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Recently released and popular multiplayer games with no frills?

C

Cels

Member
No microtransactions
No loot/crates
No unlockable cosmetics for "achieving" tasks online
No leveling or progression system, just the game standing on its own merits.

L4D2 and CS1.6 are two games that I still visit every now and then. I'm wondering if I'm overlooking any other kind of popular no-frills online games like these.
 
If you like CS1.6 why not try GO and ignore the crates? There's really not a good game that has what you're looking for and also has an active userbase

It's nowhere near as good as CS, but it's the next best thing since 1.6 is dead af
 
PUBG. There are "loot crates" but it's just the same clothes you can pickup in game that give you 0 advantage. One of the most no frills games I've played in a long time.
 
Honestly overwatch.

Now people get up in arms about there being loot boxes but if it keeps it so that I'm getting new characters and DLC a year after the game then keep giving me some skins. Once you buy this game you are set for the foreseeable future. Honelsy will probley end up giving them money for loot boxes you play it so much, or at least that's what i do.

735 hours of game play and probley 140 spent on skins. Still a whopping deal in my book :)
 
hmm cant think of any


have you played natural selection 2? its not recent, but its close to meeting those. It has a few skins that are buyable but nothing" drops."
also its not super popular now I guess
 
Thewonandonly said:
Honestly overwatch.

Now people get up in arms about there being loot boxes but if it keeps it so that I'm getting new characters and DLC a year after the game then keep giving me some skins. Once you buy this game you are set for the foreseeable future. Honelsy will probley end up giving them money for loot boxes you play it so much, or at least that's what i do.

735 hours of game play and probley 140 spent on skins. Still a whopping deal in my book :)
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Uh huh.. And what about the 'leveling and progression system'?
 
By now it's fairly evident that enough gamers value cosmetics enough to pay for them, meaning a developer who doesn't do it is knowingly leaving money on the table.

It's not a call any smart business should be making.
 
Still play Halo Custom Edition online. No bullshit levelling, just a match and a score card.

As far as modern stuff? Hmm. Heliborne has a cosmetic element, but it's largely showroom stuff. Nothing is predicated in-game on levels or unlocks.
 
ocean said:
By now it's fairly evident that enough gamers value cosmetics enough to pay for them, meaning a developer who doesn't do it is knowingly leaving money on the table.

It's not a call any smart business should be making.
Click to expand...
Sadly, that's the state that the industry is in now. My initial thought was going to be csgo, but even good old cs has been tainted by those stupid fucking skins locked in boxes. Quake champions? Iirc the beta had levels and also loot box shit with cosmetics. How's UT4 looking? I haven't checked up on that game in awhile.
 
Titanfall and Titanfall 2. Have fun. Well, there's definitely leveling. It's gonna be hard to find a new shooter with no leveling. Overwatch and paladins come to mind, but they have loot crates and I'm sure paladins has a bunch more. Titanfall is leveling to unlock weapons and attachments. They're both amazing games. Titanfall 2 has a horde mode update tomorrow.
 
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Splatoon 2
 
This thread isn't called "Name your favorite recent multiplayer games," folks. Jesus.

And no, I can't think of any notable examples.
 
Bronetta said:
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Splatoon 2
Click to expand...

MK8 is close but has a minimal collection element (Kart parts unlocked by amassing coins). Splatoon definitely doesn't qualify given its substantial gearing metagame and weapon-unlocking progression.

Honestly, if you want to name something on Nintendo, the purest no-frills multiplayer in recent memory is Puyo Puyo Tetris. Very minimal cosmetics (tile skins, alternate voices), but that's it. The unlockables are trivial and you can be done with them so soon, they're never an active incentive to grind that dangles in front of you like a carrot. 100% of the multiplayer experience is there out of the box.
 
PUBG is that.

It currently has no microtransaction and no progression system.

You can unlock clothes but you can't buy the crates and you'll pick up other stuff during a match anyway.
 
I mean as much as I hate to say it, I can't really play a game without these systems for very long anymore. (i don't really think PUBG counts since the final game will have a bigger emphasis on the loot crates)

I actually really enjoyed the gameplay of the latest star wars battlefront for example, but there just wasn't enough of a "carrot on a stick" to keep me engaged over a long period of time. There's definitely a sweet spot though, you can easily over-do it.
 
A lot of MP games these days don't really have levelling or progressions systems unless they are aping CoD still, and if anything there's been a trend away from them (even if it's been replaced by cosmetics). So it feels very like an Old Man Yells at Cloud sort of complaint these days.
 
Corpekata said:
A lot of MP games these days don't really have levelling or progressions systems unless they are aping CoD still, and if anything there's been a trend away from them (even if it's been replaced by cosmetics). So it feels very like an Old Man Yells at Cloud sort of complaint these days.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how true that is. It might be slightly less prevalent, but it still seems to be in a majority of shooters getting released. Looking at last year we have COD (obviously), Titanfall 2, Doom, Battlefield, and Battleborn all having fairly COD-like content unlock leveling systems. (Didn't they also patch in a leveling grind into Uncharted 4?) There's a couple major exceptions like Rainbow Six Siege, but I'm struggling to think of many more. And I believe all of the remaining big shooter releases this year (COD, Battlefront, Destiny, Crackdown) will have progression leveling of some sort.

And technically games like Overwatch and Gears 4 do have leveling systems, even if they are linked to cosmetics.

I mean if your theory was true I think we'd be seeing a lot more examples in this thread.
 
i couldn't really get into insurgency so i don't know if i'd like day of infamy. i could just give insurgency another try.

i've heard PUBG is a mixed bag right now. i'll look at it again after it exits EA
 
Doom just got all its multiplayer DLC unlocked for free, butt its not very noob friendly. Like most bad MP, allows people to choose teams and stack
 
Strike Vector? No idea if it still has a community though. You should really separate out cosmetic treadmills that don't affect gameplay.
 
Why do you even care about loot crates or progression as long as they don't affect gameplay?

Play basically any game and just ignore cosmetics, it's that easy.
 
PUBG is probably the best answer here

Cels said:
i couldn't really get into insurgency so i don't know if i'd like day of infamy. i could just give insurgency another try.

i've heard PUBG is a mixed bag right now. i'll look at it again after it exits EA
Click to expand...

it's super popular, polished and a blast - i don't recommend EA games often but i would suggest jumping in now
 
Black Ops 3

Ok there is a levelling system, but it doesn't take very long, and you get decent guns to start with anyway. Ok and yes there are loot crates, and yes you can buy them with real money, but it's mostly just cosmetics. Mostly. Ok so there's a few guns in there as well, and yes the loot crate weapons are generally overpowered, giving an advantage to paying players while locking that advantage behind an opaque gambling system. Sure. But you won't see those guns in every/I] game. Those players are probably on the DLC maps anyway. Yes, there are DLC maps. No of course they aren't free.

But yeah Black Ops 3.



Yes I'm being sarcastic.
 
Cels said:
i couldn't really get into insurgency so i don't know if i'd like day of infamy. i could just give insurgency another try.

i've heard PUBG is a mixed bag right now. i'll look at it again after it exits EA
Click to expand...

Where did you hear it's a mixed bag? Almost nobody is saying that. It's a very polished and well thought out experience already.
 
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