Region lock sucks and sony is evil, but I believe Arrowhead has successfully revived this game.
I really REALLY hope the team keeps up the good work with new and inventive weapons that actually ADD to the gameplay instead of just being "wow look at this cool weapon design" and it ends up sucking and not being good. A lot of my complaints in my original review aren't super prominent anymore, but definitely still present, so I'm really glad with the growth the game has made.



Original Review before patches:

With teammates: game good
Attempting anything above 5 solo: very unplayable

This game has flawlessly re-ignited the long-time friend group "bro hop on" grind I've missed since the glory days of Halo, Titanfall, Battlefield, CSGO, etc. Every round has some absolutely nutty plays or outrageously ludicrous enemy AI activity that never fails to provide new treasured memories between me and my friends.

The only issue I can't ever shake regardless of difficulty, strategy, or hours sunk into the game trying to learn the in's-and-outs to its fullest; the solo play.
I honestly truthfully don't care if Twitter/X/reddit/discord claims "people are completing Helldive missions solo, clearly you're just bad and it's a skill issue and not an integral flaw with how the game's combat loop and AI is designed/structured"
Without friends/teammates, the game is literally unplayable above difficulty 4 unless you're willing to become a brain-dead lobotomite autist who takes the time to not only learn, but exclusively use the best solo strategems/loadouts with the SOLE intention and goal of completing missions by yourself, which by the way, is the most unfun activity in the game.
The whole game is designed to be played with/as a team, but without a team it feels just like playing solo Left 4 Dead 2 on Expert Realism; its not fun, you get nothing out of it, and you share the experience with no one, so the "victory" is not only isolated, but completely hollow and meaningless by the time you're back in the lobby.
I shouldn't have to summon a whole friend group just to set up a squad so I can play the video game. Alternatively, my only recompense shouldn't be "just do quickplay and join an SOS with randos". That's not fun, and I'm not tryna roll the teammate lottery every time I want to play the game at the potential cost of my enjoyment due to the presence of some Goldfish-brained teammate that can't find NORTH on the minimap.

Region lock sucks and sony is evil, but I believe Arrowhead has successfully revived this game. I really REALLY hope the team keeps up the good work with new and inventive weapons that actually ADD to the gameplay instead of just being "wow look at this cool weapon design" and it ends up sucking and not being good. A lot of my complaints in my original review aren't super prominent anymore, but definitely still present, so I'm really glad with the growth the game has made. Original Review before patches: With teammates: game good Attempting anything above 5 solo: very unplayable This game has flawlessly re-ignited the long-time friend group "bro hop on" grind I've missed since the glory days of Halo, Titanfall, Battlefield, CSGO, etc. Every round has some absolutely nutty plays or outrageously ludicrous enemy AI activity that never fails to provide new treasured memories between me and my friends. The only issue I can't ever shake regardless of difficulty, strategy, or hours sunk into the game trying to learn the in's-and-outs to its fullest; the solo play. I honestly truthfully don't care if Twitter/X/reddit/discord claims "people are completing Helldive missions solo, clearly you're just bad and it's a skill issue and not an integral flaw with how the game's combat loop and AI is designed/structured" Without friends/teammates, the game is literally unplayable above difficulty 4 unless you're willing to become a brain-dead lobotomite autist who takes the time to not only learn, but exclusively use the best solo strategems/loadouts with the SOLE intention and goal of completing missions by yourself, which by the way, is the most unfun activity in the game. The whole game is designed to be played with/as a team, but without a team it feels just like playing solo Left 4 Dead 2 on Expert Realism; its not fun, you get nothing out of it, and you share the experience with no one, so the "victory" is not only isolated, but completely hollow and meaningless by the time you're back in the lobby. I shouldn't have to summon a whole friend group just to set up a squad so I can play the video game. Alternatively, my only recompense shouldn't be "just do quickplay and join an SOS with randos". That's not fun, and I'm not tryna roll the teammate lottery every time I want to play the game at the potential cost of my enjoyment due to the presence of some Goldfish-brained teammate that can't find NORTH on the minimap.