Recent reviews by Mini

It has lots of potential to be a strong long lasting MMO in the genre if it weren't for several key defining points that makes the genre what it is and enjoyable along the way.

For everyone to understand the problems you must know all these issues have to be changed on the KR client first before it can brought to the global servers after a 6-12 month delay of it being live on KR servers, this is the norm for korean mmo development cycles when content is being released in a faster content cycle till there's a 2-3 month gap between the two versions of the game. This is how NCsoft naturally runs their games.

Gearing system:

Trading. Doesn't exist.

Otherwise the core system takes inspiration of old school dungeon loot systems then adds multiple struggles on top in a means to obtaining gear. The beginning of late game will find that you need to run specific dungeons in hopes to get your gear dropped, however you're limited to how much dungeon currency you have available to open the boss chest to roll for your chance of gear, you get 3 chances per day and can hold up to 5 days worth of this currency.

In these same dungeons, as the game uses the trinity system of Tank, Heal, DPS. The rewards in each of the 6 endgame dungeons don't have loot pools that support all 3 roles so you are stuck in queue limbo where a dungeon that has no tank gear to have a tank queue / request to join your party via LFG system to join unknowing that the dungeon is a waste of time for them.

Dungeons also have a pity system of after 20 runs you can craft the item with the specific dungeon token you loot at the end of each run or you can combine multiple tokens from all dungeons for the same reason / attain gear that is exclusive to this method, some of which are necessary BiS pieces for specific builds.

Another gearing method is similar to BDO of endless killing mobs in specific regions and open-world dungeons to have an extremely low drop chance but you must be in a party to save yourself 100s of hours trying to solo these mobs as you must be the first individual /party to tag the mob to gain the possibility for anything from the mobs loot table to drop. Also again you have another currency in relation to open-world dungeon farms, in order to attain drops from the mobs you must have this currency, in order to gain currency you have to do specific open-world contract missions, which are limited to 10 per day, can save up to 50 in total, and acts identical to the previously mentioned dungeon currency.

Guild raids are another form of gearing, firstly your guild must be high enough level to fight any required bosses you or anyone else needs HOWEVER on the boss loot drop it does not go into your inventory it directly goes into the guild bank. The guild has 2 different settings in place. Setting 1: if you get the item drop you can claim it from the guild bank within the set time limit otherwise if you don't it's locked in the guild bank till it's distributed by the guild leader / advisor if permission allows. Setting 2: It goes directly to the guild bank and you have to ask for the drop to be given to you by the guild leader / advisor. Again however any guilds with corrupt leadership can take ownership of your dropped item or redistribute it to someone else. Lastly the guild leader / advisor can choose to sell your item on the auction house and the payment is split equally amongst the guild.

World bosses, simple, kill world boss it drops gear loot for only 1 individual out of everyone who participated and everyone else gets basic participation rewards AND the guild bank automatically claims that loot and you're subjected to the guild settings and leaders to make the final decision so you could get lucky and still walk away with nothing LMFAO.

Auction house is extremely convoluted and is cash only premium currency when buying and selling. Every item has 2 versions, it's physical instant equipable version and the key paper copy that is a crafting component for you to use to create the item.

Open world events

A lot of the events are fun but very straight forward all of which are simply the same that you compete against everyone in the event for the most kill confirmed mob kills and some of which are unnecessarily PVP based so if it's your main questing area during the event period, you are soft-locked until the event ends as you're flagged for pvp being within the region whether you're participating or not. This also applies to specific world bosses to, so it's meaningless to be a melee build as you will get AoE'd by all the mages and rangers, ++ inclusive game design. There's no rewards / milestones for open-world boss pvp kills, just an ego boost and a profile stat to flex.

There is standard instance based PVP, I haven't played it nor am I interested in trying it and there is guild vs guild seems very reminiscent of gw2 WvW with base sieges but simply the guild with the better gear are the ones who win since stats aren't normalised in these environments.

TL:DR
The game could be a solid 8/10 experience if it wasn't for the various glaring issues which you can avoid by playing nearly any other mmo in the genre. There are definitely more issues with the current state of the game in both KR and global clients but this is a review, not a novel.

Steam version been out for over a week now + it was PC's first major content patch! I have also been playing since North America's Console Launch in March with just under 500 hours total now.

Is this game for you? Something that PSO2 does extremely well is having a very good balance for both casual and hardcore players. Alot of MMOs lead to newer and casual players being left behind and stuck to grind endlessly just to play the latest content, PSO2 doesn't exhibit this or encourages this sort of gameplay making it very casual friendly. There's definitely challenging content both group and solo based instances but none of which forces you to get the BiS weapon, armour and buffs just to pass or play it. The only difference it makes is how quick you can drop the boss and that's down to time spent grind < time to kill.

TL:DR:
Optimization: Very optimized, rarely ever drop any frames even in major boss fights with max effects active.
Genre: Hub based MMO - Main home where you talk to Quest NPCs before starting a mission.
Pay-to-win: Nope
Population: Good but region / Server dependent / timezones
Graphics: Age shows but still good looking (Graphics Overhaul in 2021!!)
Combat style: Great mix of Tab-targeting and action combat. (Some classes exhibit better Action Combat than BDO or BnS)
PVP: It's there, not amazing and mainly offers cosmetic rewards (not based on gear either)
Cash-shop: Cosmetic and conveince focused
Cosmetic game: Cosmetics is one of the best features in this game, colouring can be albeit a bit limited still has much versatility to it!
Classes: Currently 9 - 4 more soon to be added over the coming months.
Content Variety: Basic instanced base biomes (Base content), One of the best group-based time events experiences in MMOs. Very much Rivals GW2 style but more unique ideas and executed greatly!
Community: Very friendly, casual inclusivity and fun

Time to update this from my previous 40 hour review to present 1.0 release time.
Played since April 2020 (rundown 2).

First I want to mention that the game does state you cannot play the previous rundowns, however you can still play the previous via Google shared files that are bundled with VRMODs if you wish to try. Not only do you have the oppotunity to play the current rundown but the previous have been archived. You cannot get banned or lose your copy of the game, the devs are fair with mods in private instances and in total you will have 6 whole rundowns available of time of buying as of this review! 200+ hours into this game and I still have yet to personally finish every level from each rundown, if that isn't content for people who are the next potential fans of the game, I don't what is.

Now the actual review:

An all time favourite game of mine to date. A solid hardcore team based PvE FPS, lots of replayability, each mission attempt is always slightly different from the last. Challenging objective based missions now with a variety of objectives and tasks that will have a drastic effect on the entire level. Example: Poisonous fog spread throughout the level, optional objective available to go complete that will then remove the fog from the main objective. A high risk, high reward for doing the optional as they will be more slightly more challenging than the main mission itself but never necessary to complete.

Gameplay loop: It's consistently the same throughout the game, stealth is a requirement, run n gun is possible but will punish you unless it's a mission that is mayhem from the start with constant mobs being spawned to attack you periodically.

Simple loop: Stealth -> strategic wave defense -> objective -> stealth/ chaotic madness.

I've always found the game to be decently optimized from my experience and others i've played with on low-mid range PCs. I.E i7700k with GTX 970 and still capable of getting 120+ fps consistently on medium graphics.

Difficulty: The game will always be optimized for 4-player coop, there is now bots with 1.0 release. I cannot comment on the bots as I'll probably never use them but levels can be solo'd with a great deal of time and effort + high level fundamental understanding of the game. I do not recommend solo play for new players.

There is matchmaking via player hosted lobbies, just like every game, your teammates skillset will be varied and can lead to either a great or not so fun experience. HOWEVER, the GTFO discord has LFG (looking for group) channels that are regionally separated if you want to jump straight in with some randoms who are eager to progress throughout the game! Highly recommend this, there is a short guide on the discord how to properly advertise your lobby if you choose to host than join others yourself.

This review can easily go on and on but GTFO is 100% worth every penny especially when it's discounted. Anyone in small gaming communities that enjoy working together to achieve the same goal, this game is made for FPS enthusiasts or the coop lovers. Your aim may be great but is your strategy and problem solving skills equally as good. GTFO over the last 2 years has only got better and better with time, very easy game to pick up and play, put and down and come back to whenever. It does not force you to commit every day of your life to it so enjoy it to your hearts content.