Recent reviews by noncuro

--This review was done before Update 1.0.1 and later, I will update this review once I finish another branch and give you my impressions!

I entered the Zone with incredible anticipation. It seemed as if a decade had passed since I've last walked its winding paths, uncovered its secrets and mysteries. She welcomed me back with open arms. But even though excitement overcame me, I felt as if the world felt sluggish before my eyes. I could barely keep up with what the Zone threw at me. She even showed her ugly side, and at moments, did everything in her power to stop me in my tracks. In the end, my desire to walk the Zone's paths overpowered everything she threw at me. The long and winding road I had set for myself eventually came to an end. Once I got there, I had no regrets.

The Zone is a very harsh mistress, but she is also kind and open to you, as much as she tries to deny it... You will persevere, if you are truly ready for what's to come. Good hunting, Stalker.

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Alright, but in all seriousness, the sequel to the cult classic Stalker trilogy is a major step up in most departments from previous games. Firstly, the good things the game accomplished:

-The feels. They have yet again nailed the atmosphere, if not perfected it, and doubled down on making exploration rewarding. Not every little spot or landmark will have something unique, but the spots you think aren't worth bothering about can yield exciting new pieces of gear, which you will very much need. I had a lot of fun rummaging through abandoned buildings, jumping into caves and scaling rooftops to find a cool weapon, or a nice shiny suit to wear. Artifact hunting was also great fun, I like all the different new anomaly fields they've come up with. Minus the new flashbang anomaly, I really don't understand that one...
-Combat. It's rather simple and done quite well, with just a few setbacks. Enemies will try to keep you on your toes, either by flanking around you, or flushing you out of cover, forcing you to change positions and move around. Depending on how well armed you are, enemies will either feel too tanky or just right. Headshots were, and still are, the way to go.
-The story was great, in my opinion. It had quite a few moments that amazed me, and overall did a pretty good job keeping me hooked on the whole premise.

Now for the downsides...

-Frames. I was constantly struggling with frames, it barely ever gave me a chance. FSR made everything look smooth, but that mouse delay is killer. I more or less had to wave around my mouse with what seemed like hundreds of miliseconds of delay. It made shooting that much more difficult, and sometimes frustrating. I especially had trouble fighting some mutants, and eventually had to drop the difficulty down a notch.

-Anomalies. No, not the ones that are supposed to be there. There were multiple times where people that were supposed to be dying on the floor immediately shot up to a standing position as if nothing happened to them, all while you're chatting them up. It's but one example from a few various animation issues. It's immersion breaking, to be honest. Moreover, there were also a handful of moments quests didn't work properly (Also people standing in front of important doorways which don't seem to leave), and even soft-locked you out of progressing. Had to noclip through some doors to keep going. Sometimes you couldn't pick up artifacts because they were under the map. Crashed a handful of times too.

-Economy. You will be paying a *lot* of coupons for your gear, especially in mid to late game. Armor and weapons tend to break down just a little too fast for my liking, and the price to repair them is often heartbreaking. Shooting a gun breaks it, and you need to shoot your gun a lot at some enemies. If anything is tanky, it's a pseudogiant or a chimera on Veteran difficulty.

-Also combat a little bit. I don't really like how a single enemy can land 15 hits on you without missing a single shot, it doesn't feel nice... The auto-leaning around corners could be done without, it's more of a nuisance than help to me, but that's a rather minor issue.

It's not a game without flaws, no doubt. But your mileage may vary depending on what sort of beast you're playing it on. If you have a really good rig, and don't mind the occasional annoying bugs, I would 100% recommend the game. If you're a low-mid end'er like me, and a die hard fan of the series, I would still say it's worth getting. Just be ware that not *everything* may be working properly (at least for the time being), so you probably will need to google a solution or two.

Here's hoping that with every new patch, the Zone becomes a better place for us all!

With the recent drama seemingly in the rear-view mirror now, I can easily recommend this game for anyone looking to get into a difficult, but rewarding and fun co-op experience. The live service model for Helldivers 2 is very unique and it will get you invested in Super Earth's prosperity, while also rewarding you with equipment progression every time you succeed.

This review won't say anything that hasn't been said about this game before by many other passionate players, but there's very little reason now for You not to join our cause and help "defend democracy - at any cost"!

I'll always keep coming back to this game, because it's one of a kind, it's ambitious, it has the best atmosphere out of all games I've played. Sure, it isn't perfect, but pros outweigh cons tenfold.

Misery Mod for the thrillseekers. It feels like a must have for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. .

I love this game.
It's something I've never played before: top down+horror=unique gameplay.
Nights are scary. Not only must you hide from savages lurking around your hideout, but the shadows that want to consume you. Grab a torch and pray for the night to end!
There are three sections in the map: Meadows, The Forest and The Old Woods. Each of these zones are harder than the other, and the farther you go, the more interesting locations you can find.
After strolls around the woods harvesting odd mushrooms and meat, you can return to your hideout and cook it into a liquid substance and inject yourself with a dose. This lets you choose one skill from the first tier, however, each tier has its negative skills aswell, such as the shadows, mentioned before.
You'll find yourself dying alot, the map may be hard to use as it doesnt show where you exactly are unless near a certain location, but worry not, it shows where you died and lost your inventory, so you can try to retrieve your precious loot.

I definitely recommend this game to people who want some hardcore horror survival!

This game is worth a hundred hours plus of content, lots of items you can find and combine, hard but fun challenges, very fun
10/10 m9

The best game I've played so far, just because I play this with friends, it just makes this game twice as fun, playing twice as long everyday.

Pretty great 11-hour horror game, not much horror-ish about it, it sure is fun and long.

A game for people who like speed, cars, stunts, taking down opponent's cars and collecting cars when you win a race/event