Played on Version 1.2. Still a bit buggy. Also some performance issues after the 100 hours mark.

The Game has 3 Distinct stage.
Stage 1: The Tutorial Zone, a great introduction and did a better job than the original trilogy in showing you the ropes, with the exception of the Sphere, way to meany enemies there.
Stage 2: Most of the map, a delectable treasure hunt, full of excitement. The random encounters and the side missions were better than the turf war and the main mission.
Stage 3: When you gain access to Pripyat, it begins as closed corridor and it starts narrowing down, you get some freedom in the city, but after the Point of NO return, you are forced into a weak armor and have to go through a linear section of close encounters and 2 or 3 bosses. None of the endings were satisfying.

The Artifacts from Anomalies are random, but can be modulated if your save point was further away. I did not know this initially, I played 100 h without touching the wiki. I had good luck with the ones that give you radiation, but not with the ones that absorb it. There are too meany weak artifacts that do the same thing, but the altered items are cool, if you can figure out how to get them.

Personally, I would have geared the main story to be more of a treasure hunt, not just a series of fetch quests and philosophical mambo jumbo that goes nowhere.