Left Alive

Note for AMD users, you need to download a fix. Ive been able to fix the UI flickering by using DXVK, importing the d3d11.dll and dxgi.dll into the .exe folder. This is apparently due to AMD drivers breaking this game specifically. So be noted of that if you use an AMD GPU
Ive played and completed this game exactly once, here are my thoughts.
I dont understand the difficulty that people are complaining about, its perfectly fine. You have to think about encounters and use your tools to your advantage. Enemies are powerful and mechs will wipe the floor with you if youre on the ground. When youre in a mech you feel powerful but you still must be thoughtful, youre not invincible. You feel equal to other mechs around you. You must be considerate of battles overall, but if youre not theres a really fun dodgeroll on foot or dash in mechs thats really effective.
The crafting and inventory system is kinda trash, cycling through stuff you wanna use isnt done the best and is stiff. Equipping items and gear takes more clicks than it should. I DO really enjoy the storage system, if you store something in a chest, and come back to that same chest on a different character in a totally different mission, that stuff will still be there.
The characters are beautiful and likeable. Theres lots of info, backstory, and lore on them. Lots of archives you can discover and read about the lore and world. Having said that there feels to be a bit of a disconnect from cutscenes to whats going on in gameplay. They REALLY want you to read and care about those archives you collect. Try and ignore the blatant World Of Tanks sponsorship thats thrown everywhere.
I only really have two gripes. One being that lore is kinda thrown at you and explained after the fact, I think this works and doesnt at the same time. People and names are mentioned as if you already know or should know. But then gets clarified and explained a missions or two later. My other dislike is that for a mech game theres a severe lack of being in a mech. Which is unfortunate because the mechs feel really good. Theres a weight to them, and some really thought out mechanics with weapons and damage. I really wish they focused more on this and reversed the time spent in each. How could they bring in designers from Gundam, Ghost In The Shell, and Armored Core and have such little time actually in the mechs??? Theres a certain feeling from being a squishy pawn on a mech battlefield but the mech combat is just SO GOOD, like honestly. Its what kept me playing, too bad you only get 5 sections of being in a mech out of 14 missions, and only 1 of them is for the entire mission.
Is this game worth $60? No. Is it worth $6? Absolutely.

Left Alive has its flaws, but I'm going to give it a recommended. If you enjoy the world of Front Mission and are not locked into its turn based tactics gameplay, I think you can enjoy this game. The atmosphere is terrific (assuming you turn off the ridiculous World of Tanks DLC ads). Wanzers feel quite imposing when on foot, which you don't get in the mainline games.

After reading about the difficulty I decided to play on an easier setting and it felt a bit too easy, but I could easily imagine it quickly becoming too hard. Late game Wanzer combat, which is similar to Front Mission Evolved, is the only time I had a slight bit of trouble on the easier difficulty.

Enemy combat reactions are a bit goofy, and it does have some crashing issues, but I enjoyed my time in Left Alive. Maybe wait for a sale though.

Is this worth $60? Absolutely not!
But I will say, that this game feels like a game that came out at the wrong time in history. This game would have been great released in the Xbox 360 era. This is a game with a mixture of elements that doesn't quite get it right.. It's like randomly throwing ingredients into a soup hoping it will turn out good, and it doesn't overall. However, when you start to get some pieces out of it, you can start to taste what Square Enix was trying to cook with this. It's like that one festival in Stardew Valley where everyone throws in ingredients hoping to make the dish tasty... even though you threw in great 5 star quality ingredients, others threw in something that came out of the sea. A little bit of RPG, choices matters, third person action game, stealth mechanics, and large mechs... Some elements of this game taste good, while others still need to be cooked more. Like rendering out the fat on a steak.
Don't buy this full price, but check it out on sale around $5 or $6 dollars if you want a throw-back to a 360 era game that feels lost in time.
This is my positive review on a mostly negative game.

I really enjoyed this game.
I played through the whole game on Casual difficulty and it was pretty fun. On Casual, stealth is optional, and you can gun through every situation. The enemy AI is hilarious. They RUN AWAY FROM YOU! Their behavior is funnier than guys in Tenchu Z. I like the characters, story, mecha, and the many documents that give me world info.
The game isn't perfect however.
-There should have been at least twice as much mech combat.
-The enemy has SILENT HELICOPTERS. Silent... Helicopters... They have some amazing stealth tech to make helicopters completely silent.
-The crosshairs are bad in close quarters.
-World of Tanks is extremely out of place.
My response to other negative perspectives:
-"The game is too hard!" Play on a difficulty you can play at. You're a casual gamer, so play on Casual difficulty like me.
-"The framerate is bad." Not for me. I have an RTX 3070 and playing on Ultra graphics with a perfect 60fps.
-"Crashes" I didn't experience any crashes on Windows 11.
-"Bugs" I didn't see any.
All other negative reviews are opinionated about some things, or don't list any reasoning for how they don't like it.

Its not bad when bought at a discount, but this game is designed to be difficult, will take few map runs to get familiar with each chapters.

I can understand why this game has mostly negative reviews. It is a low-budget title that doesn't fit neatly into any particular game genre. You might say it has an "identity crisis," but I would argue that Left Alive knows exactly what its identity is and it fairly succeeds at achieving it. Is it a stealth game like Metal Gear? Is it a mech game like Front Mission Evolved or Armored Core? Is it a third person shooter? Is it a survival/crafting game? Games like this that don't fit neatly into any box always tend to get mixed reactions from audiences. And if they are janky and low-budget on top of that, you have a recipe for a "Mostly Negative" rating. All that said, Left Alive is one of the finest and most refreshing gaming experiences I've had in a while. It is a game about surviving a war. Of course, in this war you'll be moving across war-torn sections of the city amidst futuristic soldiers, drones, and giant mechs. The game has many unique mechanics that make all this interesting, first off, I love a game that doesn't hold your hand, and apart from the occasional tutorial. The game will give you objectives, but not tell you how to approach them or achieve them. Missions can play out in different ways and objectives can be even be skipped or failed. In the second mission for example, I got spotted when I was near where I was supposed to meet some survivors to help them evacuate, as I ran away enemy soldiers flooded the area searching for me and found the survivors and executed them before I could even meet them, meaning I got an "objective failed" notification when I discovered the bullet riddled corpses. Because save points are few and far between and because combat is so dangerous and resources (like ammunition, explosives, and crafting items to make improvised weapons) are limited, the game requires you to be very methodical. Often, you'll want to establish a "home base" in an area of a mission map near a save point (save points often have healing stations with limited heals and an item storage box) where you can go to save, craft, store excess loot, and refresh yourself safely before heading out to gather loot, scout enemy positions, thin their numbers through stealthy ambushes, or make your way to an objective. Another neat feature is that you can leave items in storage boxes and the storage boxes don't share inventory, but since you play as three different characters, another character can come through and take items you left behind as another character. Enemies also respond to the player's actions. When they spot you or fight you on the map, they'll send reinforcements to the area and step up patrols making those areas more dangerous to traverse. You really have to think like an insurgent by using improvised weapons like IEDs and improvised turrets and combat avoidance, only meeting the enemy on your terms. But, also you tend to get no reward for actually killing enemies (you'll almost always expend more ammo than you'll get back), so combat is best avoided whenever possible. But, yeah, the game is very janky and low-budget. Animations are stiff and limited. Graphics are dated. Sound design is bare bones. Combat is half baked. The camera and controls will get in your way from time to time. Aesthetically the game looks good, great futuristic military vibe, and the snow covered war-torn city with Christmas decorations still up really does look quite beautiful at times. But, many areas and environments are reused heavily and/or copy/pasted. The mech designs are really cool (Takayuki Yanase is a great mech designer). The story is interesting and having 3 different perspectives on it is cool, even if the voice acting and script may be a bit cringe at times. Overall, I adore this game. To me, many of its cons are minor or endearing. And its innovations, unique gameplay, vibes, slow pace, and story are intoxicating. But, if you are looking for a polished, well crafted, carefully curated, and non-stop action or pure stealth oriented experience, you'll be disappointed.

I remember playing this on the PS4 years back and thought it was a master piece on the same level as Metal Gear Solid, I didn't even know that it wasn't a Kojima game. I honestly think this game, under the right circumstances, would have become a cult classic.