Operation: Harsh Doorstop review - A Barebones, Moddable Shooter With great Potential

Looking for a realistic tactical shooter that won't break the bank? Look no further than Operation: Harsh Doorstop, a free-to-play game with a lot of potential and... a scarcity of meat on the bones

So put on your helmet and body armor and prepare to enter the world of Operation: Harsh Doorstop.

WHY WOULD YOU??

First and foremost, the elephant in the room cannot be ignored: the game was released without an anti-cheat system. This is an unforgivable error for any multiplayer game, let alone a free-to-play shooter as that practically begs for cheaters to show up.

It's difficult to overstate how much this has influenced many people's first impressions of the game, including mine. While some players are willing to overlook this issue in order to enjoy the game, many have been turned off by the rampant cheating that has plagued the game since its release.

They are listening

On the bright side, the developers are incredibly integrated with the community, which is fantastic to see. They pay attention to what people want and take their feedback seriously. It's clear that they're passionate about making the game the best it can be and are willing to put in the effort to do so, and they've already stated that they're working on an anti-cheat system and many other features, but still, WHY LEAVE OUT THE ANTI CHEAT OF ALL THINGS??

Shame Shame Shame

However, it's a shame that it seems at times that the developers are keeping the game too barebones on purpose so that everything can be done with mods. 

While it's great that the game is moddable, some features should be included by default rather than requiring modders to implement them. Because it makes it difficult for the game to retain players who are unwilling to go to the extra effort of finding and installing mods for the most basic of features.

Oh look a bird

Visually, the game looks pretty decent. It's not spectacular, but it's not bad for a free realistic shooter. The graphics are satisfactory and do the job well enough; the animations are eh... but I can look past that for now; personally, the lack of any good gore isn't my favorite, but I understand that's a personal preference.

Bitcoin miner

The performance is quite bad at times, like horribly bad at times. While I haven't experienced any complete freezes or game crashes yet, my FPS has died quite a few times, and when you're in a large server with a lot of people or bots, the game runs like a slideshow that is setting my pc on fire, Optimization has clearly not been the main concern of the devs so far, which is a shame, especially given that it's free, so it'll attract a lot of players with lower end computers.

Pew Pew

The gunplay is where Operation: Harsh Doorstop really shines. It's pretty rewarding and remarkable for a free game. It's clear that the developers took this part very seriously. The guns feel realistic and play well, and the explosions cause some real damage. The sound design is also good. It's not the best, but it's still quite good. It definitely contributes to the immersion and makes the gunplay feel more intense.

ChatGTP

The game's AI can range from quite good to absolutely horrendous. You have great firefights with them at times, and they completely ignore you at others. This inconsistency can be frustrating at times, but it isn't a deal breaker because they can usually pose a real threat.

Bored

The game's general gameplay is where it falls short. It's incredibly basic, with few modes and important features missing. There simply isn't enough to do to entice players, which is unfortunate because it could mean that a large portion of the potential playerbase will be turned off before the game can even come close to reaching the developers' vision, as this game won't keep you coming back for hours on end, it's just not that exciting at the moment.

Conclusion

Overall, it's clear that Operation: Harsh Doorstop is a fantastic idea with enormous potential. Any realistic shooter fan would love a completely free and moddable squad and Arma-inspired game, and this game is such a breath of fresh air compared to the way the market is going.

However, the game's issues with cheating, performance, and content make it difficult to recommend it in its current state. While the developers' commitment to the community is admirable, and the game's concept is fantastic, it's clear that there is still a lot of work to be done before the game can truly reach its full potential. With that in mind, I'd give Operation: Harsh Doorstop a 5.0 out of 10. I'd love to scale it up to 5.5 and recommend it, but that's simply impossible without anti-cheat.