Heat

About

Heat is a single player and multiplayer open world role playing game with violence and erotic themes. It was developed by Code}{atch and was released on June 25, 2020. It received neutral reviews from players.

Heat was a video game coming to, "next generation platforms," based on the movie of the same name. Originally announced as a Gearbox developed title in 2006, development has since been put on hold.

+40

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47%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,851 reviews

graphics77 positive mentions

optimization71 negative mentions

Unique survival RPG set in the American frontier with deep crafting, base building, farming, and politics.
Beautiful detailed open world with diverse biomes and immersive graphics.
Active developer support and regular updates during early access, with enjoyable gameplay and a strong community on private and PVE servers.

Poor optimization leading to very long loading times and frequent crashes even on high-end PCs.
Server instability, rubber-banding, and lag causing frustrating multiplayer experience.
Unfinished features, bugs with character models, AI, and gameplay mechanics; often abandoned or lacking updates from developers with a history of unfinished games.

optimization
231 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
55%
31%
The game suffers from severe optimization issues, causing frequent low frame rates, long loading times, stuttering, and crashes even on high-end PCs. Many players report excessive resource usage, poor performance on mid-to-low tier rigs, and frustrating lag that detracts from the gameplay experience. Although improvements are ongoing, the current state renders the game largely unplayable for many until significant optimization is addressed.
- “Re-edit + positive review: latest update has optimized the game and now the game is playable once again.”
- “Im amazed by how good the performance is client side.”
- “Lots of content, performance is better than I expected and looks gorgeous.”
- “I really wanted to like this game, but the optimization is some of the worst I've ever seen.”
- “Being early access, the game is horribly optimized and performs like a dump truck trying to swim.”
- “Terribly unoptimized, crashes my discord when the game itself crashes, takes 20 minutes to load, it almost seems like they made the loading time for everything at least 30 minutes long just so when you actually play the game and figure out how terrible it is you can't refund it.”
graphics
213 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
56%
8%
The game's graphics are generally praised for impressive forest and nature visuals, detailed environments, and a pleasing art style, offering a potentially immersive experience. However, many users report severe optimization issues causing poor performance, crashes, lag, and high hardware demands even on high-end PCs, limiting the ability to enjoy the visuals without lowering settings. Character models and certain animations receive mixed opinions, and graphical glitches and long load times further detract from the experience, indicating a need for significant optimization improvements.
- “The game is amazing, it has stunning graphics and a lot of places to explore.”
- “I'm amazed at the level of realism, the graphics and total immersion the game brings.”
- “This game has the worst graphics, the characters look like badly made cartoons.”
- “The game is kinda awesome, the way everything looks, animations of the machines, the graphics of the trees, grass and hay, a lot of details.”
- “How about you stop adding content and fix your optimization. This game has low-end graphics compared to the only other game I know that's hard on hardware, which is Rust. I understand this is a big game but guess what, so are a lot of other games including Rust. Now if you make your graphics look like your trailer, which by the way in ultra settings isn't anywhere close to you and makes the game actually playable by optimizing, more people would be all over it.”
gameplay
173 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
58%
8%
The gameplay offers a wide range of mechanics including crafting, base building, farming, and roleplay elements that many find engaging and rewarding, especially in single-player or homestead modes. However, the experience is often hindered by poor optimization, frequent bugs, crashes, and unpolished or unbalanced mechanics, leading to frustration for many players. Despite these issues, the core gameplay loop and mechanics show strong potential and appeal once technical problems are addressed.
- “When it worked, the game had a lot of decent mechanics going for it, including upgradable skills leading to tech trees and other features.”
- “I have 167 hours in this game and can recommend it as it has good mechanics and plenty of things to do. The craft tree and various possibilities are well designed.”
- “The gameplay loop is really fun and rewarding, with many nuanced aspects that keep it fresh even when playing solo.”
- “Terrible load times indicative of crappy development, clunky-unpolished mechanics everywhere, and basically everything about this title needs work.”
- “Dull environment, boring gameplay, unresponsive controls and very poor collision detection with crafting/combat also help to make this quite possibly the worst game I've ever played.”
- “This game has potential, but at the moment it is incredibly unoptimized (fps, game mechanics, crafting, ui, movement, sound, etc).”
stability
122 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1%
1%
98%
The game is widely criticized for being extremely buggy, glitchy, and unstable, with frequent crashes, freezes, long load times, and performance issues even on high-end PCs. Many users report game-breaking bugs, lag, and unoptimized features that severely impact playability, though some note the game's potential and fun gameplay despite these stability problems. Overall, the game feels unfinished and in need of major optimization and bug fixes to become truly enjoyable.
- “Edit: 70 hours in ~ alpha 7 just came out and the devs have been super hardworking on it and just added and fixed a bunch of stuff. The game runs great even on a GTX 970.”
- “The game is soooooooooooooooooo buggy it is unplayable.”
- “I waited for my review gave this mess all the chances, I have 15 hours on the game, 14 hours were spent recovering from crashes and screen freezes, and throwing my keyboard against the wall. Right now this game is not worth $19.99. Stay away, this is a huge mess right now, and no!”
- “Problem is the game is near unplayable due to bugs, crashes, and glitches.”
grinding
93 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
1%
96%
Grinding is a significant part of the game, with many players finding resource gathering and progression to be time-consuming and sometimes tedious, especially for solo players. However, if you enjoy detailed farming, crafting, and base building, the grinding can feel rewarding and integral to the gameplay loop. Overall, while the grind may be frustrating at times, fans of grind-heavy survival and farming sims often appreciate the depth it adds.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “The building is nice as well, I like the way it's set up, not too grindy.”
- “A bit grindy sometimes.”
- “☐ one long, tedious grind.”
- “Community is toxic, the game is real grindy with little payoff for hard work.”
- “You learn to craft new things as you level but you also need to gather the materials needed to craft it, then learn it then gather the materials to then craft it, it's gathering twice the items to even be able to make it which is tedious, to build a house you need to gather copious amounts of logs/sticks to make the frame of the house then again to upgrade it to a wood wall.”
humor
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
97%
3%
The game's humor is widely praised for being quirky, silly, and often outrageous, leading to many hilarious and memorable moments, especially when playing with friends. Its odd animations, unexpected interactions, and bizarre situations contribute to a deeply funny and entertaining experience despite some technical issues. Overall, the humor adds a unique charm that keeps players engaged and laughing.
- “If there ever was a game that was hoky, visually artsy, crazy, deep, challenging, silly, imaginative, funny and disgusting (at times), then this game is all of that and more.”
- “I guarantee you will have many funny, memey, hilarious moments with your friends in this game.”
- “For an early access it's not bad, it's a pretty funny game.”
story
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
8%
80%
12%
The game's story aspect is largely criticized for lacking a structured questline or central narrative, making progression feel aimless and empty despite a rich environment. While some players find role-playing opportunities through exploration and emergent events, the absence of defined missions and story depth leads to mixed feelings about engagement and purpose. Overall, the story element is minimal or non-existent, with potential for improvement through added quests or plot content.
- “There is no real story and the progression of the game is boring.”
- “There is no questline or story features in the game at all, and while the environment is beautiful, it quickly begins to feel empty since there is no purpose to what you are doing besides building up a homestead.”
- “Lack of quests or story.”
monetization
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization of this game is widely criticized as a blatant cash grab, with many users feeling it was rushed to market in an unfinished, buggy state. Despite some in-game advertising features, the overall perception is that the developers prioritized revenue over quality, leading to a lack of player base and trust.
- “The game was never really playable, plagued by terrible FPS, buggy gameplay, terrible servers, and empty concept ideas rushed to launch for a cash grab.”
- “These devs have been known to make games for a cash grab then abandon them.”
- “Beware those who want to play this game; it is clearly a cash grab and is almost nothing like the videos/screenshots.”
atmosphere
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
73%
18%
9%
The game is widely praised for its immersive and richly detailed western atmosphere, featuring beautiful scenery, authentic natural sounds, and a strong genre-specific vibe. Players enjoy the engaging environment that encourages exploration, creativity, and social play, with standout graphics and evolving gameplay enhancing the overall experience. While some note room for improvement in features like map variety, the atmosphere remains a key draw that enhances player enjoyment.
- “The attention to detail in terms of western atmosphere and characters makes the game a unique experience.”
- “Would recommend the beautiful scenery, atmospheric natural noises and general ability to evolve and improve - really pleased with my purchase!”
- “Just thought I would try out another survival game and having played Feudal, Rust, and Ark this one really stands out and it isn't even finished yet, so many options for crafting, personalizing and it looks beautiful and very atmospheric on ultra.”
- “Not as good as it could have been. I know that Hunt: Showdown doesn't have any real persistence or MMO aspect, however, I'd recommend if you want an atmosphere like this, just get Hunt.”
replayability
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
Players appreciate the game's strong potential for replayability, highlighting diverse roles and political challenges that encourage varied playstyles. However, some feel that improvements in playability and graphics are needed to fully realize this potential. Overall, the game offers an engaging and flexible experience with nearly infinite replay value.
- “There is a lot of potential replayability in Heat. The political strife you may face as a farmer may make you want to take up arms and fight for a better president. If you find yourself in the shoes of a sheriff, you can protest the safety of people because you're being paid too little. Feeling like you want to be the classic southern governor or just a man with a mission wanting to build a thriving colony, you can choose whatever you want to do. Heat is your playground.”
- “The game itself is an amazing idea, with almost infinite replayability.”
- “One other element of this game that is important to me when I purchase games is their replayability.”
- “This game and series could be successes if they make it more playable.”
- “The developers need to rework the graphics and roll them back to something more playable, as even videos and screenshots do not reflect a truly defining graphical reality.”
- “Make the game more playable.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
33%
17%
The music in the game receives mixed feedback, with some users finding it beautiful and well-suited to the environment, while others consider it just okay or less fitting for survival games. Overall, the soundtrack is generally appreciated but not universally praised.
- “The environment and music are beautiful.”
- “Good music soundtrack.”
- “Music and sounds.”
- “The music is okay, but I don't like music in survival games.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users express frustration and disappointment due to performance issues, specifically lag and long loading times, which detract from the emotional experience and lead to dissatisfaction with the game's value.
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development is criticized for poor character design, with avatars appearing unattractive or unpolished. Animations and overall visual presentation of characters are also noted as subpar.
- “The character design screen allows you to either have your avatar looking like a dead hobo or a drug addict with a bad cold.”
- “The map design is also decent, but the animations are bad, character design is bad, LODs are sloppy, UI is pretty bad, etc.”