definitely the worst thing i've ever suffered through in a stalker game, and i played through black road start on misery a few times. stalker 2 has never really played to its' strengths and cost of hope cranks that up to 11; it desperately tries to be any other game. there are platforming sections in a game with very bland movement, the combat feels like fallout 4, the writing is cheesy and everything is over-emphasized. nothing is written subtly or allowed to stand. every single thing is spelled out for you as though you are a moron. the new mutant design is terrible and feels designed to waste your time as it fails to reset its' decisionmaking multiple times, prolonging the fight for no reason. the game suggests stealthing a section that is literally impossible to stealth, as you will be spotted the second you round the corner about 75% of the way in. at no point is there EVER any tension or horror.
and they charged people THIRTY DOLLARS for this. all because you get to explore the iron forest (which is mostly empty, which is nice for vibes but not for gameplay) and the CNPP which should have been in the base game. and then they added a bunch of story quests that aren't even in those two areas! you go to literally four different areas in the iron forest (which are mostly close together) and then leave to go to places that were already in the game but repurposed to have quests in them.
at this point i think i've given up on 2. i beat cost of hope and got my money's worth, but i won't be playing anything past that unless serious design changes happen first. stalker 2 is just not a stalker game. it's some weird half life-fallout-far cry hybrid wearing the skin of an old IP. i would rather GSC make another cossacks game before touching the stalker IP again.
