I have been playing it slowly over the weeks and having a blast. Here are my thoughts on it:
- Game runs out of the box on Linux but performance is not very good. Using
Bottles however makes it run flawlessly.
- Art direction is based and redpilled. Graphics are nice but style is forever. The devs obviously understand this and went all out on making sure it looks good.
- The protagonist doesn't seem to shut up but putting the voices to Russian makes it tolerable. The big issue seems to be that the writers translated their script from Russian to English instead of localizing. You can tell there is a load of shit that makes no sense in english that is actually russian slang being directly translated (crispy crickets), or references that make sense for russians in the 1950s but that no one is getting right now. In a way I like it as it really sells the "alien" world of the game. I certainly prefer this sort of weird dialogue in Russian than having everyone speak in Marvel quips.
- On the same vein, some people are confused about the way the protagonist acts and how he seems to not be as curious as one should be in the situation. This also seems to stem from the fact the game is set in 1950's USSR and people not realizing the cultural background. Despite the big alternate history setting the game lets you know Stalin still happened and so did the purges. P3 isn't being a NPC out of stupidity, he is literally keeping his head down and fucking saving himself from a NKVD bullet for asking too many questions out of reflex. Later on in the game you can see him come out of his shell and question things again once he relaxes a bit and realizes the stakes.
- I too fell for the shotgun meme. Rip KS-23 I will make sure not to leave you behind whenever I start a new game in the future.
- In that same note the recycling of crafting materials is very nice and makes the game much less of a resource slog, though I still end up scavenging like a crackhead out of reflex and desire to see the number go up
- The game doesn't treat you like a drooling retard. The protag might throw quips around during combat and comment on some story beats and such but he never goes "Wow I should check that out" "Maybe I need to look for a lever" "I wonder if there is a secret entrance" and shit like that. You wanna go inside Polygon 6? Here is the map. Oh you can't figure out where the entrance is? Well too bad fucker this is a military facility under lockdown and you are just some random spetsnaz not the overseer or designer you either try and figure out yourself or look it up online. It's refreshing to have to actually crack my head and think about the issue. The solution for this one for example is you have to remember that the security system interface lets you open doors, so you need to look for the local security tower, connect to a dandelion camera near the entrance and click to open it. And that is good.