I have played Stalker 2 for about 40 hours now: enough to form an opinion. This is from the perspective of a high-end machine (7800X3D, rtx 4090, 4TB SSD); I understand that other combinations have more issues so expect mileage to vary. I have encountered no game stopping bugs. The game looks great and runs smoothly on epic settings. I played all of the other Stalker games and Stalker Anomaly when new and this game has a similar feel. The locations are a mix of the familiar and unfamiliar making exploration fun. The map is quite large. I do agree that many aspects of the game need work. However hundreds of mods are already available and they address many concerns regarding A-life, economy, balance, etc. Adding mods is easy and allows one to tailor the game extensively. The Stalker team is responsive and have produced several patches.
Bottom line: I found the base game felt... off at release. For example I tended to spend more on ammunition and repairs than I was making. However, I have been running it with 12 mods and it is a completely different experience. So much fun! I am satisfied with the game right now and expect it to improve.
