Marauders, the proven tactical looter shooter that looks to Escape from Tarkov
Marauders
We are in the 90s of an alternative universe. The Second World War never ended, Kurt Cobain never founded Nirvana, Briteny Spears grew up as a normal child and the industrialization of the Earth reached an extreme and destructive limit, so much so that many human beings were forced to flee. in space, creating alternative societies, but always in conflict with each other. Among the various groups that have formed, one of the best known is that of the Marauders, essentially space pirates who travel throughout the galaxy in search of loot to plunder. Their goal is to recover resources in rapid and brutal raids, in order to survive the continuing war, which now sees three factions (Central Empire, United Allies and Kingdom Alliance) and the resulting destruction. All this, as you will read in the Marauders trial, translates into an ambitious and tactical online looter shooter, set in diesel-punk maps, launched in Early Access on Steam.The basics
Space is a decidedly hard place to live If we were to define Marauders starting from another game, we would call it a simplified Escape from Tarkov in some mechanics, especially in the management of 'inventory. In a sense it is a more direct version of that formula, in which for example the management of ammunition is reduced to the bone, with the bullets associated with a single magazine, as is that of the healing items, much smaller in number and more general in their purposes (therefore no separate medical kits and targeted treatments for different wounds). The idea that is made immediately is that of a game that wants to appeal to a wider audience, without giving up a certain tactical depth and often extreme difficulty, which can also become problematic (as we will see). Yes, because from a challenge standpoint, Marauders is truly ruthless. Not only does he not think twice about eliminating unwary players, but he does not even give him an escape route, that is a container in which to cram part of the found loot (you know that of Tarkov?), To keep it in case of early passing. So it's either all or nothing. Too often nothing.Before getting into action, however, you have to reach the places of the raids. To do this, you have a spaceship at your disposal. At the first start it is practically a space cart, with limited offensive and defensive means. We are not in the parts of Stella Solitaria's camper, but we are close to it. On the way to the raid we can encounter various difficulties, such as defensive turrets or other players who want to put an end to our adventure prematurely. By accumulating loot it becomes possible to improve the ship, but in the first few games it is best to avoid direct confrontations and follow safe roads to the destination (when possible ... and often it is not). In this phase one of the biggest imbalances of the game appears, which we can summarize in: big ship destroys small ship. Translating: players with already a few hours of gameplay behind them have an obvious advantage over newbies, who have no chance against them, so much so that it is often difficult even to reach the entire raid locations. Of course, there is always the possibility of boarding enemy ships to attempt a direct confrontation, but it changes little, since a player who has an equipped ship is usually also one with advanced equipment, much more lethal than the starting one.
Reaching the raid locations is difficult in itself. However, surviving the journey and getting off the ship, the shooter phase begins, which is the most prevalent section of the game. As already mentioned, the difficulty is really brutal: not only are the enemies fierce and do a great harm, but we have a time limit, an oxygen limit and an inventory limit. In total, you have twenty-five minutes to enter, loot the best or most useful items around and escape, as long as you don't die first.
A few too many problems
The scenario by Marauders is really fascinating Another problem that is noticed in Marauders, which will hopefully be solved with the various updates of the Early Access, is the artificial intelligence of the enemies driven by the CPU, which often respond erratically to the presence of the player or they are handled in a frustrating way, in the sense that they appear in random spots, even very close to where you are, giving you no chance of reaction. That said, raid shootings can be rewarding, especially after a few hours of play, that is, when you have mastered the various mechanics and figured out how to overcome certain obstacles, be they prisoners on the run or military groups in the pay of the various factions. After the first unsuccessful attempts, it is also possible to get out of raids alive with loot in hand, to have to face another problem: many players, those with the strongest ships, have decided that it is not convenient to engage in raids or, at least, it is not as bad as waiting for other players out of the same and taking down their departing ships, especially the very weak ones, to raid the loot they have accumulated. Unfortunately, responding is not easy, because at the moment of setting sail there are a few seconds in which you practically become a moving target and it is also impossible to return fire. Beautiful, is not it? If we also include the presence of a few too many cheaters (the scum in space never fails), the current picture of Marauders does not appear rosy, so much so that it is difficult to find rest in so much frustration. The essence is that the entry curve into play for newbies appears very steep.Getting decent loot is not easy This lack of attention to new players is evident throughout the game: supplies from merchants cost a lot and initially you can only buy practically useless stuff, despite having to face the same difficulties as the super equipped players. Also, in case you are on a raid with the latter, it becomes virtually impossible to get decent loot, unless you meet some pious soul who leaves us something. Moreover, PvP is plagued by problems such as the inability to play stealthily, due to the too much noise made by the movements, as well as by a limited mobility (the jump is practically useless), which favors direct confrontations and, of course, usually sees prevail. who has the best equipment and plays in groups.
Having said that we do not want to complain about the difficulty itself, which the genre can be seen, but about how it is managed in relation to new players, who should be introduced more gradually, without having to immediately confront people who maybe they already have weeks of training to their credit. Here, it would take a few hours shielding to allow newbies to reach a level adequate to the general challenge and to allow them to understand all the game mechanics, otherwise the risk is that Marauders becomes a desert frequented only by a few omnipotent pirates, who they have made a scorched earth of all the others. After all, one buys such titles to have fun, not to gratify others by being cannon fodder.
At present it is difficult to recommend Marauders, except to those with great patience or to someone who already knows active players that can help him. And it's a shame, because the weapons, of the technological versions of those supplied to the armies of the Second World War, are many (although some customization options are missing), the shootings are satisfactory and the progression, managed through missions and objectives, is enough intelligent, but when it is not prevented by the problems we talked about in the course of the article. Let's say that interested parties should follow its development before purchasing it, to see if the updates of the Early Access version that will arrive in the next few months will fix the situation or make it worse.
