UPDATE: 08*12*2023
(Every map is connected btw. Watch the lore)
This is my primary, main go-to game. You can actually use IRL tactic's and room clearing methods that you receive training for in military and law enforcement. You can find very realistic "Unit's" in RON's Discord/unit-promo section. If you're interested in joining one I personally run please shoot me a message.

You sometimes have civilian's sprinting at you. Sometimes they reach to try to pull out their phone. Bad guys sometimes aren't in a state of weapon-in-hand so you really DO need to discipline your trigger(mouse 1) finger to give that brief pause or you screwed the entire operation.

The AI mechanic's are great the suspect's take cover, they hide under beds, in closets, they fake-surrender only to pull a knife out and slash you or your fellow officer. They play dead and first chance that a police officer isn't looking in their direction or isn't close enough they will get up and if you didn't pick their gun up they may only have a knife. They may still surrender. But if they do drop their gun and get down on their knee's - ensure there isn't a firearm within close proximity if your immediate attention is not needed elsewhere. They will take advantage of your back turned to them and grab that gun and shoot you. Some times if you only report a suspect down and don't cuff them - they'll stand up as soon as you're far away enough and surprise you from behind. The AI actively flank, suppress, suppress-from-cover, they are extremely intelligent and well-made.

AUDIO: I use a Razer Kraken Tournament Edition headphone set. It has THX 7.1 Surround sound and software that allows you to see how the audio sounds dynmaically (in Synapse it simulates a chopper flying around and above you. You can tell what's in front and behind.
BUT IN THIS GAME you won't have the slightest clue that the feet that sound on the opposite side of the door or wall is actually even on your level. There's a level where there is 3 or more floors and from what I've played you can't hear them at ALL if they are above or below you by 2 or more levels. If they're 1 level above or below then you will hear them as if they are in fact on your level. It's irritating, and tbh I complain about it all the time saying "yeah - the audio in this game is crap" BUT TO BE FAIR this is a game in early access, and it's the most immersive tactical shooter I've played to date. I only have 300 hrs in the game but the 2k hours in EFT are no longer relevant because I play this now - instead.

IMMERSION: Everything is as immersive as possible i think. If you jave seen the Nexus Mod page for this game you'll see every one of the guns can be replaced with higher quality, higher fidelity models. Has your local police agency uniform been created? Use it! I use the RCMP ERT uniform made by a genuine RCMP police officer. Taerus. It's fantastic and the shoulder patches and lettering on the updated vests that are included look spectacular. Even though a mark 23 is much different from a USP I still use that model. However there is a limitation to these model-creation's as they require the same animation's as the vanilla model's. So for all those (like me) who NEVER use the revolver don't expect there to be a cool semi-auto replacement model.
Civilian's can use some work. The Suspect morale system as well. (the whole MORALE SYSTEM ENTIRELY needs work.) If I just shot and killed a suspect who was firing at police then the hostage/civilian next to him should not have maxed/minimal morale to the point they "flee" directly towards you, trying to sprint past you as you shout "put your hands up!" - I've failed a few mission's because of this. How do I know he doesn't have a knife? Fortunately if you only mortally wound them and not cause a fatality your mission isn't a "failure/f-rating" as they're only incapacitated.
I feel that there should be an added ability to tend to the wounded and that end up counting as an arrest on suspects and lower the penalty of unathorized force on a civilian based on the context of their "morale" in that moment.
(Morale is their eagerness to fight back, If it's really high they are confident they will kill you and they won't surrender even if you and 3 other's all stand within 20feet and are all shoting "drop the weapon", "Drop it", "Drop the gun!" they'll just go 'ahh, jeez that pepper spray hurts my eyes'/'gosh darning that bean bag to my attached bean bag sure hurts the stomach! I better keep this weapon in my hand until they eventually drop me - only to sometimes end up penalized with -50 to -100 pts for unanthorized use of force (or if you end up killing them: -150 pts for unauth. lethal force)
I like the ammo choices but they don't feel realistic entirely. There should be FMJ, Reduced-Richochet&Penetration Rounds, AP-yes, JHP-yes(these are the only 2 in the game) but even the ability to change the grain/bullet weight would be neat as I assume most detachments use JHP and FMJ/Ball ammunition and AP is only for specific hostage situation's where it's known they have body armour. FMJ can still penetrate/break body armour (ceramic and kevlar) while retaining enough energy to get lodged in their back plate (albeit - in pieces/frangments).

The armour system is greatly enhanced with "Gunfighter" mod (get mods from nexus DO NOT I REPEAT!!: DO NOT USE MOD.IO from the in-game menu!!!! Use Nexus or go to mod.io's website and download them manually without "Subscribing" and without the use of "Vortexx" because trust me - you'll have a lot of errors and problems.
Gun fighter mod allows you to insert side plates into light armour, it allows faster movement speed, allows a tazer by default on top of your pistol-choice. It unlocks the sniper rifle (which is essentially uselss btw which I'm guessing is why it was removed) and allows you to unlock the basic "M4a1" instead of only having the MK18. (Is the P228/9 always unlocked? If not then this mod allows it's use other wise it doesn't change anything in pistols except for add the "m1911a1"/"Taran Tactical Double Stacked, modifiable .45 that can take attachments[assuming you don't have conflicts]) and it increases total slots for both armour types(light and heavy) to 25 meaning you can still brinng 8 pimary mags, 6 secondary mags, 1 lockpick-'gun'(a real thing btw and it cuts lockpicking time by 75%), 4-6 grenade's and 5-6 tactical devices like door jam's and C2 and pepper spray. It also does something silly which is unlock the m67 fragmentation grenade which you should never use - no law enforcement agency uses fragmentation grenades anyway lol but I hear SOME places do still use concussion-type grenades that are meant to subdue an enemy simply through the violent exposion and pressure change when it goes off! It can still be fatal though (swat 4).
Also unlocks the 3-bangers (these DO flash and stun enemies and civilian's) but the 9-bangers (just like IRL) are more to auditory-distract the suspects while you make your entry and DO NOT stun/flash enemies! So they're useless the second you either shout, arrest someone or you or a suspect fires their weapon at you. Because their attention/AI-state is changed from 'idle/patrol' to 'alert'/'engaging' and the audible distraction no longer serves a purpose however the 3 bangers are great!

Anyways just buy the game and support Void Interactive - all they've done is create a FANTASTIC game despite that criticism from dumbassery website's like katako and even other's because "some thngs are just too sickening to emulate. School shooting? What sick-minded people!" - Katako, I hope you know MURDER, SHOOTING SPREE'S, PLANTING BOMBS/DOMESTIC TERRORISM & HOSTAGE SITUATION'S are ALL HORRIBLE THINGS AS WELL!!!!!!! Moron's! But BUY THIS GAME :)

(old review below:)


PRIME EXAMPLE of what games SHOULD BE AT IN DEVELOPMENT **before** bringing it to EARLY ACCESS...

I love you Ground Branch but take a big effing notice. this is what should be done.