S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Long rant, so, yeah.

A-life doesn't work at the moment, and I don't know if they're aiming for the same level of A-life they had with the first three (if it's even possible on UE). It feels like a very modded Skyrim in regards to population. Empty until it isn't. There aren't roaming squads of stalkers going from anomalies or PoIs to the bar, for example.

The AI doesn't feel good to me, either. In Stalker if you got stuck in a fight and held a corner, if an alternate route was available, some dude with a shotgun or AR would try and flank you while the others took pot shots at you. In Stalker 2 enemies just sort of spread out and push you individually. It might've been that they were just bandits though, not sure if more experienced factions actually have better AI.

Enemy scaling is completely fucked. They binned their previous approach to difficulty (difficulty increased enemy accuracy) in favor to Bethesda's model, which I hate. In Veteran you deal less damage and enemies deal more, and mutants are already very, very bullet spongy. I mean, in Veteran it took 3-4 5.45 mags out of an AKS to down a Bloodsucker. The gun was in good condition too. It doesn't add to the tension, it just feels frustrating.

The PDA feels wrong as well. It's been years since I played the original trilogy but I remember that I could check my PDA in order to see my stats, messages, quest completion, etc., it's now just a quest and map thing. And I don't know why they didn't commit to animating it. It works in GAMMA, it feels good, they animated food, meds, and other stuff. I know it's minor but it adds to my gripes.

And the level design thing is limited to the first 1-2 hours, so keep that in mind. It feels a bit flat and uninspired in the first area. I remember in SoC, you pop out of Sid's bunker and to the left you see the farm and the bridge, go past that and you see the checkpoint. Loading screen, you see the vic graveyard and later on the train depot and a dilapidated building. There was lots of PoIs to orient yourself that added to the world. The Lesser Zone (the first area) doesn't have much of that besides the bar, an old factory that felt like a smaller Jupiter, and one anomaly. Though I have to mention that one area in particular was interesting and felt new, but I won't spoil it. It's tied to a side quest you can ignore.

Days are too short and guns degrade too quickly. I also don't like the way that quick access slots are now used. Two items are assigned to a key, press it for the first item, hold for the second. It feels like a console-first change that didn't need to be that way for PC.

It's not all bad, though. Guns sound good, it's interesting how upgrading the guns allow you to put attachments on it, movement feels okay (but I prefer how it felt previously, you can't low crouch anymore), the player character feels heavier, like they're actually wearing a full suit of armor and have a bacpack loaded with shit. In previous Stalker games the character felt very light. The new stamina/encumberance relationship is interesting and (imo) better than the previous one. The animations are well done.

The formula feels Stalker, but modernized in a way I don't appreciate. I've been trying to organize my thoughts on the game these past few days and that's pretty much where I'm at. I haven't tried it again since the game got updated so things might have changed, but yeah.