hello all, I have been a player of the insurgency series since the orginal half life 2 modification.

I want to start off this conversation by saying I do not mean to demean or be rude to any of the Developers. I know they are working hard and that making a video game is not an easy task.

I'd like to tap in to a bit of nostalgia. In 2007 I couldn't wait to get home from school so I could boot up my pc and load up Counter-Strike source and play with my buddies on steam. However to my surprise my buddies weren't playing Counter-Strike Source they were playing a new game called Insurgency Modern Combat. I immediately clicked the store Page only to discover that Insurgency was a free to download mod for Half-Life 2. From my first game I was hooked, the game felt very immersive and gave me a taste of tactical combat that I have never experienced before.i sunk hours into this game. It was a great experience. When Insurgency 2 came out I was so excited I bought it for all of my close friends on Steam so we could play. I have been playing Sandstorm since its first playable launch, the insurgency series has been my one and only Tactical FPS. I've had much fun over the years with these titles.

I did not come to rag on anyone. However as a player of the Insurgency series since its beginning I would like to share some concerns and some constructive criticism with the Developers of the games I've been playing for so long.

I genuinely like sandstorm, I do not think it is a bad game by any means. I I think it's fresh, and that it does some things better than the previous. However, not everybody in the community shares my same opinion. My friends on Steam that used to play Insurgency abandoned the series for other tactical shooters instead of sandstorm. Games like Arma, Squad, tarkov, and now Ready or not. To them with each update the game was becoming less realistic and closer to a casual shooter instead of a tactical shooter, but I have not given up on your product and I believe that the Insurgency series has some untapped potential.

I'm just going to come out and say it without beating around the bush, a lot of us from the original player base don't really care about cosmetic cash grabs. We understand that you need to make money, but we would much rather give you money for an expansion pack of sorts rather than these small cosmetic updates which really aren't true to the original ideas of Insurgency itself. It seems that sandstorm has taken on this Call of Duty like aesthetic compared to the older titles feeling a lot more grittier and darker in terms of tone. I believe that this gritty and dark tone is something that benefits the sandstorm series, and I feel like the new Cosmetics are ushering in a new tone of aesthetic that seems to be more aimed towards a younger audience by being less realistic.
People really like the realistic aspect of the insurgency series, the gameplay is a fine line between tactical and casual but not to complicated that its not playable. It does seem that the game is becoming more casual, I would recommend, that the development sees this niche and hopefully return to the more tactical realistic roots without the goofy cosmetics and weapon skins. We don't mind giving you money, we would just rather pay for stuff we want instead of stuff we didn't ask fo

I feel that you guys are focusing your attention in the wrong areas. Take Rising Storm 2 Vietnam for example they supplemented Cosmetics instead of working on core gameplay essentially killing the project. I really do not want to see this series succumb to the same fate. What really makes a game good is the core gameplay and continuing to refine the immersion of the game has longer longevity than quick cosmetic cash grabs.

This is just my genuine perspective on the direction of the game I do not mean to sound condescending or demeaning. I appreciate you guys at NWI, I'm hoping you will see this as constructive criticism and not just outlandish insults or negativity.

Sincerely,

Justin D.

SnowRunner

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Insurgency: Sandstorm

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