The Cycle: Frontier is a free-to-play extraction shooter developed and published by YAGER, a German studio known for Spec Ops: The Line. The game was released on Steam and Epic Games Store on June 8, 2022 and by all accounts had tremendous potential. Three seasons later YAGER is pulling the plug on The Cycle in September. In this article we will discuss what led to The Cycles poor critical performance.
A promising extraction shooter
The game is set on the alien planet of Fortuna III, where players take the role of prospectors who compete for resources and loot while avoiding hostile wildlife and other players. The game’s main mode is called Expedition, where up to 20 players are dropped onto the planet and have to complete contracts for different factions, such as mining minerals, collecting samples, or killing creatures. The players can choose to cooperate or compete with each other, as well as negotiate or betray alliances. The players can also lose their loot and gear if they die, unless they insure them with in-game currency.
The game’s premise sounds promising, as it combines elements of survival, exploration, and PvPvE in a sci-fi setting. However, the game has failed to attract and retain a large player base, as well as receive positive reviews from critics and users. According to SteamCharts, the game’s peak concurrent players in July 2022 was only 1,234, which is a 78% drop from its launch month. According to Metacritic, the game’s critic score is 55/100, and its user score is 4.9/10.
What Went Wrong With The Cycle: Frontier?
Bugs and Glitches
As it is with most games releasing these days The Cycle suffers from various technical issues that affect the gameplay experience, such as crashes, freezes, lag, desyncs, graphical errors, sound problems, and more. Many players have reported these issues on the game’s forums and reviews, and some of them have made the game unplayable or frustrating.
Pay-to-win Mechanics
One of the most sure fire way to kill your game in todays time is to add pay to win features in your game. The Cycle has a monetization system that allows players to buy in-game currency with real money, which can be used to buy loot boxes, cosmetics, gear upgrades, insurance, and more. While the developers claim that the game is not pay-to-win, many players disagree and accuse the game of being unfair and predatory.
Repetitive and Boring Gameplay
While The Cycle is great in the first few hours of gameplay over time the game gets more and more boring. The game has a limited amount of content and variety that makes the gameplay feel repetitive and boring after a while. It also only has three maps that look similar and have few points of interest. The game also has a small pool of weapons and gear that lack diversity and customization. The game’s missions are also simple and tedious tasks that offer little challenge or reward. The game’s PvPvE aspect is also underwhelming and inconsistent, as some matches are too easy or too hard depending on the number and skill of other players.
Rampant cheating
The game has been plagued by cheaters and hackers who use various tools and methods to gain unfair advantages over other players, such as aimbots, wallhacks, speedhacks, and more. These cheaters ruin the fun and balance of the game, as they can easily kill other players, steal their loot, and escape the planet. The game uses BattlEye as its anti-cheat software, but it has proven to be ineffective and insufficient in detecting and banning cheaters. The game also relies on player reports to identify cheaters, but the report system is flawed and inadequate.
In conclusion, The Cycle: Frontier is an extraction shooter that failed to be a success due to its bugs and glitches, pay-to-win mechanics, repetitive and boring gameplay, and rampant cheating. The game had potential to be a fun and engaging sci-fi shooter, but it was hampered by its technical and design flaws. The game’s low player base and negative reviews reflect its poor quality and reception.
If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out more content on Poggers Memes. If you enjoy extraction shooters you may enjoy Hunt Showdown and its new Tide of Shadows event.