Here we are, over a year later! Let's see the results of those "fixes".

Can I throw a cleaver on a slope? Yes!

Can I see snakes in Snakewater? Yes!

Does any of this matter? NO, because the game is still so heavily plagued with bots, you can't even play casual.

This crisis has effects outside of the gameplay being ruined, though. The hosts of these bots slander the names of anyone who speaks against them- using AI voice replicators to make it seem as if popular TF2 youtubers are saying abhorrent things and linking to their discord to direct the clueless players who are unfamiliar with the issue to spew hatred towards them. For some creators, they are doxxing them (revealing personally identifying information such as legal name and address), and in one case they SWATTED one of them.

All this abhorrent filth is perpetuated by Valve's inaction against this issue. Their refusal to speak is speech itself; Valve has shown they are FINE with their dedicated fans being unable to play their game at best, and put in active danger in real life by bot-hosting players with no consequence at worst.

The entire TF2 community is coming together today, June 3rd, in an act of protest against what Valve has let their game become. Tens of thousands of negative reviews, youtube videos drawing attention to the issue. So far the only communication from Valve has been through the TF2 News blog. Where they are advertising "Operatrion Magnetic Mayhem", a TF2 MvM campaign hosted by the community. No, you can't make this ♥♥♥♥ up.

So before you touch another of Valve's games, look at what state their current ones are in. Team Fortress 2 is unplayable in the most literal sense, unless you're playing in community servers. CS:GO, to my understanding, has been having cheating issues for ages as well. L4D2 is in a similar boat.

I'm sure many of you are aware that Valve is working on a NEW team-based shooter, said to have elements of DOTA 2, TF2, and Overwatch in it's DNA. But before you engage with that, look at this game. Before you spend your money there, look at how they've treated people who spent money on their game here, and ask yourself:

"Do I really want to give my time and money to a game that will end up like this?"

---EDIT---

Please read at least the first two pages of comments, there's some information there that you may want to know before commenting. the tl;dr of it, however, is that Valve made an update addressing this issue with a small fix (restricted chat privledges for new players), with the promise of a proper fix already being in the works. If said 'proper fix' works when it's released, I'll change my review then.

---END EDIT---

First off, what a shame.

What a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ shame.

This game used to be amazing. Good enough that I would play it daily. Good enough that I made some great friends through this.

This game has one of the best communities I've seen in my life in a fps game, and honestly I doubt I'll ever see a better one. Sure, every so often you get a bad apple, but people would shut that down.

The gameplay was great! Every class felt distinct and special, and their varying weapons allowed you to play different playstyles, while still staying true to the original design of the class. And the skill ceiling was limitless! From rocket jumping and airblasting, to marketgardening and trickstabbing- it had a blend of skills left you feeling accompllished as a beginner, but let you KEEP feeling that every time you got just a lil better.

So then you're probably wondering why there's that big red "thumbs down" in the top left corner of this review, right?

I'll start with the simplest problem. In terms of content updates, there ARE no content updates. The last update was September of 2017, if I recall correctly. We are nearing 3 years since the last content update (And no, I'm not counting cosmetics as a content update). No new maps that stay as a permanent part of the map rotation. No new weapons, or features.

But that's forgivable. Now I'll get to the REAL issue, one that nobody who's played the game since COVID started will be surprised by.

BOTS.

And I'm not talking about the kind you play against the first time you play the game, to get you aquainted with the mechanics and flow. I'm talking about the countless aimbots that plauge this game. There's been catbots, CAN YOU QUACK? bots, MYG()T bots, /id/ bots, the namestealing bots, and now even engineer bots?!?

I played the game for about a hour today. Every match I played with had over 5 bots join in. For 2 out of the 5 or 6 games I played, so many joined that the team couldn't kick them anymore, due to being outpopulated. Just let that sink in for a sec- there are SO MANY ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ BOTS that they're OUTNUMBERING ACTUAL PLAYERS.

That's why I'm making this review. I'm hoping that Valve will eventually come and update their anticheat to actually stop aimbotters. But I've lost faith, and I don't want anyone else to get attached to this game like I did, only for it to be abandoned for some ♥♥♥♥♥♥ 'realistic fps' game that feels like COD if COD had regressed half a decade (looking at you, CS:GO.)

If Valve DOES implement changes that fix this massive bot issue, maybe I'll come back. But after over 3,600 hours, I'm done. I'm finishing this comp season, and then I'm leaving this game. Thanks for the memories Valve, but ♥♥♥♥ you for letting them be tainted with the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ state you let your game get to.

Here we are, over a year later! Let's see the results of those "fixes". Can I throw a cleaver on a slope? Yes! Can I see snakes in Snakewater? Yes! Does any of this matter? NO, because the game is still so heavily plagued with bots, you can't even play casual. This crisis has effects outside of the gameplay being ruined, though. The hosts of these bots slander the names of anyone who speaks against them- using AI voice replicators to make it seem as if popular TF2 youtubers are saying abhorrent things and linking to their discord to direct the clueless players who are unfamiliar with the issue to spew hatred towards them. For some creators, they are doxxing them (revealing personally identifying information such as legal name and address), and in one case they SWATTED one of them. All this abhorrent filth is perpetuated by Valve's inaction against this issue. Their refusal to speak is speech itself; Valve has shown they are FINE with their dedicated fans being unable to play their game at best, and put in active danger in real life by bot-hosting players with no consequence at worst. The entire TF2 community is coming together today, June 3rd, in an act of protest against what Valve has let their game become. Tens of thousands of negative reviews, youtube videos drawing attention to the issue. So far the only communication from Valve has been through the TF2 News blog. Where they are advertising "Operatrion Magnetic Mayhem", a TF2 MvM campaign hosted by the community. No, you can't make this shit up. So before you touch another of Valve's games, look at what state their current ones are in. Team Fortress 2 is unplayable in the most literal sense, unless you're playing in community servers. CS:GO, to my understanding, has been having cheating issues for ages as well. L4D2 is in a similar boat. I'm sure many of you are aware that Valve is working on a NEW team-based shooter, said to have elements of DOTA 2, TF2, and Overwatch in it's DNA. But before you engage with that, look at this game. Before you spend your money there, look at how they've treated people who spent money on their game here, and ask yourself: [i]"Do I really want to give my time and money to a game that will end up like this?"[/i] ---EDIT--- Please read at least the first two pages of comments, there's some information there that you may want to know before commenting. the tl;dr of it, however, is that Valve made an update addressing this issue with a small fix (restricted chat privledges for new players), with the promise of a proper fix already being in the works. If said 'proper fix' works when it's released, I'll change my review then. ---END EDIT--- First off, what a shame. What a goddamn shame. This game used to be amazing. Good enough that I would play it daily. Good enough that I made some great friends through this. This game has one of the best communities I've seen in my life in a fps game, and honestly I doubt I'll ever see a better one. Sure, every so often you get a bad apple, but people would shut that down. The gameplay was great! Every class felt distinct and special, and their varying weapons allowed you to play different playstyles, while still staying true to the original design of the class. And the skill ceiling was limitless! From rocket jumping and airblasting, to marketgardening and trickstabbing- it had a blend of skills left you feeling accompllished as a beginner, but let you KEEP feeling that every time you got just a lil better. So then you're probably wondering why there's that big red "thumbs down" in the top left corner of this review, right? I'll start with the simplest problem. In terms of content updates, there ARE no content updates. The last update was September of 2017, if I recall correctly. We are nearing 3 years since the last content update (And no, I'm not counting cosmetics as a content update). No new maps that stay as a permanent part of the map rotation. No new weapons, or features. But that's forgivable. Now I'll get to the REAL issue, one that nobody who's played the game since COVID started will be surprised by. [b]BOTS.[/b] And I'm not talking about the kind you play against the first time you play the game, to get you aquainted with the mechanics and flow. I'm talking about the countless aimbots that plauge this game. There's been catbots, CAN YOU QUACK? bots, MYG()T bots, /id/ bots, the namestealing bots, and now even engineer bots?!? I played the game for about a hour today. Every match I played with had over 5 bots join in. For 2 out of the 5 or 6 games I played, so many joined that the team couldn't kick them anymore, due to being outpopulated. Just let that sink in for a sec- there are SO MANY FUCKING BOTS that they're [i]OUTNUMBERING ACTUAL PLAYERS.[/i] That's why I'm making this review. I'm hoping that Valve will eventually come and update their anticheat to actually stop aimbotters. But I've lost faith, and I don't want anyone else to get attached to this game like I did, only for it to be abandoned for some shitty 'realistic fps' game that feels like COD if COD had regressed half a decade (looking at you, CS:GO.) If Valve DOES implement changes that fix this massive bot issue, maybe I'll come back. But after over 3,600 hours, I'm done. I'm finishing this comp season, and then I'm leaving this game. Thanks for the memories Valve, but fuck you for letting them be tainted with the shitty state you let your game get to.