Putting my thoughts into a log because I want to see more people giving this game an honest chance. To begin with, I don't think I ever would have downloaded this game if it wasn't on gamepass (as I'm sure is true for the vast majority of the playerbase) but I've been really charmed with the experience overall and at worst I would consider this game an (partially) unpolished gem, whose issues mostly stem to how progression and matchmaking work.
As it stands this is the most fun I've had with a multiplayer shooter in a while and despite being difficult to describe exactly what kind of game it is, I'm simply going to argue that it's the freshest take on the hero shooter genre of any release in the last decade. Where Overwatch or any of its derivative copycats cashing in on the craze failed to pique my interest, this one actually feels unique. I don't know if I would have played it so much already if not for wanting to see simply where they take it because its such an odd blend of genres.
The mechanic feel of the game is great, it runs fantastic, and when it pushes your team's cooperative abilities it is such a blast. When the game is throwing dinosaurs at you left and right, and giving you pvp missions that force skirmishes against the enemy team often, you gotta focus and get sweaty to win. I think at their highest level both pve and pvp gameplay is super challenging, tight, and well designed. Point capture, and a unique gamemode where you defeat dino's to charge a hammer to smash a pylon while the other team is in the same area doing the same, are my favorite. Even payload, the first pvp mode any new account has access to is really fun on later maps where there are more opportunities to attack the other team. I think the the addition of savage gauntlet at the end of this month and the first set of exosuit variants in august are really going to round out and a lot to that high end gameplay.
I won't ignore the problems though. This game has a terrible introductory period where it forces you to do the same boring pvp payload or pve missions over and over and over while you unlock the game's story via audio logs that drop with player level increases. The most engaging and varied and enjoyable parts of gameplay - variant dinosaurs, 10 man pve raids, point capture, energy capture, power hammer pvp missions - they are all locked behind a significant time investment. Even then, after you have unlocked all of these things, the matchmaking doesn't discriminate and will - with some relatively regular frequency - put you in the game with much lower level players than you, and force you to do the low level payload or pve missions, and it sucks. I think they didn't want low level player's experiences to just be bots, but something really needs to change with the matchmaking algorithm, or maybe it'll get better over time as more players graduate to a higher level.
If you can stick with it, I promise there is a very worthwhile experience waiting for you beyond the grind in the first 10-20 hours, but that's a big ask. If you like multiplayer shooters and are itching for something fresh (and in my opinion, has a bright future), I give this one a hearty recommendation. If you have gamepass it's a no brainer.
As it stands this is the most fun I've had with a multiplayer shooter in a while and despite being difficult to describe exactly what kind of game it is, I'm simply going to argue that it's the freshest take on the hero shooter genre of any release in the last decade. Where Overwatch or any of its derivative copycats cashing in on the craze failed to pique my interest, this one actually feels unique. I don't know if I would have played it so much already if not for wanting to see simply where they take it because its such an odd blend of genres.
The mechanic feel of the game is great, it runs fantastic, and when it pushes your team's cooperative abilities it is such a blast. When the game is throwing dinosaurs at you left and right, and giving you pvp missions that force skirmishes against the enemy team often, you gotta focus and get sweaty to win. I think at their highest level both pve and pvp gameplay is super challenging, tight, and well designed. Point capture, and a unique gamemode where you defeat dino's to charge a hammer to smash a pylon while the other team is in the same area doing the same, are my favorite. Even payload, the first pvp mode any new account has access to is really fun on later maps where there are more opportunities to attack the other team. I think the the addition of savage gauntlet at the end of this month and the first set of exosuit variants in august are really going to round out and a lot to that high end gameplay.
I won't ignore the problems though. This game has a terrible introductory period where it forces you to do the same boring pvp payload or pve missions over and over and over while you unlock the game's story via audio logs that drop with player level increases. The most engaging and varied and enjoyable parts of gameplay - variant dinosaurs, 10 man pve raids, point capture, energy capture, power hammer pvp missions - they are all locked behind a significant time investment. Even then, after you have unlocked all of these things, the matchmaking doesn't discriminate and will - with some relatively regular frequency - put you in the game with much lower level players than you, and force you to do the low level payload or pve missions, and it sucks. I think they didn't want low level player's experiences to just be bots, but something really needs to change with the matchmaking algorithm, or maybe it'll get better over time as more players graduate to a higher level.
If you can stick with it, I promise there is a very worthwhile experience waiting for you beyond the grind in the first 10-20 hours, but that's a big ask. If you like multiplayer shooters and are itching for something fresh (and in my opinion, has a bright future), I give this one a hearty recommendation. If you have gamepass it's a no brainer.