Heyos! I just hit level 9 and the first mission of my second campaign. I've only played for a few hours and know generally what gameplay flow is like from occasionally checking in on Raiders and a few streamers since it was put out on steam.
I really like some of what's here: the core gameplay, the visuals and storytelling, the antagonist system, but then some elements and current design choices butcher my willingness to invest what bit of time I do have.
I'm not writing this out expecting responses - normally I'd break topics down into bite size posts to chew on for targeted feedback, this is more of a review or impression.Action - Better than Okay
Action has a decent pace, though its on the slower side for me. I don't feel like I have enough of a kit for the slower pace to really feel 100% warranted. I feel like a secondary ability/weapon or something is missing and I should be able to do more that what I can with the characters. Its pretty barebones and I don't really get the impression that changes, aside from weps with alt fire or cards changing up playstyles. I wonder if this game is meant to have very hard counters to gameplay/chars/etc, because the very limited options seem to suggest that.
The enemies in the first campaign are not too exciting or much to speak of, though the mixing in of snipers and rocket guys makes things a little more interesting. The boss fights are cool though and I definitely look forward to what's coming.
Antagonist System
I really like the antagonist system. For me, its a lot of fun, though I'm sure there's terrible pain points with it. Its cool to be hunted and to suddenly have to thoughtfully strategize about dealing with an antag + the mission in a lot of different ways. It made me use a character I wouldn't otherwise play (a sniper, Harac in this case) to effectively harass and shut down a few antags on a couple maps.
Visuals
Characters are great - blasting bombastic personalities and such a cool art style in many regards (I can definitely see possible sources of inspiration for it). Everyone is uglypretty, raw as hell, and crazy fit - I love it all. There's a lot of punk attitude and fun expressiveness here. The audio is pretty nice too and sounds have good impact.
My only real gripe and disappointment is that pretty much all our raider women have the same exact body type and silhouette, when our guy raiders have all sorts of body types. Its a lazy industry standard or trope, I know, women get all same body type and little in the way of cool gear (ginebra is an exception though). It just feels like a very weak point from a team that easily demonstrates they can do so much more.
No character design is bad or lame here IMO, but there are some missed opportunities like Hive and Valeria to go a bit further, or the new gal coming up where its just what new skinsuit are we gonna get and how's our T&A ratio going to change (only slightly). I'm going to hope standards get pushed a bit (within Spacelords' style) and future characters, or existing skins go a little more interesting and away from this game's average body type and style.
Nice visuals with effects and environmental detail. Its a pretty cool world I hope to see a lot more of, though I feel like the art style and expression of the world is really held back by some of the dull formulaic level designs. That may change with the other campaigns though, I dunno. I just got out of the first campaign.
I really feel like there's a lot of lore/world design worth digging into and enjoying. I haven't unlocked much of the lore entries, but I will check out the comics soon, and potentially order a couple if they have them for print....or if MSE comes up with a little graphic novel or art book.
Character Stuff - Eh
I finally installed Spacelords and was really looking forward to a few characters, and then found out there's an extreme gate to those. The starting characters I've tried are okay, only a couple give any kind of solid strong feeling with their playstyle.
Alicia's main gun...wow, pretty horrible at any range, and at close range, you could just melee instead. Her jump seems okay for escaping antagonists and maybe moving around, but this gun is just so bad I don't even care about her. Terrible feeling character to start off with, and shotguns and jumpy/mobile characters are almost always my go to in shooters, so this is pretty surprising letdown.
Lycus's gun and Alicia's guns make me reconsider if its worth playing this game for long. Progression, start from the bottom, blablabla, but I don't feel like there's as much of a need to start us off with obviously and completely bad starter gear especially when you have no control over your progression (another really weak element with Spacelords). It doesn't feel good and its not inspiring a lot of faith in the game - thankfully I know there are some pretty cool weapons for characters I may see at some point.
I have zero interest in characters that play like Konst - slow defensive heavies, so I can't comment there. They look effective, and cool for what they are. I'll probably give them a try when I feel I have no options.
Harec is funny for me. I'm not one that likes sniping ever really, yet somehow I'm playing Harec. His stalk ability is really cool, and I guess I'm tending to him because his gun actually feels worthwhile...and he's nice to look at. Definitely not anywhere near my first choice though, but for what he is, he's definitely fun and nicely designed.
Again, I really feel like I'm missing some secondary ability or something with these characters. I know there isn't one, just feels like there should be one.
Character Selection - Terrible/Excuse me, what is going on here??
I have to play for a week or two to play the characters that drew me to the game? I can't even buy one just to have a happy starting experience and support developers? (though hell no to $35 packs. 10-15 per character sure, maybe 20-25 for a wep or two and some cards).
This problem is enough to make me walk from the game as it is rather than stick through it. The fact that I have to take a long time to get to the characters I want to main is pretty off putting, and some friends of mine who are less patient and also don't have a ton of hours to put in won't even bother playing with me.
I'm sure people would cite higher level chars warranting more playtime to understand the common characters/map knowledge/mechanics etc before you deserve to touch level 35/60 characters, but...? This just feels like really poor artificial content gating that isn't going to help me get invested, and conversely is just meant to push me away. Weapon availability is different
This is a pretty huge disappointment, especially since I don't like the feel of 3/5 chars (including Hans here). I wouldn't mind paying $30-40 to unlock the cast, or a faction, from the getgo.
Can't preview skins for chars I don't have? ...What? Who did this?
Card Selection - Scary
Why can't I swap out starting cards? Really no customization, hours into the game?
I will probably stop playing when I get further due to the way this system is designed and not being able to build characters or have any sort of control over my progression.
Overall
I want to play this game and enjoy it for a while, but the level gating, Pure RNG reliance for customization, and no real signs of progression I can control make for a dubious outlook.
You can't really set any goals in this game, you just have to be content with whatever happens to come your way and just endure until suddenly you may have something you want. That sounds uh....yeah..
Without the amazing aesthetics (audio included), I'm not sure how much everything else holds up to that same level of quality and engagement.
Remember, this is from a new player with a few hours in, not someone that has access to the whole roster and card selection. You might say, oh it gets much better later on - but...would you sit down and have a meal or drink that tastes bad at first, or endure an unrewarding and questionable trip to get to a place that just .might. be okay?
Raiders has grown definitely since its first launch, but now that I'm finally playing it, I'm still wary and not really yet like 'damn why did I wait so long to start playing, silly me!' I am looking forward to how Spacelords and MSE grows though, so I hope they do whatever is ethical and in our best interests so they grow and their game-baby succeeds...and pays them!
