One word will be used to sum up your overall experience: *Frustration*

Pros:
- Exceptional atmosphere
- Superb gun animations and sounds
- Well written dialogue and intriguing story and side quests
- The devs took S.T.A.L.K.E.R. lore and ran with it, the overarching story being similar enough to the game this is inspired by, but fresh enough to give S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fans a new experience

Cons
- Forced PvP with quests often put in high traffic enemy territory, forcing you to fight an uphill battle and ruin people's days for measly rewards
- Progress feels okay, until you repeatedly lose hours worth of grinding to a random enemy or an anomaly you did not see
- An epidemic of level transition campers with no way to counter it
- Fetch quests that overextend and with pointless side-objectives are more common than you think

Overall, early game is intriguing enough to get you hooked on exploration and experimenting with various weapons and armors, but by the time you reach the Rostok area, the game will have already put you through the ringer. The rose tinted glasses come off once you will have lost countless hours of farming for resources, being set back over and over by the listed cons above. From there on out, it will be pure frustration as you try to accomplish your quests while losing as little time as possible to cheap deaths. You will often find yourself set back to zero after losing heaps of barter items which are required to advance your equipment.

PvP often feels like it is forced by devs with questionable mission placements in high density enemy areas, obligating players to traverse deep into enemy territory and fight people who do not want to participate in PvP. Not to mention there is little to gain from PvP, besides items that you can sell for pocket change, since barter items, which are more valuable for progression, are unable to be used by anyone besides the player who initially collected them. More often than not, you gain very little in the long run from killing players besides a +1 to your K/D ratio, while the people you kill lose an hour's worth of grinding. It is a lose-lose situation.

Needless to say, this half-baked version of PvP is the reason why I cannot recommend this game. It is unfulfilling, it feels cheap, it is unrewarding and it is forced. The time to kill is very short, regardless of what armor you are wearing. There is no noticeable difference between wearing a combat oriented armor, or a paper bag anomalous suit.

Simply put, it feels like the devs have consciously made the decision to pad out the progression by making sure players have a high chance of dying, even in relatively safe areas, constantly forcing them to start back over with grinding. Unfortunately, the only effect this has is making the player realize that their effort is often rewarded with a cheap death, frustration and the prospect of having to spend thrice the time to recover resource wise.

The games feels half-baked, more of a mid-term beta with questionably thought out design decisions. Many will argue that since this is based off of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise, it has a pass to be punishing and cheap. However, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has the excuse of quick load/save buttons. Here, if you die, you have to accept the fact that you were put back to the starting point and that you lost time of your life in exchange for zero progress.

One word will be used to sum up your overall experience: *Frustration* Pros: - Exceptional atmosphere - Superb gun animations and sounds - Well written dialogue and intriguing story and side quests - The devs took S.T.A.L.K.E.R. lore and ran with it, the overarching story being similar enough to the game this is inspired by, but fresh enough to give S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fans a new experience Cons - Forced PvP with quests often put in high traffic enemy territory, forcing you to fight an uphill battle and ruin people's days for measly rewards - Progress feels okay, until you repeatedly lose hours worth of grinding to a random enemy or an anomaly you did not see - An epidemic of level transition campers with no way to counter it - Fetch quests that overextend and with pointless side-objectives are more common than you think Overall, early game is intriguing enough to get you hooked on exploration and experimenting with various weapons and armors, but by the time you reach the Rostok area, the game will have already put you through the ringer. The rose tinted glasses come off once you will have lost countless hours of farming for resources, being set back over and over by the listed cons above. From there on out, it will be pure frustration as you try to accomplish your quests while losing as little time as possible to cheap deaths. You will often find yourself set back to zero after losing heaps of barter items which are required to advance your equipment. PvP often feels like it is forced by devs with questionable mission placements in high density enemy areas, obligating players to traverse deep into enemy territory and fight people who do not want to participate in PvP. Not to mention there is little to gain from PvP, besides items that you can sell for pocket change, since barter items, which are more valuable for progression, are unable to be used by anyone besides the player who initially collected them. More often than not, you gain very little in the long run from killing players besides a +1 to your K/D ratio, while the people you kill lose an hour's worth of grinding. It is a lose-lose situation. Needless to say, this half-baked version of PvP is the reason why I cannot recommend this game. It is unfulfilling, it feels cheap, it is unrewarding and it is forced. The time to kill is very short, regardless of what armor you are wearing. There is no noticeable difference between wearing a combat oriented armor, or a paper bag anomalous suit. Simply put, it feels like the devs have consciously made the decision to pad out the progression by making sure players have a high chance of dying, even in relatively safe areas, constantly forcing them to start back over with grinding. Unfortunately, the only effect this has is making the player realize that their effort is often rewarded with a cheap death, frustration and the prospect of having to spend thrice the time to recover resource wise. The games feels half-baked, more of a mid-term beta with questionably thought out design decisions. Many will argue that since this is based off of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise, it has a pass to be punishing and cheap. However, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has the excuse of quick load/save buttons. Here, if you die, you have to accept the fact that you were put back to the starting point and that you lost time of your life in exchange for zero progress.