Recent reviews by dawnz

Let me say briefly before I get into all of this. The original NMRiH is a nostalgic, unique, and fun game that got me through rough mental times. I had always been a fan of the realistic zombie genre that was filled with dark topics and had that gritty and unrelenting survival feel to it, and the original NMRiH did a phenomenal job at it for the time it was made and how it was made. I remember explicitly playing NMRiH for hours upon hours upon hours when I was at a point in life where I was severely depressed, and it had given me at least one thing to enjoy at that point in time. Before I tear into this, if it was polished, it would be enjoyable, but as a different game and name, NOT AT THE EXPENSE OF RUINING WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN NMRIH2

Now this is a complete bastardization of No More Room in Hell. There is quite literally nothing that links this to the original game, at all. The attempt to appeal to a wider audience is a knife to the gut for this game. The gameplay clips looked exponentially better before Torn Banner took over and ruined it all. Y'all should be completely ashamed of yourselves, y'all's thought process and game design is what is killing modern gaming. Enough with the risk-aversion and "appeal to wider audiences". Had it been kept in line with its predecessor, it would have turned out fine, people would have actually enjoyed the game, and it could have been huge. FOREWARNING, A LONG RANT IS PROCEEDING THIS.

-Player-based infection.
A huge factor of the original game. There were literally videos of this concept that looked fine and worked great. Now all of the sudden it's just gone? Now there's no real stress in fighting. Oh, I get downed? Okay, I can just self-revive (what is this, Call of Duty? Whoever thought of being able to be "downed" and being able to self-revive needs a solid kick in the nuts). The only type of "downed" system that should exist in this game is an event in which the player is actively being overwhelmed by a zombie(s) and will get bitten or die within a couple of seconds if there's no one nearby to assist. The COD Zombies style incap COMPLETELY takes away from the aesthetic and style of the OG game.

-The CRC "Responders".
Okay guys. It's "creative" in a mediocre manner and WOULD HAVE WORKED if it was actually implemented well. It makes no sense however. It seems like a cheap ripoff of the SHD in The Division. Had they just stuck with some branch of FEMA or an actual IRL agency, there would have been less of the cheesy modern-day AAA game development stink that lingers in this. Or better yet, just keep us as REGULAR PEOPLE TRYING TO SURVIVE. . That was literally one of the biggest things that made NMRIH different from other zombie games. You're a nobody who's not immune or has some plot armor working on their side.

-Forced CO-OP / multiplayer.
Quite literally no one wants another game that basically REQUIRES multiple other people to play. FORCING a full lobby (8 people) just doesn't work for this style of game. Part of the magic of NMRIH was going thru a map solo and truly feeling the pressure of making the smallest mistake. Or playing only with a couple buddies just to have to abandon them and see them get eviscerated, knowing maybe you could make it out alive. That had a certain unique feel to the game that just doesn't exist now in this. Now as soon as someone dies, it just turns into "Oh, ♥♥♥♥. Well everyone in this lobby besides me and this random dude are dead. I'm just gonna go ahead and leave this server since we can't complete the objectives anyway now."

-The combat.
The melee combat in this feels absolutely horrible. "Ah yes, I am fighting for my life against horrifying, man-eating creatures... but nah, I'm too tired and drained to kill this thing after swinging on it only three times." Like seriously, what the ♥♥♥♥? These are supposed to be athletic ex-military or prepper-styled individuals who can't fight in melee combat for more than 5 seconds to save their own lives? Not to mention runners literally being a death warrant if you don't have ammo since they take a ridiculous amount of hits and recover from any stagger-effect long before you can get your weapon back up. Give the players WAY more stamina when it comes to melee weapons.
The gun fighting isn't bad. Beyond having shots literally just not register, especially with the shotguns, it's not too bad. The guns generally feel satisfying to shoot. Few games have made me start missing shots out of stress, especially after getting surrounded, so I will have to give it to y'all for that.

-Game aesthetic/style/vibe.
Like I previously said, the OG game style is almost completely gone. In NMRIH, you felt like you were a random, regular joe who found themselves in a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ situation (usually explained by the intro-story on the loading screens) and was genuinely fighting to survive and get someplace safe. You were stressed by making simple and easy mistakes like getting too complacent when fighting zombies, running out of ammo, or bleeding out when scratched/cut. It felt like the world was crumbling around you and you were just a rat trying to squeeze your way into safety. This has been completely scratched out in NMRIH2 and made into a single gameplay objective. "Oh, YoU'Re a CrC ReSPonDeR aNd YoU nEeD tO PrEvEnt ThIs PoWeRplAnT FroM DeToNaTing". Okay... yeah, a powerplant blowing up would definitely be a priority event that the government would try to prevent, but they'd just air assault soldiers (who would actually be equipped for the job) into the power plant, get it turned on, and secure/hold the area. If players wanted to do something like that they would have played Back 4 Blood or literally any other zombie game (excluding L4D's series, which had the "just trying to get to safety" style down). And for ♥♥♥♥'s sake, PLEASE get rid of these cringy uniforms the players wear. The outfit style has the sour taste of "prepared-survivor", but fits the vibe of dweebs who think elbow pads are useful. Literally just keep it simple like how it was originally supposed to be. Customizable top, bottom, hat, and maybe shoes/gloves. Jeans, Cryes, cargo-pants, surplus BDUs, hoodies, normal jackets, and stuff like that would look vastly better and improve quality of life. The biggest things, however, that detract from the feeling of the original game:
- Lack of zombie children. It was a controversial take that was bold and fit in extremely well with the dark and unsettling vibe of NMRIH.
- Inability to "sacrifice" yourself (suckstarting your bangstick). Obviously there's no point to this without player infection. But it was incredibly unique being stuck in a situation where you know you don't want to turn and kill your friends, so you chose to "opt out" and prevent yourself from turning into one of those "things". Or being surrounded by "them", knowing you can't escape, and rather than being torn asunder and getting eaten alive, you could take the easy way out.
- Objectives. If y'all wanted to make certain maps where you had to shut down a powerplant, that's fine. But making only one map where it's really the only objective and all the other objectives are just get gear to prepare for the main objective, y'all should have just made a different game under a different name. A massive map is cool but just doesn't fit into how this game should have been as a sequel.


TLDR; Torn Banner decided to take a long awaited sequel (been personally waiting for this for about 5 years) and bastardize it, change everything about it that made the first game unique, NOT LISTEN TO WHAT THE FANS AND LONG-TIME AUDIENCE WANTED, and try to just pump out a cash grab. Shame on all of you who developed this game under the name of No More Room in Hell 2. Had you all made this and NOT made it a sequel to NMRiH, more people would have had grace for it and it would have been somewhat acceptable.

The amount of potential this game has is genuinely RIDICULOUS. The concept is amazing, and if they cleaned up the game in it's current state, it'd be one of my favorite shooters. Adding more weapons, vehicles, etc would turn this game into one of the best shooters to come out within the last half a decade or so. That being said, the game IS pretty jacked up in it's current state and can be incredibly frustrating to deal with. We'll just have to see how it goes. Don't mess this one up, guys.

mike found out quickly that the residents turn very evil when their bingo is interrupted...

BDF vs PALA conflict has broken out. Be an SF-12 Revoker pilot in the BDF's Air Force.

Be taxiing on the ramp up to Runway 08 & pick up a PALA SFB-81 Darkreach on radar, 14km out and closing

"Oh ♥♥♥♥, I gotta go, now."

Tokyo Drift my aircraft onto runway.

Slam the throttle to afterburner, just dumping gas into the engine to get off the ground as fast as I can.

Just get the tail wheels off the ground when I see a bright flash and everything goes white

"Oh fu-"

Don't even get to finish my sentence as I'm absolutely assblasted into smithereens and vaporized by nuclear ordnance

Experience the horrors of tactical nukes in warfare as an aviator simulator. 10/10

Getting Shot At by a Methed-Up Crackhead with a Glock 19 in the Ghetto Simulator

...Shouldn't have backed down from those Kotaku idiots tho.

Get run into a corner with just an FAL.

Don't realize bolt is locked to the rear and the rifle is empty.

Get mauled to death by zombie children because I can't defend myself.

10/10 realism