I wanted to like this game, but the game is hellbent on keeping you from enjoying it through a ton of weird gameplay mechanics and the weird implementation of some mechanics.

I knew everything terrible about this game going into it so I actualyl had ALOT of fun. There's just one problem. I CAN'T LAUNCH THE GAME. I read some negative reviews and even back when this game came out over 10 years ago, the SAME PROBLEM PERSISTS. When i start up the game It just stops working. This did not happen 2 days ago. I made it to mars in the campaign and now it won't open. If anyone can tell me how to fix this problem I would appreciate it. Other than that, I cannot give a proper review because I can't ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ play it...

It's hard to recommend this game despite it's strengths. The gun play is solid and the RPG elements well realized but unfortunately it's all bogged down by poor design choices and a general jankyness that makes the whole experience feel broken. This game's poor reputation is well deserved but if you have patience to push past the first few levels, you may get a few hours of entertainment out of it although your time is probably better spent elsewhere.

never played it

This game feels more like a high school project that a bunch of imsim nerds got together and made rather than a professionally developed game. From the very beginning, there are very few established rules, and the rules that do exist are often broken or just poorly explained (like the conditions required to induce fear into your enemies, or how likely enemies are likely to induce fear into you, or why it even matters in gameplay). I think another reviewer said it pretty well, that this game is super inspired but just... really lacking in every department. And, in fairness, I actually kinda liked the game, even despite its glaring flaws, up until the sixth mission, Noctis Labyrinth. This has to be one of the worst designed levels in the history of video games, I swear. It's huge, filled with endlessly spawning boss-tier enemies that quite literally will two-tap you if they see you (two kinds of these enemies exist on this level, actually: helicopters and Deus Exes). You could cloak and sneak past, but that takes energy. So does sprinting. So not only are you not guaranteed to escape the sightlines on these things even if you do cloak before you run out of power, you'll be walking the entire time. Which isn't fun. This one, admittedly, was a rage-quit on my behalf. I just can't do it. As such, I really cannot recommend you play this game. If you do, have a guide handy. You'll need it.

Other than that, here's what this game also does pretty wrong:
-The armory is pretty unbalanced, with you just being able to take as much ammo as you want for as little as a speed penalty. You don't have infinite inventory space, but you can still take whatever you want from what's available. What isn't available, you need to buy.
-The resurrector system makes no sense. Why have ten free revives on a life (which cannot be replenished) just for death to be another consequence-free revive, only with an additional cutscene which never changes nor provides anything useful to the story?
-And the story... I don't know. Beats me. Mostly it's just text boxes from NPCs and the Archive at base I can't be f*cked to read, but according to the people who have tried to understand it, it seems like this game gives Dark Souls a run for its money.
-Endlessly respawning enemies. Enough said.
-Since this game has no dedicated saving system, all choices are final. This isn't a bad thing, exactly, but for a Source game to have this feature is odd, and can lend to a lot of frustration, especially if you mess up (like me).
-What the hell is the point of certain enemies having titles? I got an achievement for killing a normal federation officer who was "dead but pretending to be alive". This isn't anything horrific, but just... why? What's the point?
-Enemies will constantly shoot explosive fireballs in your face on the later levels. Gets annoying quick. And getting stunned locked by ten guys is also quite annoying.
-Why is the medkit, an essential game mechanic, locked behind research? Why is it not available by default, with it being upgradable, or something?
-Why does everything use the exact same currency?
-What is the point of classes, which you don't choose?
-How come the maintenance function is not taught to the player immediately? By default, V can cure any ailments or injuries you might have for the cost of some energy. The game never tells the player this.
-The hacking minigame is the worst I've ever seen in a video game, if you can even call it a minigame. More like a chore.
-What is the point of "failed attacks" when I have killed people with failed attacks anyway? If you want to be OG Fallout, just make all the bullets quantum and go home.

There are things this game does well. Guns are fun to shoot, levels (up until Noctis) are decently designed, upgrading your character is engaging, and enemies (while fairly braindead) are fun to mow down. Since guns do so much damage (even the base ones) a few headshots will kill just about anything human sized. But that is about it. Characters are generally uninteresting, the soundtrack is nothing to write home about, the story is vague and strange, side objectives are bland and kind of agonizing to do in these levels which mostly just involve walking around a lot (while getting shot at by a few hundred dudes). There is simply too much wrong with this game for it to be worthwhile. Games similar to it in status, like Pathologic 1 or VTM:B, have similar flaws in their design but still manage to be fun for different reasons. This game is horrendously inconsistent and vague with its own core mechanics, explains very little, and does not even attempt to make levels engaging to play, which is a shame for a game on the Source engine, which was birthed by games with some of best level design ever (like HL2 or Portal). This game is truly a hit or miss, a cult classic to the core. I respect what the devs were going for, and there is a good game in here somewhere. But I'm not digging through the trash to find it. Not for this. 4/10.

I feel like this would be good if my attention span wasn't completely fried by social media. I can't get into it at all.

Worst best game ever

Weird as **** game, great gameplay, lame translation that makes you unable to understand wtf is going on.

I really wanted to like this game but it has too many flaws, the atmosphere and the concept overall of this game is fantastic but the gameplay ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sucks.

Please spare yourself from the jank! If you are open to doing some heavy lifting with modding and coding a bit to increase your quality of life for this game then go for it. This game honestly makes me appreciate other games much more. This is the first game where I noticed weird developer choices such as all the forced hud filters so you are blinded much of the time, really bad english translation that required an unofficial community patch, weird cringey npcs and dialogue, janky noises and buzzes that give me headaches(look for sound mod). Also seems like community members who make mods for this game are afraid of this developer for some reason. I don't know where this developer if from, but from my gameplay experience he/she has probably endured a rough and depressing life most humans cannot fathom and his/her life pain is felt when playing this game.