Where is it standing on the Chalice-o-meter.

Shite.

Hey Andy. Hope you are doing well mate.

Reckon this might be one I would put some hours into if I pick it up dirt cheap.

Charts at 4. Behind the unstoppable Bandicoot and GTA and FO4.

Man alive, there is so much going on in this game. It's upgrade-mental.

As each agent gains XP, they get upgrade points, to be spent on that agent. Each has four categories, and each upgrade category is unique to that agent. At any time, you can redistribute those points among that agent's categories. Then you get upgrade crystals which you may find whole, but you're more likely to find as shards (10 shards = 1 crystal) dotted around the map like Crackdown orbs, reachable via agility, exploration and vehicle jumps. Those crystals also unlock abilities (3 per agent) and can be used to unlock an ability for any agent, regardless of who collects them; so there's both individual and shared progress between agents. That's before you factor in the various mods/gadgets that you unlock, again character specific, modifying either the special, primary weapon, or passive buffs. You unlock them, seemingly at random, through missions or finding them in crates. Mods often buff one thing at the expense of another (e.g. increased power, longer reload) so you pick according to your play-style.

As your agents gain XP, they also raise the level of the agency. Your agency level affects what abilities you can unlock elsewhere. For example, you can reclaim businesses points (my first was a vending machine) across the map that generate income for the agency. This money can be spent on agency-wide buffs (increased income, wider loot collection radius, and so on). Unfortunately it looks like they plan to allow you to supplement this with micro transactions, but that should be ignorable.

There's also a global map, where you can sent agents abroad to carry out missions. Certain agents may be able to complete a mission in less time or using less resources, but for the duration you can't pick them for your squad. Again, those missions will unlock yet more tech.

There are all these things going on, and it's a real hook, as you can generally see where the upgrade path is taking you, what else will be available when you reach that next level or unlock that ability.

@Wariospeedwagon nailed it when he said that there's a disconnect between the story and the action; I'm often unsure what the current gun-battle has to do with the bit of dialogue that game before it, but it doesn't matter; the battles are great fun. And, as you utilise the mods and buffs, it encourages you to use new tactics; I was often ignoring the dash, but then one agent unlocked the ability to effectively stun opponents she dashed near, and it introduced a new tactic to my skirmishing.

And, if anyone is counting, I've experienced one jarring swear-word. There may be more as I progress the story, but so far it hasn't been a significant issue.

You are doing a decent job selling it to me Andy (although I will still wait for a low price point).
What is the difficulty like? I can't be fucked with anything difficult these days.

Sounds good. Cheers

To be honest, I haven't unlocked enough of them to comment, and with how busy work has been, I haven't played it in a while.

Anyway, came in to post this, for balance:

4 from EDGE. Destined to be a future forum
Cult classix