[Humanity]

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.

[Horizonfall]

On PS4 you use character abilities with the same button mentioned in the tutorial, R1. In Alicia's (female shotgunner) case, you R1 to jump, and then R1 again after you hit a wall, to do a walljump.  I've personally found her to be very useful as a harasser, because as mentioned in the little Pros and Cons about her, she isn't really intended for straight up fighting. Alicia can't  use stealth because shes always stressed, but alternatively shes always able to regenerate health, meaning shes on the more mobile characters currently in the beta. Very fun, and IMO, the best character to send after the Antagonist.

Unfortunately, your mentions about the brutality of the game's punishment for player error may end up sticking around. Far as I can gather they are trying to make a pretty punishing game, but come full release maybe we'll get a support character, or a nerfed grapple. Personally, the moment I derped tried grappling a ready shotgunner and got kicked in the face, blasted back, and cheesehole'd to death was the moment I kicked down my recliner and leaned forward with a smile. I love it.

[Max Anarchy Reigns]

From the way you talk about the melee, sounds like you might not be aware of the rock/paper/scissors mechanics. You can punish grapples or people that mindless mash attacks.

Also, the running out of ammo thing during a boss fight is why you should always try not to kill everything with your gun. It's an incentive for the player to stop playing it safe and mix in melee. If you're not paying attention to how you're taking out enemies, the game punishes you. I personally think it's an interesting concept and I like it.

[Humanity]

Oh I'm aware of the rock paper scissors mechanic - and I was actually able to parry several hits and get a counter attack going. It's the insta-kill grab that I have problems with. Sure you can cancel it out with a strike, but that is only when you see it coming. Getting grabbed from behind or sometimes at random is kind of tough to predict, and with the respawn timers and sometimes periods of no-respawn at all it's a very punishing mechanic to simply die from a single move. This is why I advocate for grabs to reduce your health to like 15% but not kill you completely.

Similarly with running out of ammo I understand the mechanics of it, but it simply doesn't always work out that way. My team has killed every mob on stage and as the sniper I've run out of my ammo, which is limited. Now I'm left there doing nothing - in it's current state I don't think it's an ideal solution.

[Max Anarchy Reigns]

You have to look at it from the perspective of the guy who's up against 4 players... The odds are already stacked against the person and they manage to sneak up on someone, even though they can be seen through walls or have the 4 man team co-operate by grouping together to make it near impossible for the antagonist to get a kill... In a situation like that, If the person manages to get that close to someone WITHOUT BEING NOTICED, they they deserve the stealth kill, IMO. Without the threat of the instant kill(THAT'S PRETTY EASY TO AVOID CAUSE OF ALL THE FEATURES), things would be too unfair for antagonist players. If devs nerf the dmg, and they manage to land a grab on someone who's close to a team mate,  that's an automatic death for the antagonist.

 Things need to be balanced for everyone, not just the co-op team. For every situation, there should be ways to counter them.... that's why game lets you counter grabs and has a feature that make it difficult for anyone to sneak up on you (seeing enemies through walls). If anyone gets stealth killed,  it's that player's fault and they/we should be rightfully punished for it. *Map awareness* is an important skill in any online game. A competent player should always be aware of their surrounding, learn how to play *cooperatively* with your team, and use the feature that make it difficult for anyone to sneak up on you.

As for the ammo; you should always keep count of how many you have. Even if you're a sniper, your team mates aren't the only ones doing their job, you should be contributing by doing your part too, all the while *paying attention to how much ammo you have and how you're killing the enemy so you don't run out.* Just like getting snuck up on, if you run out of ammo, it's the players fault for mindlessly shooting without keeping track of their resources. I play sniper too, It isn't that different from any other class.

EDIT: And everyone has the same available options for each side.  I've snuck up on antgonist players, too. Stealth killing isn't something that's exclusive to them.

[CosmonautCowboy]

I agree, I don't think the combat needs to be changed, just have a good tutorial/explanation for how it all works, so that everyone has the opportunity to use it as effectively as possible.

I think melee killing enemies to replenish ammo is one of the best features in the game, and I think it would take a lot away from it if they changed it. Even playing as the sniper, I generally didn't have too much trouble melee killing the bots. Given that most of them move towards you once you engage them, I found all I needed to do was not get caught in a crowd of them. If you've got three of them moving towards you, plan ahead and pick off two of them, allowing the third to get in close so you can kill them for ammo.