Yeah, don't get me wrong, I think the game is actually coming along nicely in certain ways. The devs improved many things since the beginning. This release alone has CQC/physical kill system, a dodge ability, two new missions (albeit just the same rehashed areas but with frustrating mission demands), exploding heads, "improved" jiggle physics, and improved physics (e.g. the zombies can't hit you by swiping at air). Aesthetically, the game is excellent. It visually looks sorta like a Skyrim modder's paradise, but in a genre that many, many gamers want yet is the only one of its kind (a functional and developing 3rd person shooter RE game).
I think my gripe is that the bugs and level design are huge problems. And the slow, slow pacing is another, since we have to wait about half a year per update, meaning this game will literally be finished (if ever) in 2024 or so. Yes, I've known from the beginning that the devs are a two-person team. It's understandable, but it doesn't mean that that's not a problem. And as much as I think getting a foundation for the game set up (e.g. mechanics) is essential, I think the devs would be wise to give the community what it wants - more anims/enemies/characters/items, as well as a virtually bug-free and frustration-free (due to level design and lack of a save system) playthrough - rather than focus on the visuals. As I, and you, have said before, if I have to start over and waste hours of my life due to those aforementioned problems, I'd be pissed no matter how good the game was.
This definitely has a lot of good points in it. Having prior knowledge of certain levels, the game REALLY isn't bad at all, its just how ridiculously frustrating it can be when you don't know where certain key items are, and they aren't really placed in a way at times that is obvious to the eye or well led to. Though, the biggest issue still for sure is when you have to leave/game crashes and you lose all your progress back to the start of that mission, which in the cases of mission 2, and ESPECIALLY 4 the first time you play it, is pretty painful. Frankly, I hope they just do more things like the start of mission 1, or mission one in general as a whole minus the forest area is pretty good. The sewer survival bit is fun with the new added mechanics, and the mansion overall while not great, is actually pretty fun in terms of how its laid out. I'd say mission 2 would be similar... but the poor placement of certain items, and the manhole being near uninteractable if you don't view and stand at just the right angle REALLY make it a pain to play through.
The heavy action pacing in three, and it being a generally more focused level where you just get to toy around with the mechanics (minus the really annoying hidden zombie, or general hidden zombies you have to kill to progress) is really shaping up, and in all honesty, I'd just be happy with this becoming something of a "Mercenaries" but lewd game, with more focus on action than a lot of the more survival/puzzle elements. Even Mission 4, for as poor a first play it can be, has some really cool ideas in it. I like the light puzzle overall, even if its nothing too indepth or makes you really think, its still a neat little experience, especially getting to go through the caves in a way where you can see where you came from, and where you are going. Interconnectedness in general is always fun, and at least when it comes to older resident evils with shortcuts and the like, is a huge thing, so I'd honestly love for them to somewhat focus on or include elements such as those in the future.
The two biggest suggestions I could give though going forward into the future, or things I'd just like them to think about really is either having someone join for free just to test the builds before they come out, since their PC doesn't seem capable of doing so, to help ease a lot of what are relatively easy bugs to find. Would really smooth over peoples frustrations a lot frankly, even with it being basically alpha, the combination of bugs/crashes and no checkpoint save system being implemented (save for on death) really hurts the game and just makes it feel like a waste of time to play at times, same with just how much running there can be in certain areas of the game.
The other thing is they REALLY need to think about just the kind of scope they want for this game. I'm all up for them still adding a male protag and female enemies for said protag, and even multiple female/male protags in general, but I feel they should at least, before doing so, finish up what they have now and make a releasable game for 'not Jill', then move onto focusing on expansions with other characters, or just other games for them entirely. They'd have much of the basics already done by the time they finish one, so they could simply focus on polishing future experiences, and I think it'd make for overall better products then them simply trying to shove everything into a single game, as with as small a team as they have it'd simply take way too long, or require too many compromises imo.
Regardless, I think the game has done a lot to move in the right direction, and is pretty niche in itself since its basically catering to RE fans of the over the shoulder titles, but that niche aspect of it, and hell, the fact that its even a third person shooter with some sort of lewd/pornish aspect to it at all in terms of gameplay is a VERY rare thing. The closest thing I can think of to this is the Left 4 Dead pardy/inspired one where you play as a male protag, which usually just doesn't work for me in a game, plus the added fact it has gore/guro really killed my hopes for that game. I'm just hoping to see this project succeed down the line, and quite frankly I think that visually its fine right now with some small tune ups, so the more they focus on gameplay/polish from here on out, and of course animations, the better, really curious to see what they are planning to add on to the sex attack system and what animations that will require as that's something they mentioned before.
