Contractors Showdown
- April 25, 2024
- Caveman Studio
- 45h median play time
Get on Steam"Contractors Showdown" is a VR battle royale game that offers a realistic combat experience with a variety of weapons and equipment. Players can customize their loadouts, team up with friends, and use spatial voice chat for strategic advantages. The game aims to provide intense multiplayer warfare and thrilling battles in a highly immersive environment.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game offers a thrilling VR battle royale experience, reminiscent of Warzone, with smooth gunplay and engaging mechanics.
- The graphics and performance are impressive for a VR title, providing an immersive experience with a large player base.
- The developers are responsive to community feedback, and the game has a rewarding progression system with plenty of unlockable content.
- The game suffers from significant bugs and performance issues, including lag and desync, which can detract from the overall experience.
- There is a lack of solo and duo modes, forcing players to team up with randoms, which can lead to frustrating gameplay.
- The tutorial is poorly designed, leaving new players confused about essential mechanics and controls.
- gameplay88 mentions
- 51 % positive mentions
- 45 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The gameplay is widely praised for its immersive mechanics, smooth gunplay, and engaging tactical elements, drawing favorable comparisons to popular titles like Call of Duty: Warzone. Players appreciate the depth and accessibility of the mechanics, including advanced healing systems and meaningful loot, although some criticize certain features as unnecessary or poorly implemented. Overall, the game offers a fun and addictive experience, particularly in VR, with a solid progression system and a dynamic gameplay loop that keeps players invested.
“The gameplay is fun and rewarding after putting in the time; the progression is realistic and engaging with achievable goals.”
“Guns feel amazing, all the battle royale mechanics feel really polished, and movement and parachuting is fun and fast-paced.”
“The amount of effort that went into net-code, optimization, and gameplay really shows here, and I think it's honestly quite beautiful to witness how effortlessly it all plays together no matter what platform you are using.”
“The game is fun and has potential, but there are a few gameplay mechanics that ruin it for a lot of people right now.”
“This constant lag seriously affects gameplay, especially in fast-paced situations where quick reactions are crucial; need more servers.”
“75% of the gameplay was just falling in a parachute and 25% things not working right.”
- optimization63 mentions
- 21 % positive mentions
- 46 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The optimization of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting severe performance issues, bugs, and lag, making it nearly unplayable on various setups, even high-end PCs. While some users noted improvements in performance and enjoyable gameplay, the overall sentiment leans towards the need for significant optimization work to address the numerous technical problems and enhance the gaming experience.
“It is incredibly optimized despite having a very far draw distance.”
“I can't recommend this game enough; between the snappy and satisfying reloading, the fluid movement system, and of course, the performance is really good as well.”
“The amount of effort that went into net-code, optimization, and gameplay really shows here, and I think it's honestly quite beautiful to witness how effortlessly it all plays together no matter what platform you are using.”
“Game is terribly optimized and is unplayable despite their other game, Contractors, being able to run just fine.”
“The game had potential to be an amazing VR battle royale title, but it's so poorly optimized that it's sometimes impossible to play without extreme lag and textures loading very slowly.”
“The disparity between graphics and performance is nothing short of a nightmare.”
- graphics54 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 48 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players praising the visual quality and aesthetic appeal, particularly in VR, while others criticize severe optimization issues that lead to poor performance and low frame rates, even on high-end hardware. Many users report that despite decent graphical fidelity, the game suffers from texture loading problems and pop-ins, making it unplayable for some. Overall, while there are moments of impressive visuals, the game's performance issues overshadow the graphical experience for many players.
“Graphics are some of the best for a multiplayer VR shooter; the iron sights on these guns are probably the best I've used in a VR game, providing a clear and concise picture of your targets.”
“There are so many things I love about this game, like gun handling which feels amazing, the attachment system which is flawless, and the graphics which look beautiful. It's truly in my top 3 games I've ever played.”
“Graphical fidelity is pretty good, and if you crank your settings up to ultra, the game does look really beautiful.”
“Unplayable with 3070ti and 9900k +32gb ram, as soon as the airplane opens, the game goes to 2fps and the left and right eye are misaligned. Putting all graphics on low or ultra or anything in between doesn't fix this.”
“The extreme pain of waiting hours for only the first layer of textures to load, and when they do, they look like PS1 graphics.”
“I expected minimum to work well, but no, during the game the game freezes constantly, low frame rate for moments and graphically disappointing for me.”
- story49 mentions
- 16 % positive mentions
- 78 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The game's story aspect is largely criticized, with some users noting a lack of narrative depth and others expressing frustration over technical issues that detract from the overall experience. However, there are mentions of a well-structured quest system that adds a rewarding gameplay element, despite the absence of a compelling overarching story. Overall, the narrative seems to be minimal, with players more focused on gameplay mechanics and performance than on a rich storyline.
“The quest system is well thought out and really makes playing the game feel rewarding.”
“I have finally found the game I was dying to play after Red Dead Redemption; the last epic story I was excited to play until the end.”
“60 VR players in a single match where cross-play is possible between PC and Quest players is an amazing accomplishment.”
“☐ no story”
“The main issue here is that they released the PC and Quest version in the same thing, so I'm pretty sure PC players now have to deal with Quest performance and graphics.”
“Runs terrible on Quest 2 with high-end PC.”
- stability36 mentions
- 11 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 89 % negative mentions
The game's stability has been widely criticized, with many users reporting numerous bugs, glitches, and performance issues that detract from the overall experience. While some players note that it runs well on certain systems, the consensus is that the game is plagued by inconsistent performance, including freezing, low frame rates, and problematic netcode. Overall, the game's stability is seen as a significant drawback, overshadowing its potential.
“The game runs great; it's possibly my best running VR game to date.”
“It runs smoothly on PC VR with Quest 2.”
“C$: Showdown runs excellently on my PC.”
“Waste of money; it's just a dead battle royale full of kids. It's buggy and inconsistent, and not to mention dead. It takes 3 minutes every time to queue up just to have your teammates do their own thing. Battle royales should be free for in-game store profit. This game had so much potential; it could have been the next Fortnite, but they made it cost money and don't fix bugs.”
“As many others have said, my PC can run any other PC VR titles smoothly on high settings, but this game has been, beyond just the performance issues, extremely buggy and horribly optimized.”
“This game is a buggy mess.”
- monetization9 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players viewing the introduction of microtransactions as a potential cash grab, while others appreciate the absence of in-game purchases at launch and the option to grind for currency. Overall, the pricing model is seen as consumer-friendly, offering a free base game with optional purchases, though concerns remain about the future implementation of premium currency and microtransactions.
“Very glad everything was free at launch, not even upset about microtransactions being in the game now.”
“Not sure if this is intentional or if it may be a thing later, but there are no in-game purchases; you grind for everything, which I think is a very nice feature and has me returning often.”
“The pricing strategy stands as a testament to its consumer-friendly ethos, with an accessible base game complemented by optional in-game purchases.”
“Starting to seem like a desperate cash grab; it needed at least one more year of development.”
“Welfare version of Tabor, the gunplay is terrible and feels like you're shooting plastic toy guns with no recoil. The map is pretty much 90% their battle royale map, so it just feels like I'm playing a half-assed showdown battle royale map. This is just another cash grab from Contractors.”
“I was very surprised to see a premium currency but no actual microtransactions to obtain them. (Update: you can buy the currency now.)”
- humor5 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the humor in the game to be a standout feature, with funny interactions during post-death communications and amusing moments during gameplay, such as unexpected reactions to enemy encounters. The blend of humor and gameplay creates a lighthearted atmosphere, making losses more enjoyable and fostering laughter among players.
“Getting away from the whole building mechanics really freshened up the gameplay, and the post-death conversations with other players were really funny.”
“It just makes finishing off an enemy really funny!”
“Great gameplay and a lot of funny moments.”
- grinding4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively time-consuming, often requiring a significant investment of time to progress. While the gameplay is enjoyable, the low player base exacerbates the tediousness of finding matches, making the overall experience feel laborious.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“Fun game, gunplay feels great; however, the player base is way too low. Looking for a game for 5+ minutes feels very tedious.”
“If I had to slap the game on the hand for anything at all, it would be that sometimes the vaulting in or out of windows can be tedious.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Contractors Showdown is praised for its exhilarating VR experience, with users highlighting its engaging gameplay and high replayability, making it a great value at $20.
“Overall, Contractors Showdown offers an exhilarating VR experience that's both endlessly engaging and highly replayable.”
“Super fun and replayable, and a steal at $20.”
- music2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game's music, featuring a nostalgic 80s vibe, is highly praised by players, enhancing the overall experience. However, there are requests for more customizable audio options, including the ability to globally disable voice chat and adjust various sound levels.
“Play this game and listen to some 80s music while taking down enemies; it has to be one of the best experiences ever created!”
“We should be able to globally disable voice chat and adjust music, effects, and general volume.”
- emotional1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find "Exfilzone" emotionally engaging, highlighting the thrill of stalking contractors and the heartwarming camaraderie among scavengers, making it a highly recommended VR shooter experience.
“The thrill of engaging and stalking contractors, the heartwarming experience of coming together as scavs... I couldn't recommend a VR shooter more highly than Exfilzone.”
