I expected this game to be buggy despite "patches", but during the first part of the game i've encountered an infinite loading screen bug making it literally unplayable, without some severe frustration and repeated restarts.
Does anyone else have this issue and when are Warhorse going to patch this well known and widly reported issue. It's gamebreaking and means it's almost not even worth playing in this broken state!

Do you install it on a SSD or HDD?

I ran into it and it looks as if the one I ran into was an issue of quest order. I don't know where you are but I have noticed that in the first main quest "Unexpected Visitor". There are 4 sub quests you have to do. If you do the "Ale" part first before you attempt the "Get money from" part I got the infinite load. The only way around it I found was to restart from a save before the quest order was different. I ran through the first quest fine the first time through because I went in order, but when I wanted to try something out in order to get something, I started over and did things in a completely different order and it broke the game.

I am not sure if this is true but my assumption is that as long as you do the quests in the order listed in the journal, you will be fine. But being this game is open world you might end up doing it in a different order just because you ran into a section first or did it on purpose because it was nearer to your location at the time, and that might just break things. It's just my guess though.

Installed onto my SSD.
It may just be an issue with early quest stages as suggested above, but i'm hearing a lot of people having the same issue throughout.
It looks like a great game otherwise... i love the gameworld so i'll stick with it. :)

Yes I am having the same problem and was almost at the point of asking for a refund today. I got this bug during the quest to fetch things for Henry's father. When I talked to the drunk who said he had no money, instead of the scene opening into a fist fight all I got was a black screen and loading for 3 and a half minutes at which point I exited the game. Everytime this happened until I chose the option "You'll be hearing from my Dad" . I really hope this doesn't happen every fistfight!

Yes, it definitely looks like this is the most common time in the game to get stuck in an infinite load. As Lurker suggested, it seems to be the order of quests given during the very early part of the game. I've played through a bit now and other than some pretty long loading times and dying a lot, i haven't got stuck again...yet. ;)

I did the guest in order and everything was fine. Although I had to get beer two times.

Yes, I am also experiencing the infinite loading screen bug. I have the game installed on my SSD too and it makes NO difference. From my experience, these infinite loading screens can appear at any time and any place. The game is unplayable for me as well. Not pleased with this purchase at all...

I'm amazed to hear it's still happening!
Sadly, i had to give up on the game after it finally refused to load completely following a cut-scene (shortly after the Bandit Camp escape.) Never went back to it and couldn't get a refund after days of play.
I hope others have more luck than we have!

You've convinced me not to buy it even with it over 50% off and with 2 bonus games each worth a combined $60... thank you for the honest posts here!

The game starts normal, I watch the intro, but am unable to skip by pressing e. I then get to the main menu, where the animations and music run fine, but it won't respond to any input. I have to alt del out of the game. Haven't played the game yet, so I don't have any save files to go back to. Does anyone have any suggestions?

same thing happened to me stuck at main menu with loading icon

I had decided at the time of release that this was going to be the first game in a long time that I paid full price for. I wanted to support the developer. But that decision of course did not negate the fact that I do not pay full price for unfinished games (nor for business practices that I abhor).

I was displeased to find that the game had a great number of very serious, fundamental problems, and was forced to resign myself to hoping that the game was completed as soon as possible. Eventually, my opinion of the developer worsened and worsened as month after month passed--and yet as far as I could surmise, serious, fundamental issues still persisted. And then I found the developer releasing new content.

Because I have to this day not been able to get concrete assurance that the game has no significant issues, I was left with the option of paying only a bargain bin price. But I have to admit I am astonished to hear the reports in this thread. What makes things much worse in my opinion is that as far as I know, the developer has not offered any explanation for why they have not completed the game. As a proactive address: I am not talking about a perfect game--I'm talking about bugs and issues that significantly affect enjoyment and/or progress. Having to perform quest actions in a specific order to avoid serious problems in an *open world game* is an absolutely unacceptable issue.

(By the way--how did this soapbox get underneath me? Someone's gonna have to help me down when I'm done...)

In actuality, the reason I came to the forums was in order to find out whether there was any difference at all between the GOG and Steam versions of the game. The fact that this happens at all is ridiculous, because in the cases of which I am aware, there is no indication given of any difference, nor would anyone assume one. Selling an inferior version at a lower price--or even the same price--is one thing, but putting up an inferior version without telling anyone, apparently just because there is no DRM, is quite shady.

At any rate--no difference?

I shall endeavor to set you your mind at ease...as I have just bought the game at what I consider its proper price-point to be--for myself, of course, you understand--we each have our own standards and so on, etc. ad infinitum...;) I bought it as a part of the wonderful 10 Year GOG Anniversary game bundle--a fantastic deal, with three games, including this one, for the suitable, eminently worthwhile price of $25 for all three, including this game...! Magnifco--is all I can all I can say about that...! My price reached--I was mere putty in GOG's hands...

I do not know where the craziness of there being two separate release versions of games--one for GOG and one for Steam--comes from, but, like all craziness, it sometimes develops legs. I guess it is because the crazy people who think up this craziness forget that although GOG and Steam are *two* separate distributors the game developers are but *one per game* and they release *but one* game to be distributed by X number of distributors. So...let us recap...there is *one game* to bind them, one game to rule both game distributors. One of those distributors strips away DRM and provides the customer with his very own installable DRM-free copy of his games, GOG; while the other distributor, Valve/Steam, will be more than happy to tie down the game with software DRM if the game developer wishes it so, and of course please do not expect Steam to furnish you with your own installable copy of the games you buy through Steam, because that is never going to happen. But beyond DRM and not getting an installable copy of your own games from Steam, the games are the same. Always, and forevermore, AFAIK...;)