Recent reviews by Joseph Dirticus III

I want to start off by saying that the base game is great and I loved playing it. I've done three playthroughs of it so far trying out various different build types and strategies and trying all the different narrative options. This DLC on the other hand, I wish I hadn't bought it. The new ship battles are frustrating when the enemy can just disrupt your formation any time they want with the new "drop in" mechanic. The descriptions for the new weapons, enemy unit types, and new status effects, are just convoluted and confusing. I can try reading the description for one of the new pirate enemy attack types three times in a row and I still won't know what they do. I have to cross reference the new abilities and status effects. Its just too convoluted. The new "pirate duel" system is just a lazy version of Rock, Paper, Scissors that I still have to click the help (?) icon every time to have it explained again. The status effects in the base game are (for the most part) well writen and simple to understand. "Bleed, Burning, Poison" etc. The base game is challenging but fun (although it can get pretty repetitive sometimes) But this DLC, its just confusing and feels like a chore to remember all these new mechanics. I haven't completed the region scenario to get all the unlocks and craftable items, and I don't think I will be trying to complete it either. Maybe the storyline will be good enough to be worth the slog through this confusing mess.

This game is nowhere near as good as Shadow of Chernobyl. The story is short and it feels a lot more linear. I felt really rushed in a lot of spots to continue on the main questline. In some places the game even blocks you from going back to either re-equip items or get a more appropriate weapon. There are a few side quests from each faction but they're all the same, find X and bring it back. The stealth mechanics are not very good at all. There are only a couple sections where it actually allows you to be stealthy, but in most cases every guard knows your exact location even if you try sneaking up on them. The faction wars feel really hollow and pointless. I only found 3 or 4 artifacts in my whole playthrough and wasn't even able to use most of them because I hadn't gotten enough money to afford a good suit with radiation protection. BTW the game steals all your money at one point in the game and there's no way to get it back. I tried doing as many side quests as I could but still i only got like 1.5 hours out of the game. They also removed the sound and "visibility" meters from the first one. Overall not even close to SoC. Haven't played call of pripyat yet but hopefully its better than this one.