The game should be marked "Under Development/earyl Access" cause it's clearly not finished. Just lost my 17h run to a MQ softlock bug which after some searching seems to be common and have been known since release yet no fix released as of this date (started my run with the as of today latest patch).
there is an active ongoing campaign to leave negative ratings for this game happening online, as seen on reddit and elsewhere. take that into consideration when reading generic reviews.
i'm playing this on an amd r7 2700x on an asus crosshair vii with an asus amd rx vega 56 gpu with 32gb of ram and samsung evo 970 ssd; i'm not playing this in 4k in ultrawide, but at 1080p. my rig is essentially the minimum system requirements.
so far after a few hours of playing, with everything sort of just left to default, the only issue i encountered was the transition from the cutscene to where the player is given control of the character, there was some jittering as it loaded in.
i haven't gotten far enough in to higher density areas, and am still mostly in the starting area still, but as of right now on november 24, 4 days after lauch, on my 7 year old hardware, the game is perfectly playable.
there are issues that developers have addressed with bugs, and i am expecting there to be patches soon, and continuing frequently over the coming months, so for the amount of complaining i have seen mostly coming from russian speaking people, given the status of the developers and their nationality, i think a lot of the big early reviews are just noise. if you are hesitant to play it, wait a few months, but as of today, right now, you can play the game on any console and even potato computers like mine, just fine, and enjoy the cheeki breeki.
good hunting stalker.
long time fan with ower 4000 hours in originals,
for now game only looks like stalker and does not feels like one
I have gotten into half of the main story and feel bored already, there are almost no side quests, but the thing that turns me off most is how life in Zone feels dead in the old engine we had like actual characters that walk and do their thing in here it feels so virtual and so not real, those 3 random bandits that spawn all the time is most annoying and dumb thing, encounters have to be real, not random. that old engine felt so good compared to the new one.
*the side quest is another big thing we have a massive zone that we always dream of but what to do in it nothing happening in the zone there need for more proper side activity from bigger to smaller.
*the weapon system is a downgrade from old stalkers, in the early game they shotguns feel useless against mutants the new one feels so ineffective snipers are completely useless they never gonna snipe anyone from far away because they don't even exist in-game from that far. in old engines, they might be invisible if u run a game on Potatoe but they still existed.
then there is a progression problem in old stalkers u felt good when u got some end game weapon now it feels pointless only way to deal dmg to anyone is headshot and pistols scripted to be op about that
*mutant too healthy mutants take 0 damage it is better to add 5 bloodsuckers instead of 1 with a health of 5 fighting them is literally heal change mag unload mag heal change mag...........
*The health system is bad medkits should heal over time and the player must be tanker instead of perma healing
*interaction with characters feels dumbed down too much
*there is a need for fast travel options map is a massive
I really hope the game is unfinished and at least some of the stuff will be fixed then I might change my review
Performance at launch is terrible. To get the game to run on a "normal" PC the game need to look like absolute garbage and, even then, you get severe stuttering.
But performance aside, since that can eventually be easily fixed, this game has bigger issues.
1) The Zone feels dead. There is no A-Life. Mutants don't interact with each other. Stalkers are not going about their daily routines. The Zone exists as a bubble around you, the main character. NPCs stand looking at the horizon waiting for you to go talk to them. After you talk to them they continue to stand there. With no purpose. With no agency. This is not typical of a Stalker game. In this one you are the main protagonists, the reason the Zone exists and this makes the game look and feel more like a Call of Duty
2) Overuse of cut-scenes that completely rip player agency. There are a lot of very well produced cut-scenes but that turn the game, in pivotal moments, into a movie and not a game. You don't get to have that amazing gunfight with overpowered enemies. You watch it happen. Your character making decisions for you. This is not typical of a Stalker games and makes the game look and feel more like a Call of Duty.
On the positives, when you manage to get enough frames to process what's going on, the atmosphere (visually at least) is there even though the real things that make the Zone, the Zone, isn't (Stalker fans know graphics are not even 3rd on the list of what matters for the Zone). Also gunplay can feel pretty good.
Developers did not have courage to take risks and bring back the uniqueness of Stalker. They played it safe and followed pre-existing, blockbuster formulas. Overall, this is a Call of Duty game with Stalker makeover. A disappointing Stalker game...
I've played the trilogy, Complete 1.5 and Anomaly which is my favourite. Considering the "situation" I'm thankful this game has released at all, and it is much better than I've anticipated. After 20-30h I can state with confidence this is NOT a CoD or a FarCry game, it absolutely positively reeks Stalker atmosphere.
If anything, Stalker2 successfully captured the essence of the old games and is in no way a westernized shooter in Disneyland NPP what many accuse it to be. It's bogus.
The Bad:
- repairs are unreasonably expensive while missions pay little
- weapon wear should be decreased by a magnitude, 3 clips in auto eats 20% of durability of an AK is ridiculous
- no weapon maintenance options like repair kit or craftable items
- bullet sponge mutants - 300 AK bullets for a chimera is nonsensical and immersion breaking, but the same stands with other mutants. People now rather not even engage, simply run away. There is no point fighting mutants
- poltergeists are absolutely annoying
- lots of cut content which was obviously planned to be there [mutant parts]
- crashes, lots of crashes, at random places
- the story was always fairly lame in the old ones so it's still bad, no changes here.
- fights are underwhelming, most enemies are dumb
- ridiculously high spawning rate in a very short radius - enemies appear 20 steps from you out of thin air
- some changes in the maps don't make sense
The Good:
- the atmosphere is ABSOLUTELY there, it's a real Stalker game
- level progression is fairly okay, armor upgrades feel meaningful
- armor degradation is fair I think, but an Exo/combat gear should take almost no damage from mutants and much higher damage from bullets
- mutants fight each other, yes
- I have a 3-4yrs old PC and it runs okay, 60-80FPS with TAA (1440p res) so don't really understand the performance complaints
- 3-4 patches and this will be THE definitive Stalker experience of the decade
PS: the vatnik cope is entertaining, keep it up comradeZ!