Recent reviews by GingerCenturion

It's pretty good

I HOPE THIS GAME GETS A TRUE REVIVAL AND PARADOX STARTS MAKING NEW CONTENT.

My actual review:
So I've tried to get into get into this game a few times over the years but couldn't get into it. I finally tried to give it a other shot and I finally got hooked. I'm not even playing the Invictus Mod that supposedly makes the game amazing. I'm playing vanilla and I'm loving it. I never played EU4, just CK3, so it was tough to understand pops and how to make money with resources. I got the hang of it and I'm still getting better with managing a republic, but this is a hidden gem.

TLDR: It is awesome and fast paced, graphics aren't optimized yet but will get better, aiming takes some getting used to, netcode could be better, very bright future.

Some background about me, I am a longtime Verdun player and played for Kaiser Kompany in the Verdun tournament back in 2017. I love the WW1 setting and love the atmosphere, but I wanted something new. This is exactly what I was looking for.

So I when I first heard about this game, I was super excited. I was however apprehensive since it is from the company that made Squad, and I am not the largest fan of Squad. This game is different in that it is fast paced. Not as fast as COD thank God, but not as fast paced as Verdun. It can be as fast paced as Verdun at times, but it still has the ability to slow down for more tactical maneuvering.

I have an old Nvidia 980 (looking to get the 3080 when in stock) and I can play it at 1080p with about 70fps or so. In order to do that, I need to turn down some of the textures, but turning down shadows makes the biggest difference. It is best to aim for good framerates because I do experience pretty heavy frame drops down from 70 to 50 at times. It isn't very well optimized, but it is early access and my graphics card came out in 2014. With all of that being said, it still looks pretty good at 1080p and at my current graphics settings.

I have to say, the aiming is pretty hard. In Verdun, I could make about 50% of shots up to 100m, and ranges beyond that my accuracy goes to about 25%. Here, the aiming is takes some real getting used to. If you buy this game, lower your mouse sensitivity. I lowered the in-game sensitivity to .25 and I have my mouse to 1200 DPI. It helps a ton, especially with the amount of weapon sway in the game, which brings me to my next point. The aiming system plays with your stamina system. So you may want to catch your breath before trying to shoot at people.

Regarding the netcode, it is kinda wonky. Usually in Verdun, I know how much to lead a target to hit it. Maybe I just need more practice, but I have a lot of trouble leading targets in Beyond the Wire. It doesn't seem consistent how much to lead (yes I know it changes at different distances). Also, targets at long range sometimes don't move smoothly left to right. Sometimes they almost teleport left to right 10m at a time. In the end, it may be a bit of both, me needing to get better at leading and the netcode being a bit wonky. In close quarters, there is sometimes me getting shot even though I ducked behind cover, me shooting an enemy at close range but they don't die, etc. It isn't game breaking and doesn't happen all the time, but can be a tad irksome when it does happen. Overall, it is what you expect out of an Early Access game that just came out.

Regarding the future, I am super excited. I know how much Squad has updated and changed over the years, so it gives me a good benchmark for what to expect. I love the game now, so knowing it is only going to get better is awesome. They are going to come out with the British faction soon, but I also look forward to the other factions they will develop. I have heard from some other players that they are planning tanks, and in a Reddit Q/A, a developer said they were working on it, but another developer in that Q/A said they aren't. It sounds like they are trying to make it work, but don't want to make promises. I love the prospect of driving a Mk4 tank and getting stuck in a shell hole (not said sarcastically).