Impressions after 13ish hours. All of this is opinion, and I trust devs with my firstborn:
The groundwork is there, the gameplay/shooting mechanics/graphics are solid. It's begging to be built upon and with the UniversEdit and updates to come I am VERY excited to see where this is in a few months/year or two from now.
Good:
Kills are very satisfying, wish there was more oil splatter like in S1
I know there has been a lot of criticisms about pacing, but personally I think it feels good, it starts mellow then slowly builds into chaos. I would like some more crazy Elite spawns like in S1
Love the merchant variety. Gamblers den is VERY fun.
The guns so far have been very cool! I'm a little concerned that they all may be good and I think that might be a problem (more on that later)
Being able to throw stuff/launch the gas grenades over high cover BLEW MY MIND. I was giggling to myself when i first figured it out.
Really appreciate the secret areas. More of this.
The sub-classes so far are all grounded within the actual class, yet diverse enough to cater to different playstyles, and i appreciate this. Excited for recon.
Runs well on my bucket.
Sounds sexy.
Not so great: (a lot of this you've heard already)
AI feels stale on base difficulty.
ChronoTrooper Enemy AI just teleports right into your gun barrel. while I appreciate them jumping into my bullets, I don't think all of them should wish for assisted suicide.
Current weapon upgrade system works (I know its just a placeholder) but i think it lacks a little depth. Would like a bit more than just dumping all upgrade points into one gun 3 levels into a run.
Getting stun locked by 3 taser bots and dying is maddening, but maybe this is just a 'GIT GUD' type problem.
Map/ui BLAH BLAH BLAH
I would like more elite mobs. One shotting everything is fun, until a point.
Humble Requests:
Cosmetic differences between subclasses. Make guard judge stand out with a Judge armor coloring or assault grenadier have like an all black spec ops type coloring. I would give money to you guys for cosmetic stuff.
This one is going to be a little controversial; put more BAD guns in. Not every gun needs to be a banger. The trash guns make the good guns that much better. Not every run needs to be a good run. Bad luck is still luck
The cursed weapon chest challenges could have a bit more diversity. Pull a sniper from a cursed weapon chest? now you need X amount of weakspot/headshot hits. SMG? backstab attacks LMG? Kills while overheating. Something like that.
Overall you guys are doing great. I have all the faith in the dev team. I'll end up posting more as I think of it.
Criticizing is much easier so I start with the defects:
I think the game doesn't have a soul. We keep clearing next stages from similar enemies group being always in the same places. I would expect some group attacks, ambushes and patrols. You make awesome vehicles, maybe it's worth to use it, for example when terror is too huge, vehicles with troopers should arrive. Give the game some life, make players feel like they are always in danger . The thrill of unpredictability will make the game itself more difficult and at the same time more interesting.
As for the opponents:
Too much melee enemies so sometimes I feel like in zombie game. In S1 nice solution was fight with use of the environment, you can not experience it here, because dogs and enemies with sticks force you to constantly backtrack. The game is also not very varied with human-like enemies. Where are terminators with machine guns, enemies with rocket launchers, flamethrowers, shotguns and my favorites head hunters?
And what as well is not too good, many times enemies staying and waiting for death. They don't attack despite the player shot it. Good option would be an idea when enemies "know" that they won't win with player they would rather run away and wait for help. If enemies are in advantage they will try to flank players or hold the line. Only with a significant advantage they will try front attack but if they have toxic grenades or rockets or something else they will try drive out player of hiding.
A few remarks on the weapon:
Shotguns and rocket launchers reloading is a little too long.
Shotguns shots sounds like they do not reflect its power. (and my small dream - make nemesis sound like anti-tank gun to hear it power).
Assault riffles are too weak or smg are to strong.
Positive:
cool music
nice lighting
interesting game climat
shooting is very satisfying
enemies exploding for million elements
boss cutscenes
smooth character animation
Bugs which I found:
After using teleporter: quick changing the weapon is restart to pistol and second gun.
After taking new weapon or exchange them, quick changing doesn't work.
Beginning reload in case of some weapons and change for different ones doesn't break reloading sound.
Private security is summoning endlessly
Small additions:
Active skills should be chosen by player.
Enemies sentry guns are weak so they should shooting continuously.
Impressions after 13ish hours. All of this is opinion, and I trust devs with my firstborn:
The groundwork is there, the gameplay/shooting mechanics/graphics are solid. It's begging to be built upon and with the UniversEdit and updates to come I am VERY excited to see where this is in a few months/year or two from now.
Good:
Kills are very satisfying, wish there was more oil splatter like in S1
I know there has been a lot of criticisms about pacing, but personally I think it feels good, it starts mellow then slowly builds into chaos. I would like some more crazy Elite spawns like in S1
Love the merchant variety. Gamblers den is VERY fun.
The guns so far have been very cool! I'm a little concerned that they all may be good and I think that might be a problem (more on that later)
Being able to throw stuff/launch the gas grenades over high cover BLEW MY MIND. I was giggling to myself when i first figured it out.
Really appreciate the secret areas. More of this.
The sub-classes so far are all grounded within the actual class, yet diverse enough to cater to different playstyles, and i appreciate this. Excited for recon.
Runs well on my bucket.
Sounds sexy.
Not so great: (a lot of this you've heard already)
AI feels stale on base difficulty.
ChronoTrooper Enemy AI just teleports right into your gun barrel. while I appreciate them jumping into my bullets, I don't think all of them should wish for assisted suicide.
Current weapon upgrade system works (I know its just a placeholder) but i think it lacks a little depth. Would like a bit more than just dumping all upgrade points into one gun 3 levels into a run.
Getting stun locked by 3 taser bots and dying is maddening, but maybe this is just a 'GIT GUD' type problem.
Map/ui BLAH BLAH BLAH
I would like more elite mobs. One shotting everything is fun, until a point.
Humble Requests:
Cosmetic differences between subclasses. Make guard judge stand out with a Judge armor coloring or assault grenadier have like an all black spec ops type coloring. I would give money to you guys for cosmetic stuff.
This one is going to be a little controversial; put more BAD guns in. Not every gun needs to be a banger. The trash guns make the good guns that much better. Not every run needs to be a good run. Bad luck is still luck
The cursed weapon chest challenges could have a bit more diversity. Pull a sniper from a cursed weapon chest? now you need X amount of weakspot/headshot hits. SMG? backstab attacks LMG? Kills while overheating. Something like that.
Overall you guys are doing great. I have all the faith in the dev team. I'll end up posting more as I think of it.
much love,
_LL
Criticizing is much easier so I start with the defects:
I think the game doesn't have a soul. We keep clearing next stages from similar enemies group being always in the same places. I would expect some group attacks, ambushes and patrols. You make awesome vehicles, maybe it's worth to use it, for example when terror is too huge, vehicles with troopers should arrive. Give the game some life, make players feel like they are always in danger . The thrill of unpredictability will make the game itself more difficult and at the same time more interesting.
As for the opponents: Too much melee enemies so sometimes I feel like in zombie game. In S1 nice solution was fight with use of the environment, you can not experience it here, because dogs and enemies with sticks force you to constantly backtrack. The game is also not very varied with human-like enemies. Where are terminators with machine guns, enemies with rocket launchers, flamethrowers, shotguns and my favorites head hunters?
And what as well is not too good, many times enemies staying and waiting for death. They don't attack despite the player shot it. Good option would be an idea when enemies "know" that they won't win with player they would rather run away and wait for help. If enemies are in advantage they will try to flank players or hold the line. Only with a significant advantage they will try front attack but if they have toxic grenades or rockets or something else they will try drive out player of hiding.
A few remarks on the weapon:
Shotguns and rocket launchers reloading is a little too long.
Shotguns shots sounds like they do not reflect its power. (and my small dream - make nemesis sound like anti-tank gun to hear it power).
Assault riffles are too weak or smg are to strong.
Positive:
cool music
nice lighting
interesting game climat
shooting is very satisfying
enemies exploding for million elements
boss cutscenes
smooth character animation
Bugs which I found:
After using teleporter: quick changing the weapon is restart to pistol and second gun.
After taking new weapon or exchange them, quick changing doesn't work.
Beginning reload in case of some weapons and change for different ones doesn't break reloading sound.
Private security is summoning endlessly
Small additions:
Active skills should be chosen by player.
Enemies sentry guns are weak so they should shooting continuously.
Choosing the difficulty mode as in S1.