Recent reviews by Bellum

The game handles worse than it did around A13. Ever since then its been a slow slip of losing items and features. I don't understand why its been constant regression. I couldn't imagine my disappoint if I bought this at $45. I got my $15 out of it by the time they ruined it. Don't bother wasting your money, spend it somewhere else.

(EDIT: Expect periodic updates to this entry)
(New notes will be notated by a, "(*)")
(People please keep in mind this was just released into EARLY ACCESS this is not a finished product, stop going nuclear when things aren't perfect, help the devs and give feedback)

Ok so first things first, I was ENTIRELY skeptical of this title and had a lot of preconceptions in my mind walking into this. After now playing 18 (40 and still going strong) hours since it became available I have to say I have been BLOWN AWAY! Colour me impressed! It is rare for a game to be this kind of solid these days on early access launch.

The "Bad"
There have been a few quirks and desyncs but nothing I would call game breaking or major.

Awareness seems to be a little too strong when it comes to finding other players shelter and storage.

It seems you need to eat a little too often and mineral/nutrient absorbsion rates are high as well.

Through experience I'll venture to say helmets don't seem to offer any protection. I snuck up on some poor sap in my bright orange jumper and threw a spear through his skull while he was wearing a high tier helmet, was fun to loot him though, he was stacked!

I can't seem to figure out how to repair clothing, assuming its been implemented and I haven't stashed a sowing kit away for bumpkis.

(*)Post nerf Mr Smiley is now Mr Limpy. I had looting bunkers down to a science pre patch, now its kind of embarassing. Some bunkers due to patrol pattern aren't worth the risk but many of them are cake walks, IMO.

(*)I'll agree with the nerf partially but it was excessive, he needs a slight sound radius buff, counter plays added and a little TLC on his AI to clean him up. Doing those things would allow him to have pre patch damage, the cone increase idea I liked but it seems you made it too wide, shrink it some.

(*)It would be nice to have scope proficiency as well to keep people from looting high tier loot and just running wild with a SVD a click off. Looting high end items is just too easy.

EDIT: Thank you Devs, it seems you listened on a lot of the other points I had listed.

The Good

The vapor trail for gauging shots down range is a smart idea

Wet mechanic, love it. Its restricts the ability to abuse bodies of water but its REAL.

(*)Bullet crafting, its simple and straight forward. Well played! (Perhaps make ammo dies as part of the recipe you need to craft them as well to add another layer to keep people from amassing tons of ammo right off the bat)

(*)After playing with the crafting further I've determined, though you can't place things traditionally that items crafted (structure/boxes) fall at you're 2 o'clock, roughly. Item trajectory can be blocked by trees, boulders etc.

Enviroment is key to immersion and its been blended well. Foilage is excellent and "debris" in the undergrowth is well done (Too many ferns though, add a little variation)

Mr Smiley is awesome and has plenty of ways to study and counter. He just needs a slight tweaking. (Will stand by this statement post patch, see above)

Loot loot loot loot loot, theres lots of it and many ways to utilize it. Overall excellent job. Would loot metal again

(*)My last point, I'm unsure what to think of it because its fun but also ridiculous. Thrown items seem to have the velocity of Zeus throwing a thunderbolt. I was looting a bunker with my bud and found a bottle of wine. So naturally I down it hoping to get an alcohol affect or at least to get the nutrients I then huck the bottle across the room and it sounds like a grenade when it strikes a metal desk. We both had a great laugh as we went and inspected further, noticing it was lodged neck deep in the desk!

All in all 9/10
Do yourself a favor and hop on this early. I expect great things, don't be like WildCard and PlayerUnknown.

EDIT:

(*)Memory leak seems to have been fixed.

Keep up the good work SCUM devs!

Do you like the idea of piloting huge mechanized suits of death? Does the thought of firing salvos of missles, lasers and other projectiles get your motor running? Then this is the game for you! Fore Warning: There is a large learning curve. You will get pissed and hate the ♥♥♥♥ out of it until you figure out how to pilot a mech and do it well. Just stick with it and work the trial mechs until you figure out your play style.

Edit: Wait until you make your first 25 ~ 30 mil cbills before you bother buying anything. You'll most likely regret it trust me.