I tried to avoid jumping on the hype train/bandwagon after being burned by BF2042 (still pissed about that). I spent a week just watching people stream the game and give their two cents. After a few beers and continuously disconnecting or being unable to load into EFT'S PvE servers, I decided I'd grab the $35 version of this game to make sure I could run it on my hardware. If I couldn't, I'd just get a refund.. no big deal. I played for an entire day, and forgot to eat. I witnessed the devs issue hotfixes on the fly as I played. Their level of proactivity, drive, and passion I find to be very refreshing. They even read our Reddit posts on the weekends, so that they can make necessary adjustments based on player feedback.
The second day I played, I upgraded to the Gray Zone Supporter edition because of how much fun I had playing with some friends all day. I haven't spent much time in the PvP servers so I can't really speak to that. This game sort of reminds of the vibes I would get playing R6: Vegas 2 terrorist hunt with your friends. But now there's elements of open world exploration, cooperative play with other players, and quest/trader progression.
While I do think there are a lot of aspects that need tweaking and extra attention, my experience has been one that I have not had for quite some time. And after I log out, I don't have to worry about insurance timers. You can pick this up and put it down at your leisure. Some of us have responsibilities.
They said this wasn't the Tarkov killer, but it helped me Escape from Tarkov.

P.S. I just want to make this abundantly clear. I did not purchase Tarkov's Unheard edition, nor will I ever. I have been playing on and off with an EOD account since 2017 or so, and was granted access to the PvE. They're dishing it out in waves to EOD owners.

Sim shooter for a more casual player base. Been running a duo with a buddy and its been a good time. Also a PvE only mode for the people looking to play without the looming threat of Chris Kyle chilling in the next zip code ready to ventilate your eye sockets.

Tarkov for people with a job and a family.

So far I've played this game 35 hours, all in the PVE mode called Joint Operations. This review is more for semi relaxed tactical shooter fans who don't care about sweaty PVP or K/D ratios. I usually don't post reviews, but with the brigading that took place with this title I felt the need to review it positively.

TLDR review: At launch this game is pretty fun, especially in the PVE mode (for me). I bought the $35 base version and plan to upgrade to the $100 supporter edition.

Pros:
- Top tier weapon dynamic, customization, physics and firefighting. Better then COD or Battlefield, very similar to Tarkov, and arguably similar to games like Squad, Arma, etc. There are some weapon and projectile dynamics bugs at launch, but overall I think its a good balance between an arcade shooter like COD and a full on sim like Arma or Squad. Even just seeing the gas blowback when you shoot with a suppressor cluod your scope is something I have never seen in a game before and is a real life touch.
- Amazing visuals, possibly best looking shooter on the market at time of review. Not as polished as a AAA game as far as performance, but the visuals are top notch if you have the hardware to run it.
- Huge open world map that you can literally walk for hours and hours through, with a really high attention to detail. Some assets were definately reused, but each major location feels distinct
- An amazing coop experience. The fact they launched with VOIP and it seems like 90% of players both use it and communicate in the battlefield with it is amazing. So many other games you barely hear other players in the game, but in this one you almost always hears players working together, offering help with a mission, even sometimes from the other factions. I haven't seen or heard a toxic player yet.
- One of the best medical systems in a game, bar none. The only better medical systems I've seen is something like KAT medical in arma (a mod) and some medical mods in squad.

Neither cons or pros:
- I do think the game play loop may be a bit repetitive. I still don't see what end game content looks like, but the main game play loop is - get a quest to explore a new area, then 3 quests to find or pickup or deliver something to the area, then kill the boss. Its definitely been fun, but I worry it might get old.
- I also worry about the long term support. Unlike squad where servers are hosted by third parties, if the devs run out of money this game will be dead in the water. I usually don't like to support these types of games. This developer has only created mobile games so keep that in mind.
- It seems like for performance at launch there is a mixed bag. Here is another point of data for those who are curious: I have AMD 5800X3D, 32gb of ram, and a 4080 super. At 4k I get around 100fps with max settings DLSS on, 60fp with it off. My GPU usage is 90% and CPU usage is around 20%.

Cons (overall):
Currently none. There are many cons to this game, but I see them being fixed long term. I will update this in a few months though.

Cons (launch only - hoping these are fixed):
- As many have mentioned, the server situation, especially for US servers and during peak gaming hours, are pretty bad. There is a lot of stuttering, walking in place, etc. Even on a good server, throwing a grenade results in watching the grenade move, pause, move, pause, etc. Leaving your server and rejoining fixes this most of the time, but sometimes it takes 4 or 5 times trying to rejoin to even get in a new server.
- The projectile physics are bizarre. It seems like 5.56 and 5.45 does more damage then 7.62, as well as shooting through windows, huts, fences, bushes can be a mixed bag with different outcomes. Sometimes an AI takes one head shot, sometimes 3.
- There is a no time of day/weather at launch, but the devs have said they will add this.
- The only using little birds for transportation is currently just not enough. I'm not even talking about people camping LZs on PVP, as much as its just an annoying and painful to use mechanic. The devs have said they will add basecamps, which will be good but I still think an ATV or something similar would be nice.

Things I would like the devs to add (at launch - will update if they add them):
- Searching and filtering in the vendor menus
- See linked items in the item description - i.e. a flash hider necessary for a suppressor or a plate adapter for a sight.
- Turn in quests from quests tab of tablet
- Other people should be able to loot your body in PVE mode if you die twice or disconnect
- Keys, especially quest required ones need to be less RNG. I still have not found most quest required keys despite clearing the mobs in area several times.
- Audio needs to be reworked. Footsteps and bush moving is essentially inaudible, while gunshots are too loud with headsets on. The different ear pro either just mute everything (razer) or make everything louder (gssh).

Buggy, Unoptimized, Crashing, Losing stuff randomly? Yes.

Is it still fun, have a good start for early access, and have promise? Yes.

At least it doesn't cost 250 dollars

This game is ABSOLUTELY on the right track but it runs very very poorly, i hope they fix it soon because its immensely fun.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☑ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☑ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☑ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☑ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☑ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☑ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☑ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10

Tarkovs younger hotter sister that is still learning about herself, she has a job and is independent not looking to bleed you dry.

Boost performance (for people without DLSS or Intel cards)
I'm getting 66 to 75fps steady.
1440p
1080 Ti
i7 6850K
Settings: Medium (shadows and reflections: Low)

Anti-Aliasting/Upscaling Method: FSR
FidelityFX Frame Generation: ON
FidelityFX Super Resolution: "Balanced"

Play with your settings! I was only getting 40fps until I changed literally two things!

edit: idk what it is, but
Changed my overall quality to Epic, but I turned shadows and post processing to Low and ended up gaining about 10fps or more.