Recent reviews by Don (PYR0) Maverick

As someone who's played Rust since Legacy I think I'm in a good position to post my thoughts on the games progression over the years. If I had posted this review previously I probably would've done what many other have here: warned people how toxic the community can be, how difficult playing by yourself is, you'll die until you want to quit, etc. I still would've given it a thumbs up and said "Buy it if you dare". Now in 2025 I'm really starting to rethink that, lets run through some of the progression and why I think modern rust is going downhill.

Legacy(2013)- This was where it all started: Zombies, wood shacks and irradiated bears roaming the woods around monuments.
Everything was fresh and new, the world was quite large and yet was small enough to explore it all. While I do miss these days I will gladly admit, there was a stark lack of content in the game at that time. I also think the future addition of procedural maps was a huge win overall.

Post Legacy(2014-2018)- I think this was the best time period to be playing Rust. During a fair portion of this period both Legacy and 'new Rust' were playable. The years after Legacy were the golden ages, skins were released, those procedural maps were slowly being added and modified. Vehicles started getting added, more weapons and armor, bases got huge updates, new monuments were added, custom servers were in full swing (Community and Modded) and the list continues but I don't have the time/energy to type them all out. The post-legacy era was one of creation, modification and polishing. Many people were against adding Skins to the game, and while I do agree they provide an advantage (Snow kits in the snow, desert in the desert VS some dude in a vanilla Hazmat) it's more important to me that they be able to keep their servers up so skins are whatever to me... That was until

(2018-2021)- took a break, game takes a lot of energy and the cheater problem was in full swing on many servers

Modern Rust(2021-now)- Where to start? They're still adding a ton of new things, which is nice. The main problems I have with Modern Rust fall into 3 categories: Bloat, Cheaters and most importantly PAYWALLING. We'll start with bloat, the game has so many things now that it's starting to get laggy on high-pop monthly servers. I dare you to try playing on a mid-end PC or on mid-end internet and go near 3-4 clan bases at once, your FPS will likely be in the single digits from all the electrical/piping inside such massive bases. It's starting to become a massive problem, I've had a few servers where I literally can't look a certain direction or my FPS would tank from 120 to 10 or less.

Cheaters- This problem is seemingly getting better... on community/modded servers at least. They've implemented a new mode called premium to the game, this makes it to where only accounts with a certain number of hours can join to prevent cheaters who usually use a fresh account from joining. So far it's been good, I haven't run into any cheaters myself but that doesn't mean it's a perfect system.

Pay Walling- This one is the main reason I'm upset with modern Rust... Before hand if a new item was released you'd get a base version for free and then you'd have to pay for the cool skin it released with and I was fine with this. Then they made it to where new items in packs were just roleplay items (Music pack, beach pack) and I was a bit upset but understanding. Now however they're releasing more powerful items in their 'skin packs'. If they were just skins I'd be 100% fine with that but they AREN'T: barrels, wall shelves, half shelves, artic hazmats, abyss torch... It's awesome to see you adding new stuff to the game, but make it available to EVERYONE. Keep selling skins, that's fine. DON'T SELL ITEMS, you're ruining the game for people who can't afford them. I'd love to make a triangle storage room with 12 small wood boxes and a barrel but that's IMPOSSIBLE unless I spend $12 on your jungle pack. I'd love to make a triangle farm room with 18 slots but I don't want to spend $12 to do so.

If they start making free versions of their strong items again I'll change this review to positive with the same warning at the start. Until then I can't tell you to spend $40 on a game that you'll end up feeling the need to spend more money on just to feel complete.

I like this game, I really do... That being said it had the EXACT same issues when it launched on mobile. You wait 10+ mins for a comp match only for someone to leave as soon as it starts. I'm tired of this horrible matchmaking and I really don't want to just play the casual modes, which work fine and rarely have someone leave. I want to play, but I'm not willing to suffer through this BS

I don't often post reviews, but this is a game that deserves one for sure. I have sunk nearly 50 hours in at this point and there are a TON of issues. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE the game, but I'd rather focus on some very real and present issues on this review rather than let my passion cloud my judgement. I will also add that for less than a year of development, this game shows some major promise. I hope to see it develop into a 10/10 but for now it's 4-5/10

Issues (Edit: Anything with a line Has been patched or changed. Will add a changelog when relevant):

-Starter cars have 4 seats, however only the front 2 work. This means when a 3rd player hops in they will be sitting on the drivers lap instead of the back seat. 4th player would double up the passenger seat. (Note: This glitch is ONLY on the starting cars) 1/9/25

-I know the main focus is supposed to be twisters... But you have to drive to get to them in the first place. The way the cars feel and handle is horrible to say the least. You even clip the dirt with a single wheel? Good luck getting back on the road before you either spin or loose all your speed. Turning? I can just hold left or right and it'll turn like a brick. Don't forget that opening your map after a slight "adjustment" will glitch the input, making you turn when you're not clicking a or d. Cars NEED to be fixed.

-Crashing. I haven't had this issue more than 1-2 times personally. I do however have friends that crash out on every other match as or before it's started. I want to play this game multiplayer AND with my friends so we just queue at the same time. Sucks when you wait 2-5mins for a match only to find one of your friends was booted and now you have to leave.

-Some of the twisters look horrible. Don't get me wrong, it's still cool to chase them... But seeing a giant stovepipe looking like a Puffer jacket is very offputting.

-Fog looks horrible and makes it impossible to see (looks like giant pixels drifting across your screen)

-NO major cities, making it very rare to see a "direct hit"

-Minimap is almost useless, allow me to change the size/settings so I can make it more better.


Beyond the issues I will say, you have a constant desire to keep chasing. They have made the game as true to real life as possible with the weather system. There are bits that are "gameified" but for the most part you'll find pure storm chasing thrills. If you are to pick this game up in it's current state I'd wait for at least a 50% sale. If you are as passionate about storm chasing as I am then it may be worth paying full price. I will continue to update this review as the game continues it's development cycle. Can't wait to see you all chasing!