I played a dozen or so matches over the weekend and here is my feedback:

The matchmaking is currently not great, both from a presentation perspective and the time it takes to get into a game, but I assume these are things that will get polished with time. After several matches I got the hang of how it all works but going into the game for the first time it all feels really unclear whether you're matchmaking or not despite the big matchmaking bar in the top right clearly flashing on and off.

The tutorial really needs to be a lot better. This game has a lot of systems and that intro mission barely scratches the surface. For instance after the entire weekend and several matches I'm still somewhat unclear on how I collect Aleph during a match. Is it just for killing the antagonist? Because that is the only way I've ever seemed to earn it. The tooltips say it's done through killing more elite NPC's but I didn't seem to get any that way.

There needs to be a better screen showcasing the unique abilities of the raiders. Some are pretty straightforward, others like the walljump on the female punk character I wasn't very clear on how to use or why it would be useful?

The AI enemies currently pack too much of a punch in my opinion. Considering that you're constantly dispatching them by the dozens and you need to kill them to get ammo, it seems a little brutal that even a single NPC can down you very quickly. They sort of enemies should be cannon fodder that makes you feel empowered. Perhaps lower the damage and health of the base units and create lieutenants that present a bigger challenge. As of right now I feel like the damage you deal versus the damage you take seems a little uneven.

Melee - it's a great idea but it feels a bit clunky. Getting caught off guard by a random grapple that leads to instant death seems too much. I think the grapple should take off half your health and give you a fighting chance to retaliate. As it stands people just run at you and you either mash out the strike in time or you don't. If the grapple has to stay as an instant kill then you should be required to "charge" it in some way in order to deal a killing blow. Other than that I think the melee is fun and has the proper punchiness to it. Although I do wish the combat was smoother like in the Castlevania games.

Guneplay - seems extremely weak apart from the chaingun raider. The shotgun lady doesn't deal nearly enough damage at point blank. The "crazy dingo" with the revolver does downright pathetic amounts of damage with that peashooter. The sniper is good but completely relies on headshots, which are somewhat difficult on a controller. Also running out of ammo is a neat idea but sometimes is really problematic. On the "Ice" mission if you run out of ammo during the boss fight, you're basically stuck running around and doing nothing until more NPC baddies show up, at which point it's actually not always that easy to get a melee kill on them since they deal so much damage. At least during boss fights there should be regenerating ammo packs strewn throughout the arena.

Health - I think it needs balancing. Either the mobs deal way too much damage or the raiders have way too little HP. Getting downed is incredibly easy. Also other players should be able to help you out of the downed state. Right now getting knocked out of a single enemy can often mean certain death. Seeing how a lot of these missions feature a game over when everyone dies and there are frequent 40+ second phases of no respawns a lot of failures happen because there is just no way to help each other out. Maybe there is a raider we haven't seen yet that can revive players, which would be crucial for every missions, but as it stands it's a little too easy to get an unlucky team wipe.

Antagonists - great idea, needs balancing. A longer respawn timer perhaps, or limited lives. While for the raiders it's already a challenge to overcome the regular mobs, having to deal with them AND another human player that runs around with absolutely no consequence to anything can get incredibly frustrating - and I mean frustrating rather than challenging in a fun way.


Those are most of my impressions. A lot of menus aren't translated and stuff like that which I didn't bother listing. The cards need more variety. A regular card having 50% faster reload and then a golden version being 60% doesn't seem all that unique. I understand why you would lock away experience gained to individual characters but it just increases the grind in a not-so-fun way. Maybe there is a better way to incentivize players to spend real money on points?

Overall I love the art - it's colorful, unique and brimming with character. I like the raiders and the goofy personalities, although they could do with a bit less crotch grabbing and terms like "noobs" etc. That is internet talk that has fallen out of favor over the years. This beta felt really rough, and it was a lot different than I imagined it would be. There is a lot of potential for this to be a fun game, but I feel like it needs a lot more balancing and tweaking.