Note: I wrote this out for a steam review and then i realised i couldn't post it until the game was fully released so figured i would post it here rather then waste my feedback hopefully both devs and players can take something from this.

There isn't a middle ground with recommendations so i'll have to pick negative, i was a huge fan of the old insurgency (over 900 hours) even participated in a couple seasons of competitive in the oceanic region.

When this game was announced to come out needless to say i was very excited to see what they would do with it especially in 2018 with some really nice realistic shooters already out such as squad and post scriptum and some more in development i was intrigued to see if they would take any inspiration from them, and i watched alot of the informative videos about Insurgency Sandstorm and even applied and got accepted for the closed alpha.

But i have to admit i feel a bit let down with the game my fps arn't great but that's ok i know they are working on fixing it and it is getting better with each update and it is in early access after all but there are a couple of things i would like to see changed or reworked a little, one of my biggest pet peeves would be the way you are restricted on the maps, i'm not talking about the restricted zones thats fine and understandable i view that as a neccesary mechanic for a game like this... what i mean by this is each map has a set amount of paths you can take to objectives i will say it's quite a substantial improvment over the previous games with more paths and alleys and things that you can navigate to change up your approach but the maps don't feel truly open and often i find myself feeling funneld towards objectives especially on Push, i would like to see the maps more open so you can make your own path and feel less restricted when approaching objectives. (Panj from the old game was very good at allowing you multiple avenues of approach)

I also find bullet penetration to be occasionally overkill at times i've seen a couple different occasions of people getting wall banged through solid concrete walls.

And the amount of time you get to organise your loadout can also be a bit of a pain as if you take to long you have to wait for the next respawn, granted you can work around this by deploying first and then changing your kit and the fact the game does seem to remember what you selected for future games so this becomes less of an issue as you play more, but neverless it is a tad annoying.

There are couple more things that i could list but to be honest it's probably just me nitpicking, so now i'll get to the aspects of the game that i do like.

I love the way it feels when you shoot someone and they drop the ragdolls are pretty sick.
I love the gore and i mean i REALLY love the gore!
The gunplay although i feel it needs a little more work is good guns feel like they pack a punch just like they should.
The character customisation is a cool feature to see introduced and does keep me playing that little bit longer.

Interaction with the enviroment - Kicking down doors or opening it slightly and taking a peak, breaking a window and vaulting through it.. these things really makes you feel like a boss especially the first one, though i would like to see a bit more interaction with the enviroment i'm very satisfied with it currently.

Local communications - it is such a important feature to a game like this unfortunately currently it doesn't seem to transmit voice but either way huge thumbs up as i know you will no doubt be working on a fix for this.

Co-operative - Co Op is amazing it's really been revamped and all for the better i absolutley love it.

Regardless of my negative feedback i won't be refunding this game NWI has stated they will be working on improving alot of aspects of this game and pushed there full release back and i'm willing to give them the time to prove that with the happiness i've got in the past from the previous title but currently as the game stands it's iffy in my opinion so hopefully this review will help future potentional buyers make a decision.