S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl - Standard Edition

The total time GOG claims I have spent on this is likely innaccurate as most of that time is spent waiting for the Compiling Shaders loading screen or, if the game does miraculously load, standing completely still in the game hoping the choppiness goes away. The amount of time I've actually enjoyed a smooth experience on all Low graphics settings is a fraction of that. I'd probably rate this game a 2, but I must be fair considering I lack the RAM to meet minimum requirements. I want to enjoy the game, but there are too many bugs and perforance issues. Even after 1.1.2. The main issue is the Compiling Shaders issue where the loading screen hangs. Here's one example that made fighting to get the game work seem not even worth it: There's a mission where I need to find a guy hiding out in a windmill. This NPC wants me to recover an artifact from some cave. Go to cave, evade a Bloodsucker while reloading a dozen times because fighting it is a slide show. Finally running away rom the creature, grabbing the item and making my way back to the Windmill, it was cool to see the creature actually followed me. The creature began to rip and tear and this NPC who just stood there like nothing unusual was going on. I Was able to cheese the creature by using the NPC as a shield. Very immersion breaking. Otherwise, NPCs regualry float around with their arms held outward. I can't wait for better hardware and a few more patches or sadly dream and hold out for a PS5 version. CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 4600H GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Memory: 8GB

The game staters as hell and lowering setting does nothing to help it. AI is visibly cheating, nowing your position instantly, being 100% accurate no matter what weapons they have, infinite grenades, etc.

clearly unoptimized at the moment but now they have the time to polish the game, update there A-life program to have one the best survival game + with the community of modders who are going to push the bound of the game this going to be great

I've played the previous STALKER games. Don't remember much of them due to how long ago they were. BUT i do know i enjoyed them. Been looking forward to this game for over a decade. Now that it's here I love it. the atmosphere is phenomel the graphics are REALLY good Optimization definitely needed. first time ever i needed to turn on DLSS. I have an 12900k, 64gb ram, and 4070. At epic settings 40-60fps. with dlss i get 80fps. the shiny stuff needing dlss to remove the static needs to be fixed that said its still early on and optimization takes time with the amount of types of hardware so i understand. The story is pretty good. the interactions with NPCs make me feel like im playing FO games but you can only do so much with story interactions so I don't disqualify the game for that. I get goosebumps in the game on a regular basis which goes into the immersion. its top tier. ive been using my A50s with Dolby Atmos EQ enabled and the sound quality is so good. NOW, the CONs the animations are incredibly long the time it takes to bandage after pressing and holding a button is way way to long in a fight with a bloodsucker, unless you're perfect with aim and very powerful you WILL die very fast and they hit faster than you can heal as the animatioins start over every time it attacks yes this can be considered a skill issue. but even on the easiest difficulty its impossible to heal while in the middle of a bloodsucker interaction. SO i have decied to avoid them as much as possible and save scum. which i don't like cause i rather experiance those fights but i honesly belive if the animations were much faster it would be more possible and or if the animations didn't reset after getting hit. Other than that i love this game and highly recommend it.

SINCE my previous review was removed for no reason , becasue i pointing all the problems i got so far , i will rewrite what i posted. So far it has been a tottal mess of Anger and extreme frustration with the game its so constant ,This game exceeds all 3 previous games and more! i have died more 78 time most by trampling on objects and instantly dying , being very distant from enemies and them having a 100% on me , no matter what i do enemies will aways get me , the mutants are f tanks no matter what and how you shoot them , it takes a very long time to end them and they are very overpowered to , so much if you encounter those who can lift objects in the air and throw them , even if the object alredy fell to the ground it will make damage as much as if it hit directly, i don't know why but everytime i kill a bloodsucker , 2 or 3 more show up ALWAYS . the armor seems to make some sense when you get something better but its so low , its like using one that you get in the begining of the game , wight carrying in some cases make no sense and becomes frustrating , the time weapons last until they break has been changed but still makes no sense since the update now dead bodies on the ground as you aproach they will t pose for a second and imediatly drop to the ground , when a mutant pushes the weapons from you , sometimes they will disapear and you need to reload the save , the costs in the game are f**** insane repair costs sometimes are higher than the gun itself upgrading something is over expencive , if you rely on what the character gets and not selling artifacts and weapons you will not manage to buy any upgrades or repairs . BUT the most frustraing of all is runing while reloading a weapon ,always interrupted animation .... It needs to be fixed ok? how many times i thought i had reloaded just to ear the f*** clicking sound of a empty magazine?? Right in the face of the enemy , or the gun jammed right after you reload?