I sorely miss Kojima's presence in this game. The writer attempts to emulate Kojima's spirit through the game and while I do like some of the twists that they went with, there's this glaring uncanny valley and some decisions made that just make me cringe. If Kojima's storytelling is what you're after then I can't recommend the game.

That said, if you can accept that Kojima is gone then this game isn't bad at all. Granted it's no full fledged Phantom Pain it's still pretty solid in its own right. I've seen a number of reviews on the game (in particular Angry Joe, Jim Sterling, VideoGameDunkey) and they all seem to portray this paper thin understanding of the game's mechanics and even show cherrypicked clips of video that are downright misleading. Jim Sterling even admits in his review he hadn't played for more than an hour before chucking it aside and reaffirming a preconcieved conclusion.

Now on to the dirty word: Microtransactions. This game does feature microtransactions in a limited capacity, using a premium currency. Each day you play you are awarded with a handful of these coins, approx. 30 daily. If you want an additional character (which shares inventory with other characters on your system) or an extra "Exploration" team (a unit of up to 4 crew members that you can send on 20 minute to 24 hour duration missions to gather resources similar to in the phantom pain) then you'll need to either save up or buy 1000 coins worth. There's plenty of heated debate wether these microtransactions should be included or not, personally I'm 126 hours into the game and I haven't spent a dime nor do I intend to and I've felt no need for it outside of minor convenience.

My suggestion would be to look into some footage of the game of someone experienced with the game, someone who actually was open to play it instead of someone who crapped on the premise of the game before it was even released in order to get a balanced view.

At its core, this is a survival game blended with the Fox engine presented in MGSV: The Phantom Pain. If that's up your alley, then the game will be well worth the pricetag. If you're just not into survival games (which I can completely understand with the saturation of the market) then maybe give it a pass.

I sorely miss Kojima's presence in this game. The writer attempts to emulate Kojima's spirit through the game and while I do like some of the twists that they went with, there's this glaring uncanny valley and some decisions made that just make me cringe. If Kojima's storytelling is what you're after then I can't recommend the game. That said, if you can accept that Kojima is gone then this game isn't bad at all. Granted it's no full fledged Phantom Pain it's still pretty solid in its own right. I've seen a number of reviews on the game (in particular Angry Joe, Jim Sterling, VideoGameDunkey) and they all seem to portray this paper thin understanding of the game's mechanics and even show cherrypicked clips of video that are downright misleading. Jim Sterling even admits in his review he hadn't played for more than an hour before chucking it aside and reaffirming a preconcieved conclusion. Now on to the dirty word: Microtransactions. This game does feature microtransactions in a limited capacity, using a premium currency. Each day you play you are awarded with a handful of these coins, approx. 30 daily. If you want an additional character (which shares inventory with other characters on your system) or an extra "Exploration" team (a unit of up to 4 crew members that you can send on 20 minute to 24 hour duration missions to gather resources similar to in the phantom pain) then you'll need to either save up or buy 1000 coins worth. There's plenty of heated debate wether these microtransactions should be included or not, personally I'm 126 hours into the game and I haven't spent a dime nor do I intend to and I've felt no need for it outside of minor convenience. My suggestion would be to look into some footage of the game of someone experienced with the game, someone who actually was open to play it instead of someone who crapped on the premise of the game before it was even released in order to get a balanced view. At its core, this is a survival game blended with the Fox engine presented in MGSV: The Phantom Pain. If that's up your alley, then the game will be well worth the pricetag. If you're just not into survival games (which I can completely understand with the saturation of the market) then maybe give it a pass.