Recent reviews by ploopploop

Run around with crowbar, get killed by a bot.
Run around with crowbar, get killed by the other 2 people in the server.

It's has a lot of potential, definitely not for everyone at the given price point though with the current content it has to offer.
Playerbase wise it is basically dead. In the 3 servers I played only 1 had players at it was just a group of 2 that kept killing me over and over again.
Gameplay gets repetitive very fast (since it's still early access).

The existing game mechanics are fun. The crafting, survival and theme of PvPvE is fun. If there comes a bigger variaty of enemies it will be even better.

As of now you don't get the value for your money, but the reason I recommend it is because the devs are heading towards the right direction and they have a solid foundation to work on. I definitely give them my support for that reason alone. Looking forward to many great updates until the full launch!

I started playing this game in season 3 and have spend roughly 1000 hours ever since. EU server is where I am mainly active at as "I AM UR DADDY", so you might or might not encounter me. Either way I do think that I have a healthy amount of knowledge about the game in order to put a clean review.

First of all, although not easy, NetEase does listen to their customers as long as it gains enough attention. Therefor I have made countless threads, posts, videos and much more highlighting issues about the game that got fixed over time. That being said as a company they are at least trying and for a free to play game without pay to win mechanics, that is more than plenty.

The game itself is mainly Battle Royale. It is creative and fun. It takes on some of the bigger titles with its own unique charm and capabilities. This is because the game is set in the future. That means that technology is a bit more advanced allowing players to use "skills" in the battles in order to win.

Not only that, but the maps look great as well. As of now there is only 1 battle royale map, but we do have a lot more maps for the other game modes!

In total there are quite some game modes mainly themed around team deathmatch and capture the flag (by holding a base). One of the team deathmatch mode offers first person mode as well! And I hate to say it... but this is extremely good. It honestly blows my mind how smooth, simple and good it works.

This game honestly has a lot more mechanics than your average Battle Royale and for that I have created an entire guide supported by a 4 hour long video that delves into most (if not all) of the elements in the game. This is written cleanly and divided properly so that you can easily navigate through the video or skip some parts if they are boring/not interesting to you. For future references it is also easier to look up which part you need.

If you are new to BR in general then I do suggest checking the entire guide. If you are coming from different BR games/shooting games in general then only the weapons, droid skills and maps part will be interesting to you.
The guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2164316168

Lastly, before we move to the bad parts, this game has a really nice community. Not only in game but also on social media. You will quickly notice that the people that want to communicate are very warm and welcoming. You are in for a good ride with new friendships and maybe even relationships (if that's your thing).

That being said... this game unfortunately have some major flaws that can be a dealbreaker for some.
1. Cheaters. Yes they exist and in great numbers. The high ranks (Legendary Bear+) are flooded with them. You will encounter them almost every game and the worst thing? They boast about it, they share it on social media. They show and highlight their cheats to everyone, because the Anti Cheat system developed by NetEase is incompetent. Reporting cheaters almost never works. Even if you back it up with video evidence (personal experience).
2. Banning system. The banning system is very flawed. It bans innocent players if your games are inconsistent. Now what does this mean you might ask? Well if you basically win a game, then lose a game by placing 90th or something, then place 32nd etc. The system thinks that every game is the same and that you will always place in similar places, which is extremely unlikely in BR. But this is not yet a ban, this marks your account as suspicious. Once someone reports you it will automatically ban you. Whether it is a report from someone that was angry or a legitimate report, both don't matter, you are banned (personal experience). I got unbanned shortly after since I always stream my games I have a lot evidence of not cheating and this was backed up by the community as well. It is good that you can get unbanned... however cheaters also get unbanned. Legitimate cheaters.
3. Updates. The updates to this game are always broken. If an update gets released be prepared for weeks of stability issues, such as freezes, crashes, high ping and much more.
4. Bugs. There are bugs in this game, a lot of them. Some exist since season 1 and still have not been addressed. You will encounter things such as: audio suddenly gone, getting stuck, falling through the ground and broken bots using godmode.
5. Linking. It is impossible to link Steam to any of your existing accounts. This means that you have to start fresh if you played on the pc client or mobile clients. All your hours, skins and progress gone. Not gonna happen in my case. You also can not link Android accounts to IOS and vice versa. You can link them to the pc client though (not the Steam one).

So if past the flaws this still sounds attractive to you then make sure to give it a shot!
Also it is extremely stable on mobile, so if you are into mobile games, this one is great to try on that platform as well.

Got any questions? Let me know and I will try to answer them.

If you came here from alpha you will be extremely disappointed.
If you are new to this game, don't have future expectations update-wise. Grab this on a sale.
If you plan on playing this alone, most definitely get this during a sale.
If you plan on playing with friends then it can be worth it full price, only if you didn't play alpha and your friends are remotely interesting.

This game is anything but noob friendly and dynamic. I guess once you've either spent enough hours or money into it it will hard to drop as it can be considered a sad waste, but that is the only reason to play it. As a new player, look elsewhere. You ain't getting into this any time soon. There are way too many unfair mechanics from which pros vs noobs is an extremely common thing.

China is watching you when run this game, whether you are playing it or not. And they watch a ton more than just your game play. According to ToS it includes and isn't limited to mic/webcam access as well as spyware for programs on your computer, active programs etc. Just give it a read, it is actually quite ridiculous the amount of data they pull.

The game on the other hand is okay. Matchmaking isn't the best in terms of waiting time, map is okay. It is pretty much what you'd expect from a f2p game.

It's fun and free, definitely room for improvement so far on a lot of fronts, but I do understand that it is early access.
So far it looks like a fun concept.

I am up-to-date with SAO and rewatched the seasons plenty of times. As far as story goes this game is pretty much on point about SAO and the characters involved. This is my first SAO game though so I can't compare it to the other SAO games, but it feels honestly really good. The combat is fluid with plenty of variaty in builds and skills. Things encountered in the anime such as skill names, looks etc are the same in the game with plenty of extra's.

Dialogues are in japanese style for rpg's. Images of characters with moving mouths and the voice actor reading the text. So now and then there will be an animted cutscene, but those are extremely rare. Some people don't like it so be wary of it. Talking about japanese, the entire game is japanese dubbed. You can have english sub, but that's about it. The voice actors are the same ones that did the series, so you might hear familiar voices, which in my opinion makes it a better experience.

They did good where they should and cut at parts where they could. This delivers a great story with a fluid combat system in a huge environment where models are pretty much of low quality. Given the pace of the game you will at best admire the islands as a whole and not specific places. The characters on the other hand have great detail so it's okay.

Multiplayer is pretty much dead. It might be lack of players or different timezones, but apart from forums I couldn't find anyone randomly in game to play with. But it is still very enjoyable as a single player game. I haven't finished the game yet, but given the price I paid for it I am satisfied about it.

If you like SAO and the storyline it is definitely worth it. Not sure if it is enjoyable if you are new to the series since it has plenty of references to SAO, so you might not understand some pieces. But other than that in games like these I just enjoy the fast paced combat fights and grinds to unlock new abilities/skills.

On a sidenote; I play this game at 1080p maxed out. I am constantly at 144 fps. Haven't had a single lag/freeze or anything. The video cutscenes are at 25fps. So yeah.. there's that. Other than that it runs great.

Get it during a sale, absolutely worth it to have a controller with which I can not only play games but also control my pc.
Since my pc is in my bedroom it is really relaxing to sometimes just sit back, watch a movie or something and sometimes just select something else through it without getting up.

Yes I am lazy.

Hey guys we know you paid a full price for an AAA title, but buy our season pass as well since it contains an iconic gamemode. It costs 24,99. - Bandai 2017

Hey guys season passes aren't about lifetimes they are about seasons. To unlock the more enjoyable characters buy our second season pass for only 29,99. Your previous one doesn't matter. - Bandai 2018

Hey guys who cares about seasons and numbers buy this new limited edition season pass for only 39,99 - Bandai 2019.

Bandai is the new EA. Just calculate by yourself how much the full game costs at this point.

The game is great.

The way they work around DLC's isn't great. This game has not only 1 but 2! (yes you read that right) 2 whopping season passes. While I do love Tekken and every Tekken game so far (been playing since 3 was released on ps1) I do hate the way they go around the money you have to pay for the full game, because right now this game costs in euros 39,99 + 24,99 + 29,99.

The base game itself is great though, the story is interesting and the characters are superb <3