Some things to know going in -
- It’s a slow burn type of game. If you go in just looking for another game to beat, it’ll probably get frustrating quickly. The first chapter is basically the “tutorial”, getting your bearings for basic things, including the controls which can be cumbersome at first.
- Make a point to adjust the settings to your liking. Turn off the dead zone setting for aiming and crank camera/sim sensitivity up for more responsiveness.
- If you’re choosing to play honorably (at least relatively speaking for an outlaw), make a habit of holstering your weapon around NPCs until they give you a reason not to, because the button used for prompting conversation is the same as drawing your weapon. This can cause unwanted attention.
- Keep your cores topped off. Once you start hunting bigger game this will be easier to do. Also cooking meat with seasonings like thyme, oregano or mint will give you food that turns cores yellow for added mileage.
(...)
So i played a bit on Monday (Tutorial / Chapter I) and a tiny part of Chapter II on Tuesday (Driving into Town and first bounty hunt)
So far: Production quality is (as expected) top notch, but leads to a bit of hilarity sometimes (It insists on playing the animations regardless of weird player-inputs - feels like you play the game in tandem with another player interrupting your movements)
I am having weirdly a bit of troubles with the HUD and controls. The prompts are very small on the down-right, not in the game world or centered. And since it "didn't" click for me so far, that i can work without them, i often have too look up what my options are.
For example: Opening containers is normally mapped to "r" and taking things is mapped to "e" , but looting things is "r" again, which i tried intuitively with "e". Unarmed attack is "f", even if it could be just attack when no weapon is drawn, opening Dialogue-options is "right mouse" when pointing or being near a friendly, which is the same as readying weapon / aiming when shooting.
Also something like: moving in and out of cover without pressing the action-keys for it sometimes messes with the shooting (If i stand behind a wall, but not in cover-mode, Arthur sometimes can't shoot.
I also seem to be a terrible shot (There is some (technical realistic) delay in pressing the button and squeezing the trigger. And i miss like crazy, but the autoaim ist super forgiving (People get hit with me going: No way that hit them i was WAY off - which leads to being a bit frustrated) Conclusion: Seeing if i can turn off aim-assist and become better.
And regarding the "cores": As far as i saw it now... There is autoregenerate, so it gets boosted by being "Full" which i can barely see, and don't really know the status. I just eat sometimes, don't know if and when that does anything and when it runs out, so i didn't care about that so far (Apparently some food buffs the cores and colors them, then i can maybe see the status). I died so far only by exposing myself running and gunning, i seem to be invulnerable as long as i don't risk anything. A bit weird cover shooter mechanics (I am a bit more Max-Payneing myself... As long as i move everything is ok - this gets punished in this game - have to adapt to a more calm approach)
Storywise it did a good job in the tutorial to introduce all the gang members (Except a few women) and what they are about. Felt like a good intro for the many shenanigans the group gets into over the next chapters. Arthur (MC) seems to be able to be played slightly more human and regretful or a bit wilder and violent. But both sides with his gruff and tough facade. Could be interesting.
Overall nice feeling, but i struggle a bit with the handling so far. (Also i am playing "The Long Dark" again at the side - So far about ~45 days in a Interloper-suvival run)