(v.1.1.3)
First of all S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is what we have wished, hoped and some of us even prayed for. And btw, it also delivered a distinct better "gold" status condition on release, than all its predecessors! The overall very dense atmosphere is simply put, fantastic! The world, story, quests, exploration, player-freedom and visuals are top notch (screenshots). As well as the immersive sound when a dolby atmos licence is provided. Also the weapon handling is well-made, although it is no EFT. The game's difficulty is challenging as it should be and definitely not too hard, but NPCs should behave more dynamically in general. And regarding long-term, the sometimes very predictable NPC behaviour even leads to a less dense atmosphere. But the real big flaw for me is the overall missing survival aspect in the zone. There are lots of resources (medkits, food, energy drinks, etc.) in the zone!?, and loot in general should be way more varied and some rare times even precious! Additionally I've not come along rotten carcasses, with ravens picking on it for example. And where-the-f&$% are the shadows of my lighter?! This is kinda essential for a dense atmosphere shooter. But don't get me wrong, the game is uncanny and creepy in so many ways and delivers a very tense atmosphere - you definitely should experience!

The Forever Winter is definitely unfinished and edgy (enemy detection, path-finding, ...), still I was very pleased by the actual state and especially that TFW fullfils what the devs have promoted! But also as the devs have openly communicated, you should only get it if you want to support the game development. I find the implementation of their concept so far fantastic and it looks very promising. The difficulty is also really hard, which is great and should not be changed, as it encourages co-op gameplay and a dense immersive atmosphere. Regarding playtime I would say you get ~50+ hours out of it right now. Neverthless I don't want to spoil the game for me, as we dont know how dynamic the gameplay will become in the future, so I will let it cure/progress for ~12 months. The online co-op performance was always very smooth and I had no lags or rubber banding at all. Also to note is when the host/leader starts a game it takes ~30 seconds to start! And there are already some innovations as well as quality of life features other looter-shooter 'beta' titles seem not to bother much. Regarding the controversly discussed water-mechanic, I would simply recommend to give it some time... lots of stuff will be added, changed and tweaked over the next months. And last but not least Fun Dog Studios deserve some big credits for making this come (a)live.
?!? Wishes For long term fun and to be more than just another looter-shooter, TFW needs:

• dynamic generated map-layouts (or even procedurale)
  
• dynamic NPC/AI war-path scripting (or even procedurale)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2izSjSXoq8