tight summit
While everybody is in uproar over the new update I play very casually with <50 hrs so I'm not really super bothered by that right now. What I am actually super bothered by is the audio mixing, especially when wearing headphones.
By far worst offense is the character's breath audio. In most FPS games I've played, it's standard to play an audio cue while sprinting, or while holding your breath for the scope zoom. What isn't normal and is actually super annoying is playing a looping faint breathing sample as soon as my guy walks for longer than 5 seconds. Even when I play games like STALKER or Metro I don't find the character's gas mask breathing as distracting as the audio in this game. Partly because it feels pointless and not adding to the gameplay (it's not a cue it's just there), but it's still constant and unrelenting and I legit can't suffer through it anymore, I put podcasts and music on now that I've noticed it every time I play. And once you notice it, it's one of those things you will always notice, and realize how much it repeats. It doesn't feel immersive or like that's an extension of me, it feels like a guy is breathing into my ears while I'm playing. I am playing with a flat EQ, no enhancements, this is the default. We need an option to turn it off.
I propose an option in the audio settings menu: toggle immersive breathing. This will either enable or disable the breath audio while walking, while keeping the hold breath cue or out of stamina cue.
Also sliders for footsteps, gunshots, weather/ambient effects, and animal sounds would be appreciated.
The game is overall very fun to play imo and there is serious worksmanship in the environments, grass and plant physics, lighting, the accuracy of the bird species in the ambient audio, but the audio is the one part of the whole experience that feels janky. It would be good give people the freedom to tune the various audio elements to our specific tastes and setups.
polar sun