Safe House/ Shelter Feedback

[gaunt ravine]

I'll start by saying I like the new bubbles around the shelters. I like that they give an impression of being apart from the radius.

I love the greenery we find in and around the shelters, again it reinforces that 'safe zone' feeling.

I hate that most of the shelters have been completely changed, and in most cases their character has been gutted. I loved that they were 'out of the way' locations, up ladders, under rubble etc. Now they just seem ... like any other part of the radius, just with a bubble around them. There is no feeling of hiding away or out of sight. They are no longer locations that feel like they were found in the past by explorers...exploring. They are just unexplained bubbles. Without the bubble, most shelters are now out in the open.

To me there are two solutions -

I think, if the theme of the bubble was 'normal' then it needs to be doubled down on, with even more flowers and greenery to emphasise the significance of the bubble and the impact that the bubble has. Maybe even having most of the bubble as solid, with a tunnel that you have to crawl through.

If that's not wanted, then I think the shelters should go back to being more hidden, up ladders, under rubble, in hard to reach places. The effort of getting into them, and the tightness of the space is what made them feel safe.

At the moment the bubble neither feels significant, nor like a proper barrier, making the shelters feel... stupid, for want of a better word.

Beta 1.0

[harsh pike]

I was just playing and reached the northern shelter on what was the forest map and yeah I agree I liked it before climbing up to the train carriage.

The performance in that one was pretty bad with half the house disappearing when I walked away from it.

There was also one of the squiggly enemies that actually got inside but was just flying around and not attacking me. I managed to kill it though.

My other thoughts on the new bubbles though is it's a bit of a cheat, as I ran in there and some machine gun mimics where outside, I just waited until they shouted changing mag then popped out and shotgunned them easily. Rinse and repeat 🤷‍♂️

I remember when I first played on the quest early access, I was holed up in there for ages surrounded by enemies and I just had to pick them off one at a time till I could get out again. It's a bit catch 22, safe Vs invulnerable.

[gaunt ravine]

As far a a 'cheat', the same thing works with just taking cover, so I'm not certain that's a consideration for the bubbles. I do think it's stupid that enemies can get inside of them though, even if they can't attack.

Personally I don't need the shelters to be invulnerable or safe. They just need a way of getting in the enemies can't path (like a ladder or a jump), and an obvious area where the tide does affect things.

[harsh pike]

Thing is if you're just taking cover then they could flank you, in the bubbles they can't shoot through, so you are 100% safe in comparison

But yeah, as they were, they couldn't get in due to ladders etc

[oblique dome]

#1490449224280703136 message

Yeah... it's not just like taking cover, that's broken...

[gaunt ravine]

I see the issue, I guess I still don't consider it much of an issue for myself. I intentionally never fight around safe houses because I suspected they might be a bullet barrier and I don't want to let myself be a pussy and abuse it. To me it's kind of like a grenade jumping exploit, it's easy to do, but you're unlikely to do it by accident, and if you do it repeatedly then you're intending to abuse it.
Needs to be fix? Sure. But my priority would be on the aesthetics of the shelters over the exploit.

[south needle]

Customizable shelters would be nice. Being able to swap out the furniture for shelving, pegboards, weapon racks or mannequins, like what's at the hub. As for the shelves and storable areas in the shelter, some of them are occupied with items that are non-removable making that precious real estate unusable. I get their going for that 'lived in' look, but at least let us get rid of these items so we can chose what to make with that space. Right now, I'm hanging backpacks all over the place in my shelters which breaks the aesthetic, but it's all I got to store a majority of my stuff at the moment.

[cloud trench]

I also preferred the "holed up" feel of the old safehouses. The addition of vises to them was an excellent move tho. I'd hunker down in the forest upside down safehouse, and watch the outside world turn dark and grey from the window, while the tablet blared the alarm and the only light was the blossoming cherry of my cigarette.

Imho the optimal setup for the safehouses would be the old style, without bubbles, but with vices like now, plus candles or lanterns you could light up with a lighter, to make them a bit cozier during the night. I wouldnt even mind buying the candles from the shop and bringing them with me.

[long isle]

It feels like the human layer of the Radius is lessened in general, I meen both the stuff that previous explores did and what was left of the life before the Radius. In the first game there where talking statues with pieces of irrelevant dialogue that spoke of world before, Katya was reminiscing about some places, there was this little note on top of the crane about a "super duper secret place".
Now we have a magic bubble shelter instead of something that actual people did with their hands and their wits. And these weird ash hands all around the place 🙄