devtrackers.gg
I could really use a platform to let out my feelings about this game, and I hope that it helps the developers make this game more promising than it has already been.
I'd like to give you my quick thoughts on how I initially felt about the game; my first thought was, "a new shooter? How does it compare to the others out there?" In my experience, I've played years and years of shooters and continue to do so. I used Gears as a benchmark because of its movement similarities as well as other shooters (COD, Borderlands, CS:GO, Valorant, Halo, Fortnite, Apex, etc.) because they all fall in the same category and carry the same fundamentals that give us joy as players.
I played the game and a lot of the natural experience kicked in. I was able to loosely understand what was strong and weak in the game mechanically, the skill level of the opponents I was playing (to not gas myself up and stay humble), and found myself unfavorably thinking about one thing; the "feel" of the game.
The problem for me is this, there's not enough "umph" when you hit shots.
Modern Warfare has a unique hit marker sound that feels great when you hit your shots and get a kill.
Gears of War has unique gun sounds that when you kill opponents, you get a "gut wrenching" yet sensory appealing sound paired with a weapon sound effect that feels rewarding when you kill someone.
When you shoot someone in Apex, you feel good when you hit shots because you can hear your gun chunking at their armor / health. It's pleasing to the senses and rewarding.
Borderlands has the same appeal. The combination of visual and auditory effects in Borderlands is so extreme that it can cause the game to freeze or crash. You can feel the damage you are dealing and its exhilarating.
Fortnite feels good when you flickshot someone with a shotgun from point blank range because the shotgun is so loud and so satisfying.
Even a slower-paced game like Valorant is satisfying because you hear a "duun" whenever you get multiple kills. It leaves you wanting more and it makes you feel good when making plays.
What is missing in Rogue Company is that satisfaction. That appealing effect to the senses that you get when you are making plays, the thirst to want more. There are other games missing that feel too, and I think that for someone such as myself who has played games with and without that feel, it's easy to understand that both players and developers gloss over why this is important.
If First Watch added a more appealing hitmarker / health degeneration effect, I think it could help out. I will stray away from the game mechanics specifically because I want to emphasize that what makes a game good is how it feels. I primarily play fighting games, and I can say that if a game feels good, it doesn't have to be balanced to be successful. We all want balance until everything becomes homogeneous and sucks the joy out of the games we love.
I personally hope that First Watch will see this and understand where one of their players are coming from. Making a game is not easy, but if I can help then that would be cool.
Stay safe!
- Mike Ferreira
UPDATE - I made a quick, low-ish quality video that may paint a better picture; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKg7PJlKqEE&t=77s
External link →