After almost 3k hours, I have to say that the state of the game is worse than it's ever been. I play 50/50 killer and survivor and here's what you can expect:

Survivor:
- 5 - 10 minute lobby queue times only to experience the following:
- Getting slugged and bled out 50% - 75% of the time. Meaning you rarely get to actually play the match in any serious capacity. The game will get taken hostage and you'll spend minutes bleeding out while the killer stands over you and waits for the rest of your team to bleed out so they can mori. This is considered by BHVR to be a 'gameplay choice' and is not reportable, despite there literally being an option to report someone for taking the game hostage.
- Getting unhooked only to be immediately downed again while the killer completely ignores everyone else on your team trying to help/distract/take chase off of you.
- Being left to go into phase two by incompetent teammates in solo queue.
- Being Tbagged while you're bleeding out by arrogant killers who get some kind of crazy ego boost from this game (voted most likely to be an actual serial killer outside of the game)
- Seeing killers run the same perks repeatedly and having your aura revealed consistently so the killer knows where you are a majority of the game while at the same time nerfing the only perk that helped you combat that in any serious capacity. (see: distortion and how it used to be versus how it is now.)
- Being targeted by the killer because of your username or character chosen.
- Being hit on hook repeatedly if you're able to loop the killer or pallet them/stun/save a teammate even a single time.
- Taking 0 - 1 hooks and doing the objectives/helping teammates just to remain the last survivor left and get instantly mori'd while the killer makes sure you're aware that the hatch escape was merely inches away.


Killer:
- Prepare to be matched with people way out of your skill range / league. the MMR is a joke. They hide survivor's levels/prestiges from you now until the end of the match so you won't dodge the match by realizing you're outranked. They set you up for failure here if you aren't as experienced.
- Prepare to be teabagged and trolled with flashlights (not necessarily blinded, but trolled with flashes by cocky survivors who think/know they're better than you.)
- Above survivor experience has caused many groups of 4 friends to behave like 'bully squads', anticipating a sweaty, skill lacking killer (and who can blame them for expecting that? it's the state of the game.) They will all run flashbang, blastmine, a flashlight, toolbox, and boon that allows them to pick themselves up endlessly until you find it, forcing you to slug because they refuse to let you get a single hook, knowing they can just get back up.
- Being teabagged by cocky survivors who will then DC the moment you outsmart them. (Note: they programmed bots to teabag as well, proving that BHVR encourages the behavior and considers it non-toxic.)
- Resorting to being a 'friendly killer' just for the sake of getting a challenge done.
- Survivors killing themselves on the first hook because they've completely lost any semblance of hope for a balanced game, even if you aren't playing sweaty by slugging or tunneling, their own egos/experience tell them the match isn't worth it. When survs kill themselves, you ultimately get less bloodpoints due to lack of chase/gen hits etc. (Again, because of the current state of the game, the above is to be expected way more frequently than BHVR wants to admit. It's become a serious problem over the last year but again, I can't really blame those who 'go next' with the current state of things.)
- Three generators being completed at the same time within the first 2-3 minutes of the match while chasing a survivor. You will get zoned and unable to apply sufficient gen pressure without the right perks, again leading most killers to run the same perks over and over again which gets boring on both sides very fast.

Both:
- The toxicity of the community is abhorent on both sides. Killers and survivors alike are generally mean spirited and can/will hide on anon to say hateful things in end game chat. There still has yet to be an option to disable end game chat altogether for PC players. Console players are not given the option to chat.
- An incompetent moderation team who will respond to any serious reports of poor sportsmanship by saying "we don't consider this a reportable offense worth taking action) when there's literally a category to report someone for called "Unsportsmanlike" described as: "Refusing to participate in normal gameplay" yet BHVR refuses to define this for us because they know it would justify a majority of reports and they don't want to lose $$$$ for punishing those responsible for playing to the detriment of the game and its elements.
- Rubberbanding and poor ping even with a stable ethernet connection and VPN.
- Servers to unexpectedly crash in the middle of your game, so even if you completed your challenge? Too bad. Do it again.
- Being penalized with a "Matchmaking ban" if you decide to DC for any of the aforementioned reasons instead of addressing the issue that caused you to DC, even though survs who DC are replaced with bots and it doesn't affect the status of the match, unlike if a killer DCs; the match just ends abruptly.
- No in-game stats, but you're more than welcome to sell them more of your information if you want to see how poorly you did this year! 8)

The pros:
- in game currency can be earned from playing/leveling up your devotion which means you can buy CERTAIN cosmetics and characters (non-licensed) for iri shards versus auric cells, though it does take a while for these to accrue. So, it's possible to customize your character/unlock new characters without spending actual money.
- limited game modes rotate cyclically, though they aren't permanent despite high demand.
- new content fairly frequently including maps, cosmetics, and killer/survivor duos.
- That's about it sadly.

Ultimately: don't waste your money or time on this game until serious changes are made. It didn't always used to be this way. At whichever point I decide to waste more of my life giving this game another chance, I will update this review to reflect those QOL changes. That remains to be seen with the incompetence and willing ignorance of the dev team. Hopefully dwindling online player numbers will open their eyes, as they've been on a somewhat steady decline since July 2024, but who knows whether they even care so long as people will pay for new content only to be disappointed by the actual gameplay itself.

(Again, I am posting this review as someone who is consistently both Iri 1 (highest season rank) killer AND survivor.)

After almost 3k hours, I have to say that the state of the game is worse than it's ever been. I play 50/50 killer and survivor and here's what you can expect: Survivor: - 5 - 10 minute lobby queue times only to experience the following: - Getting slugged and bled out 50% - 75% of the time. Meaning you rarely get to actually play the match in any serious capacity. The game will get taken hostage and you'll spend minutes bleeding out while the killer stands over you and waits for the rest of your team to bleed out so they can mori. This is considered by BHVR to be a 'gameplay choice' and is not reportable, despite there literally being an option to report someone for taking the game hostage. - Getting unhooked only to be immediately downed again while the killer completely ignores everyone else on your team trying to help/distract/take chase off of you. - Being left to go into phase two by incompetent teammates in solo queue. - Being Tbagged while you're bleeding out by arrogant killers who get some kind of crazy ego boost from this game (voted most likely to be an actual serial killer outside of the game) - Seeing killers run the same perks repeatedly and having your aura revealed consistently so the killer knows where you are a majority of the game while at the same time nerfing the only perk that helped you combat that in any serious capacity. (see: distortion and how it used to be versus how it is now.) - Being targeted by the killer because of your username or character chosen. - Being hit on hook repeatedly if you're able to loop the killer or pallet them/stun/save a teammate even a single time. - Taking 0 - 1 hooks and doing the objectives/helping teammates just to remain the last survivor left and get instantly mori'd while the killer makes sure you're aware that the hatch escape was merely inches away. Killer: - Prepare to be matched with people way out of your skill range / league. the MMR is a joke. They hide survivor's levels/prestiges from you now until the end of the match so you won't dodge the match by realizing you're outranked. They set you up for failure here if you aren't as experienced. - Prepare to be teabagged and trolled with flashlights (not necessarily blinded, but trolled with flashes by cocky survivors who think/know they're better than you.) - Above survivor experience has caused many groups of 4 friends to behave like 'bully squads', anticipating a sweaty, skill lacking killer (and who can blame them for expecting that? it's the state of the game.) They will all run flashbang, blastmine, a flashlight, toolbox, and boon that allows them to pick themselves up endlessly until you find it, forcing you to slug because they refuse to let you get a single hook, knowing they can just get back up. - Being teabagged by cocky survivors who will then DC the moment you outsmart them. (Note: they programmed bots to teabag as well, proving that BHVR encourages the behavior and considers it non-toxic.) - Resorting to being a 'friendly killer' just for the sake of getting a challenge done. - Survivors killing themselves on the first hook because they've completely lost any semblance of hope for a balanced game, even if you aren't playing sweaty by slugging or tunneling, their own egos/experience tell them the match isn't worth it. When survs kill themselves, you ultimately get less bloodpoints due to lack of chase/gen hits etc. (Again, because of the current state of the game, the above is to be expected way more frequently than BHVR wants to admit. It's become a serious problem over the last year but again, I can't really blame those who 'go next' with the current state of things.) - Three generators being completed at the same time within the first 2-3 minutes of the match while chasing a survivor. You will get zoned and unable to apply sufficient gen pressure without the right perks, again leading most killers to run the same perks over and over again which gets boring on both sides very fast. Both: - The toxicity of the community is abhorent on both sides. Killers and survivors alike are generally mean spirited and can/will hide on anon to say hateful things in end game chat. There still has yet to be an option to disable end game chat altogether for PC players. Console players are not given the option to chat. - An incompetent moderation team who will respond to any serious reports of poor sportsmanship by saying "we don't consider this a reportable offense worth taking action) when there's literally a category to report someone for called "Unsportsmanlike" described as: "Refusing to participate in normal gameplay" yet BHVR refuses to define this for us because they know it would justify a majority of reports and they don't want to lose $$$$ for punishing those responsible for playing to the detriment of the game and its elements. - Rubberbanding and poor ping even with a stable ethernet connection and VPN. - Servers to unexpectedly crash in the middle of your game, so even if you completed your challenge? Too bad. Do it again. - Being penalized with a "Matchmaking ban" if you decide to DC for any of the aforementioned reasons instead of addressing the issue that caused you to DC, even though survs who DC are replaced with bots and it doesn't affect the status of the match, unlike if a killer DCs; the match just ends abruptly. - No in-game stats, but you're more than welcome to sell them more of your information if you want to see how poorly you did this year! 8) The pros: - in game currency can be earned from playing/leveling up your devotion which means you can buy CERTAIN cosmetics and characters (non-licensed) for iri shards versus auric cells, though it does take a while for these to accrue. So, it's possible to customize your character/unlock new characters without spending actual money. - limited game modes rotate cyclically, though they aren't permanent despite high demand. - new content fairly frequently including maps, cosmetics, and killer/survivor duos. - That's about it sadly. Ultimately: don't waste your money or time on this game until serious changes are made. It didn't always used to be this way. At whichever point I decide to waste more of my life giving this game another chance, I will update this review to reflect those QOL changes. That remains to be seen with the incompetence and willing ignorance of the dev team. Hopefully dwindling online player numbers will open their eyes, as they've been on a somewhat steady decline since July 2024, but who knows whether they even care so long as people will pay for new content only to be disappointed by the actual gameplay itself. (Again, I am posting this review as someone who is consistently both Iri 1 (highest season rank) killer AND survivor.)