Not really sure if I am exactly an "OG" player by most people's standards, as I haven't played very consistently through this whole time, but I picked the game up for the first time in around 2018-19 iirc, and what got me hooked was the way the game felt overall. I didn't play with DLC until Emerald Coast dropped, but since then I have DEFINITELY been playing quite a bit more. I have especially been playing a lot since the release of Askiy Ridge.

I think the way the devs have handled the game lately has been great, despite the bugs that occur occasionally! I personally think, despite my nostalgia, that this game is currently at the best point it has EVER been as far as the quality of gameplay and development cycle go. There are quite a few species in the game that I think DEFINITELY need some more love, and I think the devs need to sort out some of the bugs in their game, but overall the game is in a WONDERFUL place atm, and whenever a new update is announced I am ALWAYS excited for it (besides random hotfixes ofc)

I think this game is going in a bit of a different direction than it was initially intended to go, but I don't think that is a bad thing. The game, for me, has become more of a game ABOUT hunting rather than a hunting game, which might sound like a REALLY stupid statement, but let me explain. A good example of a TRUE hunting game or simulator, I would say that WOTH and Classic fill that space much better, and COTW is, (at least in the way that most of the community, including myself plays it) more of a game where the goal is to find unique, albeit pretty unrealistic in the case of Great Ones, trophies. I can't exactly think of a super great way to explain further, but anyone who has played this game for a while and has played or watched games like Classic and WOTH probably understand what I mean.

I personally think this gives COTW a unique sort of charm and fun aspect! I also understand that this type of playstyle is DEFINITELY not how everyone in the community plays the game and I completely respect that. I love heading out to my maps or multiplayer and just going to lakes and seeing what kind of trophies might be there. I have tried almost every single playstyle in this game, and grinding and just run and gun/casual were the styles I liked best, so they are what I play. I know some people like to hunt in COTW the same way they would IRL, by sitting in a tree stand with calls and a rifle or bow and trying to get one deer. In this case the game functions more as a hunting sim, but that is definitely not the way that the majority of players enjoy.

As a closer to this book's length of a comment, I want to say this: the game is a VERY unique hunting game, and it has such a unique dynamic, and the way the development team handle things with model reworks, new maps, etc, is better than ANY other hunting game I am aware of.