Recent reviews by Bora

I have this to say after beating this game on Hard in 62 hours before any patches

In short:

The game looks great, story is solid. Don’t play on Hard unless your life feels too easy)

In detail (buckle up):

1) Graphics and Performance:
The graphics are impressive, but there were several moments when visual bugs almost gave me a seizure. It's not critical, but definitely noticeable. Overall performance is good on my system.

2) Bugs and Technical Issues:
Mostly fixed

3) Story:
The story is well-crafted. The main character has clear motivation, and the ending explains everything, resolving my earlier doubts. The characters feel realistic - some are greedy, others vengeful, some are good and some are insane. Most have solid reasons for their behavior.
It was also a treat to see familiar characters and locations from previous games.

4) Difficulty:
The game isn’t balanced for Hard difficulty. it’s immersion-breaking at times.
• Mutant fights are best avoided; 90% of the time, you gain nothing and only waste time and resources.
• NPCs drop almost no ammo—killing them stealthily might yield 3–4 bullets for one gun and 3–5 for another.
• One quest tasked me with killing one of the scariest mutants in the Zone using only the provided equipment: 270 bullets for an automatic rifle, a few bandages, and a few medkits, in a confined space. I bugged that creature out and still ended up using 261 of the 270 bullets in single-shot mode. This doesn’t feel balanced at all.
Also, there’s no achievement for beating the game on Hard - a disappointing omission.

Overall:
The game offers a fantastic experience with interesting characters, a good story, solid gunplay, and beautiful locations.

After dedicating more than 100 hours to playing this game, I'm prepared to share my honest opinion.

If you're a fan of grinding, this is the game for you.
If you appreciate WOKE culture, this is the game for you.
If you prefer straightforward characters and quests, this is the game for you.
If you're against violence, this is the game for you.

Now that you know its strong points, let's delve into the drawbacks.

The quests are, at best, passable. Despite investing over 100 hours and even playing through a new game plus, I encountered only around 5 genuinely interesting quests. Given the sheer quantity of quests available, this is underwhelming. If you pay even a modicum of attention to the quests, you can often predict the outcomes from a mile away, leaving little room for surprises.

The dialogues are extensive, enabling you to engage with the characters at length. However, this charm diminishes when you complete certain faction questlines. Additional dialogues concerning your standing within the faction come off as laughable. Regardless of your achievements, you're often relegated to a lower position or receive generic faction-related responses. New game plus dialogues often provide minimal information that doesn't lead anywhere significant.

The game world lacks credibility. In-game violence, aside from quest dialogues, is limited to instances like harvested organs (in specific situations). Is this the portrayal of a lawless space after a war, filled with pirates and fanatics? I find it far less intimidating than my own city in Eastern Europe.

Crafting in this game is oddly restrictive. You can construct a nuclear reactor from scratch to power your outpost but can't create a simple knife or pistol. Similarly, if you opt to build a shipbuilding site in your outpost, you can't create ship components; you must purchase them.

Grinding is a significant aspect. Despite having a spaceship, you're primarily limited to traveling on foot or using a boost pack to navigate planets. This seemingly extends gameplay time but might frustrate players.

Regarding resource storage in outposts and in general, it's perplexing that you're limited. Perhaps this is a design choice to encourage more grinding. In comparison, titles like Fallout 4 and Skyrim were more user-friendly in this regard.

I won't delve into the game's numerous bugs, some of which persist from Fallout 4 and Skyrim. Just know that they exist, not to mention certain 'features.'

In short, the more you play this game, the more its flaws become apparent. I can understand why some journalists who didn't invest as much time might give it a glowing review—excellent marketing strategy, no doubt.