Steam Next Fest Demo Feedback

Hello. My friends and I have been playing the demo a lot recently, and I figured the least I could do is share some of my feedback. (I acknowledge that the way the game actually works is probably different to how I perceive it - these are just my impressions based on my own play experience.)

Weapons

• Glock 17 / Austrian 9mm

  • Nothing much to note here, an all around solid starter weapon.

  • The only issue I noticed is that sometimes if you fail a mission and restart, you will sometimes not have this weapon equipped by default, forcing you to “re-buy” it. This causes all kinds of issues, particularly with actions like carrying a hostage.

• Desert Eagle / Sahara 50

  • I honestly don’t understand the point of this weapon.

  • It doesn’t “feel” noticeably stronger than the other pistols, and because it has a very limited firerate, it’s somewhat difficult to use.

  • Perhaps it is more intended to deal with heavily armored enemies, particularly with the AP Rounds attachment, which was not available in this demo.

  • The most effective way to use it seemed to be to stand still and exclusively go for one-tap headshots - which is also a very effective way to use other pistols (or weapons in general).

• Five-Seven / Paragon

  • I categorize this as “Starter Pistol Plus”.

  • You get a lot of ammo, and it feels like it deals with armored enemies easier (as you’d expect from the real-world influence).

  • This is fair then, as it’s reflected in its premium price tag.

• Mac-10 / Wam 10

  • By far the most broken (purchaseable) weapon in the demo.

  • Whenever I had to introduce any of my friends to the game, I would say “take the Mac-10 for easy mode”.

  • For what this is - an extremely cheap, very compact SMG - it is incredibly effective. You can easily solo-clear all three maps with just this weapon.

  • For most enemies, all you have to do is fire a short burst at head height, and you’ll either (A) get a headshot and insta-kill them, (B) hit several shots and do a bunch of damage, or (C) stagger them long enough for you to fire a second (more accurate) burst.

  • At longer ranges, you can of course just switch to semi-auto for a very manageable 30-round pistol.

  • This weapon desperately needs more recoil. Something akin to the AKM, where the weapon is almost uncontrollable in full-auto without weapon attachments.

  • It could also potentially do with a slightly smaller default magazine size, to punish spraying too liberally, and encourage the larger SMG options. (I acknowledge this may not be authentic.)

  • Additionally, there’s a small visual bug where the suppressor attachment has noticeable seams where it connects to the barrel.

• MP5 / Trooper

  • Nothing special to note here. Just an all-around solid option for a reasonable price. I will have to spend more time with it for more nuanced feedback.

• Mossberg 590 / Artemis 550

  • Very satisfying to use. Close-range headshots are easy due to the pattern spread, and being able to instantly break open locked doors is very fun.

  • The effective range does feel perhaps a tad short, where most other weapons can OHK at almost any range with good enough aim. Obviously this is by design, and the different ammos enable this playstyle with trade-offs. (It also encourages switching to pistols for those longer ranges.)

  • Shotgun beanbags are essentially just slugs, since those weren’t available in the demo. Massively increased range for very little downsides, plus cash bonuses for less-lethal captures. You could consider adding drop to the projectiles, to make it harder to land long-range headshots.

• M4 Super 90 / Bellini

  • As expected, this is just a somewhat more premium version of the Mossberg.

  • Its rate of fire increase is perhaps not as appreciable, due to how quick the Mossberg can pump shells. This is good for the Mossberg of course, but makes the M4S90 feels a bit superfluous in practice.

• AR15 / Stone 5.56

  • Interesting to have a semi-auto only, 5.56 rifle in the game.

  • No other noteable feedback. It has a great selection of attachments, as expected, and feels effective in practice.

  • The fast reload, where you mash the R button, is extremely fast. It could perhaps be slowed down a tad, as it currently feels almost buggy in how fast it finishes. (There are several weapons that also have this “issue”.)

• AKM / CVM 7.62

  • Excellent weapon design and feel. Having a weapon where full-auto is nearly impossible outside of very close range feels authentic and gives good reason to switch to semi to reign it in.

  • The attachment progression is brutal though, with a massive 180 headshots before you get your first unlock. Perhaps additional optics are planned later, similar to the ARs?

  • After unlocking the muzzle break, full-auto is more manageable, but still retains some of the kick the weapon has at medium ranges.

• M4 / N4-CR

  • Nothing much to note here - a premium version of the AR15 with the added option to use full-auto.

  • Attachment selection is varied, and the weapon feels good to use.

  • Needs further testing to see if there’s any nuance.

Dead Drop Weapons

• Striker shotgun

  • Kudos for implementing the real-world reload mechanic of having to crank between every shell, but my God does this weapon feel cumbersome to use because of it.

  • As a “cheap” Dead Drop spin on Mission 1, this weapon is acceptable. But once you have enough money to buy an actual loadout, this weapon becomes more of a trap than a reward.

  • There also seems to be a bug where reload sounds aren’t playing for this weapon? It frequently felt quiet or even dead silent during extended reloads.

• Pepperball gun

  • Has similar problems to the Mac-10, but now with an enormous 100-round magazine and gives added bonuses for less-lethal captures.

  • The stagger potential of this weapon should maybe be reduced, possibly replaced with an accuracy/mobility debuff to enemies hit by it.

  • Also, the pepperballs currently function like standard bullets. They travel in straight lines and even seem to glow. You could consider adding drop to the projectiles to make it harder to land medium-to-long range shots?

  • If they aren’t already, they should also do nothing to armor. (I know shotgun beanbags can still Uncap heavies, but I haven’t tested enough to see if it’s possible with the Pepperball.)

• Grenade Launcher

  • There seems to be several issues regarding hit detection with this weapon. Not sure if it’s client-based, or universal, as my only experience was my friend using it.

  • Often times the grenade would appear to explode directly under an enemy to little effect.

  • Likewise, it seemed very easy to damage the shooter or their teammates, even when neither seemed to be in range of the explosion.

  • It also mentions being a “shotgun” multiple times in the description and categorization, despite seemingly only having HE rounds?

Attachments

• Red Dot optics

  • I feel like red dots are both perhaps a bit too powerful, and also remove some of the novelty this game has with its ironsight crosshairs.

  • It would be nice if the optics could still “drift” a bit when you’re moving around, and have to line up for accurate shots. Better than irons, but not just a post-it note taped to your screen.

  • In some ways, the mid-tier Holo Sight felt like a downgrade when compared to the “Cheap” Red Dot. The added visual clutter made it harder to line up quick shots, and since there don’t seem to be any weapons with projectile drop, the markings didn’t seem to serve any purpose?

• Laser sights

  • Laser sights also felt a bit overshadowed by Red Dot optics.

  • Once you have optics unlocked, there didn’t seem to be much benefit to lasers besides showing your teammates where you’re aiming?

Maps / Levels

• Offices / M1

  • Having all the external doors chocked is an interesting choice, but it feels like it limits your entry points.

  • You can obviously bring C2 breaching charges, but then you can’t afford any other weapons.

  • Likewise, there are options for deployable ladders, but you often still need to clear the building for the main objectives regardless, so it feels like a needless detour.

  • Perhaps if there was a higher concentration of enemies around the underground access points, or some kind of traps you had to avoid, to encourage these alternate entry methods.

  • It also feels like there are too many medkits on this map. Great for a first-time experience, but means there’s currently little consequence for rushing in.

• Mall / M2

  • This map feels extremely linear, and in some ways less random than the other options. Once you get into a routine, there’s not much reason to deviate.

  • There are several options for deployable ladders that are scoutable via intel, but they don’t seem to be accessible? Not sure if this was done to limit the scope for the demo.

  • The only(?) deployable ladder option available feels like more of a trap than a benefit. You have to clear the snipers first to access it, and then it just leads you up into an open area where you’re often surrounded by enemies. It seems to be more of a shortcut for backtracking to the Dead Drop supply room than anything else.

  • It’d perhaps be better if there were some more groups of enemies outside the objective room, making it harder to approach. Currently it’s pretty easy to clear the escalators and then push up, with or without grenades.

• Oil Rig / M3

  • A very cool map conceptually, and definitely the most varied of the bunch.

  • The deployable ladder position at the start feels a bit pointless, since there are plenty of stairs and ladders close by that access the same general area.

  • There is a deployable ladder position that connects the upper and lower sections, but it seems inacessible in the demo? There’s a pile of debris at the top of the stairs above it, and no way to hop the railings. (A shame, because it looked like an interesting access point.)

  • There are also several valves around the map that appear to have HUD elements over them, but they don’t seem to be interactable?

Objective Types

• Laptops

  • It seems that interacting with the laptops is optional? Perhaps this is by design, but considering most of them only take 10-15 seconds to hack passively, it feels like interacting with them only speeds this up by a few seconds.

  • Considering the risk for failing a hack too many times means failing the mission, this often seems like it’s not worth the effort.

• Bomb Defusal

  • There doesn’t seem to be much interaction here. You put the defuser down, and within a few seconds it’s completed.

  • It feels like the most effective way to handle this objective is just to quickly interact with it and then run to a defensible position, since it’s so quick to disarm and the enemies don’t seem to be able to disable it?

• Hostage Rescue

  • There’s a common bug where you can still use your primary weapon while carrying the hostage. Not sure what triggers it (perhaps the no default pistol bug listed earlier?), but it can make the objective fairly trivial when it happens.

  • There also doesn’t seem to be any penalty for abandoning the hostage when being rushed by enemies, or otherwise getting shot to pieces while carrying them.

Enemies

• Flashbangers

  • The enemies that throw flashbangs feel like the easiest so far. They will frequently pause for a long time to throw their grenades, making it easy to line up quick headshots.

  • Similarly, being hit by enemy (or teammate!) flashbangs is not very punishing. The flash effect doesn’t seem to last for very long, even if it goes off very close to you.

• Snipers

  • Snipers are initially intimidating, but are made relatively trivial once you start abusing lean-peeking from cover. (Stand still and lean briefly to bait shots, then lean back out to shoot back.)

  • Perhaps if the snipers had a shorter (or less predictable) delay between shots, or if their projectiles travelled faster?

• Heavies

  • The heavily-armored shotgun enemies will frequently grenade themselves, leading to easy fights. Not sure if there’s a way for them to pre-check their grenade arcs before throwing them?

  • Likewise, they are surprisingly easy to kill with frag grenades, despite being very resistant to bullets. Perhaps frags could only inflict heavy damage, or Uncap them, rather than killing them outright?

Miscellaneous

• Should C2 breaching charges be able to kill enemies in close proximity to the door? Perhaps I’m too used to how they behave in games like Ready or Not, but it felt a bit unintuitive at times, particularly when dealing with the objective room on Mall / M2.

• (The in-game countdown mechanic was great though! As is having it as an "emote” option.)

• There seems to be a noticeable delay between when the battering ram animation finishes, and when the door is actually bust open. Not sure if this is a bug.

• The battering ram in general feels a bit pointless currently, considering how quick it is to manually kick down doors and how infrequently it makes a meaningful difference. Perhaps some doors could take more than 3 kicks to break down?

:-

Otherwise, thanks for the demo! It definitely made me bump Rogue Point further up my wishlist, and I’m looking forward to future updates on the project. :)