After finishing the first game, I immediately started playing the next one, which is a prequel to "Shadow of Chernobyl."

Continuing to explore the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., I completed "Clear Sky" in 22 hours. Right off the bat, I can say that the game is technically superior to its predecessor. Many bugs and issues were fixed, making the game much more playable.

Pros:

+ Improved shooting mechanics. Weapons now have realistic behavior, no longer firing randomly in different directions.

+ Adjusted enemy HP. In the first game, it sometimes took 1.5–2 magazines to take down a single enemy, which was frustrating. With top-tier weapons found towards the end of the game, this issue was resolved, but here it’s been fixed from the start, making gunplay more enjoyable.

+ Quests and AI are at a similar level, but slightly more varied. Joining factions and fighting for territories have become more engaging.

+ Reworked locations. Many details were added, bringing more variety to the environments. The addition of day-night cycles is a nice touch.
+ Modification and degradation system for weapons and armor. Now, you can add various attachments to your weapons to tailor them for specific tasks, which is a significant improvement.

+ Atmosphere remains good, though the game feels less dark and creepy due to the new visuals and day-night cycles. The first game was much more frightening and grim, which is somewhat lacking here.

Cons:

- Bugs. Along with many good improvements, the game also brought many bugs. This is especially true for scripts. Allies and enemies may fail to appear at capture points or for specific quests, causing you to wander the map and do other things to trigger the necessary unit or group of NPCs. Visual glitches from the first game have also carried over.

- Optimization. Similar to "Shadow of Chernobyl," the game experiences FPS drops in strange moments when there shouldn’t be heavy resource consumption. In general, there are issues, but that’s typical for Stalker.

- Main story. While the story in "Shadow of Chernobyl" didn’t impress me much, it’s also very simple here. So, if someone is looking to play for the story, these games are not the best choice.
This game has as many improvements as it does issues. In the fan community, it turned out to be the most controversial part, but I liked it more than the original (I rated "Shadow of Chernobyl" 7 out of 10).

My rating for "Clear Sky" is 8 out of 10.

Except graphics and the new artifact search system, Clear Sky is worse than the previous part. Many people, including me, loved the first part for the atmosphere, which has been completely ruined here.

The game is a race through the locations from the previous part, which are now overcrowded with NPCs fighting with each other. And with this the developers overdid it too much, there are a lot of enemies now.

Due to the fact that the shooting is implemented terribly and without pumping weapons to hit the enemies is impossible, shootouts in the first half of the game are painful. And by the second half of the game, there are so many of them that they get boring.

The plot is intriguing at first, but because of the sharp and inarticulate ending does not bring any satisfaction from the finale. And in fact, after the intro, the plot doesn't really develop much until the final locations. The game is completely built around the Faction Wars, some atmospheric moments, like the descent into the laboratory from the previous part in the game is not.

The few new locations that appeared in this part are interesting, but the game does not let you explore them, and forces you to run through them through gunfights.

Weapon improvement system is realized controversially, because most of the weapons initially have terrible characteristics, as a result you use it not at will, but because without it to pass the game is impossible.

Well, and the game even today consistently crashes. In general, Clear Sky is not a good game and when you get acquainted with the series, I recommend you to skip it.

Absolute and utter garbage. A serial killer wearing your mothers face. An embarrassing and lazy attempt at a Call Of Duty knockoff. Painfully easy if you can aim at all. Game systems absolutely broken leaving faction quests unable to be completed. Quests for NPC's who have died will wreck entire regions of the map leaving invincible enemies to massacre other factions.

Enemies will forget you're fighting and stand still or start patrolling. Forced AI teammates who will shove you out of cover into enemy fire, into campfires or block doorways leaving you softlocked. Mutant enemies run in circles rather than attacking. Friendlies kill themselves with grenades failing quests. Entering bases forces you to holster your weapon mid-combat, even enemy faction bases. Scripted main quest events make enemies invincible or friendlies fall over dead even with no enemies in sight.

UI makes a flashbang seem inviting. Enemy inventory organizing itself mid loot. Weapon pickup radius is huge forcing you to accidentally pick up weapons mid-combat. Then forcing you to access your own inventory to drop said weapon while over-encumbered and locked in place. Final battle shoves multiple gimmick/worthless weapons into your inventory making you over-encumbered while Monolith spawns, in-front, behind, and on top of you.

Pros:

Bubble Anomalies had potential but were never fleshed out, shoved to the side, and altogether forgotten.

Taking cover from Emissions.

Cons:

The entire lazily written and developed slop of a game.

Summary:

Do not buy, even on sale. Absolutely embarrassing slop. I aged 30 years in 30 hours.