Was going to play Avowed after finishing Nine Sols, but realized there was an older first person game still sitting on my computer: Stalker 2. Gotta say, the patches have improved things considerably. No more slideshow except for one instance after advancing the story in the second major "town" but it was only one time and stopped on subsequent visits. Enemy intelligence seems improved too, stealth works a little better and enemies aren't spotting me from 3 miles away anymore. Finding artifacts seems to be improved as well, don't have instances of standing right on the thing without it showing up. I did have one instance with the artifact that spawns a bunch of fake clones and hits you with psy effects where the actual one spawned in one of the rocks, but from what I read I should be able to go back later and get it.
Games a lot of fun if you're into this sort of thing. It's brutal, danger's always around the corner, and it's real easy to die. That being said, at least with human enemies, it's real easy to kill too. A well placed headshot's going to do what it should typically. Helmets might save them the first round or two, but not much after that. May get harder later on, not sure. I'm currently exploring the eastern regions of the map. I play this just like Fallout; pick a direction, go check stuff out. Loot way too much and then hobble my way back to a shop. Maybe hit a story beat or a side quest along the way.
