I love this game a lot. I've not played a game so extensively in a very long time since Monster Hunter World. The loop is very much like playing L4D2, B4B, Vermintide 2, especially mastering the game is really fun. Damnation is like beating L4D2 Realism, sort of.

HOWEVER, VERY MUCH UNLIKE VERMINTIDE 2, the loot loop is the worst iteration of its kind. I'm not talking about among Fatshark games, I'm talking about this predatory gacha system from mobile phone games. Games that have their player just cross their fingers and hope they get the best roll of stats for their loot, while I'm normally okay with this, but this game has decided that we're going to add layers and layers and layers of this nonsense. You'll be waiting each hour to get new shop options (layer 1), most of which are crap and not what you're looking for because even though their stat total might be high, it's possible that the primary stat you want sucks (layer 2); you'll have to farm diamantine to upgrade your equipment which also rolls (layer 3) for perks and their max tiers (layer 4), and more diamantine again to upgrade it to the highest tier weapon which gives blessings (layer 5) and the blessings have their own tiers too (layer 6). Trying to align all of them for a build is like trying to align the stars for cosmic awakening or something. I personally feel like the possibility of Exterminatus is way higher than me getting the weapon I want to build.

The practice essentially has players coming back time to time, or having players farm diamantine which all seem to target at inflating the time played, possibly to show board of investors on how 'great' the game is performing. I generally welcome grinds, like Vermintide 2 did, but what they've done for this game is a bloody atrocity.

That didn't break the camel's back. What really did me in... is this server, you can tell it leans to the extreme of protecting themselves at the expense of players. Server side issues, disconnects, shops, etc. I've tried to give the benefit of the doubt but at this point, unless someone can share an alternate perspective, I am very much inclined to believe that all the server side network is just to ENFORCE player retention. It's not even PvP.

Sigh, as much as I love this game and I will still play it with friends. I cannot recommend this game to anybody. Even if they fix the game, this serve issue, and gacha practice is really THE ABSOLUTE WORST. It's just a little shy compared to one of those Japanese Gacha games that need you to get SSR duplicates after duplicates to maximize stats.

All this soft blocks to end game tier power. Sigh.... I'm going in a circle again if I continue.

TLDR, good gameplay, terrible business practice. WHAT A SHAME.

I love this game a lot. I've not played a game so extensively in a very long time since Monster Hunter World. The loop is very much like playing L4D2, B4B, Vermintide 2, especially mastering the game is really fun. Damnation is like beating L4D2 Realism, sort of. HOWEVER, VERY MUCH UNLIKE VERMINTIDE 2, the loot loop is the worst iteration of its kind. I'm not talking about among Fatshark games, I'm talking about this predatory gacha system from mobile phone games. Games that have their player just cross their fingers and hope they get the best roll of stats for their loot, while I'm normally okay with this, but this game has decided that we're going to add layers and layers and layers of this nonsense. You'll be waiting each hour to get new shop options (layer 1), most of which are crap and not what you're looking for because even though their stat total might be high, it's possible that the primary stat you want sucks (layer 2); you'll have to farm diamantine to upgrade your equipment which also rolls (layer 3) for perks and their max tiers (layer 4), and more diamantine again to upgrade it to the highest tier weapon which gives blessings (layer 5) and the blessings have their own tiers too (layer 6). Trying to align all of them for a build is like trying to align the stars for cosmic awakening or something. I personally feel like the possibility of Exterminatus is way higher than me getting the weapon I want to build. The practice essentially has players coming back time to time, or having players farm diamantine which all seem to target at inflating the time played, possibly to show board of investors on how 'great' the game is performing. I generally welcome grinds, like Vermintide 2 did, but what they've done for this game is a bloody atrocity. That didn't break the camel's back. What really did me in... is this server, you can tell it leans to the extreme of protecting themselves at the expense of players. Server side issues, disconnects, shops, etc. I've tried to give the benefit of the doubt but at this point, unless someone can share an alternate perspective, I am very much inclined to believe that all the server side network is just to ENFORCE player retention. It's not even PvP. Sigh, as much as I love this game and I will still play it with friends. I cannot recommend this game to anybody. Even if they fix the game, this serve issue, and gacha practice is really THE ABSOLUTE WORST. It's just a little shy compared to one of those Japanese Gacha games that need you to get SSR duplicates after duplicates to maximize stats. All this soft blocks to end game tier power. Sigh.... I'm going in a circle again if I continue. TLDR, good gameplay, terrible business practice. WHAT A SHAME.