I'm about 6 hours in, will update review when I finish.

TLDR: What the game is not, hardcore survival sim where every bullet and resource matters; what it is, a wonderfully atmospheric, story focused RPG with an emphasis on choices and light survival & base management elements.
If you are looking for a hardcore survival game with lots of engaging gameplay, difficult survival decisions and tight combat, this game is not for you, maybe wait for a sale. If you're looking for a creative, well told story with lots of atmosphere, interesting (and impactful) decisions, beautiful environments, sci-fi elements and compelling characters; all complemented with lite combat & management elements then this game will be right up your alley.

Firstly the basic premise. You're a scientist traveling to post disaster Chernobyl in search of your wife. The search centers around a power plant, the point of the game is gathering resources, information and people to execute a heist on the plant and presumably retrieve your wife. The map is split into zones and gameplay split into days. Each day you deploy yourself (and your crew) to gather supplies from the zones. Important to note this is not an open world game like STALKER. Although it definitely does reward exploration, I've already had a few moments where I stumbled into something interesting off the beaten path. I think the system works well for this game, it contributes to the feeling of haveing limited time and resources even if the actual gameplay doesn't always deliver on this, it also means every area is wonderfully detailed, another big plus of this game.

On any given day you'll spawn into an area, search for resources, fight humans & radiation monsters and maybe complete a side quest that will further the story. Side quests are boring, even the main story one, although occasionally they'll take you to an especially interesting area. They are always (so far) 'move to this location & interact with this item' often with an interesting choice toward the end. I like the way these are handled, they mostly feel difficult, like each option is viable but will end with someone being unhappy. The design of the monsters is great and especially in the early game, there are some genuinely scary moments with them. The problem for me, comes during combat, maybe the game will ramp up but so far the combat is very easy. The game heavily implies that resources are limited, you'll be creeping through the wasteland avoiding combat, scavenging and trying to get out alive. I played the first few missions like this before realizing it's much easier and faster to just run through everything. Very quickly I didn't feel threatened by anything. Human enemies are simple, die quickly and ammo is plentiful. This for me ruins some of the atmosphere of the game, especially because the combat is only serviceable, nothing incredibly deep or difficult. To it's credit, I'm not all the way through and maybe something will change, I'm also doing my first play through on normal, maybe hard is the way to go.

The other key gameplay element is basebuilding which seems at first like a series of difficult choices but doesn't quite deliver. You have to manage air quality, comfort level and radiation all while building machines to upgrade your equipment. For example, you can build a bench to craft weapons, but now your base comfort goes down so you have to build a TV to keep your crew happy, or a generator to power your machines, but it spews pollution which needs to be nullified by an air scrubber. You'd think this would lead to interesting decisions about what to build when, but resources are so plentiful even by day 5 it feels like walking through the motions. Like, "Okay, built a new machine, better build an air quality thing and a generator." Plop them all down and you're done. I didn't find myself considering my decisions, it was too easy to keep the various levels (comfort, power, etc) up. Again, maybe the game has to be experienced on hard.

This is my biggest problem with the game, I'm someone who loves a gamey game, and this is not really that game. It also has a sanity mechanic, health, radiation, stealth, skill points and more but none of it feels deep. It feels tacked on and like I'm just keeping bars full instead of managing survival.

Let's talk about the good, which in my opinion is the rest of the game. Voice acting stands out to me. The game defaults to Russian language with English subs and I think that's the way to play it. I tried with the English voice and found it to be a step down from Russian. You'll meet a variety of characters that are interesting with their own back stories & motivations that often clash with one another. You'll be presented with choices that will upset one crew member but please another. You'll have to manage their loyalty to you too, leading to difficult decisions.

I love the way the story is presented so far, and the game has some truly haunting visuals and compelling characters that are keeping me excited to see what happens next. There are moments of well executed horror as well. So far there have been quite a few 'dream sequence' type scenes that are all well done. Oh and I forgot, the game also veers quickly into some wacky sci-fi stuff like worm holes, alternative dimensions etc. Which sounds campy but works well in this setting and I find believable.

I like the main character and am intrigued by his mission to find his wife, so far it's heavily implied that he's not just going to find her. Is she a ghost, a radiation hallucination, was she ever alive at all?

Over all, despite it's issues, I would generally recommend this game, despite being let down by the gameplay, I'm finding the other elements interesting enough to keep me playing.

I'm about 6 hours in, will update review when I finish. TLDR: What the game is not, hardcore survival sim where every bullet and resource matters; what it is, a wonderfully atmospheric, story focused RPG with an emphasis on choices and light survival & base management elements. If you are looking for a hardcore survival game with lots of engaging gameplay, difficult survival decisions and tight combat, this game is not for you, maybe wait for a sale. If you're looking for a creative, well told story with lots of atmosphere, interesting (and impactful) decisions, beautiful environments, sci-fi elements and compelling characters; all complemented with lite combat & management elements then this game will be right up your alley. Firstly the basic premise. You're a scientist traveling to post disaster Chernobyl in search of your wife. The search centers around a power plant, the point of the game is gathering resources, information and people to execute a heist on the plant and presumably retrieve your wife. The map is split into zones and gameplay split into days. Each day you deploy yourself (and your crew) to gather supplies from the zones. Important to note this is not an open world game like STALKER. Although it definitely does reward exploration, I've already had a few moments where I stumbled into something interesting off the beaten path. I think the system works well for this game, it contributes to the feeling of haveing limited time and resources even if the actual gameplay doesn't always deliver on this, it also means every area is wonderfully detailed, another big plus of this game. On any given day you'll spawn into an area, search for resources, fight humans & radiation monsters and maybe complete a side quest that will further the story. Side quests are boring, even the main story one, although occasionally they'll take you to an especially interesting area. They are always (so far) 'move to this location & interact with this item' often with an interesting choice toward the end. I like the way these are handled, they mostly feel difficult, like each option is viable but will end with someone being unhappy. The design of the monsters is great and especially in the early game, there are some genuinely scary moments with them. The problem for me, comes during combat, maybe the game will ramp up but so far the combat is very easy. The game heavily implies that resources are limited, you'll be creeping through the wasteland avoiding combat, scavenging and trying to get out alive. I played the first few missions like this before realizing it's much easier and faster to just run through everything. Very quickly I didn't feel threatened by anything. Human enemies are simple, die quickly and ammo is plentiful. This for me ruins some of the atmosphere of the game, especially because the combat is only serviceable, nothing incredibly deep or difficult. To it's credit, I'm not all the way through and maybe something will change, I'm also doing my first play through on normal, maybe hard is the way to go. The other key gameplay element is basebuilding which seems at first like a series of difficult choices but doesn't quite deliver. You have to manage air quality, comfort level and radiation all while building machines to upgrade your equipment. For example, you can build a bench to craft weapons, but now your base comfort goes down so you have to build a TV to keep your crew happy, or a generator to power your machines, but it spews pollution which needs to be nullified by an air scrubber. You'd think this would lead to interesting decisions about what to build when, but resources are so plentiful even by day 5 it feels like walking through the motions. Like, "Okay, built a new machine, better build an air quality thing and a generator." Plop them all down and you're done. I didn't find myself considering my decisions, it was too easy to keep the various levels (comfort, power, etc) up. Again, maybe the game has to be experienced on hard. This is my biggest problem with the game, I'm someone who loves a gamey game, and this is not really that game. It also has a sanity mechanic, health, radiation, stealth, skill points and more but none of it feels deep. It feels tacked on and like I'm just keeping bars full instead of managing survival. Let's talk about the good, which in my opinion is the rest of the game. Voice acting stands out to me. The game defaults to Russian language with English subs and I think that's the way to play it. I tried with the English voice and found it to be a step down from Russian. You'll meet a variety of characters that are interesting with their own back stories & motivations that often clash with one another. You'll be presented with choices that will upset one crew member but please another. You'll have to manage their loyalty to you too, leading to difficult decisions. I love the way the story is presented so far, and the game has some truly haunting visuals and compelling characters that are keeping me excited to see what happens next. There are moments of well executed horror as well. So far there have been quite a few 'dream sequence' type scenes that are all well done. Oh and I forgot, the game also veers quickly into some wacky sci-fi stuff like worm holes, alternative dimensions etc. Which sounds campy but works well in this setting and I find believable. I like the main character and am intrigued by his mission to find his wife, so far it's heavily implied that he's not just going to find her. Is she a ghost, a radiation hallucination, was she ever alive at all? Over all, despite it's issues, I would generally recommend this game, despite being let down by the gameplay, I'm finding the other elements interesting enough to keep me playing.