Recent reviews by Neo

Advertised as pre-order exclusive bonus just to be re-released as a paid DLC later. This is great to avoid FOMO, however it should be transparent, and not lied to the community (though SBZ does that quite amazingly, especially after having done FOMO in the past), because it will obviously be an argument to buy it.

Jackit!! Follow along!
Strokit!! Hurry up!
Fapit!! Come here!

Yeah you get it.. That's anything but the Jacket we had from PAYDAY 2's collab in both terms of quality and effort imo.
He does not sound like he's using a voice recorder at all anymore, the only moments you can hear him use it is when he rewinds it and such. Aside from that, the voice doesnt sound like an old recorder (which was very well done in PAYDAY 2 imo.)
Good point though, the interactions with other heisters are pretty cool like clover calling him a "freaky bastard" or him calling houston "hoxton" before rewinding to say "houston" (what a gaslight)
Voicelines are also very redundant. Even more than 2's.
For the character itself, if you're a complete fan of the hotline miami franchise, or a jacket simp, maybe you'll like it anyways.
Oh and the model looks nothing like PD2's which makes it kinda like Vlad, they want to make lore but then kill the lore by making them the same person with COMPLETE different characteristics.

For the preset, huge joke SBZ threw at us. Making a Tribune SMG preset instead of a whole new weapon is purely a joke, and don't get me started on the fact that the Interceptor (released for free alongside the DLC) is recycling the model of the EMP we use in Road Rage....
The bat? That is ALMOST perfect. Almost? Yeah well... Mostly because the music is really not something you expect to represent a hotline miami setting. Yeah, its like arcade-ish music, except that it doesnt remind me of hotline miami at all. Listen, I get it was very unlikely for us to get Roller Mobster, Future Club or something like that as the bat music when you use it while playing as jacket.
But the browser game they made to market the DLC, was made by LilGuyG, a SBZ partner, and would have suited the bat 10 times more.
The bat itself is fun, powerful (just as the other overkill's tbh now), but I wish you could for example click to overhead, and hold to do a swipe hit.

If I'd give a rating it would be a:
Jacket - 3/10
Preset - 1/10 (At least we got a Jacket's Piece... I guess?)
Bat - 8/10

Overall 4/10

21st of March 2025

I will make a review about the game itself generally with a little grading system from A+ to D! (Dr. Easterman will be pleased)

General gameplay

Playtime: A (9/10)
Progression: B+ (7/10)
Endgame: B (6/10)
Difficulty: C+ (4/10) -- Lower grade means easier
Horror: C+ (4/10)
Psychological Horror: A+ (10/10)

The game has a huge amount of playtime you can sink in IF you like grinding, and like the game. However, if you're one that doesnt like to grind much, you shouldnt expect to sink in more than about 100 hours before it starts feeling quite repetitive, at least as of this review.
Progression is decent but quite mid due to the fact that half way through leveling, it'll feel like it gets really slow for almost nothing (You'll likely just try to reach a certain level to unlock an AMP you want, maybe finish the few prescriptions left on tier 3 that aren't a big priority, but by then you'll have most upgrades you want, a full rig, and mid tier amps.)

Endgame is pretty bad. Once you reach max level, theres only one thing to do:
Spam rebirths, which is a system that is very repetitive (hard grinding) for barely any rewards past the first 10 times. However, it was mentionned in a dev stream they plan some changes to it.
We can also argue you can try to 100% the few tasks you may have left, and mess around with the trials. But thats more of a personal thing which again, is if you like grinding because you like the game, not hard content.

100+ hours in, every difficulty but psychosurgery should be a breeze, which itself will be after maybe running a dozen or so trials. Its mostly hinderance from the difficulty than "raw" difficulty. Still gets a 4 due to the fact that the game has a lot to learn in the first 20 hours of playtime mostly, and your gamesense will considerably change difficulty for you as a player.

About the horror aspect, well... I personally was really scared during my first 5 hours of playtime, then for about 5 more hours I had a fair amount of scares and moments where I was still scared, but past 20 hours of playtime I rarely got scared by anything else than surprises.
The "surprise" horror wears off quite fast imo, a few dozen hours. However Outlast always had a huge psychological horror aspect, and that aspect is nailed. They are filterless, flithy, and limitless. The psych horror grade was put aside just for that purpose. I can not think of a single game that captures the absolute unhinged core of the game that well.


General Grade: 7/10

Game has a lot of potential, can and will be fun to its right public. Gameplay mostly feels good and smooth, has a lot of replayability though a big chunk is mostly for people who like learning maps through playing them, and grinding. (Past 100 hours)
Still has a good margin to reach a truly unforgettable game, but it is quite a gem itself. Definitely grab it when its on sale if you're considering it.

Game has an AMAZING monetization, barely any FOMO and all free (aside from a few cosmetics DLCs that are ONLY cosmetics. No boosts.)
Hell, even the "battlepass" doesnt leave once a season end, and is 100% free (no premium track)