The Cycle (2019)

Intro

The cycle is a game in which 20 players are dropped into an alien world to collect resources and data. You either play solo (with the option to ally with 1 other player), as a duo or in a squad of four. Gathering stuff is done by placing a device, the same + guarding it for a short time, activating multiple consoles, holding an area, killing special monsters or other ways. A match lasts 20 minutes after which you're supposed to have evacuated. There is a single evac point so it gets kinda battle royale-y there.

Good Stuff

It looks nice, the PVE is solid and working together as a team is fun.

Bad Stuff

This is one of those games with overly complicated unlock systems. You can level up reputation with one of three factions, each giving you access to items you can unlock with "free points". These items can then be bought in-game with in-game money. It took a minute to find a squad game (5x4 players) and another minute for people to pick a faction to support for that match. Kinda clunky to do that at that point. Also it seemed like it would take forever to unlock everything.

Oh yeah, a minute waiting time was fast. If you want to play free-for-all you'll have to wait like 5 minutes. And there doesn't seem to be an option to just jump into any available game. It doesn't bode well if so few people play your free-to-play game. And it also means teams are wildly unbalanced. In my first (and only) match we ended in 3rd place. The numbers 1 & 2 had a far higher average level and 3-2 times our score.

Finally, the gunplay seems off at times. Sometimes my gun wouldn't aim, sometimes it wouldn't fire. I'm not sure what happened but it was very noticable.

Conclusion

This is a less aimless variation on battle royale with worse balance and a subpar unlock system. I've played worse but i wouldn't recommend it.