Category: Early Access

Paycheck: City RPG is the latest MMO to hit Steam Early Access and for first impressions the game is leaving players wanting.

At its core, Paycheck is shaping up to be a role playing game in the biblical sense; players actually playing roles such as shop owner, police officer, and thief. Developer Happy Dog Interactive LLC has promised functionality to address players who might try to make the game a living hell for others just trying to play by the rules.

“One of the biggest challenges in designing a game like this, is how do you ensure constructive gameplay? In other words, how do you prevent players from constantly shooting one another for no reason? Our solution to this and other gameplay related problems are the Fair Kill System and the Fair Arrest System. These intricate systems enable players to have fun in their respective roles without having to constantly deal with problematic players.”

The good news is that Paycheck: City RPG is free to play. The bad news is that it doesn’t seem to have launched into Early Access with much to do, and players are wondering why their time is being wasted. Complaints seem centered around the lack of activities and specifically the absence of anti-griefing mechanics that the Steam store page talks about.

“This game is a long way from being playable, very buggy with not many things to do. The map is way too small for the type of game it is. Players start with weapons and new spawns start same place every time and can get killed straight away. There is no real character building mechanics so its kind of just a TDM game at the moment.”

One player logged in to find a low population being harassed by a single person.

“My first five minutes into a server there was just a cop in spawn arresting people the minute they spawn in, and since anyone can be any job they want this just allows trolls to do stuff like this. I only played about 30 minutes because there was only 5 people on the server and one was just standing in spawn waiting to arrest people like i said before, but i hope this game reaches it’s potential it’d be fun.”

Another review notes a lack of enjoyment of being a shopkeeper when one can’t interact with their store.

“this needs some serious help. the game was pushed back for whatever reason and still feels terrible. driving a car is a nightmare, being a store owner makes no sense, cant even lock a room or interact with your store. i think this game needs to be worked on longer it wasnt ready for this launch.”

Many of the reviews agree that the game has potential to be something good. Someday, just not right now. For now, you might want to give the game some extra time in the oven before diving in.