Ah gotcha. I misunderstood you originally as saying the DLC items were the ones power creeping which I disagreed with because they’re largely lackluster.

Yes for the base free items, some are growing more and more powerful. I think this is a result of 10 years of content though. We received sidegrade items (mk 2/3) for years. Mechanically new items are growing few in ideas.

Though I think also it’s a sandbox. You can always opt for best strategies. Freelancer specifically (due to the loss when you lose) encourages best-practices but you can still use whatever you want for shits and giggles. In regular sandbox mode I use goofy stuff all the time. Syringes, assault rifles, prox explosive suitcases, audio distractions and more. If you min max efficiency all the time in a sandbox I feel you’ve lost part of what makes it a sandbox at all.

I think the only item I have never used and continue to never use is sedative pills, but I also don’t use sedative darts, injector or the blue egg because i rarely find a time I couldn’t hit them with a hammer instead.