[Critique] The Cycle: Frontier: A ‘shooter’ worth watching

Course: Boundaries It is a first-person shooter that has seen a bumpy development. Originally titled sessionthe game was countless battle royale That got under the radar already saturated type. So German studio YAGER changed its recipe to include its title in the genre shooter shooterWhich is booming in popularity thanks to the excellent Escape from Tarkov.

Free and more accessible than the latter, Course: Boundaries It takes place on the planet Fortuna III and the Prospect Station space station. Players embody “Prospectors,” a type of adventurer who descends to the surface of Fortuna III to recover precious resources while risking their lives. This once inhabited planet is now a waste field whose existence is reasserted by hostile native animals.

Three main factions

The economy of Prospect Station, where our personal headquarters are located, is (for the moment) dominated by three main factions: Korolev, Osiris and ICA. These basically make us do their dirty work in Fortuna III. Each contract earns K-Marks, the station’s base currency, as well as faction points that give access to better gear. We also receive scripts that allow us to improve our neighbourhoods.

The gameplay is simple yet addictive. We first accept a contract (task). Then we get to Fortuna III, alone or as a team, with the equipment we deem necessary to accomplish our mission – and that we are prepared to forfeit in the event of failure. Said task is accomplished, whether it is to recover precious resources, deposit something in a certain place or kill certain specimens of local fauna. Along the way, we loot anything we find worthy of attention and kill other players who stand in our way.

When we are ready to leave Fortuna III, we go to one of the extraction sites where a ship comes to pick us up. In case of successful extraction, we keep whatever we looted during our incursion. On the contrary, if you are killed during the adventure, you will lose everything you previously looted and brought. Rinse and repeat.

Handling weapons

As of this writing, players can explore two maps, one with a more dangerous environment than the other. One of the most important features of the game is their design, each of which consists of open spaces filled with many points of interest where the action is most likely to occur. Fortuna III is a living planet, full of lush vegetation, a world full of riches and a huge playground where tension keeps us in constant suspense.

Handling of weapons, mainly in a shooter, is very good. The weapons are well designed and varied, and the shots are powerful, aided by a resounding sound design. However, everything is not perfect since then session He has a balance problem. Equipment, including weapons and armor, is divided into several layers of rarities. This system makes it very difficult to win matches with better equipped players, even with the same skill. And it becomes quite challenging for a single player who crosses a well-equipped duo or trio. It is better, then, to retreat and hope that it will pass unnoticed.

Let’s see in the video