Recent reviews by Cosmic

As a fan since the beginning I am going to admit and try to compensate for my bias. I'm playing with Ukranian voiceovers, english subs, on Veteran difficulty. Ryzen 9 7900X3D with 16GB RAM and a 5700XT on custom (medium with high textures) settings, 2k resolution.

First of all, Stalker is a different kind of game than many others. You cannot play it like other games as it has fundamentally different mechanics and goals as a game. The aspect that GSC focuses on most of all is a sense of immersion, driven by environmental and sound design, then topped off with NPC's that bring the world to life. There is no leveling, or skills: you get better, and you get better equipment, period. The story is dynamic and nonlinear, your actions drive things forward, and your decisions will change things fundamentally. You are A character, not THE character, and the Zone will continue on happily with or without you.

Second of all, Stalker is supposed to be hard. I'm sorry but there is only so much you can do to make the game more approachable before it stops being Stalker in any meaningful sense. You are certainly not obligated to like this, but it is the truth. Much like old school classic games, the difficulty is what makes victory SO SATISFYING. The Zone is actively trying to kill you, a mere mortal, and simply surviving is a victory. You CAN kill everything, but more often than not it will not be the most optimal solution. If you keep dying, try something else!

Performance/Bugs:
It runs pretty smoothly but I wish this was a bit more optimized, I'm certain we can get some more frames out of this fella. There are also some bugs i've run across, but I have honestly not experienced very many. As for the bugs, it doesn't really feel like a gamechanger for me: not only is this release better than dozens of recent AAA titles, the game is ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE AND STUPIDLY COMPLEX in comparison. There is fundamentally no way they could have done the level of testing required to make this perfect out of the gate. No game company on earth could have. That being said, it's pretty darn good and I'm glad they took the extra time.

EDIT 1: the strong dimming thing, especially when you enter buildings. It isn't a thing that happens too often, but it can be annoying. This is the first bug that is really annoying me.

Gunplay:
The Gunplay is something I did not like at first having gotten used to GAMMA over the years, and I think it could use some tweaking to make bullets more deadly on low armored enemies, but the floaty point of aim IS REALISTIC. and it does add to the challenge. I am really looking forward to seeing some end tier equipment and how it scales through the game.

Story:
I haven't yet gotten through enough of the story to talk that much about it, but it feels a lot less stilted in terms of the interpersonal intrigue than the predecessors. I can't comment on the English Voiceovers because SUBS NOT DUBS. If I knew nothing about the zone, I would be extremely confused (exactly like how it was when I played Shadow of Chernobyl for the first time), but that is kind of the point. The zone IS A MYSTERY, things go on in there that even the most experienced scientists and legendary stalkers couldn't begin to explain. You're supposed to be in a constant state of awe and terror at the world around you and its machinations. You learn about factions, stalkers, and your surroundings by organic interaction, rather than scripted introduction.

Sound/Environment:
It's amazing, I don't need to write much else here. OH... ARCHANOMALIES ARE INSANE AND A FANTASTIC ADDITION.

Items/Armors/Upgrades/Artifacts
EDIT 1: thus far there is a nice variety of weapons that seem to make sense given their operators and their rarity. due to ammo scarcity getting NATO weapons early game is functionally useless due to ammo availability. There are some neat armors with niche roles, id have to see the upgrade trees and stats to make further assessments but things seem decent in terms of armor. There are a variety of foods and medicines without it being overwhelming, and artifacts feel ok thus far, granted I have not found many.


AI:
A-Life's combat AI in the originals is legendary for being clever and brutal, Stalker 2 has upped the ante and the AI are even better. Get ready to be suppressed, flanked, and destroyed if you aren't on your toes. Only major complaint is AI grenade accuracy/precision needs to be lessened, it seems every bandit was an olympic shotputter before coming to the zone.

EDIT 2: The spawn bugs are really annoying. enemies spawning much too quickly after you leave an area, or spawning very close to you. Not cool :(


That being said: I'd give this an 8/10 absolute score, and if weighted to accommodate just how insanely disrupted the development process has been, a solid 10. Very excited to see what happens over the next few weeks with improvements now that hundreds of thousands of people are playing and can generate bug data for the devs.






EDIT 3 (11DEC2024): Most of the things I hated have been fixed. We will need a few more patches before this thing really kicks, but it's getting close. I'd still give it an 8/10 with expected improvement. If they can really deliver on the patches and DLC this is going to be an easy 10.

Absolutely gorgeous, very spooky and cool vibe. Very neat crafting system. Can't wait to see where they go with this.

It seems the universe wants this game to fail and the devs and company are doing everything they can to make this a success against all odds. Only problem is they fumble with balancing patches and nerf guns that make Hell Dives tolerable for most, keeping people out of higher tiers of the game. I'll put up with it but man it was nice when the quasar just came out.

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This was a really enjoyable casual game. The setting was hilarious and awesome, and the vice acting was great.

Can't wait for more from these folks

Bungies leadership killed this game. Stopped playing a long time ago, will not be returning.

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to be an individual unit in Napoleon TW, this is the game for you. Incredibly easy to enjoy casually, or as an organized group. Fun classes such as the music support classes which give you a break from the front lines, and of course, some of the most insane voice chat you've ever heard (you can mute players individually thankfully).