Disclaimer: This is based entirely off the Pre-Alpha as of 8/2/23 and the new changes therein.
Good: UE5 graphics are simply amazing and the FPS are still high. Of course, I'm not running on a potato, and people who refuse to upgrade are probably going to suffer. Still, it beats any of that "Made with Unity" garbage out of the water in both visuals and framerates. Nice to see a dev team who actually knows how to code. Speaking of which, I have only found one real bug in what is there (to be fair, there isn't much there) and that was sound related (i.e. certain special ambient effects get stuck in a loop & don't end when they should).
Combat is a lot easier than the previous iterations, which is good because enemies are everywhere. Again, smoother graphics help with this a lot, as things are now fluid instead of jerky.
Voice acting doesn't suck, which is rare for any game made these days. Yes, the dialog is cheese but what do want from a porn game?
Map is frikkin' huge (if empty) and has lots of potential.
The game mechanics that are in place seem to work just fine. Some have complained about the controls but I have no issue as I am a grown up person who isn't trying to interface a gamepad with a PC.
Boats are a nice addition. Could use an autopilot, though.
Bad: World is very, very empty, except for enemies that are way too abundant. Hopefully this will change in future, with copy/paste combat locations replaced with regular NPCs.
Many previous game mechanics are still missing, even simply things like climbing have yet to return.
New plot is absolute weaksauce and I hope they go back to their original story because it was far more interesting. Starting off in a bazaar looking at things you want but can't afford yet is a great hook. Starting off on a beach with a stick and having to spend half an hour running through hordes of enemies to find even one person to speak to is a great way to turn people away. Plus in the old version you can get laid within literally one minute of starting. Now it will take you over an hour. It's a porn game. I shouldn't have to explain this one.
Campfires are nice, and free healing nicer, but it's no substitute for having a proper home base to call your own.
Making players spend an hour running through three different quests before unlocking basic character customization is a very, very bad move. Again, this is something players want to do before you even roll the intro credits. Let them do so.
Desperately needs an autorun button.
Conclusion: I greatly enjoy all the potential that this new UE5 version has opened up, however I fear that they may end up taking everything from here in entirely the wrong direction. Just because you have a new game engine doesn't mean you have to wipe out everything that came before it and invent new everything. They'd be better off just porting everything they had before into it and then deciding what to keep and what to scrap from there.
Good: UE5 graphics are simply amazing and the FPS are still high. Of course, I'm not running on a potato, and people who refuse to upgrade are probably going to suffer. Still, it beats any of that "Made with Unity" garbage out of the water in both visuals and framerates. Nice to see a dev team who actually knows how to code. Speaking of which, I have only found one real bug in what is there (to be fair, there isn't much there) and that was sound related (i.e. certain special ambient effects get stuck in a loop & don't end when they should).
Combat is a lot easier than the previous iterations, which is good because enemies are everywhere. Again, smoother graphics help with this a lot, as things are now fluid instead of jerky.
Voice acting doesn't suck, which is rare for any game made these days. Yes, the dialog is cheese but what do want from a porn game?
Map is frikkin' huge (if empty) and has lots of potential.
The game mechanics that are in place seem to work just fine. Some have complained about the controls but I have no issue as I am a grown up person who isn't trying to interface a gamepad with a PC.
Boats are a nice addition. Could use an autopilot, though.
Bad: World is very, very empty, except for enemies that are way too abundant. Hopefully this will change in future, with copy/paste combat locations replaced with regular NPCs.
Many previous game mechanics are still missing, even simply things like climbing have yet to return.
New plot is absolute weaksauce and I hope they go back to their original story because it was far more interesting. Starting off in a bazaar looking at things you want but can't afford yet is a great hook. Starting off on a beach with a stick and having to spend half an hour running through hordes of enemies to find even one person to speak to is a great way to turn people away. Plus in the old version you can get laid within literally one minute of starting. Now it will take you over an hour. It's a porn game. I shouldn't have to explain this one.
Campfires are nice, and free healing nicer, but it's no substitute for having a proper home base to call your own.
Making players spend an hour running through three different quests before unlocking basic character customization is a very, very bad move. Again, this is something players want to do before you even roll the intro credits. Let them do so.
Desperately needs an autorun button.
Conclusion: I greatly enjoy all the potential that this new UE5 version has opened up, however I fear that they may end up taking everything from here in entirely the wrong direction. Just because you have a new game engine doesn't mean you have to wipe out everything that came before it and invent new everything. They'd be better off just porting everything they had before into it and then deciding what to keep and what to scrap from there.