Tiny disclaimer: I don't remember how much of this game I played, but it's somewhere between 100 and 200 hours. It happened mostly during the 2020 lockdown, so my memories of it are somehow stale without being foggy. I feel like this is the best moment to write this review, as it tempers the ups and downs. Story-wise, it's nothing too special. It's Fallout in and around a vaguely Western (by this I mean west of Russia) subway system with magic. Great atmosphere, I really enjoyed NPC interactions and the worldbuilding. Combat-wise, things are mildly iffy. At the start of the game, you have to choose if you sacrifice 20% or so of your health for your entire playthrough to be able to cast **MAGIC**, or the radiation-based equivalent. **MAGIC** makes it so you won't ever have to roll to hit ever again, otherwise you use the "Fallout system", where all weapons have a chance to hit based on skill and other esotheric factors. Hence, **MAGIC** OP, and if you play on higher difficulties you get lower hit chances (as far as I recall) and now that you know how OP **MAGIC** is, you will be kicking yourself for not choosing it as soon as you get your glutes tenderized by the first rat. However, if you get past the second or third zone in the game as a non-**MAGIC** user, reddit says you can do it. The final(?) area of the main campaign is extremely boring and is where I abandoned my until-then happy playthrough. No idea what Expedition is like (i.e., the expansion), but I have over-average hopes for my eventual return for the game. Overall, I feel the 4.3/5 average is a fair mark. If you're into CRPGs, TBRPGs and what have you, 10/10 should buy on sale (get Expedition as well, I've read good things) or if you don't worry about your online spending.
Face value honesty, I played this game 6 years ago on Steam, it takes around 24 hours to complete, and at the time I was reasonably entertained by it. The reason I wrote the review is to attempt to manage any potential readers's expectation about the game. RPG elements are rather poor, it is mostly an Action/Stealth hybrid. While I wouldn't exactly call it tedious, there is nothing too special about the combat, but there are alternative solutions to some encounters which I quite actively pursued. To get to the point in slightly brutal fashion, the only reason to play the game is the story. I felt the need to clap at the end and the only reason I stopped was that I was alone in my room. I don't even remember the story exactly, I just remember that I felt such an internal surge of "I feel entertained" and I found most of the reviewers really don't convey that. Might not be worth the full price, but definitely anything in single figures will give you a good return for your money.
I actually played it some five years ago, when I bought it from a Billa in Austria, as it was only 16 EUR, which seemed almost dirt cheap (a few weeks later I realised that it was a bit of a mistake, as then game was in German only and I knew no German whatsoever). Despite that hurdle in my gaming experience, I was captivated by the world in the game... The atmosphere is memorable (though I wouldn't be able to recall everything there was, it had a certain je ne sais quois) and at that moment the fighting system attracted me quite a lot, with its slight resemblance to WoW. Definitely going to buy it again.
