Insurgency: Sandstorm

 PC
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 239 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 182 out of 239
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 239
  3. Negative: 31 out of 239

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  1. ARSM
    Sep 8, 2023
    8
    The performance eventually became stable by 2022. Overall, they found a balance between hardcore simulators and arcade fun. All weapons are available from the first level, but it takes time to find your most suitable options and set of mods. The death is a matter of a couple of hits or one headshot, but it will not be easy to land those shots. Updates are relatively rare, but there areThe performance eventually became stable by 2022. Overall, they found a balance between hardcore simulators and arcade fun. All weapons are available from the first level, but it takes time to find your most suitable options and set of mods. The death is a matter of a couple of hits or one headshot, but it will not be easy to land those shots. Updates are relatively rare, but there are funky game modes in rotation that change every two weeks.… Expand
  2. S3XU4LH34L1NG
    Sep 7, 2023
    7
    A way more strategical take on the COD / BF / CS formula. The time to kill is extremely low making any weapon viable and making the game more about strategy and reflexes. Sadly there is no real progression system. Due to that many players quit and the player number are rather low.
  3. strangermoon
    May 24, 2023
    8
    best graphics modern fps game sicne battlefield 3 on pc maps not fully openworld but larga. sandly planes and heli ony called for support no control. look better than cod mw and bf 2042. game have offline bots. best realistic weapon in any game acording to gamespot weapon guy jonhathan.
  4. jojoboy1997
    May 4, 2023
    4
    It was a good game with good gunfight and has bot to play offline which very hard to find now a day. However after Devs decide to improve enemy bots and make it a terminator with aimbot at every range game become frustrate to play in local play
  5. TechnoSC
    Apr 16, 2023
    7
    I like it. I love realistic shooters, such as tarkov or Insurgency. But in this game, it's like "Arcade-ly" realistic. You die instantly when you get a head shot, which is good, but in the next moment you recovered from a grenade that just exploded besides you? And you hold your gun in the perfect aim position after running 50m? Arcade or a "realistic" shooter? But that's of course not aI like it. I love realistic shooters, such as tarkov or Insurgency. But in this game, it's like "Arcade-ly" realistic. You die instantly when you get a head shot, which is good, but in the next moment you recovered from a grenade that just exploded besides you? And you hold your gun in the perfect aim position after running 50m? Arcade or a "realistic" shooter? But that's of course not a really bad thing. The game itself is fun and with the right team and mods (open mod support), the game can be really fun. Especially during role-play or intense fighting areas.… Expand
  6. PasiMetaAho
    Feb 20, 2023
    4
    Compared to most modern shooters its decent but the slow pacing and unusable explosives ruin the game for hardcore players.

    Here's what im talking about: https://youtu.be/oqOSmrAtxUs
  7. Bendy52
    Nov 17, 2022
    8
    I assume the game is at its final stage of its life cycle. and to be fair if Livewire is its last update i wouldn't be that sad, the game is in good place. i would say missing only a competitive mode.
    Gameplay is solid and dare i say better than COD MWF 2022. punchy sound and lovely non woke cosmetics that fits the theme of the game mostly. Performance has come along way.
    Sure the player    I assume the game is at its final stage of its life cycle. and to be fair if Livewire is its last update i wouldn't be that sad, the game is in good place. i would say missing only a competitive mode.
    Gameplay is solid and dare i say better than COD MWF 2022. punchy sound and lovely non woke cosmetics that fits the theme of the game mostly. Performance has come along way.
    Sure the player base is not that HUGE. but u will have no issue finding a match.

    83/100.    … Expand
  8. Wineneeder
    Sep 9, 2022
    5
    I really want to like it, but it is incredibly campy. There's no teamplay and most of the time there's a painful amount of mic spam, worse when it's after map voting and you can't see who it is or mute them. Or it's somebody shouting the n-word now that a bunch of COD players have given up the latest one of those.

    It has improved much, but the devs have made some questionable decisions.    I really want to like it, but it is incredibly campy. There's no teamplay and most of the time there's a painful amount of mic spam, worse when it's after map voting and you can't see who it is or mute them. Or it's somebody shouting the n-word now that a bunch of COD players have given up the latest one of those.

    It has improved much, but the devs have made some questionable decisions. Frontline has major problems, compared to similar modes in the last game/removed from this one.

    Sooo yes, I got to level 1000, but I wouldn't have even bothered if every other shooter series hadn't taken a major downturn. It's still a lot of playtime, sometimes it's fun and it works.

    Maybe in two or more years, they'll fix one or two specific angles in Outskirts Frontline and maybe it 5 percent less of a dry ass fisting for insurgents. I mean it worked for Crossing, now it's only around ~80 percent of a dry one if there's any number of absurdly high level players on the enemy team. They can't even headglitch spawn camp you now, just regular spawn camping!

    Basically everything is great, except the game types, the maps, the playerbase, the hitreg, and the balance... you get the picture. But everything else is chef's kiss, I do mean it. It's a good looking game, good sounding game. Anyway.    … Expand
  9. arostislavna
    Aug 31, 2022
    7
    There is a stark difference between the base game and the ISMC mod.

    Do not play without ISMC. Period.

    7/10 for base game, 10/10 for ISMC mod.
  10. carnivorCactae
    Aug 13, 2022
    0
    No dedicated servers, means you can only play with randoms and strangers and have basically zero control about anything.
  11. kreml2
    Jul 11, 2022
    8
    Один из самых интересных шутеров последних пяти лет, очень реалистичная физика оружия, которая к тому же очень простая, что очень важно в современных командных и одиночных шутерах, всё хорошее что было в первой части осталось и во второй, графика на уровне, как и работа со светом, цветами и гаммой, приятно смотреть на картинку и погружаться в мир баталий. Очень крепкий проект, которыйОдин из самых интересных шутеров последних пяти лет, очень реалистичная физика оружия, которая к тому же очень простая, что очень важно в современных командных и одиночных шутерах, всё хорошее что было в первой части осталось и во второй, графика на уровне, как и работа со светом, цветами и гаммой, приятно смотреть на картинку и погружаться в мир баталий. Очень крепкий проект, который понравится не только хардкорщикам, но и любителям аркадных шутеров.… Expand
  12. Izoeros
    Jul 10, 2022
    7
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  13. GiulioTopLad
    Jun 2, 2022
    10
    Il gioco è molto immersivo grazie ai continui aggiornamenti costanti che aggiungono nuove mappe e nuovi armi da provare.
    C'è un'enormissima quantità di contenuti e una cosa che non è da molto anzi da nessuno è il fatto che i DLC non influenzano il gameplay ma sono solo di decorazione, dico è da nessuno perché quasi tutti i nuovi FPS multiplayer hanno un sistema pay to win, anche se paghi    Il gioco è molto immersivo grazie ai continui aggiornamenti costanti che aggiungono nuove mappe e nuovi armi da provare.
    C'è un'enormissima quantità di contenuti e una cosa che non è da molto anzi da nessuno è il fatto che i DLC non influenzano il gameplay ma sono solo di decorazione, dico è da nessuno perché quasi tutti i nuovi FPS multiplayer hanno un sistema pay to win, anche se paghi il gioco.
    Ma la cosa principale che mi ha fatto innamorare il gioco sono i Server della Community, li c'è tutto!
    Difficoltà estreme, mod strepitose che portano il gioco al fotorealismo, co-op con molti più giocatori e così via.
    Inoltre vi assicuro che Insurgency Sandstorm è un grandissimo ed onorato successore di Insurgency.    … Expand
  14. Dan9el99
    Dec 27, 2021
    7
    Dieser ultra realistische Hardcore Shooter spielt sich sehr wuchtig und anspruchsvoll. Das Gameplay ist zwar gut, aber der Umfang des Spiels etwas zu gering (7/10).
  15. ImSoNotSorry
    Dec 17, 2021
    0
    The game is absolute dogs**t. You wait more to respawn than that you actually play the game. All the game modes are also terrible. Would refund immediately if I could.
  16. maslina
    Nov 21, 2021
    9
    Лучший тактический командный шутер за последнее время(ИМХО). Большое разнообразие оружия, модов, классов, карт, ДА ВСЕГО. Разрабы не забивают на игру, время от времени выпуская патчи, добавляя новый контент, как бесплатный( карты, стволы), так и платный (Скинчики). Притензии только к оптимизации но и то не настолько критично.Лучший тактический командный шутер за последнее время(ИМХО). Большое разнообразие оружия, модов, классов, карт, ДА ВСЕГО. Разрабы не забивают на игру, время от времени выпуская патчи, добавляя новый контент, как бесплатный( карты, стволы), так и платный (Скинчики). Притензии только к оптимизации но и то не настолько критично.
  17. Jumpup
    Sep 29, 2021
    0
    Not able to review this for PS4 so I will drag the PC score down until I can: this game has been out 3 years on PC, it’s become quite apparent that PC footage was used to sell the PS4 version as the PS4 Day one version in no way looks like or has the fidelity of the PC version. It’s a stuttering, Tearing un optimized mess on day one, a new developer I would give a by ball but this is a 3Not able to review this for PS4 so I will drag the PC score down until I can: this game has been out 3 years on PC, it’s become quite apparent that PC footage was used to sell the PS4 version as the PS4 Day one version in no way looks like or has the fidelity of the PC version. It’s a stuttering, Tearing un optimized mess on day one, a new developer I would give a by ball but this is a 3 year old game and it looks and runs like a PS2 game with the graphics of MGS 1. Lets run down the list of issues this scummy developer thought they would get away with: No Hit Detector, No Kill Detector, A weird marker for friendly’s that appears to the side of them and at some distance from them, a broken comms system where enemy conversations can be heard, screen tearing, lack of any anti-aliasing, Lack of HD graphics, this things running in standard def, lack of textures, broken load out system that fails to remember saved load outs, Lack of progress markers, lack of round information, lack of scoring system, an extremely low draw distance, a gutted game mode system, no vehicles, pop in everywhere, lack of 60fps (in an FPS of all things) a mess of a menu system, a diabolical weapon modification system that remembers nothing, a class system that’s all over the place with standard sniper, heavy, light and assault classes all behind paywalls. And the most important part the bullet physics, I understand the game is built around this but with the exceptionally low graphics there is simply no point to it, I cannot see the drop to correct the shot through the tearing and jaggy choppy gameplay. A f*cking disgrace of a day one release after 3 years to polish. Its no wonder medicritic has reviews switched off on the PS4 and Xbox versions. Well let’s hope users who can’t review it over there come here and drag the PC score down with this sinking ship cause these scum don’t deserve to get away with this at £59.99… (DO NOT BUY ON CONSOLE! UTTERLY BROKEN)… Expand
  18. Zzz_
    May 18, 2021
    10
    It is simply the best FPS I have played, period. The shooting is realistic. You can easily get killed by a single shot, but so are your enemies. Free maps update every few months to keep the game fresh. Worthy every penny I paid. NWI did a superior job.
  19. Common3182
    May 10, 2021
    9
    One of my favorite FPS games to play with friends or many randoms. The game is beautiful and is very rewarding when checking corners and taking time. But also times when it feels like your storming the beaches with the great sounds. Needs focus, good teammates, time and a good headset but worth your time
  20. Sesm1c
    Apr 22, 2021
    9
    Insurgency Sandstorm is my all time favorite first person shooter at the moment and I love every second I play. The game has AMAZING gunplay with a fast time to kill (TTK) and hitscan bullets only at super close ranges. Each and every gun have their own ballistics, say you wanted to try and snipe with an M4. Well good luck with that its going to have more bullet drop and won't one shotInsurgency Sandstorm is my all time favorite first person shooter at the moment and I love every second I play. The game has AMAZING gunplay with a fast time to kill (TTK) and hitscan bullets only at super close ranges. Each and every gun have their own ballistics, say you wanted to try and snipe with an M4. Well good luck with that its going to have more bullet drop and won't one shot kill at far ranges like actual snipers. Want to use a shotgun with slugs or flechette rounds? Well get ready to use a shotgun that acts like a somewhat realistic shotgun with minimal spread at short ranges and long range potential. Every gun has a ton of attachments you can put on them to help with recoil (which this game has a lot of), reloading speed, aim down sights speed (ADS Speed), Bipods to make recoil and gun sway nonexistent when mounted, etc. The system used for weapons and attachments is amazing too with 15 points you have to spend wisely to fully pimp out your Security or Insurgent. you have to carefully pick what to spend your points on, want a better gun with a faster TTK than others due to caliber and rate of fire? Well get ready to use more points on that weapon than others which could mean you can't have as many attachments as you could on another gun or you can't use a secondary or grenades. This token mechanic helps balance the game out ass better weapons cost more making it so people are more reluctant to use that weapon as they would rather have a secondary and more attachments. I will say shotguns should cost more tokens as they are extremely cheap and you can fully kit one out with tokens to spare although no one really uses shotguns so I guess it doesn't really matter. Speaking of weapons the game offers a pretty big arsenal with both Security and Insurgents getting their own weapons. Security usually gets the more modern and newer versions of weapons such as M4A1s, G3s, Tavors, etc. while Insurgents get AKMs and 74s, WWII era guns, FALs, and things that in the real world are cheap to manufacture or were over manufactured and bought for cheap. Player customization is huge with you being able to customize nearly everything about your operator. Sadly Security has better skins for blending into your environment and some paid skins like a ghillie suit while insurgents don't get camos. The only good Insurgent skin for blending in is a paid one that only works in snow maps. This game does suffer from poor optimization but it has severely improved since launch with better servers and less bugs. The game runs fine and looks great on my R7 260 (I know it's a terrible card but its all I could find in 2021). I get around 60-70 frames on low to medium settings but that could be to having a lower resolution monitor. On bigger maps like summit it ends up crashing to about 20-40 frames which is a nightmare to play on in this game. Overall this game is amazing with a few issues that the devs are already working on trying to improve servers and optimization. They also keep adding weapons and maps in every new major update (not every single update only the big ones) and I can't wait to see where this game goes in the future.… Expand
  21. sparkie951
    Feb 24, 2021
    10
    I have been playing Insurgency for many years and now with Insurgency:Sandstorm... I have always run the custom servers... Now with the IMSC Mod the game is reborn and is better than ever... Lots of new maps and new ways to do things. This is the greatest. The game is very affordable, modable, and fun... They do update at kind of weird times and do not give custom server operators advanceI have been playing Insurgency for many years and now with Insurgency:Sandstorm... I have always run the custom servers... Now with the IMSC Mod the game is reborn and is better than ever... Lots of new maps and new ways to do things. This is the greatest. The game is very affordable, modable, and fun... They do update at kind of weird times and do not give custom server operators advance notice... other than that they are great. The game is not a Bandwidth hog but does spike or lag from time to time, but so do all good graphic games.... the graphics in the maps are good, and the weapons are great... So much fun to chase down and shoot the bots! Best game in my collection.… Expand
  22. Xvatch
    Aug 23, 2020
    9
    Amazing immersive FPS with good pace and fine balancing of realistic and arcade. No arbitrary and skewed algorithm or RNG like CoD
  23. jorbo125
    Feb 1, 2021
    0
    PLEASE BE AWARE THE PLAYER REVIEWS ARE POPULATED WITH PEOPLE FROM INDIA AND SHRI LANKA PAYED TO WRITE REVIEWS. THIS GAME IS NOT GOOD OR FINISHED.

    Extremely underdeveloped and lazy, the game feels like a highly polished gmod gamemode than an actually released video game. It's extremely disappointing to see that both AAA developers and Indie devs can be so lazy and greedy. Do not buy    PLEASE BE AWARE THE PLAYER REVIEWS ARE POPULATED WITH PEOPLE FROM INDIA AND SHRI LANKA PAYED TO WRITE REVIEWS. THIS GAME IS NOT GOOD OR FINISHED.

    Extremely underdeveloped and lazy, the game feels like a highly polished gmod gamemode than an actually released video game. It's extremely disappointing to see that both AAA developers and Indie devs can be so lazy and greedy.

    Do not buy this game, it is ugly, boring, unbalance and rife with toxic players and cheaters.    … Expand
  24. hendric0
    Jan 30, 2021
    10
    The Best shooter of 2020 and 2021 for me. Best mix of simulation and arcade combat like BF series. Has smaller maps, but more tactical. A lot of epic moments and wins in this game. If you like hardcore and accessible this is it. This deserves a bigger player base, although the community is big enough in European servers. Very nice community, no toxic kids and trolls.

    Highly recommended!
  25. InterestingName
    Dec 13, 2020
    8
    Really fun shooter. Maps are well made, guns feel nice, although it's more buggy than I would like. Also, the sound design is probably the best in any game.
  26. Sneidertomnope
    Dec 13, 2020
    3
    To much lag random freeze servers are not the best in my country the devs don't care on fixing the game and give dlc updates every now and then with small improvements on things that should have been there in the beginning the only reason for you to buy it is if u planning to play.coop with friends but buy it only if you know they will play with you cose if they don't don't bother
  27. Constantin259
    Dec 13, 2020
    10
    Sometimes you win, sometimes you get destroyed like a puppet. It is a difficult game that prizes team work and the work of every team member.
    10/10
  28. clem666
    Oct 31, 2020
    6
    (I played 'Insurgency: Sandstorm' for 29 hours until today and I came here after about 350 hours in Insurgency the 1st (2014), which was and still is awesome.)

    This is a solid game: not for everyone, but beautiful, tactical, rough, challenging, complete and varied. You have access to the main content of a respectful FPS: solo, coop and competitive modes, two teams, a bunch of different    (I played 'Insurgency: Sandstorm' for 29 hours until today and I came here after about 350 hours in Insurgency the 1st (2014), which was and still is awesome.)

    This is a solid game: not for everyone, but beautiful, tactical, rough, challenging, complete and varied. You have access to the main content of a respectful FPS: solo, coop and competitive modes, two teams, a bunch of different classes, a dozen maps. There are some major improvements compared to Insurgency (2014): free updates and events, some reinvented maps, a plethora of customizable items and characters (to buy with game money though), vehicules you can drive, truly immersive door kicking system, as well as the intimidation and the mask and gas systems. You have the opportunity to ask for air support to help you and your team progress.

    But these tactical nukes/smoke systems sometimes completely ruin the round. At some point they are inevitable and impossible to counter. You just have to pray you're not at the bad place at the wrong moment. In this perspective I could also write about AI which swings between sixth sense (bots can see through smoke and some walls) and incredible foolishness. Developpers added something looking like a kill cam but which proves to be particularly useless, especially in competitive mode. As I speak about competitive mode, be prepared to wait and do nothing for the half of the round because when you're dead, you're dead. One shot can make you out of the action for 5 complete minutes (in a FPS that is a tragedy) and that is not when you and your teammates get spawnkilled... Coop modes are full of campers who don't play the objectives and do their best to get more kills easily. The conclusion is that with a little practice, coop modes are way funnier to play (less death, more kills, more melee action and less time being out of the game). Sound effects were one of the greatest points of Insurgency (2014) but it feels like they have put less effort in it because some weapons sound like plastic and fake metal. It is also true for some animations and special effects: I mean the molotov flames are quite beautiful but it is clearly not suppposed to work that way. Bullets also seems to do way less damage (and it's surely linked to the fact that devs deleted armour-piercing bullets). It becomes really frustrating when you get in a gunfight and the opponent doesn't die after 3 of 4 bullets in the thorax. In this way you have to activate automatic and bursts gunshots because manual are not fast enough. Another defect is that the devs couldn't help themselves from adding some dumb DLC's with skins and gear sets. But all of this will not wipe out the main flaw of 'Insurgency: Sandstorm' which is according to me the loss of the Workshop in Steam, making impossible to easily add mods and packages. Definitively not worth its price unless you are here to play in immersive and beautiful environments.

    The most powerful experience I had with this game (and I recommend it to each and everyone) is to play while listening to Run The Jewels (their 3rd album to be precise). This album is perfect for the pace of 'Insurgency: Sandstorm', it is brutal, it is sharp and it is precise: a must-test!    … Expand
  29. GT350_Kolton
    Aug 29, 2020
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. .............Your computers are all garbage this game is great..............… Expand
  30. mnjak47
    Aug 29, 2020
    10
    Awsome.
    The best first pirson shooter game i have ever played.
    Love so much.
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Awards & Rankings

75
#75 Best PC Game of 2018
38
#38 Most Discussed PC Game of 2018
19
#19 Most Shared PC Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 30 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 30
  3. Negative: 0 out of 30
  1. CD-Action
    Mar 25, 2019
    75
    If Battlefield is too arcadey for your taste and you’ve already heard everything about every player’s mum’s morals in CS:GO, Insurgency is an interesting alternative. It does have some minor technical problems, but once the developers sort them out, every tactical combat fan needs to check it out. [02/2019, p.51]
  2. Worth Playing
    Feb 21, 2019
    70
    It isn't as punishing as something like Arma, but it still offers fantastic audio and a brutal TTK that forces the player to slow down, think about their steps, and use all the tools the game puts at their disposal. One can't go into this game hoping for a sleek experience. The technical side of the game is just as gritty as its combat. In the heat of an intense battle, your processor will also put out some heat. Hopefully, New World Interactive can devote some time toward the technical side of things and put as much care into that as it did the audio and gameplay. If the developer can fix those issues, Insurgency: Sandstorm would be one of the better competitive shooters available on Steam.
    Read full review
  3. Riot Pixels
    Feb 18, 2019
    67
    Insurgency: Sandstorm feels like a shoddy HD remaster of the original game rather than a full-fledged sequel, complete with annoying performance drops, popping up textures and bland map design.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »