ORIGINAL POST - 10-26-2021:
I'm back on Xbox for PC Game Pass for a month, since it's on sale for a $1 to sub right now, even if you've subscribed before. I played this for about an hour or so. Have some thoughts, so I'm gonna share.
It's more Left 4 Dead 1 & 2, basically, in a nutshell. Yes, there's some new twists w/ the cards (to boost certain stats, skills, buffs for certain stuff, whatever); finding money in the game-world; buying equipment at safe areas b/t missions; and whatnot. You can run with other players or bots; up to you. The game's a lot of fun and the combat's really good, if you're into what L4D 1 & 2 brought to the table. The missions feel like they might bring more variety than L4D1 and 2's formula, as it's more than the usual just get to the end of the level thing the old L4D 1 & 2 has going on. For example, there's even a level w/ an on-going boss that keeps coming out, here and there, after you advance a bit through the level. Combat's smooth, visceral, a joy to play, and all of that stuff. The game runs really well, maxed-out on my system (loaded with a 10700KF; 8gb RTX 3070; 16 GB RAM; W10 x64) at 1080p60fps no problem.
My biggest problems with this game is honestly...the progression and always-online factor. Since you can solo this w/ bots, even if they ain't the brightest of bulbs here for AI/bots, I feel that there's no reason that this is always online. Yes, given what I just said, I believe that we should be able to play this all alone and offline. Also, the lack of progression also makes this worse, as I should note that when you select a hero - yeah, you can see that 4 heroes are locked, once you start the game - so, you can get a total of 8 players to choose from, to partake in your squad of 4. Heck, I'd be happier if they gave you separate saves for online progression and offline progression, like even Diablo 2 did back in the day - but they did not go that route.
So, yeah; there's some thoughts on it, so far. I'm sure I'll check it out some more while I'm on Game Pass for a month or so - but it is fun and it is good, so far. It's just...it's a royal shame that there's a lot of nonsense like the always-online factor and no progression when soloing over here.
