I just started playing this game. Gotta say, I'm a bit torn.
The bleak atmosphere and graphics are great. I love that ammo is so scarce (I'm playing on 'Ranger Easy' difficulty). It really puts you in the mindset of post-apocalyptia, something the Bethesda Fallout games lacked. I'd often be praying that I didn't run into any enemies instead of itching for a fight. Running out of ammo is always a real possibility if you don't play carefully. I also like the mostly diagetic UI - bringing up your watch to see how much longer your gas filters will last, for example.
But in other ways it seems frustratingly old-school. Notably, there's no dedicated grenade button, meaning to use a grenade you need to press the hotkey for a grenade, then click to throw it. It lacks a cover system, which is a problem in this game as you will die from a single headshot, or three to four bodyshots. And it uses a checkpoint system to save. I can't remember the last game I played that solely uses checkpoints to save.
There's also that whole thing with communists and Nazis. I can kind of get the commies - Russia has been under communism for so long, it makes sense that some enclaves have chosen to readopt Stalinism. But what the hell is up with the Nazis? At first I thought it was just some derogatory nickname for the diehard enemies of the Stalinist enclave, but no, they're your stereotypical Nazis transplanted into this grim future Moscow - they use German honorifics and have Panzers. It's weird and immersion-breaking. Is there an in-story explanation for this?
But anyway. I don't want to seem too down on this game. It's pretty good, and I'm having fun playing it. Anyone else play this game?