I've become absolutely obsessed with this shooter. I've put in over 24-hours in the last two weeks, which is a lot for me.
The gameplay loop is really fun and addictive. You basically join a mercenary group. I think there are three to choose from. Once you create your character you start at the base camp of your group. You have access to starter gear and weapons, which is actually pretty decent. There are then three or four "vendors" who have various main missions and side tasks that you can agree to perform. As you accomplish missions, you gain experience and reputation with the vendors and gain access to better gear to trade and buy. To go on missions, you call in a Little Bird that flies you into the AO. You're operating in a country that has villages, small towns and jungles. The map is large and beautiful. There are a bunch of warring factions out there and you can either play PVE or PVP, if that is your thing.
PVE is great for me because there are other players around doing their own thing and you can either choose to interact with them or not. There is no griefing or combat among players in the PVE servers. I think it is a great way to handle an online game for people who prefer single-player action.
The game is challenging. If you die, you lose all your gear, except for a few items that you can store in a case. You have a limited amount of time to get back to your corpse to recover your items, or else you lose them. This can be devastating, but it is also part of what makes the game so compelling. I've lost some great gear, but I haven't had too much trouble building myself back up. Speaking of death, there is pretty robust health and injury system. You can get injuries that require bandages, splints, tourniquets, medicine, etc. There is a blood loss system, food and hydration too, but it isn't anything that is too onerous and there is always food and fluid to find in the field.
When you're ready to leave the AO, you can either get yourself to a FOB in the field, or you can go to an LZ and call in the Little Bird to come and pull you out to bring you back to base. There is a lot to explore in the world and it just doesn't seem to get old.
One other really compelling aspect of the game is the gear and weapons systems. You can buy or find in the field all sorts of different weapons, gear, parts, ammo and equipment. Guns all have their main components, like barrels, receivers, grips, and all kinds of attachments you'd expect, lights, lasers, optics, etc. The gunsmithing in the game is top notch. There are all different kinds of real world weapons, pistols, shotguns, rifles, SMGs, etc. and they have licensed the names of the real manufacturers, like Daniel Defense, Glock, Springfield, EOTech, etc. Ammo can be FMJ, JHP, armor piercing, etc. and there are all different kinds of body armor and helmets with various NJP ratings, so ballistics and penetration is very much modeled. I've spent a few hours just organizing my gear and building new weapons.
In any event, I highly recommend this one. I find myself distracted at work because I keep thinking about missions I want to go on and kit I'm looking to build or upgrade.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on April 24, 2026, 08:29:52 AMWhen you're ready to leave the AO, you can either get yourself to a FOB in the field, or you can go to an LZ and call in the Little Bird to come and pull you out to bring you back to base. There is a lot to explore in the world and it just doesn't seem to get old.
I've only tried the "learner" mission in PvE, but the extraction seemed bugged in that I was continually told I was too far from the LZ even when I was standing on it. Turned out to be a sort of bonus as I had to yomp back to base and found lots to explore, though eventually died when outnumbered in a firefight.
Will give it another go though.
Quote from: Father Ted on April 24, 2026, 12:23:02 PMQuote from: Jarhead0331 on April 24, 2026, 08:29:52 AMWhen you're ready to leave the AO, you can either get yourself to a FOB in the field, or you can go to an LZ and call in the Little Bird to come and pull you out to bring you back to base. There is a lot to explore in the world and it just doesn't seem to get old.
I've only tried the "learner" mission in PvE, but the extraction seemed bugged in that I was continually told I was too far from the LZ even when I was standing on it. Turned out to be a sort of bonus as I had to yomp back to base and found lots to explore, though eventually died when outnumbered in a firefight.
Will give it another go though.
It is not a bug. You do not click on the LZ you're at to call for extraction. You click on the base or LZ that you want to travel to. It's not super intuitive. I had the same issue early on but got lucky and figured it out without too much hassle.
I almost got this with the recent up date and discount that came along with it. Looks really interesting, it's a whole part of the genera of loot extraction shooters that spawned from tarkov, but people complain tarkov is too toxic with the pvp, wipes, and devs. So the space is shared with games like grey zone or incursion red river.
Speaking of which, looked at red river pretty closely, it's pve only with coop and a recent up date did wonders for the AI. You can taylor the AI to your liking, if you want terminator ai that dome you from across the map or do you want ai blind enough to sneak up on and spend 5 shots before they hit you...your covered.
Both of these games bring up the question, you can do everything these games do in arma reforger with mods, which is why I passed. Arma series is kind of the one stop shop for all things shooter, I passed on battlefield 6 because I could get a better experience in arma reforger. Oh, and Arma4 looks like it got confirmed 2027 release.
I've been eyeing this one and '83. Can't decide.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on April 25, 2026, 01:38:21 AMI've been eyeing this one and '83. Can't decide.
Do you prefer PVE or PVP? I don't think 83 has any PVE. It is strictly a PVP title like the other Rising Storm titles. This could be a deciding factor for you.
I went with '83 as I've got Insurgency if I wanna mow down bots.
I played around with '83 a bit last night. Good gunplay but it feels a little soulless and the levels feel a bit small and cramped compared to Squad. It feels very similar to Ground Branch to me but with a lot more players crammed into a small space. Pretty deadly so far.
Definitely feeling buyer's remorse with '83. It's just not good. Wishing I'd gone with Grey Zone instead. Oh well.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on April 28, 2026, 01:22:50 AMDefinitely feeling buyer's remorse with '83. It's just not good. Wishing I'd gone with Grey Zone instead. Oh well.
It'll go on sale again, I'm sure. Someone had to take one for the team on '83. It was on my wish list too.
Still loving GZW though. Hovering over 40 hours and going strong. Have some really sick gear and I've opened up some new areas on the map. Tougher enemies with better weapons and higher tier loot! Having a blast!
Also want to add that the PVE community has proven to be super cool and generous. I had some really bad luck on an op and lost all my kit. I came back to base with nothing but the clothes on my back and a knife. I must have looked really pathetic. Some guy asked me if I need help. He told me to go behind a dumpster, I swear I thought he was going to rape me, but instead he gave me some very high level gear and weapons. He gave me a Daniel Defense AR that is worth over $17,000 (in game) some Class III++ body armor and a bunch of 60 round mags. I'm this guy's man for life now. It really turned my gaming experience around.
Since then, I've been on ops and had some really nice cooperation across the board, people giving me heads up about dangerous areas, booby traps, or letting me know where to find certain things. Its been a great gaming experience overall. I really feel like they have achieved a very nice balance with the PVE system, whereas most other online shooters suffer because everything is built around the PVP experience, which I really have no interest in.
I also want to comment on night ops. It really makes a difference in this game and I love stalking through the jungle in the dark of night. I have some good NVGs that help me navigate. Enemies have a habit of using flashlights to find their way and this is awesome because it gives their position away. With my silenced weapons, I'm like the grim reaper, hitting my targets, whispering death into the ear of the enemy and melting away before dawn. Its really cool.
I think the coop pve vibe is trending up lately. Most pvp games are full of hackers or sweat lords or both, it takes the fun out of it. I think helldivers started this trend when it released a few years ago. Then look at dune, arc raiders, windrose....all huge successes cause they ditched(or minimalized) the pvp.
Also, I knew 83 was a bust, because there's no way it was going to out do arma reforger. Vanilla reforger already has the best cold war shooter experience, not to mention the mod sand box that opens up vietnam, ukraine, or whatever conflict you want.
Yeah, the RO2 nostalgia got the better of me. Hopefully they can iron out the bugs and add features, but right now '83 feels like a bad 3rd party reskin of Rising Storm with most features stripped out. Telling that it has a lower player count than Rising Storm already. The devs are refusing to add bots so a lot of servers are empty and those that are full are full of the sweatlords we all dread. Game hasn't even been out a week and there are players with 80+ hours in already.
Took some basic screenshots from last night's session...
Main Menu showing my dude's current loadout.
(https://i.ibb.co/9mSZs8r5/20260429083938-1.jpg)
Rainy day at base.
(https://i.ibb.co/C5dN8ghH/20260429084006-1.jpg)
The statistics page.
(https://i.ibb.co/Vc74cyrY/20260429084103-1.jpg)
This is the inventory system at base where you have access to your locker on the right.
(https://i.ibb.co/h1XqZbh9/20260429084031-1.jpg)
This is the vendor system. Meet Handshake. He sells some good plate carriers, vests and body armor.
(https://i.ibb.co/hFW74n2t/20260429084043-1.jpg)
Here is where you can manage and choose missions.
(https://i.ibb.co/9kTZ4zMx/20260429084057-1.jpg)
The main AO
(https://i.ibb.co/RpPGPqHL/20260429084048-1.jpg)
Zoomed in showing some locations and symbols.
(https://i.ibb.co/21Ty7xtr/20260429084051-1.jpg)
Its the little details...note the constellations?
(https://i.ibb.co/LD9Svbkm/20260428220408-1.jpg)
This was egress after a successful op.
(https://i.ibb.co/4Z2v3xY0/20260428220514-1.jpg)
Flying home watching the sunrise.
(https://i.ibb.co/4gDRRQ2j/20260428220538-1.jpg)
Peaceful country...from the air.
(https://i.ibb.co/qYR1NjjY/20260428220548-1.jpg)
Rice paddies later that day.
(https://i.ibb.co/cS1wdXSd/20260428224546-1.jpg)
^Those screenshots and the original post in this thread have got me intrigued.
I unwishlisted '83 because after watching a few YT videos I could see the game is lacking some sort of charm. Pity but now I've got my eye on Gray Zone Warfare!
Really tough night last night.
I was clearing a building and I bumped into an enemy in a stairwell as I was moving up. He had the elevated position and got a lucky shot to my head and neck. I bled out before I could apply any trauma kit.
In Gray Zone when you die, you have one chance to get back to your body and loot your gear. If you die before getting your gear, you lose it all for good. If you wait too long, you lose it all permanently. I made my way back to my body and was in the process of getting all my stuff back when the God damn power went out in my house and my battery backup failed. The computer shut down. Since I logged out in the field, it was treated as MIA and I lost everything.
I have a lot of good gear in my locker, so it wasn't too much of a setback, but I did lose a very expansive and very rare Knight's Armament KS-1 that I absolutely loved. I'm still broken hearted over it. That thing was a killer. I will eventually be able to buy it again, but not until I reach level 4 with one of the vendors. It's expensive too...costs over $20,000!
In any event, this game has really high highs and pretty low lows too.
The crazy thing is the game is still early access and is only at version 0.4.1. Still has so much development and content to come.
Sounds pretty awesome, but I don't think I am ready for that level of frustration. :hair:
This is currently 25% discounted. Needless to say, I highly recommend it. I'm still obsessed.
New update hit today too, with enhanced AI, the beginning run at a new stealth/visibility system and a whole bunch of bug fixes.