Nether
After attempting to give this game a fair try on numerous occasions there is no way I can recommend it. Rather than list the flaws individually (which other negative reviewers have done well and quite thoroughly) I will instead share my latest gaming experience:
I’m scavenging for about 30 minutes and have yet to find a single item – no weapons, no food or drink, not even any gum – but the atmosphere of this game is great (one of its only strong suites) so I keep at it, all the while slowly starving to death. I have to this point (luckily) not ran into any Nether since I'm only equipped with a kitchen knife. After some time of no luck on the surface I decide to head underground because there seems to always be some good loot somewhere in the subway system.
As soon as I enter – to my delight – I see an uzi sitting in an abandoned camp site. I walk up to it and I press/hold E to loot….nothing…..readjust and try again….nothing…..walk away and then come back…..nothing……try every single possible angle/direction…..nothing. So I give up and walk further down the subway tunnel, still only toting a knife with which to defend myself with. Maybe another 10 minutes go buy and I come across a room that has both a sword and a GRIMM Reaper! There are no guns, but they’re much more effective than the knife I currently hold and at this point I am just happy to see ANYTHING. I walk up to the Reaper and cannot pick it up….walk over to the sword and it’s the same story so that is now 3 weapons I cannot pick up.
Finally, after nearly an hour of fruitless searching, I come across another GRIMM Reaper that I am – by some miracle – able to pick up. So now I am armed at last but, remember I haven’t seen a single Nether in nearly an hour so that means I cannot level up…. I haven’t seen any other players either but I consider this a good thing because most survivors I have run into have powerful weapons and can kill you effortlessly (and usually without being seen). I’ve now been playing for an hour and am begging to run into anything I can kill….I have yet to level up at all and the atmosphere has gone from lonesome and foreboding to just plain boring.
I decide to go back above surface to keep looking for enemies to kill. As I’m running down the tunnel I hear the telltale warping of a Nether! I turn around to see what I have encountered….and it’s a Golem. I know I am outmatched so I try desperately to run away, though my efforts are useless because I continue to hear the teleporting sound and keep getting hit in the heart. It’s clear I have to stand my ground and fight this thing. I hit him a couple of times with my reaper but to no avail as he easily beats me into a pulp. That’s it - an hour of play and I end exactly where I started.
Yes, this is a beta game (though it is still functioning MUCH more like an alpha as of 1/4/2014). Yes, it was my choice to pay the ridiculous price of $30 (however to that point I will say I that I was duped by the developer pumping it up to sound like a more complete game than it is even now….the last time I checked the price had dropped to $20…still too much….). All I am saying is that the above playthrough is a typical experience for me and others. You WANT to want to play the game, but there are just so many flaws and quirks that it just feels broken. If there ever is a final production version, I could see it being a very good game but as for now I have to strongly suggest that you avoid this title…
Thank you for your time