107 hours in-game at time of finally putting my thoughts here. Using Patch 1.0.3 at time of this review.
Review is a work-in-progress, and the Yes/No recommendation will change if the game has many of its issues fixed.

This is one of the hardest reviews I've had to write, as I LOVE this game!
But, I must be honest. I wanted to make sure I got past my hype and initial discovery adrenaline of the game, which was clouding my judgement on it, and helping me ignore some glaring problems.

I'm really sad, but for the moment, too many issues plaguing the game; so, I am going to put it down until I see some fixes. The review will be updated if things are fixed. I actually REALLY like the game and want to thumb it up so badly.



TL:DR
In its current state, I cannot recommend this game.
This is more like an 'Early Access' that has mostly everything there, but many broken parts.


Let me make one thing EXTREMELY clear.
The devs are clearly passionate about the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise. This shows in the level of detail they meticulously crafted here. This review is meant to be taken as constructive and positive criticism.

It tears my heart to give this a thumbs down at the moment. But, on the technical aspect, too many things feel broken at the moment.


The long part

So many things I love about this game, so many things that feel and look like they are bringing me straight back in time, somewhere between 2007 and 2009. This feels like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. through and through.

A new linear story, but set in an open-world, with lite-branching RPG-styled dialog and choices.

The atsmopshere, the graphics, the sounds, the anomalies, the artifacts, the suits, the guns, the factions, the storms and weathers, the mutants. Everything is there as it should be. But now, in a truly open-world, where you can pretty much go anywhere you like (minus the locked quest areas).

The gunplay has really been upgraded from the old games. I find it even better than in games like Stalker Gamma. We won't even get into the OG Stalker games when it comes to shooting mechanics. Those were some pretty horrible mechanics. Very stiff, awkward accuracy (try shooting a barn with a AK-74, you can't).
Gunplay has gone into a much more realistic tone, which I like. It's slow, tactical. Shooting has superb recoil and recoil management is possible and fun. Every gun feels different enough in the way it shoots as well. They don't all have the same recoil pattern.

Storyline is pretty interesting, and that is my opinion. I find it enjoyable, and I love the story decisions where I must side with a faction or other. Provides that replayability, because you can see what would be different the next time you play.

It's amazing how nicely and scaled the zone has been recreated in the "new" engine. The landscape is beautiful, there is always a cool point-of-interest that you want to go check out. This is excellent for those of us who simply like exploration. It feels good, and sometimes a little lonely. I think that 'lonely' aspect is very important. It's important to the atmosphere and feel of the game world. It would be immersion-breaking to have this place filled with stalkers/factions everywhere all the time. This land is desolate, and you feel it.

The anomalies have been faithfully recreated, and they feel like the way they should. Hunting for artifacts is pretty good.


So, why am I NOT RECOMMENDING the game?

Too many broken things; spawns, quests, artifacts and protection stacking, sound issues, performance, lumen lighting in some situations (UE5 software ray-tracing tech), some weapon upgrades, some descriptions, lack of information. Performance.


The game should have been released as an Early Access, not a full release.

Too many quests that have bugs, where the quest is dead, or you have to go look up how to "fix" the game, so you can continue with main story questlines... it's frustrating. I understand some bugs in open-world games. It's a programming nightmare, as maybe something you have/don't have/said/been/not been/ no looked at/etc.. can cause quest triggers to not activate, etc... but, that's why a game should not be released in such a state!

A-Life system removed from the game before launch.
Some cheap spawn system hastily put in place. Game lacks the dynamic characters that seemed to have some sort of purpose (back in the old games). Now, you simply get spawns near you. Groups of bandits, groups of stalkers, groups of mutants. Sometimes they fight you, sometimes they fight one another, sometimes they just keep spawning every couple of minutes.

You could have JUST cleared a place, and are checking the bodies. 1 minute later, a bunch of spawns happen; bloodsuckers, stalkers, bandits, etc... sometimes it happens another minute after you just cleared that new spawn... and on.. and on... and on.

I get that some spawns can sometimes feel dynamic, they can suddenly make it feel like an ambush. But, most of the time? Not the case.
Usually, they feel completely out of place, completely generic and placeholder.

I've also just recently discovered that some artifacts, and protections they offer, are completely broken.
Weak physical protection artifacts providing the same level of physical protection as maximum physical protection artifacts, just an example.


Various other issues, some minor and major. Some areas that have strong sound-clipping and audio issues (in specific areas). Many ugly surfaces because of the lumen lighting system (a problem with UE5 lumen ray-tracing-like software lighting).

Other very immersion-breaking things, like the total lack of recognition you get from NPC's.
You can help some stalkers deal with some mutants/bandits/etc.. and after battle, they just stand there, or simply walk away. They won't acknowledge your help, won't acknowledge the dead mates they had. You can simply walk up to the corpses of their pals and loot everything.
They never comment anything about you, your reputation, the gear you have on, or anything. It feels like you are in a game with npc's simply being at the most basic level, liek placeholders, or like npc's in cheap games.

This, is NOT acceptable for a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game. There is no questing system from NPC's, no "persistent" world that feels grounded and lived-in.

You feel as the only 'living' being with a reason to be there. And, the only time anything feels okay, is when you get cutscenes from the story/quests, you get 'emotion' from other characters. Everything else feels a little like they are placeholder for a work-in-progress A.I.


Performance is something that will be looked at. I am pretty certain that an open world such as this one - with no loading screens or transitions - brings its lot of optimization issues. I am also very forgiving with perfromance, because I know UE5, because of Lumen, is very taxing.
I had to disable frame generation to get a decent feeling from the mouse, but without it, I am getting on average about 50 FPS. While it is a very smooth 50 FPS, with no stuttering, spikes or micro-stuttering, 50 FPS can only be achieved by using an upscaling method and checking out what options need to be set to medium/high, etc.. (Ryzen 5 5600, 32 GB Ram, Radeon RX 6800, NVME SSD, playing @ 4K Medium/High w/ FSR ON).


Unfortunately, until many of these core issues are dealt with (mostly the gameplay ones), I cannot recommend this game. Publishers need to stop having full game releases in this state. Giving them money is pretty much telling them it is okay to sell us broken and unfinished products.

And, as much as I want to understand that the devs are in a pretty dramatic part of the world at this time, I also have to be unbiased and honest about the experience I am having.


I LOVE this game, but in the current state, it needs to be taken care of before we should accept it as it is.