Stalcraft is basically the perfect game, but you'll either love it or hate it. It's an MMOFPS with dedicated servers and large instanced areas, but those areas are divided into channels, so you'll only have a handful of other players in your area at any time, keeping the world feeling lonely but not dead. It's actually quite polished and bug free despite looking like it might be jank at aStalcraft is basically the perfect game, but you'll either love it or hate it. It's an MMOFPS with dedicated servers and large instanced areas, but those areas are divided into channels, so you'll only have a handful of other players in your area at any time, keeping the world feeling lonely but not dead. It's actually quite polished and bug free despite looking like it might be jank at a glance. It does a great job at capturing the atmosphere and gameplay of Stalker. While it sometimes has the tension of a game like Escape from Tarkov, it's not as punishing, nor is the fear of death as constant - you eventually learn where you're safe and where to stay alert. Getting to that point will mean dying a lot, but dying is just an inconvenience rather than a major setback. The game has pretty cool story missions that have RPG-esque decision making, platforming puzzles (which are sometimes infuriating but feel great when you beat them), boss battles (which are also infuriating, but, in a good way, trust me), and other interesting twists.
If you're intimidated by PvP, these are important things to note:
1. You choose a faction (Stalkers or Bandits), and therefore about half the playerbase is friendly and cannot hurt you.
2. The map is divided in a way where it's unlikely you run into hostile players most of the time. Sometimes you need to venture into enemy territory, but it's only sometimes.
3. There are "bound items" you keep on death. This includes all weapons/armor as well as some consumables. "unbound" items drop in a bag. If you die, you can run back and get your bag. Other players can loot it, so sometimes you get your stuff back, sometimes not. You don't drop money if you die. There are safe zones where you can deposit between expeditions, so you only ever risk what you got on a current outing, plus some very cheap supplies.
4. Completing events in the open world gives upgrade materials which are used for getting better weapons/armor. When you die, these upgrade materials get bundled into an item called a "lost bag", and only you can open that "lost bag". Other players can sell it back to you or discard it. This means everyone has to farm their own upgrade materials, and if someone kills you in PvP, they can basically put a price on the progression you made since you last deposited at a safe zone. Sometimes players will just send your back bag to you. This system basically means PvP is something players do for their own survival rather than as a means to progress, which keeps the amount of toxic murdering fairly low, and it means dying with some loot isn't always as painful.
Some info on the PvE
1. Group play is never required. Having a friend can be convenient but it's also more rewarding to complete events in the open world solo, so being a lone wolf isn't necessarily worse than grouping up.
2. Currently there isn't anything resembling dungeons or raids, but I think they might be added sometime soon.
3. There isn't a huge variety of enemies or game mechanics but the enemies that are there are interesting enough that I don't mind. In a lot of RPG-ish shooter games, the enemies feel like bullet sponges, but in this game they're relatively easy to kill but have a different mix of health pools, movement patterns, and lethality that mean you're best off using different weapons, evasive maneuvers, or use of cover when fighting any of them. Mutant dogs? They're faster than me, so a pistol works best since I can reload it quickly and scare off most of the pack by firing more often than with a rifle. Bloodsuckers? They're a bit slower and tankier, so kite them and use a shotgun. Enemy soldiers? They're too accurate to run up on, so long range assault rifle, get a kill and reload behind cover. Little rats that nibble at my ankles? Knife will do, no reason to make extra noise.
4. The gameplay loop once the story has been completed is basically just completing open world events for upgrade materials, banking them, and upgrading your weapons and armor. Once you have all the best-in-slot weapons/armor you want, there isn't much else to do at the moment, but I anticipate this will change or at least take longer to do in the near future. It will take quite a long time just to do that. If you're not a grinder, you might find this boring/repetitive.
Overall, the game is really well designed and I feel it's successful in being the kind of game it wants to be, a grindy, slightly tense, very atmospheric MMOFPS. I'm not a big fan of the minecraft art style but I've learned to look past it. My only complaint is the lack of aspirational content that would require the very best gear, but to my knowledge this is coming soon, and I'm not maxed out or anything, so, I'm not too worried about it.… Expand
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