The Cycle

I'm pretty sure this game went under the radar for most people. It sure did for me and I randomly came across it from an autoplay youtube video. I think it's the type of game that a lot of people here will connect with!

It's a mix so so many games so let's see if I can describe it right:

The Cycle is a Free to Play game only on the Epic Store. The best way I can put it is that it's a competitive Quest Shooter think PvEvP. It's got a lot of Destiny DNA in it with a touch of Battle Royale. However, unlock a traditional Battle Royal where your goal is to eliminate other players to win, the main goal of The Cycle is to complete more quests on the map than your opponents. Other people or squads may get in the way of doing that so this is where the PVP comes in. You're all in a race to get the most stars. Each match takes 15-20 minutes to complete and takes place on a map similar to BR's. There is a deep weapon and ability crafting system along with three different factions. This game is also really fun as a solo player! They have a built-in system called Pacting. When you make a pact with someone to complete contracts together, you lose your shield so that players who do not want to make a pact are not at a disadvantage.

I really think everyone should at least give the game a few trial rounds. I'm sure many of you will enjoy it! I always love games that come out of nowhere and really surprise me with how great it is.

Download The Cycle

Downloading it now!

Same - excited to give it a go!

UMOarsman wrote:

Same - excited to give it a go!

Can confirm - a blast to play. Anyone else playing? I'd love to try duos. NathanialG?

Wip3out and I are about to crush this. Come get some.

I am Amoebism on epic. Let's do this

I'll try and play some more rounds tonight, I'll see if i can team up with you Amoebic!

I got second place in one round and managed to rank up to 4 with the heavy weapons corp. Just unlocked the turret but haven't actually used it yet.

I've played the alpha for this ages ago. I'm super surprised at the recent popularity. I've been playing off/on since Amoebic and Staygold has talked about it earlier in the week.

It does have a nice change of the BR format.

Ohhh, I love doing quests, I'll have to try this. Thanks!

I might give this another try since it looked fun when I saw it. It did not feel good when I tried it when it first released.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

I might give this another try since it looked fun when I saw it. It did not feel good when I tried it when it first released.

They did a lot of refinement and added new stuff from when i had played the alpha

ranalin wrote:
mrtomaytohead wrote:

I might give this another try since it looked fun when I saw it. It did not feel good when I tried it when it first released.

They did a lot of refinement and added new stuff from when i had played the alpha

Very cool, I'll have to try it out. Looks like a bit of a few genre and games (Apex, Hunt Showdown)

Glad to hear that a bunch of you gave it a shot! It's definitely got some ways to go in terms of keeping players engaged over time but it's a great start!

One of the biggest things I think that they need work on is the PVP. Right now there is no feedback when you attack someone or they attack you, so it's not very satisfying. Sometimes I think I die by regular creeps but it turns out I was just being sniped by someone else and had no clue.

I've only played a bit, but thought I saw some feedback. A message came on screen that I was being attacked by a player, and I think there some big red flashing, along with a direction indicator for the attack. Most of my player combats were fairly close up though, so maybe there is a range requirement for the notification?

Yes, when you are attacked by players there is a very clear visual symbol indicating direction, with a red player icon, and a voiced warning.

I've been seeing this in my Epic Game Store feed, but had mostly ignored it as I'm not that great at competitive shooters and tend to avoid them. After listening to the podcast this week, I decided to give it a go and I'm having a pretty good time of it so far. Hope to see some of you in-game soon!

We actually had more than a 4 person squad last night so when I dropped, Amoebic was able to jump right in. Thanks for the games! Definitely more interesting with 4 players. I even managed to get a few player kills, too. That's something that wasn't happening yet while solo.

Downloaded. Anyone playing in a euro timezone?

I didn't get to play as much as I was hoping to this weekend - lots of RL stuff to do including an spontaneous, early birthday celebration for the wife since she has to work that day later this week. The little bit I did get to play reminds quite a bit of another game that I've had my eye on recently. For those of you that have played both, how does The Cycle compare to Deep Rock Galactic? And which do you prefer?

I'm thinking my preferences might have me leaning more toward DRG, since I actively avoid PVP confrontations, but the PvP portion isn't all that obtrusive in The Cycle, so maybe that isn't as much of a factor as I would normally make it out to be.

Two words had me nope out on Deep Rock Galactic right from the description. Procedurally generated.

Crinkle and I have been playing a lot of this. I think the biggest draw to me is how many different ways to play. Here are two of our best games from today both with high scores. However, one we went almost completely PvP and the other we did completely PvE. Do note that the yes you will often have to fight "a few guys" that attack you, but you certainly don't have to go out looking for combat.

PvP
PvE

Edit. Also the amount they have iterated on the BR market with some great enhancements.

1. Amazing ressurect and second life mechanic
2. Great use of PvEvP
3. Removing the looting phase (most boring of phase of BR's)
4. Minimizing RNG with the loot system while keeping in game choices of which weapons you want to buy/max early.

Those are some wild totals you put up! The gas generators seem like a long play engine where when you get enough of them going, you can really pump up the VP fast. Also seems just by looking at the victory screens you posted that a) you killed a lot of other prospectors which then b) allowed you to really pump a lot of time and effort into a single stream and maximize your points.

I tried out the quick suit Sunday and didn't really like it. Maybe I'm not playing it the right way but the lack of a jetpack felt really restrictive.

The generators certainly get better if you PvP a lot simply because there are not a lot of people to go steal them back. Also if you are looking for pvp you are generally moving around a lot and covering ground. However, plenty of decent generator games in more PvE mode just need to keep on top of them. Any "passive" is always good with pvp (Zeal,generators, and uplink). Power plants at the moment are just really bad. Robots give very little money and have a bunch of HP so take too long to kill. You also don't get a lot of VP. Orange Hunts are "fine" but don't scale super well so not the best target. However, every other thing really can pay out big. We have won rounds big by going mostly minerals, mostly purple drone platforms, or any of the other things and a mix. It really is a game you need to read the map, what others are doing, and adapt. There are certainly better (often more risky) starts to go for like we often send 1 person to a 1000 mineral patch while other is doing something else but nearly any start is viable. Also no matter how many points you are down you can always simply win by killing the group in front of you.

As far as suits. I need to give the quicksuit another chance now that I've gotten a lot better. However, I really prefer the flying suit with the floating while aiming mod. It allows you to stay in air for long periods of time while allowing great movement. Crinkle was preferring the Bulky suit forget it's name until the new map came out. The new map is really not good for it and he has also moved to flying suit. We wish you could adjust suit based on map in lobby but not currently.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

Two words had me nope out on Deep Rock Galactic right from the description. Procedurally generated.

Then you're a fool because DRG is fantastic.

Playing duo is way better than pacting solo. Just mechanically speaking. You're super weak without shields if you get caught out.

Yes, I don't like pacting at all. You are at an advantage if you are attacking someone unaware of you. However, you are at a much larger disadvantage if someone attacks you. I can usually down a player who pacts before they even realize whats happening then it's 1v1 and they have no shields.

Lacerator went from good to great with the patch, and it's a very flexible gun, build-wise. Were I starting a new character, I would rush ICA to acquire it. We managed back-to-back "kill the whole server, let not a single other person escape" rounds in Duos using nothing but that rifle.

Mr Crinkle wrote:

Lacerator went from good to great with the patch, and it's a very flexible gun, build-wise. Were I starting a new character, I would rush ICA to acquire it. We managed back-to-back "kill the whole server, let not a single other person escape" rounds in Duos using nothing but that rifle.

By itself it's great, but when upgraded it's a beast.

ranalin wrote:
Mr Crinkle wrote:

Lacerator went from good to great with the patch, and it's a very flexible gun, build-wise. Were I starting a new character, I would rush ICA to acquire it. We managed back-to-back "kill the whole server, let not a single other person escape" rounds in Duos using nothing but that rifle.

By itself it's great, but when upgraded it's a beast.

I think I just unlocked it yesterday, got it crafted and in my loadout but haven't actually tried it yet. I've been successful with turret spam and the AK as a general weapon. The scatter gun seems great for close PVP the couple times ive tried it.

NathanialG wrote:

I think I just unlocked it yesterday, got it crafted and in my loadout but haven't actually tried it yet. I've been successful with turret spam and the AK as a general weapon. The scatter gun seems great for close PVP the couple times ive tried it.

Scatter is still good but is very situational vs better players. As you said close range it is a beast but often better players carry movement abilities and can keep distance enough to make it ineffective. Crinkle and I use it heavily early on and it got nerfed but the real reason we have not gone back to it is to help compete vs better players. This is a gun i rarely buy but love to find on a foamed corpse.

Turret is kind of the same. We use to run double turret 100% of the time. I think turret is still viable but better players will A. focus it down quickly if you are not actively shooting them or B. just stay out of range of it. It certainly is a beast PvE but hurts if you ever get attacked.

PvP we have moved to Directional Warp (I really think everyone should use this ability) and Adrenaline surge. The warp can even be used while downed just really makes it a beast for both in battle and avoiding it. Adrenaline surge is more only if you are planning to pvp mainly. Helps get to fights, get out of fights. Does delay healing but it is a lot of speed. PvE i'd still go directional Warp but with turret probably.

Lacerator as spoke about above is a beast. I do prefer Advocate over it but you need a really good early game start to go a 500 weapons straight in a lot of games. The other nice thing about lacerator is there are 2 very different ways of building it that are good. You can go full auto with extended mag and have 18 round mag. You can also go higher dmg, semi auto. I use the auto and crinkle uses the semi version. At long range the semi is better. Short range auto is better. At mid range really depends on % of shots you can hit with auto and keep on target. I find a lot of fights happen at mid range so that really decides which you should use. Hidden bonus on auto is it's good for PvE where the 10 round high dmg build is not and generally means you are still using pistol for PvE. Also highly recommend no scope. Often it will be your only gun and the 1.5x scope is really bad closer range. The default dot is very good even at longer ranges and fights rarely stay longer range.

IMO best in class

All around
200 - Lacerator - Does favor medium-long more than short but still useable short
500 - Advocate

Close range
200 - Scrapper - Even after nerfs it's good but it is short range only now
500 - Scatter
500- Voltaic Brute - Thing is really good and can even do medium range. If i start Lacerator this is normally my second purchase

Sniper
Basilisk
Phasic Lancer - Seems much better modded for single shot.

I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I’m a huge fan of the bulldog pistol (shotgun pistol).

It does require you to be up close, but head shots 1 shot mobs. With the weak point mod it can strip players armor in 2 head shots.

I started using it when doing solos. Everyone loves rushing into your face at the start. In duos or squads it’s probably not the best option due to having just 2shots per reload, but I’m used to it now. It also scares the sh*t outta folks and make them run away when they’re close up in a group fight.