Grand Theft Auto 6 might just be days away from its November 19 launch on Xbox and PlayStation, leaving many PC players in the dust. However, a brand new open-world crime game is unexpectedly making waves on Steam. That game is ROB RUN, a free-to-play extraction shooter that recently entered Early Access and has already attracted more than 140,000 concurrent players at its peak.
Developed by Kefir and released into Early Access on November 4, ROB RUN puts players into a massive multiplayer crime sandbox that can accommodate 5,000 players. You can freely play as criminals, police officers, and even ordinary civilians, where sudden bank robberies and police chases can happen in the snap of a finger.
As of November 8, ROB RUN reached a peak of 140,440 concurrent players and 1,08,791 active users, according to SteamDB. Its popularity has spilled over to Twitch, too, where it attracted 29,700 viewers, surpassing even big and long-staying releases like Modern Warfare 4 and Apex Legends.
Aside from police chases and robberies, ROB RUN also features criminal organizations system and territory disputes, with its extraction shooter twist being the main draw. Crooks can gang up and must successfully escape with their stolen money and loot to keep their ill-gotten gains. With thousands of cops standing by on every corner, pulling off a crime is one thing, but getting away with it is another.
However, just because it’s currently attracting a big audience thirsty for some GTA action doesn’t necessarily mean everyone’s enjoying their spree. Despite its impressive first-week player count, ROB RUN currently has a Mixed reception on Steam.
Some players have praised its cops-and-robbers gameplay, with many on social media likening it to the early 2010s APB: All Points Bulletin online game. But others aren’t particularly thrilled with the whole experience. Several negative reviewers complained that robbers — and the cops — frequently kill any players on sight, making it hell for lower-leveled players. Meanwhile, those who don’t actively hunt their preys, camp stores and extraction points.
Other players criticized the extremely fast weekly server wipes, questioning the point of a ’13 hour a day’ grind just for your loot to disappear quickly anyway. A number of users also thought that both toxic voice and text chat need to be regulated better.
But its biggest detriment right now seems to be connection issues as many are lamenting not being able to connect to the game. “[…] youll have to download their bloatware launcher to even get it to connect to servers,” wrote one Steam user frustrated. “IT TOOK ME OVER AN HOUR TO GET ONTO THE SERVERS THROUGH STEAM.” Another added, “Good concept, the servers and party lobby need to work for the game to have a future.” Some are also disappointed in the use of AI for asset generation.
Still, all things considered, ROB RUN has managed to attract a sizable audience within the first few days of its Early Access launch. Whether it can keep those players around once GTA 6 drops, though, is another question entirely. Nevertheless, together with the official GTA 5 Online roleplay server, at least PC players have another crime sandbox to mess around in while waiting for their turn.
