My friends and I have had a ton of great (and also not so great) moments playing it together, but we only can really play it for a couple of weeks at a time before we get completely burnt out.
As new updates were released, Rust has honestly become a full time job if you want to get far in it. Facepunch also released a mobile app so that you can monitor your security cameras on the go, so that Rust can basically consume the rest of your life too.
There have been a lot of changes that I honestly hate, and that I think have made the game more tedious and grindy. But, I honestly think that Rust is still worth playing even today.
I see people online saying that the glory days of Rust are behind us, but the game is still as popular as ever.
I’m sure a lot of people will disagree with me, but here are my opinions about why I think Rust is still a great game that’s worth your time.
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1. Social Interactions
Out of every other multiplayer game I’ve played, Rust has surprisingly brought me the most meaningful interactions with other players.
What usually happens is my group and I will make a truce with a close neighbor, and over time we slowly gain each other’s trust. A few people even joined our discord and regularly talked to us, while others just teamed up with us to raid the jerks of the server.
The most recent time we played Rust we became allies with every neighboring base, and we became known by players in the south of the map as Canada, since we were the friendly groups up north.
Unfortunately for them, we weren’t so nice with the players at the bottom of the map.
We picked fights with annoying people in the chat, and teamed up with other people to raid the biggest bases. Soon enough, the friendly people up north were the only ones left in the server, and we basically ruled the map.
I can’t think of any other game where you slowly get to know and trust people over the course of several weeks, but Rust gives you that ability. Unless you’re playing on official servers with zerg clans and nakeds spawn killing you with rocks, you’ll have a surprisingly high number of friendly interactions.
All my friends and I have fond memories of people we met for pretty much every wipe we’ve played on. I get that Rust isn’t about being social with people, but I found that to be one of the most fulfilling parts of the game.
You never know what type of interactions you’ll have with people either. One time we raided a base of a guy who was actually pretty nice, and he sat there talking to us as we blew through his walls and took all his items. Other times we had people screaming at us and lying about how they were a solo player, to which we quickly responded to them with a bullet to the face.
2. Unofficial servers are great
In my opinion, the worst way to experience Rust is in the official servers. In these you’ll find the highest populations of players that take the game wayyyy too seriously. They make Rust their lives, and you’ll quickly be wiped out if you don’t do the same.
Part of the reason for that is the upkeep that was added a while back. The constant need to refill your base with materials makes it a necessity to constantly rejoin and game to ensure you base stays intact. Ever since this was added, I’ve refused to play on official servers.
Unofficial and modded servers provide you with pretty much every option you can imagine in Rust. You have battlefield servers, where the only purpose is to battle it out; no upkeep servers or low upkeep servers, which eliminate much of the grind and bring Rust back to its roots; target practice servers; creative mode servers; and pretty much anything else you can think of.
In most games I prefer the official servers, but in Rust those servers are so toxic that I’m sure they scare away a lot of players. You might be a hardcore rust veteran and enjoy official servers, and that’s completely fine, but people who only play casually can enjoy the game using the modded ones.
I’ve personally found that unofficial servers have far friendlier people than official, which inevitably led to more meaningful social interactions.
You can find servers that cater to your own personal playstyle, whether that be dramatically increased resource gathering or simply running around shooting people with guns.
3. The core gameplay is awesome
There’s no other game that produces the adrenaline rush that Rust provides. Dark Souls bosses are a similar experience, but nothing beats the feeling of winning a fight after feeling like your about to lose everything.
You put hours and sometimes even days of work at stake each time you log off, and the feelings of relief or anger you feel during the game are kind of impossible to describe. Players online call this the “Rust Jitters,” as the risk adds a whole level of emotion to every battle. It’s not like Call of Duty where you die and respawn constantly, but instead it forces you to be vigilant in everything you do.
Every gunshot ringing out in the distance is terrifying, and will cause your heart to sink unless you have similar weaponry yourself.
The battlefield servers in the game are fun, but they don’t even come close to the level of risk and reward that normal Rust gameplay does.
Grinding is tedious in most games, but a lot of times in Rust it’s satisfying and actually feels like it’s worth something. I’m not saying it’s fun all the time, but looking at your finished and well protected base makes you feel like you’re safe and secure.
The graphics are actually surprisingly good, and the optimization has come a long way over the years.
The guns feel great and are fun to use, and they feel valuable when you have them.
The maps are large and varied, and every time you join a new one it’ll feel like a new experience.
Rust is really about the players and how they interact with the world. Players can be allies or enemies, friendly or hostile, and you never know exactly what they’ll be unless you get to know them.
Some people will kill on sight, which gets them hated by their whole server until some clans band together and take them out. I’ve seen this numerous times and it’s always extremely satisfying to see the annoying players fall.
The gameplay of Rust has gotten tedious at times, but that of course can be changed by playing unofficial or modded servers. Facepunch has created a really great game, and Rust has brought about some of my fondest gaming memories.
The community is still as toxic as ever, and you’ll constantly get killed, but getting a base established is extremely rewarding.
