Recent reviews by Bob Calistan

Personally I think the gameplay is quite solid, the visuals are stunning, and the controls are about as good as could be asked for in a 3D RTS, but I can already tell that this game, at least in it's current state, is not worth a full $60. I should note that I have not played the other games in the series, so I can't quite compare it directly with it's predecessors like many other people have, but even without unfavorable comparisons to it's prior installments, I mainly just find the game lacking content-wise for a full $60 game.

With only 2 factions that play marginally different from each other, (one of which you can only play in skirmish) limited unit roster, (which is made even more limited by certain ships only being allowed in certain gamemodes) and only 6 skirmish maps, (all of which are fairly tiny and most of which are limited to 1v1's) there is very little longevity to be had here. Even the units themselves are fairly basic, with few tricks up their sleeves or clever ways to use them. Cover and such is a thing they can take advantage of, but almost all of their (singular) abilities more or less devolve into "Temporarily gains x at the cost of y," with x and y being some combination of speed, damage, durability, or some other generic stat. There is really no ability that can turn an engagement around with a single well-timed proc, instead it's more just sacrificing one part of your fleet to gain more in another part, for what usually amounts to a near-even trade, making you wonder why you even really bothered using it.

Outside of that, combat basically devolves into having a fleet composition that either is just better than, or at least counters, your opponent's fleet, or else you lose. From what I can tell flanking and clever positioning don't really have a super big impact on battles, and formations can actually be a hindrance more than a benefit in some cases. Accounting for hardpoint placement on enemy ships is about the biggest technical challenge you will face when it comes to fighting, where angle of attack and flanking *may* come into some account. Though considering the wide range of coverage on most ships, and their ability to simply turn and face you with little issue, it's of limited use at best. From what I can tell there is no damage bonus for hitting the sides or back of a ship, for example, or any important modules that can be destroyed.

Resource gathering... exists, but it's about as simple as you can get. On the plus side, you don't need to spend a whole lot of time micro-ing your non-combat units to make sure they are being productive, but on the other hand, it does mean that there is really no deeper mechanics to speak of other than the already shallow combat.

The campaign by all accounts is fun, but only the first time around, and is also pretty short at only ~9 hours, and the cinematics and dialogue are bad. Quite a shame considering that a solid, replayable campaign would pretty much be the only reason to dive in this early IMO.

War games is a "love it or hate it" kind of thing, and in any case requires a co-op partner to get the most out of it. I assume most people will find it a novel idea that is impaired significantly by basically being a more limited skirmish with a gimmick.

All told you could easily see all of what this game has to offer in less than 30 hours, (probably more like 20 if you know what you are doing) after which the only real appeal would be doing PvP skirmish, if that's your thing. I hope they add more factions, ships, maps, another campaign, or at least lower the price a bit, because as it stands now I don't really foresee anyone but the most die-hard fans of being able to sit down and enjoy this game for more than a week or two, at most.

(Don't let my low hours fool you, 90% of my gameplay was on PS4)

Fallout 4 is quite a weird beast. At the time of it's release, it was (usually) unfavorably compared to the likes of Witcher 3, and went up against stiff general competition with MGS 5, Bloodborne, and other great titles. And at that time, this was also seen as Bethesda's giant step back in their RPG mechanics and elements, (which it was) and was rightfully criticized for numerous reasons during it's release and even a few years after, usually averaging 6-7/10's from most reviewers.

I think only now, nearly a decade later and after 2 even more controversial releases, can a more impartial review of Fallout 4 be made.

Story: The story, for the most part, is your usual Bethesda fare; Something more or less used as a vehicle to facilitate more gameplay. It has a serviceable amount of length and depth, but don't go in expecting a masterpiece of writing or dialogue. However, I do think people tend to ignore the fact that this game still allows you a great deal of choice in who you side with and are given pretty large freedom within the confines that it gives you. There are 4 factions in the game: The militaristic and rigid Brotherhood of Steel, the underground and clandestine Institute, the slightly less underground and clandestine Railroad, and the general "good guy" faction, the Minutemen. There is a lot of back and forth you can do with all of them, and only relatively late into the story are you actually forced to finally make a decision on who to help, and you can even ally certain factions so that there is only truly 1-2 "losers" in the end. While I'm not going to proclaim that it's nearly as deep as the options to be had in New Vegas, (this game's other major competitor) it's genuinely not bad, and does force the player at times to make some tough decisions.

RPG elements: There is no question that the RPG elements in this game are basically gone. You've all pretty much heard the memes that there is only 4 dialogue choices (that all lead to yes in the end) and most quests involve you just shooting a bunch of people and getting paid, and unfortunately that is more or less the case. Perks and attributes are basically the only vestige of the series' previous RPG elements, and both have been watered down into a comparatively thin gruel. About the only positive thing I can say regarding this is that most non-radiant sidequests actually tend to have a decent amount of ways they can go and ultimately end, despite the limiting nature presented to you.

Gameplay: Arguably the major reason why this, in hindsight, is probably my favorite Fallout game at this point. This is the first Fallout I've played that actually feels like, well, I'm actually a person in the game. Movement is more fluid than ever, the weapons are all satisfying to use, enemies are smarter and more responsive than they've ever been, and the crafting/legendary system adds depth to the combat that even Fallout New Vegas can only dream of. That being said, it's not all positives: The weapon pool is deceptively small, with most weapons and mods being direct upgrades of each other. Melee and unarmed in general feel quite overlooked, as while they are genuinely effective in the right hands and can feel more satisfying than ever before, there is practically more pistol variants in this game than weapons in both of these categories combined, and most melee/unarmed weapons only have 1-2 mods period. Once you find what works, you will probably be stuck doing that for your entire playthrough. That being said, energy weapons in particular are at their absolute strongest here IMO, with things like fully automatic laser rifles and plasma flame-throwers making their debut with a bang. Same goes for Power Armor, which actually feels like Power Armor. Settlement building also is there for people who like it. I personally thought it was good, if a bit of an investment for something you could probably skip, but I also always went charisma and got the borderline mandatory perk that allows you to set up supply lines between them, so mileage my vary.

Companions: All fairly good. None stood out to me as particularly bad, though some could get annoying. There is a companion to compliment basically every type of character you could think to make, and this game finally adds racial specific gear for different companions. (You can get armor for dogs and super mutants for example) Their companion quests are also quite nice. Honestly nothing much to say here; they all have a good amount of depth, their own morals/principles, and preferred game play styles, though you will definitely come to appreciate some more than others.

DLCs: Honestly didn't really try any of them too much myself, though from what I've seen and heard, Nuka-world and Far Harbor add a lot of much needed content to the game. The others though are fairly minor and could probably be skipped.

Honestly there is a LOT more I could say about this game, but unfortunately steam reviews has a pretty restrictive word count, so I'm just going to sum up that, while people knocked on this game at release for numerous reasons, (most of them legitimate mind you) it's only after seeing Fallout 76 and Starfield that I can say this game genuinely wasn't bad, and had a lot of honest improvements over it's prior installments that were just ignored or buried under the major amount of original complaints. Unfortunately it seems condemned to forever languish in the doldrums of gaming history due to a unfortunate release date and lukewarm launch reception, but if you have any interest in open world RPGs and decide to give this a shot, I feel you will definitely come to enjoy it.

Helldivers is a game that I have played for quite a while now (on top of what I've played on Steam, I've also played much more on PS4 for arguably even longer) and with the second game on the horizon, I thought I would finally write my review of it.

Helldivers is arguably the only top-down shooter I have ever given the time of day, and while there are numerous reasons for this, the first and foremost reason because of it's variety: There is so many different weapons, perks, and stratagems to choose from that you can spend a dozen hours simply trying to find the right combination that's just right for you, and the weapon options alone vary from MGs, to carbines, to plasma, to bolters, to lasers, and even more. Stratagems are, in my opinion though, the bread and butter of Helldivers. These are call-ins that you can request mid-mission, and they are split into 3 general categories: Equipment, Defensive, and Offensive.

Equipment are, as the name suggests, usually things like heavy weapons, backpacks, (which includes things like personal shield generators and jetpacks) and vehicles; They enhance your personal Helldivers capability in combat. Defensive stratagems mostly involve turrets of various sorts, some manned, most unmanned, and mines/barbed wire. Offensive are probably the bread and butter for most people, these include strafing runs, bombs of all sorts, (including tactical nukes) and artillery.

Personally though, vehicles are my favorite. There are numerous types, from bikes to tanks to walkers, and they completely change the way you play the game, at least, until you run out of ammo for them, which cannot be replaced. But still, they all play very differently and make you go from a glass cannon to a literal walking tank in some cases.

Even outside of equipment, the variety of the game is also found in it's enemies and missions. There are 3 enemy factions that you can fight against: Cyborgs, Bugs, and Illuminates. Cyborgs are the only other faction that uses conventional ranged weaponry, and their main focus is on a combination of heavy firepower with some fearsome melee, along with high durability. Bugs are almost entirely melee, but they are the fastest faction in the game on average, as well as the heaviest armor. Illuminates are squishy, usually requiring no dedicated AT weaponry to kill whatever they might field, but they use shields that make damaging, single shot or penetrating weapons all but useless, and their leaders can inflict debilitating debuffs on you that makes dealing with them all the more difficult.

There are also 4 different planet types to play on, snow, forest/swamp, desert, and volcanic. Though I must admit that aside from snow (whose main penalty you can basically ignore with a single perk choice) and volcanic, they don't feel that different to actually play on, but the change in scenery is nice.

And of course, the Co-op. This game has a surprisingly detailed focus on small-unit tactics: Lines of fire, assisted reloads, cover, and coordination are required to survive the higher levels, and with the always-on friendly fire, you cannot play willy-nilly with your offensive stratagems, vehicles, or basic weaponry.

Now, there are some issues I have with the game that I feel are worth mentioning. First and foremost is the actual variety on missions. While there is no shortage of variety in terms of equipment, there are only the same ~10 or so objectives that you end up doing, with only retaliatory strikes or the occasional boss to mix it up with. Most of these objectives are 1-2 minute endeavors that just serve to make you do something before you can leave, and while that might be the point, I would have preferred more engaging and longer objectives or missions for those who don't mind it.

Second is the general difficulty. The game is pretty difficult, but honestly, once you get into the mojo of killing scouts before they raise the alarm, (and there are basically no enemy types on the field until they do) and get good at that, there really is nothing stopping you from just jumping into any mission below level 13, and even 13-15 only require some extra forethought to complete. In my experience, my friends went from starting the game to doing level 15's on their own in only around 20 or so hours. Another thing that makes the difficulty a bit wonky is that almost every faction has some crippling weakness that you can exploit. Illuminates honestly don't ever get that difficult if you take a shield generator because their debuffs can't affect you while it's up, their scouts are probably the easiest to down, and they require nothing but small arms to kill in their entirety. Bugs are brought down to meme-tier if someone bothers to take the toxic flamethrower, as even their largest tanks that are immune to anything below AT will die in less than 10 seconds to it, on top of being slowed for the entire duration. Cyborgs are the only enemy type that can't be trivialized by one piece of equipment and some skill, and that's only because one of their scouts is an actual APC.

Another issue I had was weapon balance. Laser weapons basically make it so you don't need to worry about an entire aspect of the game: Ammo. They were supposed to trade off having essentially infinite ammo via lower general damage output and long reload times if you do happen to overheat, but anyone will get the hang on managing them in less than an hour and, unless you have some specific strategy in mind or simply prefer the other weapons, you will most likely stick to laser weapons for most of the game. Essentially, the game makes it very easy to settle into a dominant strategy of some sort and, unless you go out of your way to avoid it, you will most likely choose only a handful of weapons from the dozens the game has an just stick with those.

Overall I really like this game. There is no other game out there quite like it, and the sheer variety of the armory you have to choose from and different builds you can make or try gives it more than enough replay value for those interested in that sort of stuff. I just think it can become a bit formulaic over time, the difficulty basically ceases to become an issue aside from retaliatory strikes and bosses after a certain point, and it's very easy to settle into just using the same 3 things when fighting a certain enemy type. Hopefully the next game helps in regards to that.

Warhammer 3 is the culmination of more than 8 years of work by this point, and they show no signs of slowing down in the near future, what with Chaos Dwarfs on the horizon and the still ever present rumors of more exotic factions coming after that, and of course lords and updates still being feasible for everyone in between. Well, let's get right into it. I should probably mention that I will be mostly talking about Immortal Empires, because let's be real; that's the main draw and appeal of the entire series in general.

Warhammer 3 definitely had a rocky start, with bugs present at launch that were long fixed in the previous game, and with some questionable design decisions made, specifically in reference to the Realm of Chaos campaign and sieges in general. By this point though, most of the glaring issues have been more or less resolved, and you are left with a game that basically remains the most ambitious and most encompassing game in the series to date, with 86 legendary lords to choose from, split over 23 different factions, there is a whole lot of playstyles you can go crazy with, and nearly every single fantasy archetype is represented in some way or shape. And with a map of over 550+ settlements? That's a big playground to mess around in.

Many people have been calling this game inferior to Warhammer 2, and while I won't disagree that Warhammer 2 at launch was probably the single smoothest and most clean launch they have had, and Mortal Empires had a better start than Immortal Empires, I think that at this point Immortal Empires can comfortably be considered Mortal Empires+, with little to no drawbacks from Mortal Empires in Warhammer 2. Unless you view a more tight and focused campaign map and less factions as a good thing, I see little you can claim Mortal Empires still did better over Immortal Empires.

It's not like Warhammer 2 wasn't also without issues as well: The combined map in Warhammer 2 left a lot to be desired, with many regions like Lustria and the Southlands being gutted, leaving many Legendary Lords in that game with a bad campaign, mechanics be damned. Chaos never really got touched, leaving anyone who wanted to go all in on Chaos quite empty-handed, even by the end of it's development. And of course, Warhammer 3's multiplayer allows a massive 8-player head-to-head/co-op/free-for-all option with consecutive turns, which makes playing with friends better than ever before, and makes playing the campaign with more than 1 friend even possible in the first place. And they just made it so that anyone can play the Immortal Empires map as long as you own Warhammer 3! Combined with them still releasing more and more fixes and patches, and I think it's quite safe to say that not only is the game in a fine state as is, but the few kinks and other issues will inevitably be fixed, so as far as I'm concerned, this is as safe as a buy as any other game. (And don't forget about mods that can further assist you in nearly any category you can imagine.)

All in all, one of the most ambitious strategy games to date, with literally hundreds of different possible units, playstyles, and almost 100 unique lords to play around with, and almost every faction plays totally different from each other, even the same faction can feel borderline unrecognizable depending on the lord and units you go with, and it's only showing signs of getting bigger and better as time goes on. About the only real critique I can give for the series as a whole is the monetization model they went with, but compared to most of the other games with a similar model, at least this one almost always feels worth it. (And the general lack of non-combat related mechanics, but I made peace with that a while ago, the combat will always be the highlight of total war for me regardless. Lord knows Paradox games are far more suited for the general empire building games anyway.) For Warhammer 3 in particular, the only real complaint I have is that the Realm of Chaos campaign is still quite lackluster compared to the others, but again, the focus was and will always be Immortal Empires.

Stalker Clear Sky is, with some merit, viewed typically as the ugly duckling of the trilogy. To make a somewhat long story short, at least 80% of the reasoning for this is that by itself out of the box, it is probably one of the most buggy and glitchy games to ever hit the market, even in comparison to it's brothers. (if you know anything about stalker, you know this is quite the feat) It is shockingly easy to render the game unbeatable within 3 hours, and the major focal point of the game, the faction wars, is extremely rough around the edges and just un-fun to play at times. Despite my incoming scathing criticism though, there is a lot to like about this game, and overall I would recommend it simply because no other game is quite like it, and I still appreciate many of it's improvements that have stuck with the series to this day. (kinda)

If I had to sum up the game up, I'd say it is "lofty ambitions, (mostly) poor execution." As mentioned before, the primary focal point of the game is the Dynamic faction wars, which is something I wish more games had, and I really love the idea of it, but it's poorly done in this game, even assuming it was completely bug free. (which is most definitely is NOT) Many other systems in the stalker series also debuted in this game, and it definitely shows. But let's just stick to faction wars for now.

Faction wars is the ability to actually take sides in a conflict involving 2 factions, and help the chosen side destroy their opponents. There are 3 "wars" you can join in, with the first being somewhat of a tutorial that forces you into one side that you have to complete. They are:
Clear Sky vs Renegades (The tutorial war)
Loners vs Bandits (Loners have the easier time by far, and on top of that, the bandit questline is one of the buggiest ever put into a game. I would definitely consult a guide if you wish to go bandits)
Duty vs Freedom (Arguably the most balanced out of all the others, but duty tends to have a slight edge over Freedom AI-wise)

Most of these wars take place over 2-3 regions, usually ones that are close by or adjacent to each other, and "end" when you take your enemies HQ. There are many shortcomings to these wars however, and I will list the major ones.
1. Your NPC allies are little help; they will rarely go on the offensive and will also beg for help constantly, even if you are nowhere nearby.
2. Even after taking your enemies HQ, they will still spawn in occasional patrols from their base constantly, which means that even well after the war is over, you will still get occasional notifications that they have retaken certain areas and such, meaning that they will be an ever-present thorn in your side. The only saving grace is that usually they don't have the numbers or equipment to actually threaten your faction at this point, but still.
3. They are extremely buggy to a fault, with bandits being particularly egregious. Patrols not taking over locations, unbalanced spawn rates, objectives not being available when they should, etc. Mods can help with this, but the issues never truly go away entirely.
4. The factions are not very well balanced. Bandits are markedly worse than their enemies for instance, which makes some sense, but when your "elites" are guys with pump action shotguns in a bulletproof vest consistently going up against assault rifle wielding Seva Suit/Exoskeleton wearers, you will cry, even when you should theoretically have more territory and better equipment.
5. There is very little "global" impact as a result of any of the wars. Most of the map is completely unscathed by any of the major conflicts, and its not like the factions you help actually show up later to help you with the main quest into the center of the zone or anything. The "wars" are basically a series of long, grueling quests that at the end of the day, are completely optional and have little greater impact on the game. Even Duty and Freedom fight over a "whopping" 3 regions (1 of them actually being more incidental than anything) out of the 10 or so in the game, with almost all of them being far away from where the story ends up taking you. At least the Clear Sky faction remains a constant help throughout the game.

All of this means that almost all the "wars" feel like they are constantly being fought by one man (you) against an entire army of men over small and empty tracks of land, that basically only ends when you reach an arbitrary objective after running back and forth a lot. However, while you can just stay completely neutral and avoid all of this hassle, you are severely limiting how early you can get decent equipment, and removing a major drawing point of the game if you do so. For better or worse, the system is the standout feature of the game, and you are missing out by not participating. Obviously, several mods have been made to fix the faction wars system, but the issues can still be felt.

As for the other systems, they are definitely rough around the edges. Armor/weapon mods can only really be found via flashdrives that only unlock that specific upgrade, and even then, only certain merchants can make use of them. On paper, that means each technician has his own schtick that makes him feel special and unique. In reality, it means that entire upgrade paths will be made permanently unavailable to you and you need to find 10 or so little notes that can only be found in certain areas just to fully upgrade 1 item. This makes fully upgrading your favorite weapon/suit an arduous treasure hunt at best, and literally impossible at worst. Dynamic emissions and artifact detectors also make their appearance in this game. Emissions are not as "organic" as they are in CoP, instead, they randomly appear whenever you enter a new level, and the chance increases the longer it's been without one. Artifacts are also much rarer and don't respawn after an emission, which means that despite being much more interesting to find, the day will so come when there is none left to find, sadly. I also prefer the actual effects of the artifacts in Shadow of Chernobyl to this game's, where you basically just wear 1 actually useful artifact, and then another that does nothing but cancel out the negative effects of the first. Gunplay is also at it's worst IMO, with weird systems in place.

On the positive side however, this game did pioneer a lot of systems that the later games and mods in general take for granted. While weapon and armor mods in this game were iffy, they became substantially better later on in the series. Faction wars, while not ever truly replicated in the series proper, was the start of actual meaningful faction decisions and being able to truly take a side in conflicts. It also was noticeably prettier than SoC and added many needed engine tweaks, despite only being a year older. Emissions add a nice little feature for you to worry about, and finding artifacts finally became an actual job and not just things you picked up off the ground. The end-game is also far more bearable than Shadow of Chernobyl, because you actually have help from the AI. And of course, it introduced a new faction and several new regions, which are just nice additions to the game and lore as a whole. And some of the characters it adds are downright iconic, like Forester. It also sets much of the stage that would be thrown into flux as the series transpired, as it's technically the first.

There is a lot more I could say about this game, both good and bad, but regardless, I personally place this game higher than Shadow of Chernobyl for it's numerous improvements, though I do also recognize it's numerous flaws as well, chief of all being its bugs and glitches. Even still, I'd recommend this game, and it was, for better or worse, one of the most ambitious titles in the series and that alone is worthy of some praise IMO. Let's hope Stalker 2 touches up many of these features, like the faction wars, and does something truly incredible with them.

DISCLAIMER: I did play through the game with the Zone Reclamation Project, which mostly just makes the game more stable and less buggy, with a few QoL upgrades. As such, you may want to take everything I say with a grain of salt, though 95% of my experience should've still been the same as a vanilla player. This review will also mainly be comparing it against it's fellow games in the series instead of overall.

Many people claim that Shadow of Chernobyl, despite being the first in the series, is still the best of the main trilogy. While it is certainly worth playing if only for the story alone, I must say that I don't see it. This entry has some very notable strengths over the others, but overall? It definitely has aged the worst in my opinion.

Strengths -
Freedom (not the faction): This game definitely treats you as if you were a total newcomer to the zone, learning about it more and more as you progress, and starting with absolutely horrendous equipment that you will need to replace ASAP if you wish to not struggle against even dogs and bandits. To enhance this effect, (and make it even more challenging) it gives you very little guidance, but also very little restrictions. From the start of the game, you can effectively go anywhere you want, and for better or worse, you can even ignore the entire story, with the game reacting appropriately if you do. This is very different from the other two games, where you both start with somewhat decent equipment, an obvious main goal, and a clear cut path of progression.

Better storytelling: Kinda going with the above point, this story definitely has a stronger mystery bent than the other 2 games, and I really like the breadcrumb trail you are given as you go through the game and get closer to your objective. You really have a lot of side objectives you can do to understand more about who you are and what you're doing, or barrel on ahead regardless of consequences.

Honestly... That's basically all I can think of that it has other it's brothers.

Weaknesses -
Worst gameplay in general: In the base game, there is a lot of stuff lacking that the other games in the series innovated with. Without mods, there is no way to repair your guns or armor (aside from a glitch that only affects armor) making EVERYTHING in the game on borrowed time. That unique gun or armor you just found? There will come a time that you simply cannot use it anymore. Weapon and armor mods are also not present, so it's not like you can even really get attached to your equipment that much anyway, so I guess that helps with the aforementioned problem I guess? Artifacts are just kinda laying there on the ground for you to pick up, or rolling on the ground. No detectors or anything needed, and they don't respawn, so their is a finite number to be found at any time. On the other hand, I guess I like the way artifacts affect you when worn in this game, with it not just being a binary "wear this good artifact with this rad-reducer one for a flat buff."

AI is dumber: AI is not that impressive in this game compared to it's sequels. Both NPC and mutant patrols rarely actually wander anywhere, and they remain static far more in this game, and it got to the point where I could literally predict the spawns in certain areas after visiting them enough times. (Fun fact, every time you enter Agroprom, a blind dog pack will ALWAYS spawn in the railway tunnel and usually attack the nearby stalker camp, no matter how long it's been since you last went there)

Factions are basically non-existent: There is no way to meaningfully join or side with any of the factions in this game, and for that matter, bandits, military, and mercs are always hostile to you, with no other characterization. The only real "choice" to be made in regards to factions I can remember was helping or destroying Skull's squad, and this basically either kills Freedom entirely or just removes a single squad from the game respectively. Obviously for your own enjoyment you can help Dutyers and kill Freedomers or vice versa if you wish, but there is no real reason to do this, as there is no progression or ranks to work towards, and no one will acknowledge your actions, even should you completely wipe out their hated enemies. And because squads will almost never move from their positions, these two giant factions more or less become static monoliths in their given locations. Apparently via a borderline glitch via sequence breaking you can "join" freedom specifically, but it's obvious the game was not planned around it.

Fairly Weak Mid-Late Game: The game get's a little droll after the early game, mainly because there is only like 3 meaningful traders and quest givers in the ENTIRE game:
Sidorovich, who you basically ignore after the early game because he is so far away from the main maps. (and there is no fast travel in this game without mods)
Barkeep, who will likely be your main trader and questgiver for the majority of the game due to his centralized location, large quest selection, and good stock as you progress through the game.
Professor Sakharov, who basically only deals in science stuff and therefore is the most situational of the bunch.
Unfortunately there is little else to works towards outside of this and the story, because artifact hunting is not really something you have to build and plan for due to the way they are found in this game, hunting mutants is really only useful when it comes to doing missions for Sakharov, and the game in general becomes a brutal gauntlet against Mercs and Monolith after a certain point, specifically after you reach the Red Forest and go into Pripyat. Seriously, the end game of this game is probably one of the most unforgiving slogs in any game I have played. The game has absolutely no chill as it throws literally 100+ guys at you with the best equipment they have to offer, with it basically becoming one giant point of no return.
As for the traders/quest givers, there ARE technically more for the factions, but there is almost no reason to actually talk to any of the faction leaders or their specific traders because their stock tends to be crap and their (infinitely respawning) missions are even more basic and bland, almost always being "go here, kill these guys, come back." Riveting. Speaking of...

Crap side missions: Almost all side missions in this game are infinite basic and repeatable tasks that involve just going somewhere and killing everything there 90% of the time. The only exceptions are the main guys I listed above, but even then their missions are little better, usually just being fetch quests when they aren't generic destroy missions.

Kind of short: Despite me dragging my feet and spending far more time than I should have just doing side missions and stockpiling money I didn't need, I was still able to finish the whole game in slightly under 30 hours despite it's freeform nature. If you care little for the side missions and know what to do, you could probably finish the whole thing while still doing almost everything the game has to offer in around 15 hours. While the other games in the series are arguably even shorter, they make up for it in replayability. The lack of any meaningful choices to make (specifically in reference to factions) makes it so that there is honestly little replayability in this game, as every playthrough will more or less play out the same way, and despite how many endings their are, almost every ending can be achieved in a single playthrough if you really go out of your way to do so and know what to do.

Despite all this, I still recommend this title solely because it's still STALKER, and also the fact that's it's story is arguably the most important to understanding the setting as a whole. The unique direction of the story and presentation alone is probably worth at least giving it a shot, but I will not sugarcoat that I believe that from a gameplay perspective, this game is indisputably the weakest of the bunch.

I have played all of the STALKER games to date to basically 100% completion, and dabbled in some mods for every game, so I will be mainly covering the series as a whole in this review because to be honest, for better or worse, they all play very similarly, and the strengths and weaknesses in each game tend to be very similar in nature. I will also assume you know the general premise of the setting because it seems like everyone and their mother has covered it at this point.

STALKER as a series I see very similar to Mount and Blade, in that it is a very unique blend of gameplay, mechanics, and genres that no one else has ever quite mixed before, that you can get lost in for hours on end. But while Mount and Blade mixes RTS and RPG with some empire building on the side, STALKER is a unique blend of tactical shooter, open-world, resource management, and horror game all rolled into one, with some light RPG elements to tie it all together. The result is a very satisfying and immersive game that challenges you above all else: When combined, you get a game where a handful of rounds will spell quick doom, your weapons are never guaranteed to even be usable, healing is rare and expensive, and ammo is never a sure thing.

However, STALKER also sets itself apart is the liveliness of the setting, despite it's... well, setting. You see, many open world games in my opinion tend to fall into 2 categories:
Lots of NPC's with sprawling cities, but lacking in detail, where most NPC's serve to just be randomly-generated background noise and not actually interacted with. (GTA, Witcher, Infamous)
Small cities with a small selection of hand-crafted NPC's that all have relationships, schedules, missions, etc. (Skyrim, Fable, Fallout)

STALKER tries to split the difference: While there are a few important and named NPC's that are central to many missions and side quests, most NPC's are randomly generated, and can die as quickly as they leave your sight range. However, even the most basic NPC can be talked to at length about various topics, you can trade with them, you can help them, and still become generally attached to them. On top of this, mutants and patrols rarely ever stay still: Almost everything you see has a path and schedule, from artifact hunting, to resting, to hunting, to going back to base. These ambient encounters make the game world feel alive regardless of the situation, as they are ever present and dominate most of your interactions with the people and world at large, even if you don't have an active objective.

Now that I've discussed some of the things that make this series unique, let me go into more specific detail.

Strengths:
Unmatched Immersion - These games can truly make you feel as one with their world. From seeing random events and dynamic encounters like seeing stalkers joke around with each other, to the weather effects, to the overall horror feel of the setting, you will rarely feel taken out of the world. (Well, except for bugs)
High level of challenge - Many games these days seem a little too easy for my tastes, and even on harder difficulties, it seems like it is simply a matter of time until you beat them. These games? Not so much. It is not uncommon for you to run away from even petty groups of bandits should you be caught in a bad moment, and there is nothing shameful about it. Low health, broken weapons and armor, lack of ammo, and overwhelming numbers and equipment from your enemies make it so that even the most pathetic enemies could easily not be worth fighting, which is something I rarely see these days.
Factions - The zone is home to many factions, each with their own goals, motivations, and equipment, that helps the world feel more alive, and gives you a higher goal to works towards if you wish. Tired of simply treasure hunting all day and being neutral with everyone? Then join up with Duty and slay some mutants and kill some Freedomers! They are also a good way to keep yourself busy in general, because there are factions that are more geared to early game, mid game, and late game.
Armor and weapons - Most of the game's progression is tied to your gear, as there is no stats or skills that need improving. As such, there is a slew of armor and weapons for you to choose from, and rarely is any of it completely obsoleted. Even a fully upgraded Sunrise Suit has some notable advantages over the vaunted Exoskeleton, and early game weapons can be just as deadly as their later game counterparts. There is also a notable split for even more choice and diversity: There are armors that are more suited to anomaly hunting and artifact wearing, and ones more devoted to combat. Weapons are split between Warsaw pact weapons and NATO weapons, the former of which is more reliable and has more easily accessible ammo, and the latter which has greater performance overall.
Unique Setting - There is very little that can match the unique setting of the games. They are set in a very grounded, yet utterly alien setting at the same time, filled with all manner of mutants, strange individuals, and mind-bending anomalies, and there is much more they could do with these if they wished.
Mods - There is A LOT.

Weaknesses:
Small maps - In almost every game, the "world map" is in fact a ton of smaller maps put together, sort of like mini levels. In the first 2 games, most of these were very tiny, barely larger than the average level from Killzone or something, but there was around 12-15 or so of them, and you still had full freedom on where to go at least. The third game did it slightly better in my opinion, with 3 moderately sized maps with large amounts of sidequests, but even putting every single map from every game together, it won't be coming close to the likes of Skyrim or something. Some people may prefer the smaller maps unlike me, but even still I feel there is no doubt that the way the maps were implemented is jarring at times and slows the game's pace down considerably, though they tend to write it into the plot.
Fairly short - While there is a main story to follow and slew of side content to do in every game, it tends to be very short, easy jobs that are done quickly. You can see this in the time-to-beat for every game: Unmodded, you will rarely see anyone put more than 30 hours into any of the titles, and on average it will usually be around 20, despite the open world nature of the games. The absence of important NPC's, small maps, and lack of quests (there is usually only 30 or so missions in any of the games, though to be fair many tend to be a chain at least) make the experience unusually short but sweet. The longest game seems to be Shadow of Chernobyl, but that's only because it had borderline randomly generated missions that all played very similarly, as well as having a long story.
Visually... OK - While it is not the worst looking game out there by any means, time has definitely taken it's toll, and even if the environment is stunning at times, (with the help of a few mods) character models still tend to look awkward, janky, and animations are poor. Even with mods, it would be akin to slapping a new coat of paint onto a jalopy. (aside from a few standout areas)
Buggy - Mods are basically a requirement to run these games in a decent condition, if only to make them more stable. To actually bring them up to par with what is expected from a game in 2022, full overhauls are basically required, and even still, many of the mods are glitchy themselves!

I'm nearing the word count, so to summarize: These games are a damn good product that has yet to be replicated by anyone else, but unfortunately seem to always be a little lacking in meaningful content and frustratingly short. Even with mods like Anomaly, it tends to just turn the game into a sandbox with a lot of redundant systems, random content, and little direction. Here's hoping STALKER 2 combines triple-A resources with STALKER's unique gameplay to create a truly revolutionary experience!

A fairly bare-bones but solid proof of concept for a true successor to the likes of SWAT 4 or Rainbow Six, (only Raven Shield and before of course) though definitely leans more to SWAT with the more restrictive weapon selection and emphasis on non-lethal takedowns where possible. It is properly difficult, with every team I have played on that simply ran through it with little to no communication losing half the squad in a few rooms, and the ones that did properly organize barely losing any through entire levels. Enemy AI is a little fuzzy, ranging from brick stupid to actually setting up effective and deadly ambushes after hearing your approach, and the friendly AI for singleplayer being a little dumber, but less likely to actually die and following orders well enough, though they definitely need some work. (Though COOP is definitely the way the game was meant to be played) Weapons are well done, but there is not a lot to choose from, and attachments are fairly basic and don't tell you what they actually do necessarily. Missions are definitely enjoyable, but again, there isn't a super big selection to choose from, though the different scenarios are very interesting and I hope they both add more and add other ones to certain maps.

All in all, a solid title in the tactical shooter genre currently, (rare indeed) if a little lacking in content and customization, but they promise much in the coming years and I for one am looking forward to it.

I really don't understand why so many people are bashing the new update. Personally, I think it improved the game quite a lot, and most of the criticisms I've seen are either a unelaborative "They changed it now it sucks!!!" or sprinkled with actual lies or contradictions, or just attacking the devs in general instead of reviewing the actual game, so I'm going to go through the major complaints I've seen so far, and say why I personally don't think it's as bad as many people are making it out to be.

"They added vehicles but cut the map size in half, so they aren't as useful": They actually over DOUBLED the map size in the new update, from 16km to 36 km, so vehicles are still useful. Not to mention that the stamina system people keep criticizing should actually make them a god send.

"They prevented people from just building what they want outright and made it so you have to grind for levels now, and their new leveling system is boring and tedious": While the new level system is a bit of a mixed bag, (I still like it however, I just wish the still had base skills to go along with the new more specialized perks) the game always had a barrier to letting you craft higher grade stuff since the beginning, they just replaced a (potentially) slightly faster RNG system with the schematics to more reliable leveling. They essentially swapped out RNG for XP, and while it's still annoying in many ways, (especially with some of the level requirements being in the 70's for certain perks) RNG could also be tedious. Instead of checking 5 working stiffs to get either too many or no schematics to make a minibike, you now have to clear out 5 working stiffs to get enough xp to get there. Not to mention that while rare, the RNG system could actually lock off content in a certain playthrough if favor didn't go your way; I once checked every library in my game world in A16 and never acquired a single minibike or scrap armor schematic my entire playthrough. At the very least, it's now a sure thing at some point, even if it takes a while, and feels more rewarding when you reach that goal instead of just lucking out while searching a garbage bag.

"The new stamina and health system is obnoxious and prevents you from playing the game practically": I will concede that stamina drains much faster than it should, and they should probably change the numbers around a bit, but everything else seems pretty ok to me. Better recipes and more animals in the world to hunt also offset this penalty a bit, I have master chef and we cleared out the boar farm early on for meat, and now I can keep my entire party of 5 going singlehandedly for another 2 weeks at least, and this will only get better as I level up and we start dipping into farming. It makes hunters and farmers much more valuable now, since in A16 a single piece of grilled meat and a jar of water was enough to sustain a person for around 3 days, and since food has no spoil timer, you'd quickly rack up a stockpile and then never have to worry about that aspect of the game ever again. Now it actually matters throughout the entire playthrough since you have to eat constantly to keep your stamina up, and food depletes much faster overall. More tedious, yes, but it makes previously lackluster classes much more important in keeping everyone alive.

"Guns are super common now, and because loot is no longer as rare as it was, the only reason to go into buildings now is for XP farming zombies.": I actually do not understand this one. I am playing a game right now with 5 other people, all of which have looted around 5 entire buildings worth, along with the entire boar/corn farm POI, as well as 2 supply drops, and we have maybe 4 level 1 pistols, 2 level 2 hunting rifles, and 1 level 1 smg, with a shotgun here or there. Definitely more common for sure, but by no means actually "common." And this was with 3 points into the looter perk. Maybe we got ♥♥♥♥ with the RNG, or they got really lucky, but this isn't even to mention that unless these people were finding 200 rounds of ammo with each gun and were finding level 4+ guns in these stashes early on, (which I know for a fact they weren't) looting is still a big necessity to actually find mods, better guns, or ammo to keep those guns functional. And while this system makes guns feel slightly less of an accomplishment, was the old RNG system of finding 4+ parts to a single gun and the book that much better? You know what it felt like to have 50 ♥♥♥♥♥♥ receivers, grips, and parts for a pistol, but no barrel, so they just sat in a safe doing nothing? That was also obnoxious, and if you think this new system is still worse than that, go right ahead, but don't act like the old way was lightyears better.

"Zombies got massive damage buffs to buildings, making builders much worse than they were.": My group was able to survive the first two 7 day waves (with 64 enemies and on nomad difficulty) plus countless smaller ones by going into an information center in the middle of the woods, upgrading the door to iron, and putting a simple wall of 3 wooden spike traps around the perimeter, and the zombies were never able to breach the walls or doors yet, so I don't know what mega hoards and/or crappy bases you guys are putting up, but decent defenses are still a must for higher waves. But even if they chew through bases slightly faster than before, I like that it still encourages a more active defense approach than just letting you sit underground in a slightly reinforced bunker every time a wave came.

Overall this update can still use some work, (which the devs promised they would do after the holidays) but the only major complaints I have so far are these:

Max stamina drops pretty damn fast, and until you get higher level food recipes it can be a chore to get it back.
The new skills system is pretty fun and immersive, but only if you have a party of at least 3 people playing together. I can see how solo players will struggle to get their feet off the ground, with the lack of sharing XP and all.
Some of the level requirements for perks seem a bit too high, like the level 40 requirement to finally start making iron tools, let alone actually using them efficiently.
I wish they still had base skills to go along with perks and attributes instead of going down the Fallout 4 path of just boiling it down into perks, but even still, I think the addition of attributes was a great idea, and the system works for the most part.

Other than these 4 complaints, I personally feel that the update as a whole was an improvement, and people who personally don't like it have some good points and give some criticisms, but those that claim that alpha 17 gutted and ruined the entire game to the point of no return are committing egregious hyperbole. Give it some time, I'm sure it will be improved further, just like every other major update this game ever had.

I like this game, may not be AS good and have the quirky lines of your soldiers from the first game, but it does add some features I thought needed to be added, such as true sight and abandoning vehicles and such. It has roughly the same content as the first game, just in a different type of format and style. Nothing feels too different, but it does add many more features at the cost of some of the "charm" from the first game I guess you could say. All in all a respectable buy.

Can't endorse the cash grab DLC though, I thought that wasn't really worth it at all. Mainly just adds the same units they already have in the game just in different combos and comps.