I pre ordered the ultimate edition, expecting an unreal engine 5 game ... I have never seen a UE5 game launch without performance issues. I also expected it to be buggy and unstable, because well, this is the most ambitious game GSC has ever made.

Performance is surprisingly okay. I get 60+ FPS most of the time, 1440p DLSS performance, medium settings. On these specs:
RTX 2070s,
i5 8600k clocked at 4.8ghz,
16gb 3000mhz ram

I tweaked an INI file because of recommendations online, that almost completely got rid of stutters, and my frame time is fairly consistent.

In terms of gameplay, I love it! I have not had any issues with stealth like other reviewers, I think enemies react in a realistic way. They are not dumb or blind ... And they react better than any other shooter I can think of. Missions have multiple possible outcomes and the world feels like it reacts to your actions.

The actual voice acting is high quality, and there is a good variation in voices. The one major gripe I have with the English voices is that they don't have a Ukrainian accent, why? In my opinion the English voice should be using the same actors as for the Ukrainian voices for authenticity.

IDK man. It's a S.T.A.L.K.E.R game. I don't pay much attention.

Wow. The graphics, the sound, the atmosphere, the reactive world. I love being back in the zone. This feels like when I played Call of call of Pripyat 14 years ago. I could not be happier.

I am not going to lie, it is a bit rough around the edges. I have experienced multiple minor bugs, performance is not ideal, I didn't love every aspect... But for me personally as a fan of S.T.A.L.K.E.R, this is my favorite game this year. Well worth the pre order, no regrets.

I now play it on Linux, I also upgraded to 32gb ram. Still loving this game, and now it is running better than ever. After patches, and finally ditching windows :)

[h1] Better than I expected [/h1] I pre ordered the ultimate edition, expecting an unreal engine 5 game ... I have never seen a UE5 game launch without performance issues. I also expected it to be buggy and unstable, because well, this is the most ambitious game GSC has ever made. [h2] Performance [/h2] Performance is surprisingly okay. I get 60+ FPS most of the time, 1440p DLSS performance, medium settings. On these specs: RTX 2070s, i5 8600k clocked at 4.8ghz, 16gb 3000mhz ram I tweaked an INI file because of recommendations online, that almost completely got rid of stutters, and my frame time is fairly consistent. [h2] Gameplay [/h2] In terms of gameplay, I love it! I have not had any issues with stealth like other reviewers, I think enemies react in a realistic way. They are not dumb or blind ... And they react better than any other shooter I can think of. Missions have multiple possible outcomes and the world feels like it reacts to your actions. [h2] Voice acting [/h2] The actual voice acting is high quality, and there is a good variation in voices. The one major gripe I have with the English voices is that they don't have a Ukrainian accent, why? In my opinion the English voice should be using the same actors as for the Ukrainian voices for authenticity. [h2] Story [/h2] IDK man. It's a S.T.A.L.K.E.R game. I don't pay much attention. [h2] Immersion [/h2] Wow. The graphics, the sound, the atmosphere, the reactive world. I love being back in the zone. This feels like when I played Call of call of Pripyat 14 years ago. I could not be happier. [h2] Conclusion [/h2] I am not going to lie, it is a bit rough around the edges. I have experienced multiple minor bugs, performance is not ideal, I didn't love every aspect... But for me personally as a fan of S.T.A.L.K.E.R, this is my favorite game this year. Well worth the pre order, no regrets. [h2] Update [/h2] I now play it on Linux, I also upgraded to 32gb ram. Still loving this game, and now it is running better than ever. After patches, and finally ditching windows :)