Reviews - itimbots

Fantastic modpack and my new default recommendation for getting people into the STALKER series. Everything works as intended, feels buttery smooth thanks to x64 xRay, and the OWR weapons feel fantastic. Only reason it doesn't get a 10 is there's no option for subtitles in the conversations OR English voiceover, which means new players are going to miss some story beats.

It's a game, really, not a mod. And it accounts for the fact that it wouldn't exist without three very treasured games that all had their issues. It's a must play whether you're an old STALKER fan or just curious what the franchise is all about. For a free mod? Easy 10/10. Hell for a new release this would beat most of the garbage AAA studios put out these days.

I am constantly talking myself out of signing up for 'just one more' online account, and when I consider the amount of forgotten online identities I've left across the webs I usually don't.

I struggled, but ultimately (and quite obviously) signed up here for the express purpose of providing a review for OGSE. That is an indication of how great the mod is, that I felt so compelled to review it.

Some things to keep in mind as you read this review: I am not a STALKER purist, have never played the games in their vanilla format, and my first playthrough is with OGSE installed. I know. Purists will denounce me, but the allure of mods for these dated, buggy games is too beguiling to ignore. I spent all of 30 minutes with an unmodded version of Pripyat before I dropped a ton of mods in it. Lastly, these are initial impressions, and I've not completed it. I hope to come back and update when I'm done.

So, OGSE, then. Look, it's a mod, so you have to keep that in the back of your mind while playing, right? Honestly, I forget that sometimes. It just fits so well together.

First, the economy does not seem broken to me, but quite fair. Early on I'm making decisions about whether to buy one extra medkit or an extra stack of ammo. A delightfully brutal and realistic choice if you ask me. The inventory screen gets a little cluttered at times, and the items can be overwhelming when you're not sure what they do, but it encourages a methodical approach. There are kindof two core gameplay loops outside the main story: one where you explore, fight, artifact hunt, and then manage the inventory back at a base. The second part kicks in once you have pack muled everything out of there. Decisions about gear, upgrades, repairs, and sales will weigh heavily on you as you try to determine what is worth keeping to give you an edge against the Zone, and what is better off turned into cash.

This sounds like a lot, but again it encourages you to slow down, READ the descriptions and understand what each item does. It's important to remember--this ****'s an RPG-- yes mixed with elements of survival horror, hardcore shooter, but an RPG nonetheless.

Mentioning the RPG elements brings us to the quests: so far, they have been challenging, sometimes even frustratingly so. This is okay, and once you accept it it's extremely rewarding to get something right. It is not a game that holds your hand through the difficult times or leads you by the nose directly to the objective. There is no floating quest marker here. Instead it gives you some sense that you really are a Rookie STALKER landing in the Zone for the first time. You must get out of the base and Stalk. Now, to my understanding, the main story quests are largely untouched except for bug fixes.

Let's turn to graphics. Look, I play a lot of older games, mainly Fallouts and older shooters, and this is nothing to sneeze at. You can search for me on twitch and see some of the gameplay videos I've posted, or Youtube has many options. It looks damn good for a game released in 2007-- 11 years ago at the time of this writing. The texture work is excellent, the animations, effects, are all top notch, and the shaders look like a very well made SweetFX or ReShade setting. To top this off the advanced graphics settings are incredibly detailed and allow you to find the right balance between performance and looks.

A quick mention about performance, and this is the only criticism I have, though it's a minor one. The performance hit is pretty stout, even on a 1080ti, running in 1440p. Whereas with Call of Chernobyl on max I get 100fps, here I'm able to run Max settings, but there are always some pretty heavy stutters. As far as I can tell this is just an engine limitation, though I'm still experimenting with perfect settings. Still, for a game that already nails the atmosphere and the vibe of being in an irradiated hellscape, ANY bolstering of graphical fidelity is only going to increase immersion. For what it's worth, I read somewhere that the mod's lowest settings are the same as the vanilla game on Max settings, though I can't confirm that.

Gunplay. Simply, I think it's superb. This seems divisive, but I can't comprehend why. To me the gunplay feels absolutely satisfying, and the added weapons are very well done with animations, audio, etc. It is important you install all the updates, but to me this feels perfect for what it is-- a survival horror FPS with RPG elements. If you're thinking Fallout 3, think again, this is much more fluid. This has satisfying ADS, crisp weapon feedback, animation, and audio, and usually consistent ballistics. This is all at mid to close range, which feels right for this type of game, and where many of your engagements will take place. It is not a MILSIM. It's not built on top of ARMA. Unless you're expecting ARMA levels of gunplay, this will probably surprise and please you.

Someone said this is the "way STALKER was meant to be." I'm starting to agree.