Recent reviews by Josip Broz Tito

I refuse to give this game raving review just because it's better than the last couple of games they made.
Sure - It's functional, generally fun to play and will stay alive and relevant for a while. But the criticism you might have heard is absolutely valid. The map pool is abysmal, balance and overall usefulness of class gadgets is all over the place, progression system is a mess (probably AI generated) and forces you to load bot lobbies or play without doing anything useful to the team. The game is absolutely closer to Call of Duty in overall pacing, TTK and map design (with few exceptions). Campaign is cringefest and overall aesthetics are giving off that generic modern military slop vibe with no identity whatsoever. While they do try to adress half the issues, they go a different route with other half and keep doubling down on stupid. Also there is no way it should cost as much as it does for the ammount of content that you get.
It is definitely not a bad game, but If you are interested - monitor what they do with the updates, how the game changes over the next few months, how the inevitable release of Battle Royale is going to affect the core of the Battlefield (big modes on big maps with vehicles) and see if you really want it.
The recent Season 1 announce with few controversial character skins is also off putting and i wonder why cant they just make a character customization system similar to a free to play game World War 3 where you can just select bits and pieces from existing military gear from different counties and keep the overall visual design down to earth. They already have the idea of regional units from the start, skins already look fine enough - just expand on it. There is no need to add different flavor of Monster Zero Energy color palletes.

Play the game just to have fun with friends? I sleep.
Play the game just to make fun of your buddy and remind him about his bad taste? I sleep.
Game is so awful that you decided not to waste your time on it after tutorial since it's another generic military extraction slop? Real sh*t.

Finished the game on its intended Underdog diffuculty and enjoyed it for what it is and to its credit - the potential to be really good was there.
Game hooks you up with extensive character creation, interesting story premise, good looking locations, well written dialogue and lore dumps but once you hit Chapter 2 it drops the ball hard and you realize it's just an errand boy simulator and the only help is a fast travel system that allows you to move almost instantly from one point to another. Without that i'd just dump it in Habitat.
Combat encounter design is weird and reminds me of games like shadowrun returns (which are only really suitable for mobile).. instead of letting you use the entire location they lock you up in a small room where you are always in a disadvantage. Sure i can think of a solo exterminator build with high initiative high crit that clears the entire room in single turn, but where is fun in that? If you use a full party it just takes screen space and in many cases one or more characters will be unable to execute a meaningful action due to constant AP penalties emposed by enemy atacks. You can disable most of the enemies with utility gadgets but it actually limits your options to just doing that. That is, avoiding combat almost entirely is definitely an option. The guns? There are many, i'd even say too many with only a number or two difference between them in stats but i like the idea of energy weapons being an actual rarity. Though arguably game still have plenty of power cells even for full party if you use them wisely.
The companions from the Chapter 1 are allright, they do have some resemblance of personality and actually react on things you do. But anyone after that - you simply do not get enough time to spend with them, and i mean even in combat. So might as well just stick to original trio from The Pit.
The factions are just there, almost comical in their ideological beliefs. You cant really join them, there arent any faction specific long quest lines that could make this game more replayable. They give you some faction specific companions, that are, like i mentioned - cant get enough use even if you try. No faction specific gear and gameplay mechanics either.
Endgame chapter for "Monks" was hilarious in it's gameplay loop of "go there and talk to this guy and that guy and that guy" they didnt even bother using different dialogue lines for player character you just repeat the same thing. I dont know, maybe other faction endgame chapter is more combat oriented at least? What i picked was supposed to be diplomatic.
None of the game systems are really fully developed, the game is obviously a victim to time and budget constraint met with somewhat big ambitions. Game could benefit from cutting some mechanics entirely in favor of what's left being more refined as a result. I can think of a few games, not necesserily high budget ones, where similar mechanics were executed better. Drop the party management, simplify the visuals and put more focus on combat and exploration - boom, you have Underrail. There is also Wasteland 3 that does combat much better, Colony Ship is more in line with Wasteland 2 but not nearly this time consuming.
You can grab it on sale but it's hardly "the next big thing" or "that one amazing game that you somehow missed". But you do have a chance to support the dev and their next game. The talent is definitely there.

You have to understand what this game is at its current state - it plays exactly like SMITE, but with less Gods and less game modes. It even looks quite a lot like original SMITE because it follows the same art style, but the new engine is definitely an upgrade. But if they just keep porting stuff to new engine the game would be great, it was and still is the only MOBA i can play without triggering the vomit reflex. I dont think it should be this locked out from new players either.

Even if you didn't know about the franchise - you are into family-friendly adventure with cool sci-fi vibes, satisfying gameplay loop and some of the best visuals ever created for this type of game. The fantastic selection of weapons, some arguably more useful than the others, but a unique selection nontheless - that is always welcome in a game where you are supposed to shoot enemies 80% of the time.
My main gripe is not about the game, but rather about the PC port. I had to tweak some things in order to make this game work properly, in the end i had about 3 crashes during my 20 hour playtrough - it works much better if you delete direct storage DLL's, requires a bit more than usual for a swap file, there were some visual glitches that made it look worse than PS5 version at some areas and i am non entirely sure it was properly fixed (but people say it is). Sound mixing in PC version is also absolutely broken, somewhat playable with stereo mix and headphones, but still awfully quiet at times. Surround systems just do not work, upmixing in windows breaks the game sound, disabling it does not provide appropriate soundscape at any of the settings - you just better off going headphones and stereo.

All those positive reviews focused on trying to convince ppl it's actually OK to basically buy the full game in form of in-game purchase, so it's:
1) Non refundable
2) Not a subject to regional price adjustments
Are not only silly but also swaying away from attention the fact that Dark and Darker was much better game and more fun to play 2 years ago during limited play test sessions. You had character progression, you could actually bring the loot in game without paying money, you had a game where despite all the jank - it was funny as hell to fight against human opponents, and the game was kinda forcing you the longer you stay in the dungeon. Because they got rid of the random extraction points and moving kill zone mechanics - most of the time you spend in game is fighting janky AI opponents.
What the hell they've been up to all these months? Why am i playing LESS of a game after 2 years of development?

Nevermind it's actually pretty good game.

This game is not for casual players. If you are into that - go play COD and Fortnite.
This game is so complex you need a guide on how to buy it.

It's not a bad game when it actually works from server-side.
Infantry combat is fun and intense. Vehicles seem a bit cartoonish and map details is something to be improved - this all looks like it's been taken from a different game compared to gun models and animations. Or maybe those aspects werent even touched since the very first disastrous beta test.

I need help