Ok, here is my take on it. I purchased the game and started playing. My character got bad skills and such, my fault for not looking up. (So my main character was blind as a bat...) Let's say the 1st run was more difficult than me playing it trough the 2nd time.
The game has an extremely strong Fallout 2 vibe, which is excellent. They just fixed things that were annoying in the old Fallout games, but they kept everything that was good in those old games. So, the gameplay is great, the fight, the dynamics of the game. Guns, ammo, armor, stabbing, and throwing weapons. A lot of them... All kind of items. Jokes, funny stories, strange, but likable characters. Some parts of the story got a little bit confusing, but still, all were great. Since there are Russian names, Russian town names, sometimes you have to look up things. Russian history, but I know the basics, also I know about communism, socialism, the eastern block, etc. I was born and raised in a country that was part of it.
I'm not Russian though, so at first, I was worrying, but I got the references, like 99% of the time. Lenin, Stalin, Comrades, etc, etc.
The main mission is great, and the side missions too. There is a large map, but you can even cross "the water" to get to an island too. That one is also pretty large. Plenty of quests, so many characters, some of the quests are complex, at other times it's something simple, like killing a large rat.
The companions are fun, the NPCs are funny or cool. The battles are challenging, but not impossible.
It didn't take me too much time to fall in love with this game. I did play Wasteland 2, I liked that game too, but maybe I liked this one even more. Not to mention the price. 60 bucks? Nope. Only a few bucks for a new game. If you get into it, you get hundreds of hours of gameplay and it's affordable too.
I also really like the team of developers. Unlike the Danish team that made Jagged Flashback (they made a 4 hours mediocre game, full of bugs and they disappeared later), this Russian team did put their soul and heart in this game. Obviously they are a huge fan of the original Fallout games and they wanted to make something very similar. I guess they don't approve Bethesday's way, and the game has a reference in it. ( lol ) These guys are also kept updating, bug fixing, upgrading the game, they created new content for it too, not to mention that they are working on a large DLC. They don't abandon their creation and the fanbase. In fact, they are listening to the fanbase. They are posting on FB, they are reading the comments, they reply sometimes, etc. If someone is asking for something, they often fulfill the request.
Let's say, I can't wait for the DLC. I guess they are going to ask $5 for it, maybe $10, but I'm sure the content is going to be superior. They are not rushing it, they are taking their time to make it best as possible before the release.
I think if you are a fan of Fallout 1-2/Wasteland 2, you are going to like this one.
