2,652 people found this review helpful
71 people found this review funny
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15
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Not Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 1,369.0 hrs on record (1,292.6 hrs at review time)
Posted: 6 May, 2016 @ 6:58am
Updated: 17 May, 2016 @ 4:02pm
Product received for free

TL;DR: Robocraft did not deliver on the potential it promised and instead changed the core gameplay mechanics to mimic other shooters, destroying what made the game unique.

I have played this game for over 3000 hours (the standalone launcher does not add to steam hours) and supported the game with over 100GBP (150$+). I was a moderator for the game because I believed in it and wanted to support the community, but was removed from the team because I spoke out to a developer about the direction they were taking – not because I wasn't doing my job, but because I spoke my mind.

The game has changed. Freejam have tried to make the game more accessible to new players, with a focus of getting as many players as possible. But instead of focussing on what made the game great and trying to get players to love it, they changed the gameplay mechanics in order to please a wider audience, which destroyed many aspects of what made the game great and unique in the first place.

Instead of a currency reward system that allows players to buy the parts they want for their robots, they now have a "random loot crate" reward system, which is a blatant attempt at copying other games and trying to trick people into spending real money on the game. Non-premium users get tempted by the items that they could have received if they had paid for premium (every loot crate that gets opened show the premium items) with the option to purchase it now to receive the items. Furthermore, only the top scoring player on the winning team receives the highest level crate (which promises better item drop chances), while every member of the losing team receives the same low quality crate. This leads to selfish play for the highest score rather than the rewarding teamplay experience that it used to be, and also leads to the losing team to stop trying because they receive the same bad rewards either way.

They also made the most interesting part about the game – the fact that building skill and design decisions directly affects battle performance – much less meaningful over the last couple of months, by removing the pilot seat component, introducing auto-healing (another aspect to mimic other shooters), and allowing each player to put several different gun types on their robots, which removes the need for playstyle specialisations. This also negatively affects teamplay, because there is no use for dedicated medics or dedicated frontline or support types – every player is now a (selfish) one-man-army trying to score the highest points.

This game had a lot of potential a year ago, but the developer's decisions over the last updates have shown that they care less about making a good game and more about the money they can make by trying to get more players with lower skill levels, by copying other generic shooter-types and removing/reducing the unique aspects that used to make Robocraft great.

Freejam have gone the way many F2P games go and opted for the cash-grab alternative. It is disappointing, because there was so much potential.

UPDATE: After two and a half weeks, the lead game designer released a "state of the game" letter, which conveniently failed to address any of the points the community has brought up in their feedback. This, to me, puts the final nail in the coffin. These developers do not care for the quality of their game or their community, they are only out for new players for their statistics and wallets.
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559 Comments
Pres-87 7 Apr, 2024 @ 4:20pm 
I am really glad you put the effort into such a fluent review. You have said what a lot of early players have felt. I also put the majority of my playtime through the standalone launcher. The game lost its original formula so quickly I was legitimately confused by every update until it became clear and by that time it was an entirely different gaming experience.
Demon Cat Summoner Summon Lv7 14 Feb, 2024 @ 11:18am 
I wish I could've played this game earlier. I wish I couldve experienced all the fun. But I cant, because these fuck ass gamedevs. the fucking MALFORMED SLUNGOIDS THEY ARE RIP EVERYTHING FUN OUT THE FUCKING GAME DAMMIT
Yazzin 5 Aug, 2023 @ 4:44am 
This review pretty much sums everything, and I mean everything up. This game was a small part of my childhood and they masacred my boy real bad..
LenjiBenji 25 Jun, 2023 @ 1:34am 
Word...
Grant 11 Apr, 2023 @ 7:39pm 
Even more true today. Robocraft has come to be the game that gives you the illusion of creativity when in fact it is a wasted effort to put time into designing a bot to be effective in battle that is not one of the hit and run plane hybrid variants with unlimited mobility and immunity to being disabled. The modules shield and emp paired with that makes for it being impossible to win a match let alone have fun due to the game already being lost if you do not have a bot of the same kind. The futility of the, wait for it, MAIN ASPECT OF THE GAME that is supposed to set it apart from others really has ruined it for me lately.
Jhumm 7 Mar, 2023 @ 10:22pm 
This sums up the core issues perfectly.
Kitty 12 Feb, 2023 @ 6:59pm 
They should've abandoned development in 2015 and just kept the servers online, this game was so good back then :( came to play it today and its completely ruined. Cash grab bs
Flavio93Zena 18 Sep, 2022 @ 4:09pm 
What surprises me is that people are hyped for Robocraft 2 now. Did they all forget what happened to RC 1 thanks to the same people making RC 2? I think I won't even try it to be honest.
ED505 18 Sep, 2022 @ 6:44am 
Denouncing and banning the lead game designer "Mark" and others would be the biggest, best and only survival strategy.
ssd.storage 25 Jun, 2022 @ 8:22am 
I wanted to try this game out when I first made my account in 2021 or 2020 now I can no longer try it rlly wished devs did like some back in time button and play in different eras in the game like if you wanted to play in the 2015 era you had to know the basic of the game first like having an exact level on the game. I used to watch gameplay of this game sometimes. Probably the only 2022 comment here.:steamfacepalm: