Recent reviews by Essedus

I can see how this could be fun, but it's a little too rough around the edges for me at this time. Twice while trying to exit the game I was stuck with the exit screen just lingering on my monitor. I had to reboot because it would not go away even when trying to kill the process in task manager. I don't mind dealing with performance issues, but an issue that requires rebooting to fix is a bit much. I'll give it another look once it's had some more time in the oven.

Latest update breaks Kenways fleet, again. Old fixes that corrected this no longer work.

Capcom recently added way over the top drm to a nearly 11 year old game with the intent to prevent people from modding the game. Causes significant frame rate loss.

7 Days is a game that I have thoroughly enjoyed over the past decade. so I'm torn on this review. I don't want to give it a thumbs down but this most recent community post they made about celebrating 10 years in the alpha stage of development? I'm sorry but that is just sad. I know games take time to make but I think a lot of us who have been playing since the early days have a real good idea why development is so slow. It's the constant retooling of mechanics that don't need to be changed. Or making changes to the game to force players into a different play style because you're displeased with the current meta and players are not living up to your vision of how they should play your game.
The only real innovation this game has is coming from the modding community that has been helping to keep this game alive.

I'm sure the devs are legitimately happy that the game has continued on as long as it has and I presume is still somewhat profitable. But this has dragged on for way too long and there is no light at the end of the tunnel for this game.

Abandoned.

I've sunk a few hundred hours in the console version prior to getting the steam version.
Performance suffers a bit for a while when you first begin playing. This seems to be the result of the game not building a shader cache first and instead loading on demand. The longer you play the better performance becomes. The games fun for what it is, and at it's current price of $15 I would consider it a good deal for how long you can play it. You could go to McDonalds and easily spend more on a single meal.

Really the only thing this has going for it is the graphics. When you dip your toes in for the first time it's really awe inspiring. But once you get about waist deep you realize you're wading through a mediocre experience. Once you get into the grind, you'll begin to drown.

Game play is boring, the grind keeps getting worse, and the developers keep just rolling out paid cosmetics instead of doing anything worth while.

Update 8/4/2023
The developers response to my comment on their most recent community post showing more paid cosmetics instead of content.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3014855827

No one wants Ark 2, hype for the game is nigh non existent. In order to try and pump up sale for it they are taking what they told everyone was going to be a free engine update for the original and are holding it hostage with the purchase of Ark 2. In addition they're trying to further strong arm the player base into buying Ark 2 by shutting down servers for the original.

Enjoy your one hit wonder Wildcard. I sure as hell won't ever buy anything with your name on it ever again.

I haven't played much yet, but one of the first thing I noticed is it seems like the paid for suits are superior to the base ones. I saw many many instances where someone who paid money was stomping the daylights out of people back to back. That should not be the case.

Update:
Balancing is indeed garbage.

The base game itself is good, but stay away from the DLC, none of it is worth it. In true paradox fashion they aren't content with selling the base game and are hammering the DLC nails into it, making a coffin to throw it into when they inevitably kill it. They didn't make the game so they don't know what they're doing, as such the DLC breaks many functions of the base game.

You are better off using the steam workshop for content. The players know more about how the game functions than paradox.