Really fun game with a good amount of strategy. Runs well, and in my playtime so far I've only had one crash (and didn't lose any progress when resumed). Highly recommend.

So far it seems to go more for depth than breadth, with only really three main playstyles (Damage, Sanity, and Traps), but nonetheless has enough variety to keep my butt in my seat. And with a forthcoming content update it looks like they're going to continue expanding on it.

Bots gone. Am happy.

At 800+ hours, I can't say I've had any saved data issues (though I back them up regularly due to everyone else's reports).

The simple fact is: if you liked Rise, this is just more Rise, so probably for you. If you didn't, then it's not for you.

They did it. After 10 long years, they finally made another good one.

It runs well on PC, it's packed with content, and the flow of matches is balanced (i.e. you get some hits, your opponent gets some hits) so it just feels right. There's very little lag to speak of when using the character creator now as well, so it's not like pulling teeth creating even a simple character.

However, it has jank, for sure. Biggest pain so far is probably most multi-person matches. 2v2 tag is fine, but anymore than that gets very annoying to win. Relating to this, the MyFaction 4v4 matches are just awful and near-impossible to win via pinfall (tip: go for submission).

Some of the MyFaction AI matches are unnecessarily difficult; basically you have to both win the match and do enough objectives during the match to actually win and claim a reward. In a 3v3 tag match on Legendary difficulty, this equates to getting 5 out of 6 objectives per person, which can take anywhere between 10 to 25 minutes depending on how the AI was balanced for that particular match (in some cases, they counter around 1 in 3 attacks).

But overall, very good game. If you've been snoozing on the franchise because of some lacklustre additions in the past, this is the one to pick it up again.

UPDATE: Months after release and 100hrs later, the performance issues haven't really improved. Frequent stutters just interrupt the fast-paced nature of this game way too much. The game has been updated frequently and gameplay-wise seems great, but these performance issues hold the game back too much. Here's hoping for a sequel that actually prioritises performance.


OLD REVIEW:

It's frustrating but fun in spite of itself. Negative review is for the awful performance issues and overall rushed launch. How it didn't launch with DLSS/FSR, we'll never know. Hoping to update it to positive after some patches.

For reference, even with a ASUS TUF OC RTX 3090, a Ryzen9 7900X at 5.7GHz, and DDR5 RAM at 6000MHz, the 99% FPS for me is around 20, and overall FPS never goes above 70FPS in the best case scenario.

Alot of the negative reviews have focused on the following points; bad port/poor optimization, terrible writing/voice-acting, and certain questionable design decisions (i.e. the cuff vambrace talking too much.

Just to address these specific points:

- i7-9700K + RTX 3090 @ 1440p here, I get consistent 60fps at High without raytracing. Yes, it's less than expected, but the way people have been talking about it, you'd think it's unplayable. But this really isn't the case. Tweak the settings, see what works for you (on a PC game; heaven forbid). DLSS causes ghosting, so I'd suggest using FXAA unless you need those frames (then turn off motion blur).

- Yes, the script + voice acting is awful, absolutely awful. But I find it hilarious, like a bad budget-movie. Example (paraphrasing): "If someone does something nice, they usually expect something in return", OK so she has trust issues, I guess. Next line: "I have trust issues". Terrible dialogue, but gave me a right laugh. Not saying it should win awards for this dialogue- or at all- but I wouldn't consider it a blocker to purchase.

- Building from the above point, the cuff vambrace talking too much is hardly much of an issue if you enjoy the cheesy dialogue. However, I will say that the introduction sequence is annoying as hell. You think you're in the open-world finally after being in cutscene-hell (also, you can't walk the same speed as NPCs you're following...) but you try and explore a bit and *POOF* you get teleported back because you went "too far from your destination".

What I'm trying to say is, a lot of people are just jumping on the hate-bandwagon for this game, and I don't know what their expectations were going into the game, but we all knew the dialogue was going to suck right from the first trailer. $80 is a steep asking price for this though, I'd call this game a solid $50 title sofar.

1. Get owl
2. Take pictures
3. Basically Pokemon Snap

UPDATED 11/2022:
4. Get DLC
5. More pictures
6. Better than Pokemon Snap

After 4000+ hours on my main account, I've finally finished the start of the game.

Great simulation game, but doesn't have the same enjoyment factor as 2K15.

Plus, no CM Punk.

Great singleplayer, obviously, since it's a GTA game. But GTA Online is only fun with friends. No friends -> no fun. If you have no friends, it is still worth the price tag, but the most value in the game is the multiplayer.

Runs at a consistent 60-100FPS on:
i7-4790K @ 4.4GHz
GTX 970 @ stock Hz
10GB RAM
Installed on a standard HDD

NOTE: People with packet loss (wifi, mifi, poor internet) have experience mild to severe stuttering in both singleplayer and multiplayer. For example, me on my fibre connection has no stuttering, but if I use my phone connection I get mild stuttering (4G), and my friend on wifi (and wired 1mbit) has severe, unplayable stuttering. Please keep this in mind.