The thing is this game was very anticipated, as a Stalker franchise veteran i can assure you this is a truly an amazing game. Despite its flaws and bugs the game has a solid base.
It hits the right spots .
- The environments are breathtaking. meticulously detailed.
- Sound is glitchy but overall it is good.
- That gorgeous yet buggy lighting of UE 5 is there.
- Shooting feels solid, it has that famous ballistics,, but i do miss the ricochet effect .
- A.I is there but not A-life as of now.
- Story driven game.
- Overall successfully captures the Stalker vibe
- The animations are some of the best in industry , especially for a STALKER game.
- The monsters are truly horrifying and you pray that you don't run into them. they pose a real threat.
- Missions are well done , they reward you to think out of the box strategies.
The dev and the design team put there soul into this game. you can see the ambition in there level designs and weapons
One thing the more you play the more you like it , you want it to hate it for missing many things yet you keep on playing and hoping inside that it gets better via patches.
I wish that dev team puts out A-life 2 in its full glory with NPC spawns fixed.
Some areas , like interiors an overhaul in lighting area.
Right now its not very optimized, fans would love more optimization.
Also some QoL updates are needed too, Modded STALKER games as Anomaly and GAMMA has implemented some good things. like
- Ledge grabbing
- Pressing shift or any key of choice to quickly get the loot you want.
Overall the game is a solid GOTY for me and everyone should at least try it IMO.