game at some point? Those of you who have been with the game since its early dev't: do you think the game will continue to be dev't to feel like a complete, finished game? Is the dev team still fully working on this title or has it been reduced to a skeleton crew? Are the AI mods actually good and recommended by the community, do they change the unrealistic movement of suspects, for example?

Thanks for the responses.

[Major Fret]

Originally posted by p4nnus:

Are these immersion breaking bugs & glitches really this common or did I just get unlucky? I paid 35e for the game and tbh I feel like its not worth even that at its current state. The game definitely feels like its still very much in early access. I had some glimpses of the games tone, but just couldnt really enjoy it as the immersion breaking bugs were so common.

Bugs are common and many of them have been around since early access. As far as I'm concerned this is still an Early Access product.

Originally posted by p4nnus:

Some other things Id like to know: is PVP still completely canned or are the devs planning on adding it to the game at some point?

No word at the moment but I'm doubtful.

Originally posted by p4nnus:

Those of you who have been with the game since its early dev't: do you think the game will continue to be dev't to feel like a complete, finished game? Is the dev team still fully working on this title or has it been reduced to a skeleton crew?

I don't think VOID has abandoned the game. That being said, they continue to make baffling decision after baffling decision that don't inspire confidence.

Originally posted by p4nnus:

Are the AI mods actually good and recommended by the community, do they change the unrealistic movement of suspects, for example?

AI mods haven't satisfied me, but it's been 2 months since I last played. If your only concern is difficulty, that can be modded, but more advanced and realistic behaviours seem to be a little trickier (granted that's understandable).

I'm hoping VOID will re-evaluate the AI so not all suspects are martyrs for their cause. A fat streamer, crack addict, security guard, and jihadist shouldn't all behave the same.

[nmitchell1185]

Originally posted by p4nnus:

Also, in the third one, had a suspect die due to a blast, called it in, ziptied the body and then it resurrected and just got up to the kneeled position.

They were playing dead, not actually dead.

I used to think the same as you until I saw an award pop up one time that said "arrested a suspect that was playing dead" or something to that effect.