Basically, after 20 hours, this is the Stalker I remember and love, but with more mutants. This is the most gorgeous game I ever have played. Even better than Witcher 3, which is saying a lot.
Also, from everything I read, this game is allegedly brutal on computer specs, however I upgraded an old computer from 2019 and the game is running on mostly Epic / High settings (Shadows and Shading down to Medium) at 30-60 FPS raw, and 50-100 DLSS on 1080p, generally free of microstutters, and with smooth gun play for the most part.
I mean it's not always perfect, nor competitive 144 FPS on 4k a monitor, but if you are just a single player and want a great "relatively" smooth experience, that looks totally gorgeous, then I haven't had too many issues at all. Most of the time it works amazing, and occasionally if it hiccups I usually just figure out the setting irritating it and set it down a notch and pick up another 5-10FPS. Once in a blue moon something really chokes it (like every few hours) and I save and restart it's all sorted out. Beats buying a new $2500 computer.
Anyway, If you are curious, I started with an HP Desktop Omen 875-0034 (again year 2019), originally with an I7-9700 (3.0Ghz allegedly with turbo boost up to 4.2 Ghz), 16GB DDR4-2666 Mhz, a GTX Ti 1660 (6GB), and a 500W PSU.
I replaced the Graphics Card with a PNY NVIDIA RTX 5060 8GB Overclocked (the last one my local Best Buy had for just under $400). Also, since there was no way this was going to fit on the internal 250GB SSD (already hopelessly clogged), i bought external SSD Drive (Samsung T9, deep discount from Best Buy for about $210).
To me the biggest surprise was that you could run a modern video game off an EXTERNAL SSD. I have it plugged into the USB-C port (which mine is old, so it's 10GB/s, but the external drive is forward compatible and supports 20GB/s if I use it with a new machine later).
As I said the game is running smoothy. I haven't checked the temperature yet, but as far as I can tell, everything is great, and contrary to recommended specs on the 5060, the PSU wattage was not an issue (supposedly you need 550W and the BB tech told me a whopping 750w). However, deep research with AI went through possible wattage constraints even with simultaneous CPU / GPU spikes and I should have 100w to spare even with age degradation. I mention this just to inspire you to do your own research if you are on a budget, it actually is possible to do this, I didn't know any of this until I researched it with AI, but just stick with it, and cross examine it several times.
Anyway, this was my father's computer before he passed away, a Gamer, at Age 89, so I think he would love this game since he was a fan of Fallout 76, and it's a way for me to keep playing with him. If you have an old computer, don't be afraid to upgrade. Obviously, it's not perfect bc of older CPU architecture and various bus speeds, but it is working great for me. If it works for Stalker 2, it will work going forward on any game, and the External SSD is new generation so very forward compatible.
