S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Prypiat - Enhanced Edition Review Summary

Significantly improved graphics and visuals: The game features significantly improved graphics, including better lighting, textures, water effects, and skyboxes, enhancing the overall visual experience and immersion. The draw distance for grass and foliage has also been dramatically improved. These enhancements contribute to a more visually appealing and atmospheric game world.

Achievements and Steam Workshop added: The addition of Steam Achievements and Steam Workshop support enhances the game's replayability and modding capabilities. Achievements provide a sense of progression and encourage multiple playthroughs, while Steam Workshop centralizes modding content and eliminates the need for external websites.

General positive sentiments: Many reviewers express general enjoyment and appreciation for the game, praising its atmosphere, plot, characters, and overall experience. However, these points lack specific details and actionable feedback.

Improved stability and performance: The Enhanced Edition features a more stable and optimized foundation, resolving performance issues like stuttering and crashes. It also includes modern features like DirectX 12 and improved memory management, resulting in a smoother and more enjoyable gameplay experience.

Native controller support added: The game now features native controller support, including DualSense features like adaptive triggers. This addition enhances the player experience, providing a more intuitive and accessible way to play the game.

Blurry, unoptimized graphics: The updated graphics are a significant disappointment. Many reviewers describe the visuals as blurry, pixelated, and even worse than the original game, even on high settings. Poor FSR implementation and excessive use of blur effects are frequently cited as causes.

Inconsistent/removed voice acting: The game has inconsistent voice acting, with characters switching between languages mid-conversation. The removal of Russian voice acting, a key part of the original's identity, is a major point of criticism. This creates a jarring and immersion-breaking experience.

Cut content, questionable changes: Reviewers feel that content has been cut or altered in the enhanced edition. Some elements feel out of place, and the game is considered inferior to community-made mods. This suggests a lack of care in the remastering process.

Awkward dialogue interface: The dialogue interface has been changed, removing the ability to use number keys for selection. Reviewers find the new W/S controls awkward and prefer the original number-based system. This change, along with console-like hints, detracts from the PC experience.

New bugs, poor optimization: The remaster introduces new bugs not present in the original game and suffers from poor optimization. Many reviewers feel the remaster is of very poor quality and should not have been released in its current state. This indicates a lack of polish and attention to detail.

Engaging quests, improved world design: Call of Pripyat features quest-heavy gameplay with choices and consequences, improved features, and three large, interesting locations. The game focuses on quality over quantity in its world design, offering a richer experience.

Minor cosmetic/UI additions: The remaster includes music during combat, a rotating PM pistol during loading screens, and Xbox button prompts in the menu. These are minor cosmetic and UI changes.

Suggests UI and loot improvements: Reviewers suggest improvements to loot drops from mutants and the clarity/detail of the map and UI. These changes could enhance the player experience.

Gameplay remains unchanged: The gameplay remains unchanged from the original, offering a vanilla experience without mods. This may appeal to purists but could disappoint those seeking new content.

Minor visual oddities: Reviewers noted odd visual effects during an emission event and questioned the appearance of a character's face during a tremor. These points are very specific and may be isolated incidents.

Performance significantly worse than original: The Enhanced Edition suffers from significant performance degradation compared to the original, with lower frame rates and increased power consumption, especially on lower-end hardware like the Steam Deck. Many players report frame rate drops and stutters even on high-end systems, indicating poor optimization. Disabling new features sometimes restores performance.

Linux compatibility issues: The game initially had issues running on Linux with Proton, requiring a specific launch option to function correctly. This indicates potential compatibility problems with certain systems.

Whistling sound in menu: Some players have reported a whistling sound when opening the menu. This is a minor issue, but it can be annoying.

Inventory lag during trading: Players are reporting lag when trading with NPCs after playing for a few hours. This issue specifically affects inventory management and can cause delays of 1-2 seconds.

Introduces new bugs: The game introduces new bugs. This point is vague, but it is still important to note that the game is not bug-free.

Needs significant fixes/patches: Several reviewers express disappointment with the current state of the enhanced edition, citing technical issues, poor performance, and a lack of polish. They suggest waiting for patches, fixes, or substantial updates before playing, as the game is currently not worth the money or attention. Some reviewers are willing to change their review if the developers address the issues.

Original games + mods preferred: Many reviewers recommend sticking with the original STALKER games and using mods instead of purchasing or playing the enhanced edition. They cite a lack of significant improvements, the introduction of new flaws, and the existence of superior community-made content. Some reviewers feel the enhanced edition is a downgrade or a waste of money, while others suggest it may be an attempt to capitalize on the Stalker IP before Stalker 2 releases.

Good for newcomers/ revisiting: Some reviewers recommend the enhanced edition, particularly for newcomers to the series or those wanting to revisit the games on a big screen with a gamepad. They find it to be a worthwhile experience, especially Call of Pripyat, and a good fit for portable play on Steam Deck. However, this sentiment is less prevalent than the negative feedback.

Unreliable/exaggerated reviews exist: Some reviews contain extreme scores (positive or negative) without providing constructive feedback or specific details. These reviews often use hyperbolic language and may be influenced by external factors such as review bombing or cultural biases. Therefore, they are not reliable indicators of the game's quality.

Future content expectations: The game is expected to have new weapon models, additional firearms, optimization, animation improvements, enhanced graphics, a better interface, and new quests in the future.

Free for original owners: The Enhanced Edition was provided for free to owners of the original game. Some reviewers speculate that those who didn't own the original might be unhappy about having to purchase the enhanced version.

Updated energy drink texture: A minor detail is the change of the energy drink's icon and texture to a more modern brand. This is a very specific and minor change.

Unskippable license agreement: The game persistently displays the license agreement, which cannot be skipped. This is a minor annoyance that detracts from the user experience.

Inconsistent language in textures: The game contains handwritten inscriptions in Russian within the textures, which the reviewer finds inconsistent with the primarily Ukrainian-speaking characters in the game world. This is a minor detail that may affect immersion for some players.

Backport from console release: The Enhanced Editions are backports to PC from the console release 'Legends of the Zone'. This provides context for the scope and nature of the enhancements.