I'll expand on my review when I complete the game, but there are a few things worth mentioning for potential buyers: 1.) The game crashes every once in a while. I have ~4 hours of playtime and have experienced 2 crashes on a 4790k, 980ti, and a 2TB Seagate ST2000DM. 2.) There are clipping and collision issues in some nooks, so be prepared to use the "Respawn" function a few times. You'll probably get stuck once or twice in the first few hours. 3.) There's a game-breaking "skip"/exploit/bug/whatever which you can by bypassing an environmental barrier early on without the necessary equipment to return to the hub world or complete the level you've entered. It's extremely subtle, so be wary. Here's a video of it: https://youtu.be/leT_MMWPeaI if you don't understand why it's game-breaking, read the description. This does not spoil anything, I promise. It's still a great game though.
I'm giving this a begrudging 2/5 for now. First, I want to mention the 1 thing I love about STRAFE: the movement. Oh my, the movement is just amazing. The strafe jumps are so easy to learn and they feel so good to execute. Think QuakeWorld but even more forgiving. Speed is easy to build up, momentum is extremely easy to maintain, and air control is snappy. Whether you're surrounded by enemies or in an empty room, it's fun to hop around in STRAFE. And this is why I regret to say there are currently 2 huge (but easily patchable) problems with STRAFE that make it extremely difficult to enjoy: 1.) The optimization. This game has intentionally lo-fi graphics (which I'm all for) yet it's extremely choppy on a 980ti/4790k. There are constant microstutters, and the framerate is frustratingly inconsistent. If you're going to go down the lo-fi route, then please, at least have the decency to ship the game well optimized. There is no excuse for a game of such low detail to run so badly. 2.) Mouse sensitivity. The game forces uneven X/Y sensitivity. Why it does this is completely beyond me. The Y sensitivity is at least 2-3x as sensitive as the X sensitivity. Maybe some people are used to this, but I (and I'm sure most others) expect a game to either have a.) identical X/Y sensitivity (99% of games), or b.) separate sliders for X and Y sensitivity (best case scenario). This isn't a big deal. Optimizing this game and adding separate sensitivity sliders should be extremely easy, and I'm sure they'll be taken care of. But for now, I don't recommend buying this game, not until the aforementioned problems are fixed.
