this game is surprisingly fun, the gather loop and constantly watching for hazard while out in the zone, especially in the harder areas can really make things feel tense, especially when opening a warp gate to get back home. The atmosphere of this game is very well done, and honestly is beautiful at times, the story is pretty interesting, nothing earth shatter but it's a sweet little story none the less with a fun dive into the lore through audio logs which you can find and listen to while out and about, and the music on the radio are very fitting. this game scratches an itch that I've been needing to scratch, but this game just falls short of fully satiating the itch.
Don't get me wrong, the game is still very fun to dump some time into, but the game falls short of the great potential it has waiting to be expanded on. firstly the hazards you encounter while out in the zone, most are decently threatening, while some others are none existing threats, especially to the player themselves and not just your car. Most dangers revolve around your car (obviously) as it's your literally life line, but the second you exist your car and walk around, most hazards become incredibly easy to avoid, down right pitiful at times. When I exist the vehicle that is supposed to be my only safety, I want to feel as if I'm REALLY risking myself to go grab some valuable resources, I want to feel as if I'm being watched and hunted the second I leave my moving fortress, I wish there where some player specific enemies to really keep me on my toes. The harder zones kinda mends that with more threats of acid or radiation, (the latter being far more abundant than the former) but just some radiation upgraders and you only really have one threat to worry about as you can stand in radiated areas for a while before becoming a concern. This would also help a crafting mechanic of better clothes to become viable as I would forget that you could craft specialized clothing for different occasions or enemies.
So why not up the difficulty? I have actually! and it kinda fixed some issues, though some new ones arose. the scaling isn't exactly perfect, and I can't exactly fault them as they allow you to fully customize which aspects of the game to be harder, or easier. such an example of terrible scaling is off roading, there's some valuable resources that are some times far off the main road, so you'll eventually go off the beaten path, and it's pretty rough with base tires, so you'll most likely research and make offloading tires, and or all terrain which help out a ton, but the second you raise the difficulty by one level, suddenly having all offroad tires isn't enough, and you'll be going at a snails pace in some cases, which was fun for maybe 12 seconds until I had to use a warp gate to get back home, in which you have to race against a reality warping storm that'll kill you unless you can get through the gate before it arrives, which is the highlight of the game and when it really hits with tension and fear that really drew me into the game, but that all crumbles when, even if you touch the dirt slightly, you either swerve uncontrollably, or loose all your speed, like hitting a damn banana peel in Mario kart. all that time spent researching and gathering for better equipment just for them to become useless from a single level of increased difficulty is painful.
The last thing I'd like to mention is the environment, which is done very well, and I have no problems with, only when It's supposed to be spooky and ominous, like something is watching and waiting for me to turn my back... only for nothing to happen and that immersion to be broken, which harps back the the player specific enemies, or lack there of. even if they just turn an already existing enemy into a player specific, like the dust bunnies that will jump onto your car while driving, that would be enough, and suddenly hearing those creepy howl and crunching leaves in the distance become actually scary and act as a warning to prepare to fight, or flight. there are some other points I'd like to talk about, but I think I covered most the big points of the game, and have also rambled enough. and all that being said, don't let this discourage you from buying this game if it intrigued you, I think it would really be worth your time if this is right up your alley, and who knows, maybe the DLC fixes some of those aspect of the game as I have yet to play it.
With that being said, thank you for coming to my ted talk.
