Recent reviews by Zoog

First, let's get the bad things out of the way.

The game lacks polish in several area's, it definitely misses AAA quality in certain parts, but not all(!). Besides, in general to me the open world isn't very convincing (everything is so close to each other and lacks "life") and it doesn't make me feel I'm actually behind enemy lines as a foreign operative. There a tons of ways this could've been made more immersive. That is not to say the specific mission locations are not immersive, because they very much are! Just how it is tied together, I don't know, it feels a bit off to me somehow.

On to the good parts: the game is very fun and challenging. If you're a bit open minded and are able to accept a few flaws and look past them, there is a great experience to be found. I know many tactical shooter fans are very critical and can nitpick every tiny detail. If you can rise above this: the game really gives me an old school tactical shooter feel, there is enough freedom in completing your objectives and multiple ways of doing this. Environments in the mission areas is immersive overall, and playing this game gives you the cozy feeling of you together with your rifle hugging the ground to fire that perfect shot.

Sure, it misses a lot of tiny details: why can I not remove my suppressor in the field, why can I not restart/replay a mission once completed, why no ADS toggle option, etc etc. But these things can be patched in later down the line or you can just look past them and still enjoy the hunt while on a mission near the Georgian/Russian border.

Wow, just wow. What a beautiful game. The gameplay, the story, the music, the environments, simply nailed it all.

I got it on sale for €2,99, shame on me.

I actually had to take a break from this game for a few days before continuing again, as I kinda had a nut in my stomach when I was thinking about how the story was evolving. Normally I don't feel really invested in characters in a game, especially shorter games. But this game turns out to be an exception. It's an excellent game on a very serious subject, and it takes you along the way and slowly pulls you into blurred lines of the good side and the bad side. If that even exists?

Slowly it all becomes a grey area while you're sucked deeper into the conflict. To me it shows how you can feel powerless about the events unfolding around you while simultaneously you actively shape how you relate to everything that happens. Every choice you make is directly or indirectly taking a position. And there's no magical good or bad decisions to make.

It's one of the few games that actually impacted me, that makes me think and wonder about how some things are in the world.