Recent reviews by Redca

This remaster runs worse and crashes more than the PS3 version.

As a NMRiH veteran i get where they were going with this game, i dig most of what they're putting down but it's not perfect.

This review is as of the April 2025 Free weekend.

The concept and maps are cool, graphics are between okay up to good depending on the map and area.
Combat is exactly as expected, audio work is good to amazing.

I expect them to polish and add missing elements slowly over the months, i want to see this game tick upwards from Mixed because it really doesn't deserve it.

Bugs encountered:
Black screen after intro cutscene.(Patched)
Game randomly won't boot.
Loading screens stretch on ultra ultra wide, presumably also ultrawide instead of staying centred.
Crash to desktop with no obvious cause(lost a character, i would be angry if it was a high level)
IED clipping into my face with compass check
Massive frame drops at one of the powerplant checkpoints, unknown cause
Guns flickering in and out when ADS


Negative aspects encountered:
Bad ping making zombies and movement even worse
Cross region matchmaking, this can make the game nearly unfinish-able when you're trying to talk with different languages and they can't or refuse to understand
No voice indicator, i can't tell if the game runs an open mic or push to talk regardless of setting.
No microphone test option in the settings.
Melee misses, several times i've had melee miss what should have easily been a hit, probably ping related.
Shove/Kick being unreliable, i've had zombies push through my animation and just ignore getting shoved or kicked regardless of my stamina.
Gun inspect menu should be HOLD not Toggle by default.
Awful zombie spawns, you can clear out a house and only moments later have something climb out from a bush or jump off a roof.
Got trapped in the petrol station management room because i wasn't taught i could kick down doors
Had the whole server desync/lag out at the same time, several dead or infected with no chance to react due to teleporting players/zombies, Seriously not fun.
No indicators on the power plant level where to take repair parts, condenser, etc. Whole team wiped due to it.

Improvements wanted in the future:
Microphone test in settings
Region select
Basic tutorial, Menu, UI, keybindings and in-game objectives
Dedicated servers or map selection
Animation/player movement polishing
Reduced head movement when vaulting or climbing objects
Option to skip intro movies
Steam "Invite to game" option for friends
Drop all default toggle instead of hold
Party invite noise

The developers know how to perfectly balance atmosphere and tension with the calming downtime between, i brought this on the premise of it being a similar experience to Doki Doki, and i was not disappointed.

Game will dump me into 160+ ping servers instead of 30-40 ping because SBMM.

I would rather wait in a lobby for 10+ minutes than play on a 180 ping server in a competitive game mode.

Give us dedicated servers or a ping limit.

Review update 20 more hours, 16/1/25.
Still needs time in the oven.

I'll preface this with some info, played and loved all 3 OG games, preordered this with the $500 AUD Physical Edition years ago.
The Physical stuff is AMAZING, Backpack feels like it could be actually used, Artifact lamp is just awesome and catches so much attention, Figure is solid if a bit smaller than i'd like, the Art-book and Postcard are always nice to look at, Fire-starter/Multi Toll could easily be used out camping.

The game looks beautiful, you can stop and just take in the view of so many spots.
Ukrainian voices are the way to play the game, most of the English voices don't really fit very well.

(Update: Still runs average but the Engine.ini tweaks helped massively) Poor performance (5800X3D, RTX 3080, 32GB RAM on 3440x1440p), town performance drops to sub 40 FPS on Low & Medium mixed settings.
DLSS, FSR or XeSS is not an answer or an excuse, recommended specs should be native not up-scaled or frame-gen'd

(Update: how have they not unlocked Quick slot 2 and 4 yet?) AWFUL key bindings, Wheres my F1,F2,F3&F4 Slots?, i'm constantly hitting Drink instead of Bandage because we can't rebind F2 and F4?, Lean keys are awful along with a few other really weird choices.

(Update: Still happening, completely random and seems to be tied to NVLDDMKM but only happens with stalker 2)Constant crashes, I've had 5 CTDs so far and I've only just left the starting zone as of 7 Hours, that's close to 1 an hour.

(Update: FIXED)Awful damage scaling, 10+ 12G shells to kill a blood sucker on rookie?, humans can soak 5-10 9mm rounds to the torso before dying, master difficulty is literally insane.

(Update: FIXED)Guns lose condition way too fast, by the time you've cleared one outpost of guards it's dropped 20~%.

(Update: Fixed?, they seem to have slowed respawn time down and i don't run into patrols basically ever anymore) Enemy spawns, oh my god this is awful, i've had squads reappear within a minute of me clearing a spot and running into them as i'm leaving the bunker or building they were guarding with them sometimes standing on top of the corpses i just made.
I've also had people spawn in front of me out of thin air.

Enemy AI, They seem to have wallhacks and can see you through cars, walls, the ground, nothing seems to stop them.
Overall its good, they take cover, throw nades, flank you, they won't always know where you are so sneaking away is actually possible.

(Update: Still crap)Melee is completely useless, too much stamina usage, both attack range and area are to small to be useful such as standing in front of a box and missing a melee swing.

(Update: Movement feels better but you run out of stamina to often jumping or swinging your knife)Movement is really janky, sometimes refuses to run or start running without moving first, jumping is inconsistent, stamina feels too low in every weight tier.

Audio mixing is all over the place, sounds pierce walls as if they don't exist, directional audio is rough at best, voices randomly change volume or from radio to in person voice without them being in range.

(Update: Holy Moly does this game have bugs, corpses in the floor, soft locked missions, random AI in cutscenes, i've posted more screenshots as well of these) Bugs, I've stumbled across a few odd bugs so far, buildings Z Clipping, Floating items, guns, people, weird clipping into the ground when i'm talking to someone, things stuck through walls, corpses getting stuck in walls or objects making constant noises, dead people making sleeping noises, AI spawning in plain view.
I've posted screenshots of any i come across.

I would've rather the game take ANOTHER 6 months for some larger QA and Play Testing because this feels like a CP2077 all over again.

Outright lies on the store page, Doesn't support 3440x1440 21:9 Resolution.
"21:9 / 32:9 Ultra-wide, 4K and high-end resolution support"

Menu music is way too loud by default.

Voice work is very indie tier as each voice is using a different microphone which can be very noticeable.

Poorly done English translations, it's not "Kid in the block" it should be "Kid on the block" for example with many words are pronounced oddly and not in a American vs British kind of way.

Controls don't feel right on controller, Y to Ascend and A to Descend make no sense to my brain, Boost on Left Trigger should be Stick In/LS for example.

Ultra quality preset doesn't even max out settings, 5-6 settings still it on High.

No customisation.

I like mech games but this game doesn't leave a good first impression.

Two stints of playing, one several years ago and one now as it's hit 1.0.
I enjoy my FPS games, Arcade, Tactical or somewhere inbetween i generally enjoy it all.

This just doesn't feel good, there's a weird inconsistent tank movement to the player, controls are somewhat unnatural, the AI is a mixture of blind stupidity or aimbot wall hackers.

I'm not letting Denevuo Anti Cheat install for a non-competitive game, why can't i just play basic PvP content with a non-intrusive AntiCheat?

I do genuinely regret buying this game as there are several other better purchases i could have made.

Finished the main story, most of the side content surrounding cities but not companions.
Kinda loved the ending twists.
The Temple hunting was so boring and tedious, 95% of planets are worthless, quite a few bugs as per Bethesda.
Space combat only has two betweens, you slaughter or get slaughtered.
Ship builder had way too many restrictions for the scope of a 1st playthrough, you can actually get better parts by just buying a higher end ship instead of leveling up the related perks.
Ship fuel means nothing?, Theres no point in harvesting fuel or even 90% of resources for that matter, no use for outposts or recruiting anymore than 3-4 people.
Leveling up is way too slow and you miss out on 60-70% of perks by the time you finish the game.

I describe to my friends "It's a fun game, not a good game." it also encapsulates the Skyrim motto of "Wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle"

As a Need for Speed Underground, Most Wanted, Midnight Maximum Tune and Wangan kid, this is exactly what I've been waiting years for.

The VHS, 4:3, Film Grain & Blur Aesthetic definitely isn't for everyone and some will be put off by it.

If anyone wants a "complete" game give Import Tuner Challenge on Xbox 360 a try, it'll be a similar experience as to what this will turn into.

Once the game is expanded it's easily going to be one of the cornerstones of good racing games.

As it sits now outside the obvious improvements these are some issues I've picked up i'd like toggles, options or fixes for:

Default camera height, I'm not a fan of how low down both the default chase cameras are and options are always nice.

Better information/explanations, features like the Fast Travel, Time Trials, Car Grades, Fuel, Win/Loss Ratio should all at least have a one time pop up giving a brief explanation of what they do or how they work.

Menu buttons, Currently you can only go sideways once per click(Changing Resolution or Betting for example), can this be set to a constant instead of a singular click?

GPS location, I'm not against having to locate and navigate without a map but just a "You are here" marker or more obvious landmarks and signs would go a long way with players who suffer from poor direction.

Car auctions, just having a low detail model of the car pop up on the screen would be a nice QoL thing so you don't feel the need to inspect all cars which would be much more relevant once more cars are added.

Race surrenders, it would be nice if sometimes a losing car would call you to surrender if you get too far ahead and it saves players time to go chase down another race.

Difficulty increase, if the player wins too many races there should be a hidden difficulty increase to help increase the pressure and push the player harder.

Race finishes, several races finish in front of a PA but then you spawn in the middle of the road, could we get an option to head back to the PA or stay where the race ends?

Racing Audio, a toggle to change the dynamic sound to over a set speed like 150km/h or as a liner increase as you speed up would be nice as currently when you feather the throttle at top speeds the audio will constantly fade in and out with your acceleration.

Handbrake, Can we get a toggle for On/Off and On Hold?, i'm much more used to on hold rather than toggle.

True 21:9 Ultrawide Support, Easily my smallest nitpick but i don't blame anyone for not supporting it.

Slightly cheaper than buying 1,100 Atoms on their own.
If you're going to buy the 1,100 Atoms pack you might as well get this first.

It would be much better if it gave us 5x Weight Boosters along side the kits as between level 1 and 40 you'll be changing your armour & weapons every few hours, once you hit 50 repair kits are basically useless and you've probably also figured out how to manage your scrap better than "just loot everything".

Throwing in some hunger & thirst stopper gum would be neat as early players tend to worry about it too much.