Recent reviews by Winter02

(Updated after the price change to free)

Here are a list of positives and negatives that I considered before deciding not to recommend this game. I won't mention everything, so I don't bore you, so only the main considerations will be discussed.

(Notes)

• NARAKA utilises a kernel-level anti-cheat, which can access a wider, deeper range of information in your system to detect cheats.
  
  Stay with me, I will try and paraphrase what I have read as simple as I can...
  
  NARAKA's anti-cheat system requires you to disable two settings, VBS and memory integrity, which is used to prevent malicious code from being inserted into tasks under protection. Hence disabling such settings may be dangerous...
  
  I have little knowledge about technology, so the websites I used for this information are listed below:
  ~ https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/hardware-security/enable-virtualization-based-protection-of-code-integrity
  ~ https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/device-experiences/oem-vbs
  
  I just thought I would mention this before moving on.
  It is completely up to you as to whether you believe this is a negative or not.
  
  
• NARAKA is client-based, meaning that what you see on your monitor will always look like you have 0 latency. This leads to no rubber banding for example, regardless how high your latency is.
  
  
• There is no region lock, meaning you can freely join servers from all over the planet.
  
  Knowing this, many players, however mostly experienced players, find enjoyment in server hopping to hunt easier prey, like me. This has been the case in my experience with the South East Asia (SEA) server.
  
  I am aware that some people do find pleasure in such challenges, so again, I would imagine that this point is based on personal preference.

Positives

• The combat in NARAKA is fun to a degree.
  
  
• Moving around is enjoyable, like when using the grappling hook, climbing, and sliding.
  
  
• The character/hero customisation is interesting, with the ability to use AI to sculpt faces.
  
  
• Though many parts about NARAKA feel similar to other battle-royales, I believe it has it's own individuality.

Negatives

• The original price for NARAKA was $29.95 AUD and now, it is free. This reflects what this game is actually worth. I'm mostly just disappointed that I had to pay for this.
  
  I imagine the developers don't struggle with finances due to the large amount of in-game micro-transactions.
  
  
• The anti-cheat itself, as intrusive as it is, doesn't seem to be working as intended. Cheaters are abundant.
  
  
• There are no Oceania servers for people like myself who live in this seemingly uninhabited area of planet Earth.
  
  Thus, my experiences have been based on the SEA server (140 ping).
  
  This high ping leads me to parrying, which is an issue as NARAKA is client-based, which I mentioned earlier in notes.
  
  In short, do not bother parrying if you either have a high latency to the server or if your enemy has high latency to you.
  
  While it may seem well timed on your monitor, by the time the data arrives to the server (high ping), your parry wouldn't have worked on your enemy.
  So from your enemy's perspective, you did not parry at all and can be attacked as if you were open.
  
  I hope this is understandable.
  
  I also don't see how adding another server for Oceania players would decrease profits in the long-term. Oh well.
  
  
• Steam Charts are not always indicative of the amount of players you will play with or against in-game.
  Even while there are bots and server hopping players, unfortunately queue times are still unpleasantly long (SEA server experience).
  
  
• NARAKA is well optimised, if you install the game on a solid-state drive (SSD), which the game recommends
  
  Playing this game on a hard-drive is awful, from long freezes to many stutters. After playing through two or more sessions, the textures and models are cached I believe and the game will return to a semi-normal state.
  
  So I understand we are moving into a future without HDD's, though must it be essential to have a SSD to be playable? I think I am just in denial.
  
  
• NARAKA enjoys advertising their cash cow, which are in-game micro-transactions, as they are littered throughout the menus.
  
  
• Lastly, NARAKA, must have difficulties in getting attention from players, as every time you exit the game, their social media profiles are shown on screen.
  
  Please have some restraint.

I hope this stupidly long review can be helpful for someone interested in NARAKA or for someone finding a reason to move on to something else.

I played with two of my friends. One died, and the other stayed in the truck to 'watch the cameras'... And so I in VR, was left alone, and was forced to stay in the fetal position in a dark garage, with the spirit box counting down from 10.

A pleasant experience overall.