It's a shame that the original version of the game has been unlisted because of this one. It's not altogether terrible but it's definitely not the ideal way to experience the game. The original is one of my top 10 of all time, and this is essentially the same game, just with a few baffling changes that make it slightly worse. The "enhanced" graphics actually just make it look like it has a weird filter on it and things in the distance look blurry. They have, for some reason, removed all the Soviet propaganda from the game, which changes the environment and also the story itself. They changed it because of the war in Ukraine, but the game's atmosphere and setting are a monument to the incompetence of the Soviet Union at its worst. I don't think anybody thought the Soviet decorations were an endorsement of modern day Russia or of the Soviets. All the bugs from the original game still exist, which I personally don't mind because the bugs are part of the experience, although it does seem like they could've fixed a few things if they were going to remake the game almost 20 years later. The only positive things I can really say are that I like the addition of achievements, and this is probably the best way to play the game on Steam Deck because it does have optimized controller controls. Other than that, it's unnecessary at best and a worse version of the original game at worst. I might not mind so much if it hadn't replaced the original, but now that I'm replaying the original it's reminded me how much better that version is and how it's a shame that this will be the version most new players experience from now on. If you can find a way to play the original, play that instead.

Bought the original trilogy God knows when, got this added to my library for free.

And what can I say? This is quite the dissapointment.


My setup is far from the best, experiencing its "prime" back in 2017. Still, a game from 2007 should not make it lag and stutter so much, even if it is an "Enhanced Version". On max settings, the original SoC had presented me with no issues regarding lag, stuttering, sudden frame drops and what not. Here, it is the opposite. Sometimes, the lag is subtle, other times - not so much.

In my experience, there are:

• Sudden drop of FPS (From 70ish to 20 for up to 5 seconds)
  
• Randomly encountered stutters
  
• Unexplainable lag and stutters when interacting with corpses or other stalkers.

I couldn't help but notice that some of the textures have gotten soapy. Either too stretched or too compact at some points, making the game look like a cheap Roblox knock-off. The skybox seems screwed as well, probably used AI upscaling on it and other elements, which makes them look uncanny. There were suggestions of setting antialiasing to FXAA and et cetera, but that did not help me that much. Others spoke of messing with the mip maps, which is at best a crutch fix.


I played on english (thanks for executing the russian voicelines option, GSC), and most stalkers spoke anything but english. An argument could be made that this is more immersive and realistic, since not everyone would speak russian or english. But I have heard a stalker say a line in ukrainian, and then in english, I doubt I was hallucinating. The language dispertion also makes no sense. One Duty member will speak in ukrainian, the next one to him will speak in english. This could've been done best if factions, such as Mercenaries, spoke english, considering it would make sense, and if most others spoke a mix of russo-ukrainian. On topic of the russian language, it seems they did not butcher all of the voicelines, considering I could still hear some sentences and words said in the russian language.

New voice acting is abysmal as well. The english voice actor does not give a crap about the whole "voice acting" thing; for example: when you pick up the documents in X-18 in the original SoC, that cutscene with Strelok executing rats plays, at the end of which, in the original's russian dub, an emotional "STRELOK!" could be heard. In the E. E., the english dub sounds like a sleep deprived child, saying some lame "strelok." crap.


When you kill something or someone, their corpses get flunged up in the air a few inches/cm above the ground, and after a few miliseconds experience a fall. This was not an issue in the original, my guess is that the corpses do a sort of A-Pose, or they get spawn in some distance of the ground to avoid clipping into it. Even this was done badly, though, as I remember sending a bandit a good few meters/feet high flying into the air, and seeing a stalker get stuck in the ceiling of a house.


The AI has been screwed with greatly, the pathfinding, overall NPC logic and others. For some reason, the three patrolling soldiers at the checkpoint near the Rookie Village decided to go to the village and massacre a few stalkers. I have also, for a dozen times, seen enemies foget about my existence mid fight, or rush me like morons: I would see a bandit walk right past behind his friend getting shot by me, not being aggroed at all.

The enemies have also gotten blind, not shooting at me when I am in their clear view of sight, a few feet away from them, which suggests they were dumbed down intentionally or accidentally, this explains the rushing like morons: they could rush the player in the original as well, but at least they noticed him, shot a few times, and carefully retreated, while observing the player's position. Now, they rush at you, take 5 seconds to realize you exist there (while profusely aiming at your location), fire some shots at you, take 5 steps back, and repeat this process.