10/11

I joined this game at the tail end of Serpent's Moon, just as the final installment of the Moon trilogy, Devil's Moon, was about to launch.

Back then, in 2022, the biggest issue was the Avtomat. The developers had decided to release a 1-slot variant of the Sparks rifle, the Sparks Pistol, which still held the ammo properties of the regular Sparks; 20 bullets spare with the ability to have 2 ammo types to change between. The developers for some reason, didn't think people would bring Avtomats with Dual Sparks Pistols to have 40 reserve ammo on a burst fire assault rifle in a game set in 1890s Louisana.

This was a massive meta balancing issue, where the best players would bring an Avtomat, Dual Sparks (with the Quartermaster trait) and two Ammo boxes, to essentially have more ammo than there was AI on the map. You could imagine how unfun the fights were then.

So, the developers did a massive meta shift to undo the mistake THEY made; they changed it so Base Ammos (Compact, Medium, Long, Shell) would get a fixed rate back from ammo boxes (8/6/2/2), and made it so you would have diminishing returns ammo stacking dual pistols. Which, severely nerfed several guns and combos.

Why am I talking about this? Because throughout the years the developers have constantly created massive problems for themselves and then blew their own foot off trying to fix it.
Gunrunner, Explosive Crossbow, 1896/2.0 update changing penetration, I can go on.
Instead I will focus on this specific update, The Road to Hell.

They say it's paved with "good intentions', but I don't buy it, I don't think theres a single well meaning change in this entire update and it's Cryteks swan song to throw out before the game plummets to Pre-Post Malone numbers for the 6th time this year.

In this update they have done a MASSIVE overhaul to the Loadout and weapon system, instead of weapons being grouped by size (Small, Medium, Large), they now take up "points" in your "capacity"

Small pistols are 1 point, stocked pistols and certain (I'll get to it later) revolvers are 2, Carbines are 3, Rifles and Shotguns are 4 and "We have given up balancing these weapons" are 5.

This on it's own wouldn't be bad, right? Well, the decision making in assigning these arbitrary point values to weapons makes no sense. Take for instance sawed-off shotguns, which prior to this update you needed a hefty trait called Quartermaster, that would allow you to bring a Full Sized Rifle and a Chopped off Shotgun (and vice versa).
Well, now all sawed off shotguns are 2 points. Meaning you can bring what would be a full sized rifle before (Berthier, Officer Carbine, etc) and a medium slot shotgun (anything from a double barrel, to the Levering-capable 1887 handcannon, to the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ pump-action Specter 1882).

So, the problem was Rifle + Shotgun = easy win; what do the developers do? Make it not require the trait it would've beforehand.

That's just one nitpick, for some God-forsaken reason they've decided to lump the UPPERCUT into a 2-point weapon. The Uppercut has been a mainstay of the game since it's release and has been nerfed more times than Overwatch's Brig. The gun is a shallow shadow of its former self, and it's direct upgrade, the LeMat Haymaker (a long-ammo revolver with an underbarrel shotgun capable of using slugs) is ALSO a 2-point weapon. It is also CHEAPER than the Uppercut. There is functionally no reason to bring the Uppercut unless you are nostalgic or you have a skin for it. Ammo stacking with the big 4 (Mosin, Lebel, Krag, Berthier) is no longer possible, and the Uppercut and Haymaker both have FMJ ammo, so if you were to bring a consistent, long ammo backup hand cannon, you'd have to WILLINGLY nerf yourself to bring a gun that has maybe an above-average use rate.

On top of that, they have given up on balancing ammo entirely, instead of REVERTING the changes they made 3 years ago where Bleed goes to Heavy after half a second from a Medium ammo bullet across the map, they just took the ammo away from purchase. You'd have to scavenge to get Bleed on *ANY* weapon that supported it, including the Springfield 1866 and Drilling, which severely handicaps those weapons' capability as a support style archetype. If Bleed was kept on certain guns, and not given to half the armory in 1896 (Dolch, Centennial, Officer, Springfield, Drilling, Maynard, Conversion, Scottfield are all weapons that have Bleed ammo) then maybe it wouldn't've been so oppressive and overrepresented in the game.

And to top it all off, the Mako 1895 Carbine (they erased the word "carbine" from it in the 1896 update) has been gutted this patch. A rifle which has failed to fill a niche since it's inception; a rifle meant to be "jack-of-all-trades, master of none" of the long ammo category, getting overshadowed by it's DIRECT COMPETITOR, the Centennial, at every step of the way. They buffed its fire rate and reload speed so it could ACTUALLY be usable against 87% of the rifle roster, and the joy of its existence lasted a whole 2 months before it got severly nerfed. Out of 2 years, the gun was good for 2 months and even that was deemed to much.
The patch notes state: "We have reduced the Mako's 540m/s velocity down to 440m/s as historically accurate due to black powder cartridges."
We have lost the plot and have started War Thunder balancing.
The gun needed High Velocity ammo to be able to compete against the mainstays like Lebel and Mosin and Krag and Berthier because they're FASTER weapons with BETTER AMMO ECONOMY and MORE DAMAGE, not an absolute shotgun kneecapping for "historical accuracy"

If a developer is reading this review (which I doubt) I urge you to load any Mako model you have on hand or in game and read the inscription STAMPED on the barrel assembly reading "SPECIAL SMOKELESS STEEL" as the model of the gun you are using in the game is the 1896 SBR model made to use the new smokeless 45-70 government USED IN THE EXACT SPRINGFIELD YOU ADDED THIS UPDATE.

If you don't want the Mako to be good then just say so, don't go round about and pretend you're conserving "historical accuracy" when Sparks, an actual black powder rifle, kept its 533m/s, the Haymaker, a black powder REVOLVER kept its 540m/s... I can go on.

This update is a massive disconnect of the developers from the playerbase, the same playerbase that actually plays the game instead of leaving it for months unopened and then come back to buy a skin or two. You can nerf Spitzer, you can nerf Long Ammo, you can do meta shifts, it's a part of the live-service model, but for Heaven's sake why do it in such a way where NOBODY wins. Not me, not the 6-stars that won't be affected by this, not the 3-4 stars who play this game casually with their friends and not the 5 stars whose favorite loadouts just got removed because the developers have given up balancing their game.

Please, overview some of the changes you've decided in this update.
Put the Mako back to 540
Swap the Sparks Pistol and Uppercut's points values (Uppercut Precision SHOULD be a 2 point, at 3 it competes with the Dolch Precision, an infinitely superior weapon)
Either reduce Berthier's damage or fire rate
Make the repeating sawed-off shotguns 3 slot
Remove bleed from the problematic weapons entirely (Maynard, Centennial, Officer, Dolch)

The game has potential to thrive, to reach the audience you so desperately need to keep it going, but you can't get there forcing metas that aren't going to be healthy for the game.
I hate to leave a negative review on a game I've spent so much time, money, had so much fun, met so many people that are dear to me on, but I feel like I have to.
I'll change this review if they end up doing so, but on their track record I fear that'll be quite some time.

This game rewards patience, strategy, and teamwork. Every victory feels truly earned. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a unique experience in the FPS genre.