game is pretty meh. I can't praise nor hate on it from someone who's played a couple different games of this particular genre.

Pros:
its f2p
Gunplay is alright
Customization is nice (if you can afford to run those guns)
money isn't "too" hard to make in lower difficulties (take into account i've played shooters for a very long time. This might not apply to others.)
They do give out "free" things (knowing how some marketing works, this is more of a player hook than anything. The amount of free stuff they give out will never equal to what you really need.)

Cons:
definitely got a pay 2 win aspect. market values for high tier Armor/ammo/gun parts are absurd and can only be realistically traded by top players who already have something like 500mil+

armor in this game feels like paper, due to the free kit system anything less than level 4 is not worth using. Plus ammo that pen 3 is quite common and cheap.

(this isn't necessarily bad)- No resets on inventory, everyone always keeps their storage this can be both good or bad depending how you look at it.

Adding on p2w, market size increases, safe pocket increases, then of course their are skins that may or may not hide you better. Safe pocket thing is a HUGE issue, as some of the best selling items can't fit in it unless you pay for the 2x3 safe pocket. (game uses a grid placement inventory)

Melee weapons are also a bit P2W but kinda useless in this game except for AI.

Player model: 50-60% of my raids roughly were either bought skins or female characters, certainly hard to notice some over others plus it does seem like their is a difference in hitbox potentially considering the influx. (it could also just be immature folks going "haha im a girl".. More info is needed)

No real "goal"- finish pretty meh "story" missions, fill up your stash, collect things. It's another f2p grind fest, or at least can be easily compared too them.
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Over all.. i'm genuinely not impressed, Player base is down now to from some info i have read up on from a couple posts, probably for the above reasons. Personally I think this PVPVE extraction shooter genre is well over-used now, if you really want a nice extraction shooter experience that doesn't involve having to fight players and grind for well nothing other than "oo shiny red thing", check out project silverfish or duckov. Well worth the cost for duckov, and silverfish being beta is promising and very fun. Both have end goals in mind and will give a better sense of fulfillment than this.

also go check out Hunt: Showdown or arc raiders... if you really want a decent experience.

really cool game, it is what infectinator survivors should have been (granted i enjoyed survivors anyways). The game is a isometric shooter with some hint of rogue-like and resident evil which makes an interesting game. Missions are simple, survival, important item, or timed mission. The puzzles aren't to difficult either but a welcome thing to give the players a bit of a challenge to get their mission done. As well as unlocking better weapons.

Much is very reminiscent of Resident Evil titles. Puzzles, health bar (heart monitor), and even inventory feels like it was made with the purpose of keeping the player always on edge on.. what you need, how long you are taking, and can you leave.

In my game though i did encounter a couple bugs, co-op has some latency issues being a game dependent on host connection, as well as issues with co-op players getting "Stuck". Not to mention i ran into a bug where the 1 character of the code, for the door was supposed to be scratched out, but it wasn't, making the panel a near impossible task to guess and get done.

Single player and co-op needs some work, single player is so loaded with loot it makes normal feel kinda easy, and co-op item amount seems to be the same making rationing items to team a bit difficult. The sweet spot seems to be 2-3 players for current item spawns.

Map diversity is a bit low at the moment, and so are missions, mutators, and even weapons. But it is VERY early access so ill give it that.

Over all i think the game is nice in its current state, i will say it has a lot of potential as a co-op zombie game. Plus the devs allow people to join their friends without buying the game (friend pass), allowing others to try for free as long as 1 has it.

if they iron out puzzle bugs, and certain connection related issues. This game will be great after they fully release it.

I really wish i did not have to write this but i am...

So playing arc raiders for a bit and messing around with different kits, weapons and other such for both pvp and pve stuff, it is not looking great....

this game comes across as ocean of content but it's only a inch deep. and it is really starting to show from recent weeks..

What's the issue? the issue is, it's having the same issue as every other game that shows a PVPVE style, once you get all the pve stuff done, people get bored, and mindlessly start attacking each other for no apparent reason. to no benefit to either party. To make matters worse gun balance is still atrocious...

Right now as is, the top most used weapons are kettle, stitcher, ferro, anvil, and venator (even after the firerate nerf). Other guns have little to no place in the game, except for things like the legendary guns and hullcracker, which are mostly for killing arc (AI-enemies).

i still see some people use renegade and torrente rarely, but everything else seems to fade in obscurity....
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What content is there?

a lot of pve focused missions given by traders, they give you some lore stuff info maybe every 3-7 missions varying.
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Trials- a in game leaderboard system focusing on doing activities in map for cosmetic and some gear rewards in raid. Its an ok incentive.
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PRESTIGE- a prestige system that gives you extra xp, scrappy bonus (passive mats), repair bonus (gear/weapons), and space... for what? all your levels, everything in stash.. and the biggest kicker.. blueprints. Blueprints being lost is my biggest issue with this, blueprints if you're lucky, you may get 1 every other raid, with a high chance of duplicates.
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PVE- do fetch quest, "go here", one raid missions, fight big robots, use high damage weapons, bombs and grenades, maybe get help from randoms? not to mention the enemies aren't really a challenge right now and each one have a way you can abuse to beat them without issues, IE fire grenades, wolfpack, deadlines etc.... ok cool for a little bit.... then it goes into pvp quickly.
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PVP- again the weapon balance is bad, starting weapons are still favorable over any blueprint ones you get later due to cost and availability. i dunno why a pressurized "nail gun" thing is more effective than a rifle but it is...

then for people who know, venator is still broken. and still over used. the issue with it wasnt just firerate, the issue is it's a pistol that fires double shots and out dps basically everything mid to close range with maybe 2 exceptions to close range.

I dont even see many people use shotguns anymore, and the il toro pump shotgun, is alright. thats how bad balance is.
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Summary of pvp- Weapon balance NEEDS fixed still, this game is already pushing the average pvp thing of making small caliber pistols and high 1 shot damage guns the best options to use, as seen with a lot of certain games nowadays.

late spawns gotta be reduced or removed outright. I will say this is the BIGGEST issue with Arc raiders at current for pvp. i'll explain this separately as that's how bad it is.
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Late spawn issue....

first of all, TTK is very low, and healing with out top tier meds is very slow, can take upwards of a full minute or two for your team to heal then loot. How's it an issue?

late spawns last till half the match i have hard, and after fighting 2-3 sometimes even the full lobby, free kits can run up on your team with broken shields, low ammo, throwables and heals. and drop you before you can even do anything.

the other issue, even if teams somehow don't get caught in third party, teams spawning on the late timer now basically are forced to fight other players, because all the important POI have been looted. And is generally why people don't bother bringing anything more than a stitcher, anvil, kettle, or ferro. Obviously venator but yeah...

this adds onto the issue with blueprints being scarce already, and the prestige taking them away is not ok.
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so many issues have came to surface being fully leveled up now. More storage space isn't necessary at the current stage due to game balance issues i have just stated, if you have all blueprints, all you need is basic materials, which one vendor sells to you for seeds. It makes collecting guns very redundant, same for advanced resources to make higher tier weapons.
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in summary, a lot of issue to fix with current content amount, mainly weapon balance and late spawns, the game itself is promising, its a nice get off work and ♥♥♥♥ around game.

But for me and a group i run with, we basically have done everything except prestige and maybe some trader missions.

also with how the seasons and trials work, the game seems to be trying to capitalize on F.O.M.O.

Prestige in this game is basically filler content at current with no true benefit.

team missions 90% of the time turn into fire fights, if you want the goofy PVE randoms go play solos with crossplay OFF, you will probably have a better time since people use their mic more on PC it seems.

Can i recommend it?... No, it's got a lot of issues which are only now becoming blatantly apparent as the community all reaches that "equal" playing field.

So this is a pretty neat little game, played through the content there is as of now and it was nice for a couple hours. I tried out the different vehicle types, tank, car, hover, and mech. And they all offer a different control experience.

Mech: most flexible and the "middle" ground vehicle

cars: usually technicals, light health but fast.

tanks: slowest of the bunch with one exception. but lots of health.

hovers: basically tanks but their mobility is improved (forward) with minor side strafing abilities. and the edition of having more energy weapons.
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The game itself seems to draw inspiration from many titles, battletech, brigador (tuktuk go vroom), and it even feels like im playing a top down version of rusted warfare with how the enemies and your own mech move.

This is all good, the terrain is also partially destructible and would love to see more things that be broken or destroyed at some point, there does also seem to be an armor system in the game, where sections of the enemies and your own vehicles, take increasing amount of damage depending on where you get hit. and it makes precise shots useful.

all in all its nice, short right now, but it feels great as a foundation.
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however, i will say the ballistic weapons do feel a bit weak compared to missiles and lasers at current. i was able to finish the last couple missions with 1-2 missile mechs like it was a breeze. And some missions with just spamming plasma guns which aren't even higher tier it seemed. The biggest issue i have with ballistics right now is some of the machinegun weapons and AC-20 feel a bit under powered, vs their counterparts and high tier versions.

(however the scout cannon,pillon , GL's, and beehive/cluster weapons work wonderfully..)

enemy variation is a bit low at the moment too, i will say it is eventually going to be addressed according to the road map. which is nice.

No bugs were of note when i played. all in all, nice grab for 10$ but certainly has room for more.

total thoughts: fun mech shooter, has promise, maybe some balance changes.

So i have played this game for a good bit now to have some insight.

Note: this is coming from someone who has played a lot of openworld games that need a little or a lot of intuition to be effective.
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The game in it's unfinished state? it's great, i have been enjoying the play through i made which is now on about 11 hours as of writing this. (1 hour was on sandbox)

And so far i have little to no gripes with it, i will say this game is a bit difficult, damage from enemy soldiers and entities is very punishing even on "normal" difficulty, weight management is also a bit of a pain too so break out your inner fallout-hardcore experience. (yes ammo/meds have weight)
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whats good?

the game itself runs very smoothly, the fighting is very fast paced and does include some stealth elements albeit rather simplified to vision detection modifiers and if the player is in LOS or not with a flashlight or other light sources.

on the normal difficulty the loot does periodically re-spawn, although its enough to keep the player from farming 1 area over and over. How it does this is food and loot, food is pretty scarce on the game ranging from pre-canned goods to frogs and bugs. Loot also doesn't appear much after the initial scavenge, leaving players with less to find that can be sold or used.

artifacts, each one does something, and can even be used to upgrade starting weapons. they have their uses, i will be vague on what they do for spoilers in this games lore. As many of them do things to the player that are either bad or good.

Story- on the surface there isn't a lot but what starts out a open sandbox turns into a dive for the games inner meanings and lore, many terminals and things are about the place that gives players insight to what is actually going on in this messed up world. Anything from a enemy briefing to just some event that happened before the lizard folk arrived.
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Bad- obviously with it being early access there are issues.

some obvious unfinished assets are dotted about in late game.

this is not a game for people who use guides, i tried for certain items only to find very little, so everything you need to get is a bit of a coin flip if you actually need it or not.

Enemy balance and anamoly balance- without much info on how this works, there is a scaling to enemies and player gear not sure how it's measured. But it's alright for now, the big thing is anomalies, from what i have found there isn't much to do against them to turn them off or stop them from appearing. EMP affects some anomalies but not many, i have not tested this as EMP is quite scarce.
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conclusion-
what i'd like to see so far is a proper end-game, and maybe a way to start "Cleaning up" anomalies that are scattered around the ruins and underground areas. Maybe some true end-game creatures too like some heavy vehicle from the military or even a strong monster.

Other than that for EA its really fun. Just it's hard for a shooter game of this category if you're not used to a stalker or things like fallout NV/3 where you're given very little insight outside of "hey whats this thing i found?"

but if you wanna try it go ahead, i would recommend it if you are familiar with survival shooters

For starters, this DLC is probably the best one that has came out so far. As soon as it dropped me and a group played through all the missions using a old save (Big W there thanks PGI for not breaking the NG+/rollovers). We all enjoyed it, and i will say the *only* gripe i have is there doesn't seem to be a way to get employed by clans to access the shops they've taken over? unless i'm missing something....

I will say this DLC isn't light hearted in it's difficulty, and reading the comments plus understanding some deeper lore of the game series, yes it makes sense that the Clan Ai should be more deadly with their attacks and weaponry. (which from what i know the "issues" people have are being addressed).

And while there are issues mainly the co-op bug of mechlab, it is being fixed soon as well as some other problems that persisted in prior versions of the game.
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Good:
The extended story of mason is nice, and also good to see the VA getting more lines in other than just a couple mission quips.

The clan weapons being a higher tier makes sense as well given their tech is technically better in most aspects, the mechs themselves are a nice prize too, a base cooling of 2 + heat-sinks is very strong not to mention the faster speeds and generally more armor. ( i just wish PGI would fix this for lostech mechs that IS has, but someone did via a mod so eh..).

The missions play well, no long term issues were noted on them other than what has already been noted. The difficulty spikes are a bit rough if you aren't prepared enough, for new players i can't recommend the "DLC" start, it will be VERY difficult, you're better off loading a old save import.
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Bad:
some issues here and there already being addressed.

Ai is having it's own hiccups now both enemy and ESPECIALLY friendly. (also being noticed)

The omni-slot system feels... a bit watered down, but i think this was a balancing decision to prevent clan mechs from totally overshadowing IS mechs? (it's still pretty useful even though it's been reduced.)

Clan adapted IS mechs: kinda wondering where things like the Hunchback-2C, RFL-2C, etc are.... especially kodiak. Because right now the clan mech amount is pretty low. (not including variants)

The last thing is- the clan mechs have reduced max head armor IG for balancing?.. 18 instead of IS 30 which is very notable. (making using a clan mech with a AI pilot very risky.)
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Overall:
Does it have issues? Yes but they're being noted by devs.

Are the clan mechs good/better? absolutely despite some obvious flaws.

does it have a nice story? yes the story meshes well with everything prior.

How many hours since DLC drop? me and a crew who all have something like 700-1k+ hours.. we got it done in about i wanna say 8-12 hours using a roll-over/import save and that is WITH the mech-lab bug, no mission resets either. (we just worked around it.)

Clan weapons worth the risk? My god, some of the older IS mechs mounted with clan weapons are busted now. we want dat clanner tech yee!

Map? some economics/reputation will have to be adjusted early game to account for late game now to get the most of invasion.

lastly hero pilots? They're a neat addition and certainly fits, the legendary/hero pilots aren't obscenely OP either so you can still use base 60/60 pilots you have had. (and make them better)
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It's a great dlc overall.

first impression for a EA game is amazing. Definitely a lot to be desired as the game is a bit repetitive, but everything else feels clean. Keep in mind this game is very very young.

Controls- controls are nice and simple, the movement and weapons feel responsive.

gameplay- hectic vehicle fighter similar to madmax/twisted metal kind of style games with a pinch more. and not to mention vehicle customization. Skin making, and plenty of weapon choices.

Variety- multiple different enemies from tiny annoying pests, to large boss.. things... each sporting different components like the player can.

easter eggs- honestly this is gonna be full to the brim with easter eggs and references. i mean your starting plate says "not max"

difficulty- this is one of those simple to learn kind of games, but hard to master, enemies have different weapons and speeds so you're always trying to figure out prioritization of who to knock out first. weapons, like the autogun, have bloom and every weapon has to account for both types of lead.
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As for the actual content currently it is a bit low and repetitive however its a great foundation. I'm looking forward to more additions to this.