I could write a lengthy review of this game, but I'll try and keep it short and sweet (edit: I failed, it's long):

As of now, October 2024, it is an EARLY ACCESS game, so expect bugs etc. It runs ok, don't expect 100fps+ unless you have an RTX 4080 or better. Hoping it gets better optimised as time goes by.

While the game is beautiful to look at and entertaining to play, it currently lacks substance, something to aim for. I've never played Tarkov, which this game gets regularly compared to, but you are looting and questing for looting and questing's sake. A lot has been said about the water-system that depletes in real-time, but I don't mind it as much as I thought I would, at least while I'm currently playing it. Gaining water, and the items you will lose should you stop playing, are very easy to come by.

Personally, I love the dystopian aesthetic, they have nailed that in every sense. I hope Fallout 5 looks half this good, with all this immersive atmosphere. Every detail from the menu UI to the world around you has been designed and considered with care. The sense of an active, living world around you is fantastic. They could improve the way NPC's spawn in, as it currently feels like they only exist in the map because you've moved to that location, although they can often be seen fighting in the middle-distance, its not as organic as it could be when you see them popping in to life.

The early game is very unforgiving: Once you get an understanding of the NPC behaviour, path-routing and most importantly; obtain a suppressor for a weapon, your experience changes a lot. A suppressor means you can engage the lighter armoured enemies, even whole squads of 5 or 6, without alerting the entire map to your presence. The first few hours it plays more like a horror stealth game, after that you can choose to be stealthy or go more gung-ho. With the understanding that if you mess up and try and bite off more than you can chew, you're in for a world of pain.

A big gripe I have is that currently the explanation of how things work or what you should be doing is very limited, if non-existent. Some quests require you to fetch items or kill a specific person, with no explanation of where you might find them or what they even look like. These items or persons aren't highlighted for you in any way once you are in any given map either, you are on your own. The game has a limited fan-base and no developed wiki yet, so some of these things are just unknown.

The gun-play exists somewhere between the lumbering feel of Fallout and the slick responsiveness of Call of Duty. It's good, but not industry leading.

For all its shortcomings, if Fallout 4/76 was even half as good looking or atmospheric as this it would be lorded as game of the decade. And for £25, I think it's worth a go, especially if you can convince some friends to join you for some fire-support.

I could write a lengthy review of this game, but I'll try and keep it short and sweet (edit: I failed, it's long): As of now, October 2024, it is an EARLY ACCESS game, so expect bugs etc. It runs ok, don't expect 100fps+ unless you have an RTX 4080 or better. Hoping it gets better optimised as time goes by. While the game is beautiful to look at and entertaining to play, it currently lacks substance, something to aim for. I've never played Tarkov, which this game gets regularly compared to, but you are looting and questing for looting and questing's sake. A lot has been said about the water-system that depletes in real-time, but I don't mind it as much as I thought I would, at least while I'm currently playing it. Gaining water, and the items you will lose should you stop playing, are very easy to come by. Personally, I love the dystopian aesthetic, they have nailed that in every sense. I hope Fallout 5 looks half this good, with all this immersive atmosphere. Every detail from the menu UI to the world around you has been designed and considered with care. The sense of an active, living world around you is fantastic. They could improve the way NPC's spawn in, as it currently feels like they only exist in the map because you've moved to that location, although they can often be seen fighting in the middle-distance, its not as organic as it could be when you see them popping in to life. The early game is very unforgiving: Once you get an understanding of the NPC behaviour, path-routing and most importantly; obtain a suppressor for a weapon, your experience changes a lot. A suppressor means you can engage the lighter armoured enemies, even whole squads of 5 or 6, without alerting the entire map to your presence. The first few hours it plays more like a horror stealth game, after that you can choose to be stealthy or go more gung-ho. With the understanding that if you mess up and try and bite off more than you can chew, you're in for a world of pain. A big gripe I have is that currently the explanation of how things work or what you should be doing is very limited, if non-existent. Some quests require you to fetch items or kill a specific person, with no explanation of where you might find them or what they even look like. These items or persons aren't highlighted for you in any way once you are in any given map either, you are on your own. The game has a limited fan-base and no developed wiki yet, so some of these things are just unknown. The gun-play exists somewhere between the lumbering feel of Fallout and the slick responsiveness of Call of Duty. It's good, but not industry leading. For all its shortcomings, if Fallout 4/76 was even half as good looking or atmospheric as this it would be lorded as game of the decade. And for £25, I think it's worth a go, especially if you can convince some friends to join you for some fire-support.