Russian Shooter PIONER Not Doing Well in Early Access
After years of development, the Russian shooter PIONER was released in early access. The release has been met with all sorts of criticism, most of them centering on the technical state of the game.
Feedback from Users and Rating on Steam
As for now, PIONER gets a rating of "Mostly Negative" on Steam, with 47% due to 330 user reviews. The highest number of concurrent players on the platform was at the peak of 903 souls. This amount is very small, part of it due to the distribution model of the game; it is not on Steam's catalog in Russia, but was available to buy on Rostelecom's launcher. Accessing via Steam from other regions also caused the heavy reports on dissatisfaction from Russian consumers who used the game.
Technical Instability Widely Recorded
Most of the problems shuttle between game performance and bugs. Players have cited numerous complaints:
- A game-breaking bug leading into the main menu with no way for players to progress beyond the prologue.
- Frequent freezes and FPS drops even on high-end hardware like RTX 5060.
- Graphics settings reset with texture resolution reportedly locked on low.
- Shoddy server performance, with one player likening it to 'Escape from Tarkov'.
- Repetitive enemies and lines.
Direct from Player
Excerpts from Steam reviews show a lot of frustration from the community as well as few turning points:
"Great setting. Great gunplay. Amazing voice acting. I hope they fix the server issues, and it'll be a blast."
"It's empty, the graphics settings are constantly resetting... The only good thing is the game's style, but, alas, the developers failed to fully realize it. It feels like it's been cobbled together."
"I have an RTX 5060 on board , 100+ fps with or without DLSS, but still have a constant freeze. Couldn't play the game properly."
"Well, what can I say. Sloppy, clumsy, poor graphics. . . After fixing its technical issues, there will be something to kill hours of a day."
However, some players still left praise to atmosphere and gunplay, but in general, PIONER gives one the impression of an unfinished product. There is no user rating system on the Rostelecom Games platform, where the game can be sold in Russia, and therefore there is no way to measure player sentiment there.
