I'M DOING MY PART!

Nothing like what the devs promised and the last thing any fan of the STALKER series wanted.

I really like this game, and I really want to see it eventually completed. However, my biggest issue with it is that it is horribly unoptimized, and unless you have an absolute top-of-the-line computer it will chug badly even on the lower settings. I've heard there are ways to get it to run better, but none of these methods have worked for me and in the end I just can't handle the constant lag and slowdown.

Maybe once the devs have finished adding the content they want they'll work on making the game playable, but I'd recommend waiting until then unless you have a beefy computer.

Despite the jittery framerate and performance issues, this really is a great game, and I think more games need to follow its example.

As is the game is little more than an exercise in frustration. Zombies are damage sponges who can take upwards of twenty hits from a melee weapon to kill, and are capable of hitting you regardless of whether they're facing you or not. This, coupled with the fact that they can spot you from a considerable distance and run faster than you, means if you encounter a zombie and you don't have a fire axe handy you're probably better off dying and respawning.

Also, you spawn already starving and freezing. Odds are it's also going to be raining so you're going to freeze even faster. So if you happen to spawn somewhere that isn't a large city, you're probably better off dying and respawning.

Honestly, that's 90% of the game. Spawning, realizing your situation is unwinnable, dying, and then respawning. Sometimes you'll manage to actually get decent equipment. Then the game resets your character randomly.

So yeah. I can't recommend the game at this point. Maybe after it's been fixed, but right now the game is just plain not fun.

If you can get past the smaller map size and simplistic graphics, I'd actually recommend this over DayZ. It's got almost as much content and is just as fun to play, while actually being a fairly stable game. Plus it's free, unless you get the Gold version which is only 5 bucks. What's not to like?