Insurgency: Sandstorm gameplay is an exceptional experience, but aspects such as matchmaking and presence of game elements have an “early access” feeling to it. Recent developer’s decisions made the community uncertain about the game's future. It feels somehow incomplete. Still, the current experience is well worth its price.

Insurgency: Sandstorm is a great experience set in between competitive-driven FPS games and more tactical, war simulation-oriented games. Focusing on average doses of realism, Sandstorm really puts players into action, accompanied by a baffling well-crafted sound design. Playing feels great, and shooting others feels greater. Calling in that right-timed A-10 Thunderbolt II air support? ♥♥♥♥♥♥ic, at minimum.

Current game modes include Local, Co-Op and PVP modes. While Local play feels forgettable and is easily avoided, Co-Op and PVP are two unique experiences. Players are divided into two teams (Security and Insurgents), with each one of them having their own set of weapons.

The game also offers new character customization options, with a great variety of clothing and equipment coloring, and easily customizable equipment loadouts, accessible from both in-game and the main menu.

Being a great game, Sandstorm still has a lot of drawbacks. Insurgency: Sandstorm is currently not very well optimized, running poorly even on mid-to-high end computers. Some may feel that the in-memory technology for loading textures is ineffective, constantly reloading and rendering low-resolution textures mid-game, no matter the graphical options chosen. Beware of throwing that Molotov, your processor may end up being more heated than your enemies.

Insurgency: Sandstorm lacks basic general aspects that define other similar FPS games, such as custom matchmaking options and server rules, hiding its own gameplay elements behind hard-to-access game modes, something that was way different in the original Insurgency installment. For example, night maps are present, but almost inaccessible unless under certain occasions. Another example of barely used game elements is the scarce presence of vehicles in-game, and the feeling that there is no reason at all for a team to bother into using them during missions. While the gameplay mechanisms are very well crafted, general meta elements and design choices feel incomplete and constantly under testing, even after a year after full release.

In Sandstorm character customization, female characters are badly represented. For the Security team, they have way less facial customization options than male characters, and a forgettable voice work when compared to male characters, being it the cause (or consequence) of them being barely used by players. Keep in mind that clothing customization is genderless, so no complaints on that front. Insurgents have no female characters, what may be either a reflection of social aspects from real world Middle East terrorism, or just a design decision.

Last, but not least, Insurgency: Sandstorm is a product, instead of being a “Labor of Love”, meaning it is driven mostly by market decisions instead of community feedback. Developers went back on several promises made, simply due to market changes. Those include the much expected single-player campaign, and Linux and macOS compatibility. The slow-paced updates may also bore most casual players after a while. Still, the number of active players is constant. Overall, the developer’s communication with the game community is somehow disappointing.

Other minor complaints include:
- Co-Op has only one game mode, lacking what is offered by PVP. Such is understandable, but unfortunate nonetheless.
- The AI has some flaws, mainly notable in its path-finding system.
- The game is lacking more maps, while most are a rework of those present in the past game.
- The anti-friendly fire system is flawed, and can be used to prejudice a player's experience.
- Restricted Area is flawed for smaller maps like Ministry.

Finally, I'm still able to recommend this game for some basic reasons:
- The current game state is satisfactory considering it's price.
- The game is a clear upgrade over its last installment.
- Playing it is fun and satisfactory.
- General complaints are about what the game COULD be, not about what IT IS.