Recent reviews by tiny /J/

Game is incredible, everything a former WoW addict with little to no time nowadays wants.
None of the maintenance of leveling, dailies, fixed time slots for raids etc. etc. - just log on and run some dungeons, which keep getting harder and harder.

Queue times as tank are very fast, as healer mostly fast, onlyDPS is often slow as the role is quite crowded. Hope the new heroes can balance these numbers a little more.
People in lower ranks and/or quick play seem to leave easily and not support new players as much; ironically the low eternal queues are full of some of the most chill people I've ever dungeoned with in any game.

Huge recommendation, looking forward to putting many more hours into this lovely game!

the only game not made by fromsoft that can compete with the original souls series

can't recommend it whatsoever with this poor level of optimization. it's sad to see the franchise go this wrong after two betas revealing precisely these problems.

Getting into it is pretty tough with all the mechanics, but getting better feels immensely rewarding once you start putting things together.

Mr. Torgue's favorite game.

Interesting concept, but behind the mask it's still a mediocre platformer.

It's free and it's really entertaining, even for a SC2-newbie like me. Definitely recommend it.

This game is unfriendly to newer player as it barrs them from entering the ranked matchmaking queue before reaching level 3 while offering no 5v5 game modes - effectively throwing new players from a 10v10 slugfest of micspam into a 5v5 ragefest without any experience. Although most players that have experience with CS might see something like this as a minor bother, it still turns off people trying to experience the competitive FPS genre for the first time.

So, if you have to read the reviews to decide on buying this game and care for your mental well-being, don't do it.

First off: I have not yet seen the anime this game's world is based off, so this review is strictly on the gameplay aspects.

Yes, this game uses all the same tropes that most f2p-FPS nowadays do. Unlockable classes, guns, attachments via ingame currency (or money, in the case of classes and some skins) - however this is one of the first games where I felt like you did not need to spend a single cent to keep up with those that do.

Reason 1: every class can use every gun - their only differences are asthetic and in a single ability, but all the abilities are well balanced. One can either use a weaker version of the ability for themselves after a shorter cooldown or opt to share his ability with close-by allies.
These abilities include a run speed boost, heat sensor, camouflage and others. Some classes' abilities cannot be shared, e.g. a sentry turret and a rocket launcher.
For a game this early in it's development cycle the balance surprised me; of course there's always some kids that want to play as certain "cool" classes aka run speed combined with a Tier 2 camo (also called "I'm 12 years old NINJALOL!!11!") , but a weary eye notices these kinds of strategies.

Reason 2: Gun&Attachment balance - there's basically 3 classes of guns:
1. Sniper Rifles
2. Assault Rifles
3. SMG/Shotgun.
Depending on range, one will always be superior to the other classes, e.g. an SMG will almost always win against an AR on close range while an AR beats a sniper midrange and so forth.
The only thing that might need some fixing is the headshot damage multiplication, as a headshot is almost always an instant kill, no matter the weapon - this combined with some weapon inaccuracy makes some encounters simply rng-based, not based on skill, but if even CS:GO can pull this off and keep its playerbase, this is fine too, as the inaccuracy isn't too big, especially with stability attachments.
One negative, however, is that the iron sight sensitvity increases insanely with increasing zoom, so if you want to switch from a sniper to an AR, you will have to quickly change the sens while waiting on your respawn. This is definitely an inconvenience and i'd be really happy if this was adressed in a future patch. As this games is Early Access however, I will not let it affect my opinion too much yet though.

Reason 3: and maybe the most important reason - whenever I die, I feel like I could have made that shot. This is very important for me personally, as I enjoy games that reward ability over luck. Yes, because of the headshot modifiers you might just get flanked and instantly dinged. This happens, but that's fine - in a competitive setting this can be prevented by teamwork. IN all front to front engagements the one with better aim almost always wins as hipfire isn't too accurate except for really close range smgs.

Competitive setting is a good keyword, because I now want to talk about what I feel this game is missing: a clear direction.
Yes, the existing three game modes provide some form of variety and that's okay. We have the classics of TDM, S&D and conquest/dominion - the latter has a neat little twist though which I personally enjoy; the additional system of a little tank negating map advantages due created by spawn switches between the 5 capturable control points is a good idea but needs some finetuning, especially if kept at the current player count per map.

The point I want to get to with all this is that this game lacks a clear goal or reason to keep playing aside from unlockables, which as already mentioned don't feel as important in the game as in others, therefore not binding players as long.
What this game desperately needs is a competitive mode, e.g. a ladder system, which keeps games to a smaller scale of 5-6 players on each side (as opposed to ~10), making map control and clever use of abilites key to success as opposed to the randomnade- and suicidemeleefest many matches evolve to currently.

If a system like this was implemented, this could be a game to play for a long time, but with no clear goal other than slaving for ingame currency or playing with a bunch of friends this game might lose appeal over time.
There is some clunkiness with hitboxes currently many people complain about, but I think most of that results from my poor internet connection due to 2 IPTVs on the same line, when those weren't in use I have yet to really experience these troubles.

Nevertheless, for it's current state in development and the amount of fixes/content already delivered by the developer, I'm currently recommending this game to anyone looking for a new FPS to play. I sincerely hope the developer continues to refine this game, as I have hope it will become one of my new mainstays if tweaked slightly.


TL;DR: a game that feels like your basic f2p-FPS of the current gen, but impresses with good balance and apparently good developer support. One can buy some skins and classes with money, but as the classes are insanely well balanced there is no inherent need to unlock all classes with money as opposed to ingame currency. Only thing currently lacking in this game for me is a competitive ladder reducing the number of players on any given map and providing a long-term goal to the playerbase. If Neople implements these changes, this game will definitely stand out in the clustered f2p-FPS market.


Recommendation: buy, as it is currently on sale. If it's not on sale but you want something different from BO3/CS:GO, why not settle for a game that feels like it's somewhere in the middle?

*If you have any further questions, feel free to comment. I will be happy to answer any question I can.