Identity V: Life or Death
Welcome to the horrifying world of Identity V! Identity V is a game which features a 1v4 system with survivors scattered around a map being hunted down one by one. There is no shortage of sides to pick when it comes this game, with the game having separate queues for both the survivor and hunter team respectively. Identity V is a game published by NetEase back in 2018, being released with the help of collaborating company Behaviour Interactive. Essentially, Identity V is the mobile equivalent of Dead By Daylight except for the fact that game turns it into a completely different idea of its own. Survivors will try to decode 4 cipher machines which in turn will allow the exit gate to be opened, allowing for the entire team to escape.
Identity V was actually not a hyped up game when it released, having not been heavily advertised upon its original release. With that said however, I am sure that fans worldwide can firmly tell you that they don't regret their choice of installing this game. The game does have a fair bit of issues, but I believe personally that the benefits greatly outweigh the negative aspects. Putting this aside, let's get straight into this creepy little world.
Featuring a cast of over 20 survivors and 10 hunters, this game has a very diverse meta when it comes to pro play. Each character has varying strengths and weaknesses of their own to set them apart, whilst also bringing a personal item to use during every match. Players can expect abilities such Flying, Teleporting, Protection, and even Portals! This game really has no limits when it comes to creativity and has seen the likes of a list of crazy things happening.
Something that Identity V does struggle with is making certain characters viable. Currently in the tournament scene, some characters never see the light of day, and may never get used until the game eventually is retired. There is definitely a character that someone will like using every match, while the game also offers secondary picks that might use the same set of skills to help your team. NetEase also regulary makes gameplay changes such as buffing characters or specific stat changes which can lead to major differences in regards to viability in ranked matches.
Here is one of the best aspects of Identity V, which unfortunately also comes with a huge negative one as well. Identity V features over 200 skins in the game to this day 3 years later, but my least favorite thing about it, is the fact that the skins can cost a lot of money in the long run. Some of the selections in the game can set its players back for more than $500 on just one skin among many. With that said however, the design team for costumes really know what they are doing, making sure that skin tiers such as S rank look leagues better than any other skin in the game. Identity V has also introduced SS rank skins recently as well, and as you can expect, they cost a whole lot of money just to obtain them.
I know that skins inside of games can be a controversial topic, but I am not afraid to let it be known that I do not support skins for these prices. This is admittedly one of the only things I don't like about Identity V and will continue to not support it.
Apart from the game's skin system, I also do not like how the house system was introduced into the game. Just as you guessed it, this part is another huge money waster. While I really do enjoy having owned one of the custom rooms available to purchase, I don't really use it much since I don't really pay attention while I am in a ranked or casual queue. This aspect is more for people on the social side, or ones that use it to talk with others. It does however look amazing if you ever get to see the most expensive room up for grabs, featuring a 5/5 environment for sure.
Players can also customize their room using various furniture, some of which can be interacted with to play animations. These can include, a swing, a piano, and other various objects. This is something that I did not expect having started around season 2, since the game does not really give off heavy social vibes. But in all honesty, the global in-game chat would definitely say otherwise.
One of the more exciting features in Identity V is the eSports scene. NetEase holds multiple regional and local tournaments around the world, with Call of The Abyss being the main one hosting teams from around the globe. I have enjoyed watching some of the past content on their official YouTube channel and don't regret watching it for hours on end. You can see just how serious it is at the top level of the game, with the top 1% of the top 1% battling it out for a massive cash prize at the end.
With that being said, it does however have a gap between regions. Unfortunately like a lot of titles, every North American team except for one, stands absolutely no chance against Korean teams from overseas. With that in mind, don't expect to realistically see your favorite team winning in the Finals at all.
Lastly, to finish off this review, NetEase loves their collaborations! Identity V on its own has well over 10 collaboration skins and 10 separate collaboration accessories as well. Most of these skins won't really see the light of day ever again, but, this is something that brings in most of their players due to the quality of their events. It is also rumored that skins and accessories are only used because they give slight advantages gameplay wise, but are rarely ever used except for high rank matches due to them also costing a lot of money to obtain for yourself.
After all these years, I would still highly recommend it if someone were to try and start playing the game now for their first time. The game is still very popular and growing to this day, having served experiences to over 1 Million players worldwide. Nothing inside of the game that is important, like survivor characters, realistically cost any money and can be obtained for completely free by just playing the game on its own.
With all of that said, I hope you enjoyed my review, and I hope you consider joining their community.
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