Review based on playtime

[Respen33]

There is a lot of emotional responses here so i decided to write something as a generalized opinion to cross sect.

Disclaimer - Because this is an Early Access release of this game, there is much which is likely held back or planned (but not developed). So we are snapping a line at launch capability.

Elephant in the room: This game was marketed and described on the store page as being a MMO open world zombie game, with PVP elements. Breaking down MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online), this is CURRENTLY not accurate. It isnt Massive as in large density within the map, because player counts appear fairly low and zombies themselves are sparce. The Marketing, trailers, and descriptions, had this game slotting in as hybrid of Days Gone, Escape from Tarkov, and The Division. At launch of early release, its mostly Escape from Tarkov with some Division like visuals. It did not release as described, though may yet evolve into what is intended.

Game elements

Zombies:

The zombies are cattle, in this game, at present. Sporadically standing/roaming with limited aggro range and are pretty much just decorations on what is otherwise feeling like a Division map. They serve as loot vehicles, partially, but really are audio beacons for PVP players to find you. There is no current tier of Zombie or mobs of zombies where difficulty scaling exists or "hot zones" which for an MMO may be expected to increase loot chances.

Looting:

This is almost a straight comparison to how Escape from Tarkov operates. Loot is obtained as a scavenging activity and either serves as sustainment for you (ammunition, Food, water, stims) or sell-able resources back at base should you manage to extract it. All carried items, except for 6 slots as a secure lockbox, are vulnerable to loss upon death. This makes the game volatile and adds risk to the experience as modded or upgraded weapons, purchased armor, and etc, can and will be lost upon death. This both a positive and a negative to this game.

Extraction:

To me this is probably another 50/50 of good and bad. The Extract zones are defined on the map and easier to find. The time to extract is really a game exit gate of 5 seconds holding a key. This allows for quicker and safer exit of loot which you spent time claiming. AKA less aggravation of extraction campers and easier navigation to feel rewarded. The downside is exactly what makes those points above as advantages. For many, not knowing where to extract readily without discovery OR having to summon and wait (Division case) removes an element of suspense or risk which grants more reward from a successful exercise within the zone.

Game dynamic:

As mentioned above, this isnt an MMO this is a currently operating as a PVPVE system, similar to The Division and its Arena PVP areas. Its player vs player vs environment (NPCs). This also is similar to Escape from Tarkov with its players vs players vs scavs model. There is no timer on the environment, however, so players can exist within the space as long as they like to gather, farm, and then extract. at PRESENT this is really the only model the game is operating under, and limits the experience for those seeking more story/PVE only activity. At present, the story is very light (some may say non existent) and does not seem to mesh up to the player experience. So the focus here is really on the PVPVE world experience.

Classes:

Upon character creation you are met with 3 classes as options, which within them carry some perks. No where in the current game do these perks yield abilities or benefits/drawbacks in selection. A Roamer vs a Ghost is really only cosmetic upon introduction to the city. No gear or other exists in game to enhance those perks, and nothing is exposed to you which showcases the capabilities. A "Gym" exists to bolster some parts of your character, but It does not really define for you the benefits/purpose outright.

Gameplay:

The look is pretty, and the maps do have quite a bit of depth to them. The controls and functions feel very dated. they lack the sophistication of other titles and the mechanics (such as vaulting) feel appropriate for a game in 2015-2016 opposed to 2023 at present. Ignoring the glitches, which are expected for an Early Access game, the gameplay feels tuned to the Streamer community with focus on PVP excitement and not necessarily casual player enrichment.

Overall:

As an early Access game for the proposed genre and type of game it was meant to be, this misses nearly all of the marks. While the frame may be laid to achieve that, because it missed those marks this game will be hard pressed to maintain or receive newcomers going forward. This was an unfortunate miss. If you remove the communicated game functionality and focus on the delivered to redefine it, this game is not bad at all. For an Escape from Tarkov genre like game, this is actually holding the key foundations and is somewhat achieving expectations for an early access game.

Recommendations "IF" intent is to eventually adopt as an MMO with some Character development:

1) Increase the zombie element to the city.
2) Make Zombie mobs scaled in both types of zombies, as well as density to create a tiered risk gate with better loot hiding within those hot zones. this balances the PVP with the PVE better and gives players more to do then just stalk other players only.
3) Some functions for character perks exist, but they arent defined or really expandable. Make it possible through effort/spend (AKA Gym use) to expand and customize the character leveraging the existing classes, which today feel useless. This makes classes actually work as such.
4) Introduce capabilities of actions which are class specific and are bolstered by the enhancement abilities in item 3. a Marksman focused class maybe gets a hold breath ability, or something which incentivizes the MMO nature it was classified to be.

[vnholden]

dam well done good post maybe they should ove hired you. :)

[Shona (vincit omnia veritas)]

Breaking down MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online), this is CURRENTLY not accurate. It isnt Massive as in large density within the map, because player counts appear fairly low and zombies themselves are sparce.

The Massive in an MMO is debatable since it does not mean that there have to be tausend of People on a Map. The Massive only means that there is a large number of players and this can be 20, 100 or 1000.

There is also no number how many people are actually on a server. Also if they wanna test the servers they have to increase the numbers on a server slowly and not put 100 on a server.

But if you compare it with The Division 1 + 2 there are also not many enemies on the Map and you only see other Players in the PVP zone and it is also an MMO.

MMO also does not mean that you get special abilities or special skills or any RPG component. Thats part or an MMORPG, but if you get anything from it be happy what you get. As far as i could see on Twitch you can actualy skill your player like improving your stamina.

So again MMO is debatable what it is and how a developer is implementing it.


The lack of zombies is true as far as i could see on a few streams i watched on Twitch, but some streamers already complain that there are to many zombies. Some also said that if there will be private servers option they will decrease the amount of zombies and make it only a PVE Server, which shocked me.

I wrote that there are not really many zombies and they should actualy increase the amount if they make a private PVE Server or there is nothing except farming. The streamer ignored me at this part and said nothing to it.

[Ramstar]

Good post my friend. Here’s an award.

[Jin Yoichi]

Originally posted by Respen33:

There is a lot of emotional responses here so i decided to write something as a generalized opinion to cross sect.

Disclaimer - Because this is an Early Access release of this game, there is much which is likely held back or planned (but not developed). So we are snapping a line at launch capability.

Elephant in the room: This game was marketed and described on the store page as being a MMO open world zombie game, with PVP elements. Breaking down MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online), this is CURRENTLY not accurate. It isnt Massive as in large density within the map, because player counts appear fairly low and zombies themselves are sparce. The Marketing, trailers, and descriptions, had this game slotting in as hybrid of Days Gone, Escape from Tarkov, and The Division. At launch of early release, its mostly Escape from Tarkov with some Division like visuals. It did not release as described, though may yet evolve into what is intended.

Game elements

Zombies:

The zombies are cattle, in this game, at present. Sporadically standing/roaming with limited aggro range and are pretty much just decorations on what is otherwise feeling like a Division map. They serve as loot vehicles, partially, but really are audio beacons for PVP players to find you. There is no current tier of Zombie or mobs of zombies where difficulty scaling exists or "hot zones" which for an MMO may be expected to increase loot chances.

Looting:

This is almost a straight comparison to how Escape from Tarkov operates. Loot is obtained as a scavenging activity and either serves as sustainment for you (ammunition, Food, water, stims) or sell-able resources back at base should you manage to extract it. All carried items, except for 6 slots as a secure lockbox, are vulnerable to loss upon death. This makes the game volatile and adds risk to the experience as modded or upgraded weapons, purchased armor, and etc, can and will be lost upon death. This both a positive and a negative to this game.

Extraction:

To me this is probably another 50/50 of good and bad. The Extract zones are defined on the map and easier to find. The time to extract is really a game exit gate of 5 seconds holding a key. This allows for quicker and safer exit of loot which you spent time claiming. AKA less aggravation of extraction campers and easier navigation to feel rewarded. The downside is exactly what makes those points above as advantages. For many, not knowing where to extract readily without discovery OR having to summon and wait (Division case) removes an element of suspense or risk which grants more reward from a successful exercise within the zone.

Game dynamic:

As mentioned above, this isnt an MMO this is a currently operating as a PVPVE system, similar to The Division and its Arena PVP areas. Its player vs player vs environment (NPCs). This also is similar to Escape from Tarkov with its players vs players vs scavs model. There is no timer on the environment, however, so players can exist within the space as long as they like to gather, farm, and then extract. at PRESENT this is really the only model the game is operating under, and limits the experience for those seeking more story/PVE only activity. At present, the story is very light (some may say non existent) and does not seem to mesh up to the player experience. So the focus here is really on the PVPVE world experience.

Classes:

Upon character creation you are met with 3 classes as options, which within them carry some perks. No where in the current game do these perks yield abilities or benefits/drawbacks in selection. A Roamer vs a Ghost is really only cosmetic upon introduction to the city. No gear or other exists in game to enhance those perks, and nothing is exposed to you which showcases the capabilities. A "Gym" exists to bolster some parts of your character, but It does not really define for you the benefits/purpose outright.

Gameplay:

The look is pretty, and the maps do have quite a bit of depth to them. The controls and functions feel very dated. they lack the sophistication of other titles and the mechanics (such as vaulting) feel appropriate for a game in 2015-2016 opposed to 2023 at present. Ignoring the glitches, which are expected for an Early Access game, the gameplay feels tuned to the Streamer community with focus on PVP excitement and not necessarily casual player enrichment.

Overall:

As an early Access game for the proposed genre and type of game it was meant to be, this misses nearly all of the marks. While the frame may be laid to achieve that, because it missed those marks this game will be hard pressed to maintain or receive newcomers going forward. This was an unfortunate miss. If you remove the communicated game functionality and focus on the delivered to redefine it, this game is not bad at all. For an Escape from Tarkov genre like game, this is actually holding the key foundations and is somewhat achieving expectations for an early access game.

Recommendations "IF" intent is to eventually adopt as an MMO with some Character development:

1) Increase the zombie element to the city.
2) Make Zombie mobs scaled in both types of zombies, as well as density to create a tiered risk gate with better loot hiding within those hot zones. this balances the PVP with the PVE better and gives players more to do then just stalk other players only.
3) Some functions for character perks exist, but they arent defined or really expandable. Make it possible through effort/spend (AKA Gym use) to expand and customize the character leveraging the existing classes, which today feel useless. This makes classes actually work as such.
4) Introduce capabilities of actions which are class specific and are bolstered by the enhancement abilities in item 3. a Marksman focused class maybe gets a hold breath ability, or something which incentivizes the MMO nature it was classified to be.

took me 57 minutes to figure out the game is a dead end.. with no real context or actual openability to open world/survival.. its a wish version of dayz, because its no where near comparable to div 1-2 or any other survival game, only one i could thing off is that mobile survival game, the korean one.. called life After and its a mobile port, that came to stea, that is the only resemblance i can compare this game to..

this goes without mentioning anyone can camp a spawn area of players and instantly douced your ass because there's no spawn protection, and guess what xD its a thing people wait for you to spawn to kill you.. rinse in repeat.