SCP: Secret Laboratory

TL;DR: If you're new its worth playing if you are treating it as a fun social shooter game with some bs sprinkled in here and there, its certainly better to get into this game before it completely goes off the hinges with its feature updates. If you haven't played in a while then its best to play it now because i think the game is on a downwards slope and most of what you probably liked about the game years ago is still here as long as you're willing to look for the right servers.. so play it while it lasts! --- Full review: Used to be an incredibly fun game and somewhat still is. Chances are if you are vaguely familiar with any of the SCPs here and willing to go past the horrendous experience of learning how this game even works there is a whole social culture in this game that i haven't really found anywhere else besides the VR community. A BIG however is that the game is nowhere near as good as it used to be. Its hard to say that this sentiment isn't objective. Almost every single returning player like me who i talked to in this game stated that the game is incredibly confusing and convoluted now. Enter any room in the revamped facility and you'll be met by confusing twists and turns and i often found my wrists and eyes hurting after a long session due to how information dense and maze like these facilities have become. The old game was all about stamina management when escaping SCPs and learning how each area connects along with trickery and a hint of buffoonery. However the new game is sluggishly running into random objects while walking backwards. The game feels more like you're trying to escape a Costco than a containment facility. You will enter a room, open a door that leads nowhere, go downstairs and navigate between a bunch of shelves then find a elevator that leads to an entirely different part above you that was blocked by the door you initially found when entering the room. This is hard to imagine from writing and even more difficult to navigate in the game itself for anyone who hasn't been here for every single update. The game is now an exercise in following the leader or whoever says "over here" first and loudest for a lot of new and returning players. The old game also had a snappy and tight movement feel. Along with precise weapons and huge potential for a single player to pull off crazy plays. Legacies were created via this gameplay and every server had a handful of players that would pull off some of the most insane s*** you've seen in an FPS and it was always fascinating to watch. Now the game feels more like I'm playing Splatoon with preschoolers. Any good shot you manage to pull off is in most cases due to divine intervention and using guns like the revolver are more of a pipe dream than a strategy. Almost each action in this game executes about half a second later than you would actually want it to, giving the whole game a syrupy slowness that is unlike the fast paced and streamlined gameplay of the 2020~ era. Also every revamped sight/scope in this game is so horrendous to use that you'd be better off attaching a roll of toilet paper onto your screen and aiming with that. Feel like I'm trying to thread a needle aiming this fluffing thing Every time i am asked by a new player how this game works i have to preface it with an apology for how complicated a sufficient explanation would be. And as far as i can see i don't see this game getting any more beginner friendly. Pressing F1 to view a summarized essay of what your role does is not beginner friendly and as far as I'm aware, no one wants to read a instruction manual before playing a game. The game has always been confusing to new players but the trend is to just keep throwing new features at the wall and seeing what sticks is not helping. This is a expected trend for a F2P multiplayer SCP game but some modesty would have sufficed. Especially considering how fun the game was in its early days with most of the newer features missing. The only part that seems unchanged is the outside environment, which the developers are now planning a complete overhaul of from what i read and it looks.. yeah. The only people likely to give direct feedback about these feature updates are the ones who didn't lose interest in this game so from the looks of things my sentiment is in the minority. However I've had my fair share of times where i complained about the confusing state of the game and had multiple people repeat similar opinions. I still enjoy this game from time to time however its crossed that line of not being the game i sunk (insert hours played here) hours in. I really dislike what this game is slowly turning into and I'm expecting to have my last play session for good this year if not next year.