Initial Review as of 10/17/24

[Just Offscreen]

I feel it's off to a great start when it comes to what amounts to an open network beta. Obviously they still have work to do when it comes to some aspects, but I was overall happy with my experience playing for half a dozen expeditions.

The Good:

Traversal in the walkers feel amazing- weighty, powerful, and not too slow. Didn't have any issues with clipping through the vehicle that I expected from a beta.

Combat with other walkers was intense, satisfying, and perilous. With the constant juggling between driving, small arms combat, and manning the turret- it never felt boring, nor did I feel I was ever in an unwinnable situation. It I wasn't ready for combat and kept an eye out- the exhaust clouds made every encounter one I chose to have, making it my own fault if I lost.

The walker construction aspect was intuitive and enjoyable, even if I never got the chance to drive them.

Needs improvement:

General optimization - performance wasn't terribly smooth or great on my PC, but I kept things on the default graphics settings for most of my time. It didn't prevent me from having a good time, but if I paid money, I would expect a much smoother experience.

Load times for expeditions - I'm not terribly worried about this being resolved, being an open beta test they are likely working with tightly budgeted network and infrastructure resources that should be resolved closer to release.

Gameplay loop - this is ultimately what made me decide to end my time with Sand for now. There simply isn't enough to do, and a lack of variety made me quickly feel I got all the enjoyment I was going to get before the grind set in.

Resources feel much too sparse at wrecks to feel worthwhile for the time you spend having to gather them.

The locked chests don't come with you when you extract, so if you don't have any keys handy, it's a totally wasted effort. A suggestion would be to make it possible to purchase keys to unlock the boxes from your inventory post-expedition, similar to TF2.

No equipment store - I wasn't ever able to find any store to re-equip and rearm after expeditions, so I was essentially SOL after one bad run.

That's all I have for now- let me know your thoughts and anything I missed. Just try to keep it polite, thanks.

[Kraehe]

Agree with pretty much all of this. Optimization is the biggest point for me, but thats obvious at this point I think.
The gameplay loop for sure needs refining, currently the only real motivator to do runs is to gather resources that allow you to build bigger tramplers.
And while you can potentially go in "naked" without any equipment to just loot ammo and stuff for future expeditions, if you get attacked when doing so you´re definitely sol. So a shop for restocking would be very welcome.
Same with the ability to open locked chests post expedition.
Feels like they are also not all that worth it either. So far I only opened one military locked box. That contained a stack of autogun ammo (don´t have one) and 1 (ONE!) explosive charge.
For how rare keys are and given that they are really only found in high risk locations (cities) the trouble seems hardly worth it.
This is supported by the fact that places that were fully looted when I arrived still had locked boxes there, so clearly others think its not worth it either.

All that sounds really negative but I´m overall really enjoying the game. And that´s with this rather early demo.
I can see massive potential for this to become truly amazing.

[Lucius]

There is no 17 month buddy

[Deathswarrior]

From my own experiences----

When you spawn I hope in the future there is less of an obvious HEY WE ARE SPAWNING RIGHT HERE feeling that you currently get when you spawn and have to wait for your own trampler to drop as you see enemy tramplers line you up.

Jupiter or whatever planet is in the sky and bright as all hell at night, Yeah please tone the blinding nature of that monster down. I couldn't even see a trampler straight in front of me when it I was lined up with that bright devil.

I assume with the cover art Character Classes??? I could be leading to much into that but that would be neat.

A simple base trampler/gear that you can use at all times, even when you lose everything is going to be a must in the long run as well.

Different architecture around the entrance ladder/door to the tramplers, as currently you can wiggle jump past the corner sometimes with out having to go through the door on enemy tramplers.

A box for and with each players expedition gear in it on the shelf. Maybe double up as a way to secure personal loot that you don't want divided among the team.

Stores for sure. Should be able to buy basic stuff outside the expedition.