I was very confused. Anomaly is cool I guess as its own thing. Its not...terrible. but its not stalker at all. It BUTCHERS the lore and makes some factions into literal jokes, like the freedom faction who are turned into goofy caricatures of hippies that smoke weed. I mean, cmon. And it seeeeeemssss from researching the franchise after I fell in love, there used to be a lot of posts calling out anomaly...even posts complaining about people complaining about anomaly.
but it seems youtubers and 2s rough launch, convinced people that anomaly is the definitive game. Now again, like whatever you want. But the idea that anomaly is the defintive stalker, or even a better stalker game than 2, is absurd frankly.
The gameplay is far more like tarkov than it ever is stalker. It feels nothing like stalker to play. And its TWISTED people's ideas if ehat stalker actually plays like. YEAH some enemies in stalker are tanks as fuck unless you're using the right ammo, have the right upgrades, ans the right gun for the job. Anomaly its just, bullets kill and bullets kill fast cause thats realistic... ignoring that this is a game, and stalker never tried to be a realistic sim shooter.
Theres always been a lot of attention to detail as far as weapons on the stalker franchise. But that does not inherently translate to crazy realism in gunplay. I see the "realistic guns but it takes a bazillion shots to kill a bandit". Even though 90 percent of human enemies die to a headshot, maybe 2 if they have a good helmet on. Again, nothing is super bullet spongey but thr strongest of mutants and people with exo skeletons. And only when you are using shit gear. YEAH blood auckers will be a nightmare with skifs pistol and some broken aks. But not super far into the game can you take 3 of them at once without having to worry.
A life. I dont think the vast majority know what a life even is. Its a FANCY way of saying their npc scheduling system, a version of what bethesda uses or the new assasins creed games surprisingly the new ac games, at least odyssey and shadows, have full npc schedules that are really good. But thats REALLY all it is. Npcs going about their business on thier own. a life is just marketing. Its a marketing term. A life 2.0 could be better, 100 percent, and should be. But it was never this super complicated thing in the first place.
In the stalker games, other factions and stalkers fight each other, they loot corpses, tney light fires and tell stories to each other and play instruments. They attack you depending on your alliances. Sometimes there's a little baby quest event thing...and at all times, the game is simulating all this in the background. thats basically the gist..most of it is stuff you dont even see.
The idea is to make the world feel more alive and dynamic even if not much is actually happening. and its always been janky and buggy as hell. In every single game it was janky. All 4 now.
For the people in the back. Stalker is not a hardcore tactical shooter. Its not. It never has been. Its MUCH MUCH closer to a resident evil game, than it is any tactical shooter....
This is not ready or not. This is not tarkov. This is not day z. And stalker is not anomaly. Anomaly is a fan made game, inspired by the stalker franchise, but it is not truly one of them. The cooking system and upgrade system in anomaly are baffling. And tedious as hell. If you like more survival focused games maybe you'll be into that, snd thats fine. But again, its not ehat stalker is as a franchise.
As my final note. The story is atrocious in anomaly. It really is bad. stalker 2s makes it look that much worse. Stalker 2 has the best story telling innthe franchise. And is on its own, story telling worthy of the upmost praise. That just gets complerely overlooked because, omg look how realistic anomaly is guys, and look how unrealistic stalker 2 is! Stalker 2 is so bad, right guys? Not realistic at all. Comments like that is ehat made me make that post .
And before fellow new fans come at me, the consensus on this sub BEFORE stalker 2 was not kind at alllll to anomaly and was SIGNIFICANTLY more critical of anomaly than they are today... almost like some people just wanted more ammo, pun intended, agaisnt stalker 2.... hmmmmmmm. Interesting. My theory is a lot of these people have never even played the orginal trilogy and stalker 2 was just another punching bag. Especially considering, been an xbox console exclusive which universally get online hate no matter what, and russia...
It just doesnt even feel like stalker. The world doesnt even feel like stalker. The vibe is all wrong. Its just a clunky tactical shooter with a bunch of stalker assets shoved in and a bizzare attempt at lore building that falls beyond flat.
