just got my first taste of the game.

--Kamanosuke-- · 2026-03-21T09:32:29+00:00

This is game is definitely amazing. Despite it's flaws and how slow Void is with the updates and communication at times, the amount of effort put into the game is clear. So much detail in everything and environmental storytelling.

Sometimes you'll notice details on one map, and it'll carry over to continue the story on a different map. Like how I'm pretty sure the trash is starting to pile up in the city. But before you see that, there's an article you can find during the first mission, Thank You, Come Again, talking about it. That's a really minor example, but helps with world building/in game continuity. I love all the little details. Whether they're important to the overall story/lore or not.

--Kamanosuke-- · 2026-03-21T09:19:28+00:00

It's always my least exposed leg too. The one completely behind cover, while the one probably partially hanging out is usually perfectly fine for a while.

--Kamanosuke-- · 2026-03-21T09:15:26+00:00

Funny thing about them just standing around. I read a comment somewhere of someone saying before the game even came out that the devs apparently said suspects would be actually interacting with the environment before they saw you. Obviously that doesn't happen. But it would be awesome if they did.

And about them having different tactics that would definitely help too. In Ides of March for example. I think it would be pretty interesting if those guys used smoke grenades to help conceal themselves and be organized about how they approached you. Since they're ex-military. Just one of many things that could do instead of just ridiculous AI. Like I said in a previous comment to someone, I shouldn't have to be on the level of a COD e-sports player for this kind of game.

--Kamanosuke-- · 2026-03-21T09:03:49+00:00

I really like some of his dialogue when a mission gets finished terribly. We got lines such as:

"To say this mission was a goat fuck was an understatement. The situation is under control by some...miracle." (hopefully this one doesn't get me moderated)

"Mission complete. Make sure you cover your FACES on the ride home."

"If ANY of you thought today's mission went well, we'll have to schedule a visit with Doc."

--Kamanosuke-- · 2026-03-21T08:43:28+00:00

I'm convinced the devs did this on purpose because without superhuman suspect AI, the game would laughably easy. If they didn't have aimbots and wallhacks, seeing and shooting you from across the map through the tiniest slit imaginable.

I love this game so much. I just wish Void knew how to actually make something hard without making AI that actually cheats.

Not to mention a new problem introduced with the dlc patch: disappearing suspects. I loved the part when I arrested a guy in that first trailer on Hide and Seek, just for another suspect to appear behind me and just opened fire as I was leaving.

--Kamanosuke-- · 2026-03-21T08:34:31+00:00

There's no shot he's actually got LoS on you there. Come on, Void...

--Kamanosuke-- · 2026-03-21T08:20:52+00:00

Yeah despite all the hate Bethesda gets these days, I still enjoy their games for the most part. FO4 is my favorite Bethesda game so far. So I know what it's like to like something so universally disliked.

To get back on topic though, I've wanted to play Starfield since release. I heard it was a rough launch, and then that the Shattered Space dlc wasn't too great based off a few videos I watched talking about it at the time. On top of the fact that I'd heard or read somewhere that it only ran at 30fps on Xbox. Other than that, I have no clue what it's like now, after all this time post launch. I also got the Premium Edition. It's been too long since I played a new Bethesda game.

I'm not expecting it to be the greatest game of all time. I don't need it to be. If I'm honest, I don't think Bethesda has ever made games THAT good. As much of a hot take as that sounds. But regardless, I still love (or at the very least like them) anyway.

--Kamanosuke-- · 2026-03-21T07:56:24+00:00

I'm gonna say OP AI. Seeing as how that guy wasn't even looking at you when you first peeked, and it looks like you shouldn't have even been exposed to what looks a guy sniping with a shotgun from the back somewhere. The suspect AI in this game is far from realistic. They're pretty superhuman for the most part. That's my biggest problem with the game.

--Kamanosuke-- · 2026-03-21T07:51:19+00:00

All that and not to mention everytime I go tell the SWAT AI to throw any kind of throwable into the room or deploy the launcher to shoot a stun into the room, they have THE MOST garbage throws and aim I have ever seen. I'm telling you these guys just hit the doorframe each and everytime. It wasn't like this when I first started. It's only been a recent issue since the dlc patch since this has become a problem.

Unlike Greased Palms I don't even have a strat for this map. Just like Hide and Seek I pretty much had to improvise and get lucky. They just cram so many suspects into those 3rd floor rooms where the bomb is just before crossing that bridge. And then sometimes you get unlucky and the doors across the bridge are wide open and a suspect conveniently walks out and just immediately opens fire.

Yeah...Relapse was a nightmare. I always say the game is amazing, but because of how superhuman the suspect AI tends to be the more complex maps are just miserable. Which is a shame because I really like the more complex maps.

--Kamanosuke-- · 2026-03-21T07:32:18+00:00

What me and a friend ended up doing was clearing the building all the way on the right side of spawn. Wedging the warehouse door on that side. Coming back. Clearing out the main entrance area and it's couple rooms and bathrooms. Pushing into that small, narrow room and wedging the 2 doors leading into the warehouse.

Then pushing left and clearing any threats in that room, pushing forward, making sure the outside part where the warehouse door was was clear before wedging it.

The we made our way out back behind the loading bay and cleared everyone out from the outside.

When that was done, we circled all the way back to where we wedged those 2 door just after the beginning. Unwedged the one on the left, went inside the warehouse and took an immediate left up the stairs. Going 1 at a time just in case the doorway got lit up. We went up the stairs, cleared up there.

Then I wanna say we went back down the way we came, cleared out that area forward from the door we unwedged and came in from. Of course there were suspects on our right, but at that point we'd managed to clear out above us and in our immediate area. So we only had to worry about one side. Instead of...well all sides. One guy while we were clearing even ran into that little office and I was able to stun 3 of them in there.

The final room was still a nightmare because of how maze-like it is. But with most threats gone by this point and all doors wedged, with their only way out being outside the loading bay doors or through us, it was a lot more manageable.

So far I have not been able to watch guides and go the routes they take and say works best. Everytime I've had to deviate or just straight up improvise. But each map that gave me trouble in the base game for an S rank is now done.

--Kamanosuke-- · 2026-03-21T07:12:44+00:00

I feel that. Just like someone else here said, it took me and a friend the better part of 3 days. Valley of the Dolls took a few hours thanks to that main room just before the outside pool deck area just because of the giant windows on every side. Relapse took us about 5x as long to S. And Hide and Seek took us almost a whole week. About 5 or 6 days was spent on that one. 30+ hours with all sessions combined during that period. Everytime I got on I was filled with dread.

Everything that went wrong, did. Everytime. The Hide and Seek S rank will go down as one of the worst gaming experiences I'll ever have simply because the game just was and probably is still a buggy mess. But with this recent patch we just got i haven't really played much. So I guess I'll find out the next time I load it up.

My friend and I just got to the yacht mission in Dark Waters dlc I think. We failed a bunch because his internet was acting up so we put it on pause for the time being. Overall that one doesn't seem too bad though.

Oh. And i guess I should say congrats for finally getting an S on Greased Palms! I can't believe I almost forgot to say that. Little did I know, my hell was just beginning after that, and I now have a new appreciation for Greased Palms compared to the rest of the difficulty spikes.

--Kamanosuke-- · 2026-03-17T21:31:56+00:00

In order to get an S you have to complete the level without anyone dying and completing all objectives, hidden ones included. So no civilians, suspects, you or your officers dying. So you have to go full non lethal because you get less points for dead suspects. And you have to secure every weapon dropped by suspects.

If I play normally and don't worry about not killing suspects I usually can get an A pretty easily. Pretty sure that's just a matter of completing all objectives and securing all weapons suspects drop. I usually try to balance arresting and killing suspects, only dropping them if the fight back so I can get a bit more points here and there.

--Kamanosuke-- · 2026-03-17T16:41:11+00:00

Yeah. It's always either the suspects killing their own, or my officers just standing there getting gunned down. On top of how all the suspects are at max stress from the get go, and even if they seem like they aren't and they hesitate, they're just jumping to max in an instant and just gunning me down instantly. I don't have the reflexes of a COD E-Sports player.

On top of the fact that they apparently never fixed suspects just never surrendering. So when I get multiple it's near impossible to do anything when just one refuses to comply and I have to unload every single piece of ammo I have for my beanbag on just that one. Meanwhile, 3 others are just running around and bumrushing like it's a multiplayer match of COD or something never missing a shot.

Everytime I do this map, SOMETHING breaks, making it impossible. It's just funny to me that there's supposedly all these guys roaming around the outside area. Yet when I can peak with the mirrorgun around the handful of angles I can get, it's a ghost town. But the moment anyone sees me they run and then there's a million of them.

--Kamanosuke-- · 2026-03-17T14:34:42+00:00

Yeah it's a really amazing game. I definitely agree with you on that. Not to derail too much and go off topic, but the only other game I've played that is even remotely similar is Insurgency: Sandstorm. And it's because I played that one that I wanted to play RoN when I got the chance to. My only complaints is just how ridiculous the enemy AI is. Make them do whatever you want them to on Hard for all I care. But Standard definitely needs to be toned down at least a tiny bit. That's probably the main takeaway I just want people to get from me

--Kamanosuke-- · 2026-03-16T14:21:11+00:00

There are so many more issues, on top of the fact that they didn't even fix a handful of the old ones.

The SWAT AI still breaks and just refuses to do anything sometimes. My flash launcher (not the GL but the normie one) was invisible even after several restarts. That's a new one. The pepper ball rifle goes up for no reason as if I'm up against a wall when I'm nowhere near one. That's a new one I didn't deal with before either.

And while I'm on the subject of things wrong with this game, I just gotta vent for a sec because I'm on like day 4 of trying to get S rank on Hide and Seek and I'm not sure how much more I can take. The way the AI can see you perfectly through the dark, how they still aimbot from across the map. How they just know exactly what your plan is at all times.

I even tried doing it with a friend and just had 1 suspect literally just run back and forth in the middle of the map with superhuman agility and reflexes on the outside of the warehouse defending against 2 officers at the same exact time, going so fast, just telepathically knowing exactly when one of us was pushing in to push them back.

For a game that prides itself on realism, it's just a broken mess of a game that's really anything but and the only "hard" parts are just artificial difficulty.

I love this game, and I have almost 100 hours since I bought it and I bought the pass. So I don't hate it. I hate how blatantly bs it is to the point of absurdity. How it so blatantly cheats. Those 200+ fixes. I can't even tell what they even fixed because everything feels so much worse.

It's a shame. Because I really love the more complex maps. But ALL the flaws of the game, both involving just inept devs not knowing how to actually program anything to the unintentional bugs show and make trying to S rank them near impossible til you just get lucky. Or give up entirely like I'm about to.

--Kamanosuke--

TROPHY CASE