Insurgency: Sandstorm

First time I played, I was playing the mode where you can't respawn. I was one of the last members left on my team, camping in a building as I was being surrounded by footsteps, until I hear ''Yo I know you're in here, don't shoot! Let's have a knife fight.'' I was skeptical at first, but turned my PTT on and accepted his duel. The following events compiled one of the greatest moments I have had in a multiplayer game ever.
As I stepped outside, the courtyard was full of terrorists. In front of me stood my oponent, knife out and ready. We introduced ourselves and discussed who should count us down. But before we could even begin, a sniper on my team sent a 50. cal round through my oponents skull! Literally every enemy player in that courtyard stormed the building and killed my only remaining teammate. After they rid of him, a new oponent stepped up to face me. It was an intense battle but I emerged victorious... and was then promptly executed. I haven't played in a long time now. But when I do, I'm hoping that man gets his rematch with me.

I normally don't write reviews but this game is special to me, for context I am from and live in Iraq and one time in 2019 I was playing this game at around 4-5 am before my class and there was an air raid happening ingame and I was always astonished by the sound staging and audio design in the game but in that moment it felt very immersive and then suddenly my desk and my window started shaking. I didn't think much of it till I went to my classes a few hours later and found out from my tutors that there was a REAL air strike happening in a nearby town and that the audio of the air raid in the game completely masked the sound of the ACTUAL air strike happening nearby so much so that I didn't even think there was anything happening IRL haha.

This game is a cross between a military sim and COD. It doesn't have 10 ways of crouching but its not run and gun either. You kill in 1 or 2 shots, you rarely see the enemy, but it's not CONFUSING. Maps are long hallways with open areas and a lot of CQC. Running is not advised and you are constantly crouching and peeking, Definitely recommend 100%. Extremely easy to run if your PC is not good.

After growing tired of Counter-Strike, Insurgency: Sandstorm has become my go-to online shooter. It strikes a near-perfect balance between tactical and arcade gameplay. The guns look and sound authentic, and shooting feels incredibly satisfying. While shooting skill is important, situational awareness and teamwork are even more critical. You could get just five kills in a match and still earn MVP if you focus on supporting your team, capturing objectives, and providing fire support.
On the downside, getting from spawn to the nearest objective can feel tedious, and the game introduces a significant element of randomness due to large maps with numerous rooms and hiding spots. It's impossible to control every situation on your own, so without good team coordination, failure is almost inevitable.
One standout feature is the proximity voice chat. If you're unsure whether there's an enemy in a room, you can say something provocative over the mic, like how you took his mom on a date - nine times out of ten, he'll react, giving away his presence.

---{ Graphics }---
☑ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☑ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☑ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☑ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☑ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 9
☐ 10

6 YEARS after the initial release and we're STILL getting free content updates including new maps, game modes and weapons. This game is nothing short of absolutely amazing.

One of the most unique FPS games in the market. Slower paced gameplay and does a good blend between hardcore sim and casual.

It's been out for a while now and changed studios ownership and some drama around that but nowadays it doesn't receive much updates anymore to freshen things up.

It's not a dead game overall, it has a small dedicated player base, you'll find lobbies to play and will probably see the same names

There isn't much a sense of progression in here as everything comes unlocked and you choose what you want to play, it's more about the experience. It's a smaller scale re imagination of battlefield breakthrough but no health bars, you die with 1 headshot, no enemy markers and generally slower animations for everything.

It has a somewhat challenging PVE mode as well to be played in coop.