It's a great game but there IS a catch that wasn't mentioned.
The devs plan on implementing one of the more intrusive Anti-Cheats (Face It Anti Cheat) which doesn't work on Linux which also stops all Steam Deck users from playing. It also forces you to disable virtualization on windows. I can't recall the last time I had to go into bios to disable an option to turn off important windows features.
According to their stream, it's non-negotiable and will be added regardless of what the community wants. But they did mention that community servers would be able to pick which Anti Cheat they wanted to use?
As someone that uses virtual machines frequently, I look at my like 16 hours in the game. Fuck. I hope they don't do that, this is the Battlefield I've been wanting for years. ;-;
How would you go about getting the refund if you're over 2hrs?
I've been trying to get one for the last 2 days after the devs announced on their discord and stream they were going back to Face It but I've been repeatedly denied by steam.
They haven't backed down at all. They're still committed to implementing FaceIt according to the devs in their discord. The only reason it's not implemented now is because of privacy concerns so they're trying to rework it a bit.
Well tbf, on most devices it’s usually disabled by default so this is one of the typical “well 99% of our users are unaffected so eat it or go away”. Always kinda dick-ish to do something like this.
From what I read, it also requires Secure Boot to be enabled. I played the game for 90 minutes before reading about the anti-cheat change, fortunately I didn’t hit 2 hours and took a refund.
But they did mention that community servers would be able to pick which Anti Cheat they wanted to use?
As I understand, there are three tiers to this:
Official servers will use FaceIt exclusively.
Servers rented from official partners will have the choice of FaceIt or EAC.
Community-run servers will only be able to use EAC, and won't be hooked into the global progression system.
One of the many problems with FaceIt is that the server-side component is not allowed to be freely distributed, which is why community-run servers won't have the option to use it.
Personally, there is no way I am buying this unless if they reverse their plans to use FaceIt.
I got it and played a bunch with a group over the weekend, it's quite a lot of fun. Lots of chaos and stuff happening, with plenty of room for support roles like ammo and medic if you don't feel like doing anything else. Proximity voice chat is built in and works well too, and is real proximity (ie; enemies can hear you too if nearby). The automatic mic activation for a few seconds when you die can be absolutely hilarious (or disabled if you want).
The graphics are nice and simple which I like, it lets me focus on the game more and not have to deal with FPS drops or performance issues.
I'm in the same camp here, generally avoided FPS because my reaction time is similar to a snail. The medic role is super important because you don't heal automatically, and only a medic can heal you. I've had plenty of situations where I'm a medic prone on the ground with bullets flying overhead, reviving and healing a whole squad downed by a well placed enemy grenade. Been an absolute blast, pun intended.
I'm not into FPS anymore, but even I thought about picking it up. The substance over style is fine with me, but that core gameplay seems like a rock solid thing. The only thing that has given me pause on picking it up is that they're planning on changing the anti-cheat that isn't Linux friendly and as a Linux user, just gonna wait for now.
In my experience being vocal about changes doesn't do much. There's a million factors and Linux support is probably at thr bottom of their priority list. Or they've been told be the anticheat it'll be fixed someday, etc. I understand they're a super small team and they have to pick their battles as well.
I'm too tired for that fight/discussion anymore. I'll vote with my wallet. Plus I have a million other games to play.
The game itself is a workmanlike Battlefield with a few oddball choices. I hope they never "fix" the vaulting behaviour that lets you break a 20-storey fall and make massive jumps across rooftops.
But I've specifically been having a lot of fun with the proximity chat. Remarkably robust, has an opt-in "broadcast your mic for a few seconds when you die" feature, and somehow isn't a sluice of slurs / edgy crap / etc (at least in my experience).
The anticheat news is really depressing though. Cheaters are out there and will come to this game, and EAC at least has a reputation of being quite weak. We're not allowed to have nice things.
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