Game itself is good, Like GENUINELY really good. The issue is that Sony, A MULTIBILLION dollar company, and Publisher of this game, decided that it would be a good idea to force you to use a PSN account to own this game. They quote "Security reasons" as to their reason for adding a PSN account. The same company that gets hacked around once a year, wants you to entrust your information with them to play a fantastic game. Add onto this that not every country in the world can have a PSN account created in it, and Sony BANS you for using a VPN just to show that you're in a country that can have a PSN account...you start to see some ♥♥♥♥. Finally Sony originally had wording on their website saying "Signing in to PSN is OPTIONAL when playing a PlayStation game on PC" which was updated a few months after Helldivers 2 came out to say "Some PlayStation games may require you to sign in and link to an account for PSN." which means that Sony, not Arrow Head Studio's is trying to force this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ down our throats. If at some point Sony reverses this decision two things will have happened or will.
1. The damage will already be done. This game will no longer be anywhere NEAR as popular as it once was, because Sony, Like Apple, Wants to control the ♥♥♥♥ that YOU own, that YOU paid for. No one's gonna take that ♥♥♥♥.
2. My review will change from negative to positive, but this entire rant here WILL stay. Because even if Sony goes back on it, they can always do it again later down the line.


And Sony, I know you get to read dozens of these a day so I'm not gonna act like you'll actually read this, But this is why I don't buy your consoles. This is why I don't buy your games. This is why I push people towards PC and Xbox if they can't afford a PC. Because you do ♥♥♥♥ like this, saying that "Due to technical reasons account linking was optional". Were those technical reasons the games rocky yet somehow turbocharged launch? Was it because some of the crossplay stuff wasn't working? You should have just forced itout the gates if you were going to pull ♥♥♥♥, because you've taken a Fantastic game and forever dragged it's name through the mud and dirt. This game won't recover on steam, and I DOUBT your store reviews are much better.

To Arrowhead Game Studios, Thank you. Thank you for the wonderful game and the time I spent playing it with friends, friends that because of Sony's decision, I may never play with again on this game. But you guys at the studio aren't to blame and I hope you guys find a better publisher, one that won't screw you guys over like Sony is doing now. Thank you for the heartfelt conversations from the CEO Pilesteadt on Twitter, Reddit and Discord. You guys are in good hands when your CEO actually talks with players like that, and adds in capes for lost friends (I know that's what that cape was for). I hope you guys continue to make Fantastic games, that bring gamers together from across the globe instead of dividing them. Thank you, and I wish you all the best.

05/07/2024 Edit: To Sony, Congrats! Now roll back the Steam stuff too so everyone can play again and not just those in countries with PSN enabled...

It has many surprises to offer including all of the learning you can do for whatever "role" you choose, Be it Mining, Pirating, Trading, or something else. I won't get into it too much but if you can't handle doing things for a long time don't get this as you'll grow bored VERY QUICKLY. But otherwise give it a shot. There is MUCH to explore!

So I originally had a pretty good review for this game but not too terribly long after I posted my review it...changed.
First off: I have over a thousand hours in the game, spread across three accounts, and one of which one has partial tracked on Steam. I have been playing for years and more off and on recently with the off times being longer and longer between them. The main reason for that is the game has changed fundamentally.

1. Grind/P2W. The original review of mine praised this game as being a good F2P experience with P2P (Pay to Progress) Elements. This has changed quite a bit. Back when I was really active on the game I could get an event token in around 10-15 matches of Realistic Battles at Rank 3. The most recent event for the Andryusha showed me a contrasted view. It took me 30+ Realistic Battles at Rank 3 to complete A token, which was only available for 48 hours. It wasn't a skill thing either because I managed to get top of the leaderboard quite a bit, including killing 13+ units (Quite a feat in RB) every few matches. The grind increased, while the payout remained the same, much like stagnating wages irl. Ultimately I had to put money down to get the vehicle I wanted. "Why?" you might be asking, Simple: They originally had the tokens only be worth less in Arcade Battles. Now it's worth less in AB, RB, and at ranks less than rank 5. I barely made a 1:1.1 ratio per match. Before I made a 1:2 ratio where one match was worth twice as much (or 1.5, can't fully remember) for RB matches. Increase in GRINDING or Pay up.

2. Economy changes are always made, I've seen Hundreds at this point. Recently we had a top rank vehicle's repair cost go above what you get a match, making it impossible to gain money off of this vehicle at all. Gaijin eventually caved and reversed the change but they can always do this again, and seeing as they have been slowly increasing costs of repairs, this is highly likely. The only fix if they do this? PREMIUM ACCOUNT! That's right, spend money on our game that we chose not to put a price point on...to make money with a vehicle you RESEARCHED through the tree. Not a Premium vehicle, not an event vehicle, A normal, everyday vehicle that you can research, and have to fully go through it's modification tree. So now we are paying for content we were told we wouldn't have to? No. Not happening.

3. Chat. Chat spam cooldown used to be sending a message withing .5-1 seconds after your last message. It has now increased to 3-10 seconds (depending on how the server feels it seems) meaning you can no longer provide your team with valuable information. Now I get that you don't want spammers but there's a much better solution: increase the timer everytime a message is sent less than 1 second after the last, including the cooldown with that. So if I sent three messages less than 1 second apart, it should go 1 second, 2 second, 3 second, with a second being added for every message. Eventually spammers just won't be able to send anything that match. Or just make the Mute option a little more accessible when in a match. That would be the BEST solution.

4. Finally, the lootboxes in the game. You heard me lootboxes. They've been there since before I played but back then it was simply, "Here's a small reward for your good performance last match, on top of the daily login you get." Then they added true lootboxes: Buy this key for the crate you got last match, it might include a skin, a vehicle, an order, or some currency, Likely currency, and almost always a small amount like 10k. Right now they have some (Boxes and keys) available for Lions, the normal currency (normally for a key you use real money or golden eagles, the premium currency bought with, you guessed it, real money.) however every one I have opened has been either an order, or 10k Lions. Considering it costs 60k to open one (10k for key and 50k for box) it doesn't even try to hide it draining your normal earned currency and being another cash grab. I know someone who opened over 500 of these before getting a vehicle. That's 30 MILLION earned currency (again Lions), per match you only get like 19-25k on a good match, some of it is taken to replenish your ammo, repair your damaged/destroyed vehicles, and potentially buy new vehicles or modifications. After all that you maybe get like 10-15k. Something important to bring to light is that you can make more through a Premium account, which you pay money for monthly, or by buying Eagles and turning them into Lions. So even the lootboxes are a cash grab.

To sum it all up: Everything is designed around you paying money now instead of you enjoying an experience that otherwise would be rather fun. Chat has been an issue in-game that they never implemented a system to counter what they wanted so they increased the cooldown of chat for everyone, ruining the ability of the player to communicate readily with other players about pertinent information regarding enemy positions, formations, and vehicles. One too many times I've had the information to save my allies, but couldn't because "Chat spamming" cause I warned them about an approaching aircraft being a bomber and I would reply the moment I knew what it was. This typically resulted in either my death, or the death of my teammates, due to a Pe-8 nuking 5 blocks worth or buildings to ruble with a 5000 kg bomb being dropped from so high that SPAA can't do anything. When I DO manage to say something someone still typically dies but it's one person instead of 3-5. The game has gone downhill and it's all Gaijin's doing with their cash grab tactics.

I've wanted this game since I saw it in my queue forever ago and when I finally got it (a few months ago) I enjoyed it Alot (even on a below minimum spec PC) and honestly its still on the right track.

Very Good game and it's only in alpha! Already addicted at alpha 0.771 and I hope it sees some popularity because it's kinda of like KSP but in 2-D AND easier to control with the added benefit of weapons with out mods and less graphics intensive (sorry for all the "and"s.

This game is similar to Minecraft only in its looks for characters otherwise it is completely different but in the best way immaginable. PvP is difficult like it should be and singleplayer is great when you don't have internet connectivity. Try it out...you'll wished you played earlier.