Stalker has a reputation for being the Fallout for cool hardcore gamers, but this perception may be part of why the game is considered so niche in the first place. Starting up Stalker and expecting to dive into the loop of exploration, combat, and gathering will leave you feeling disappointed in all three respects. In Stalker, these pillars of open world shooting have all been designed to convey the harshness of the irradiated zone, rather than to provide a traditionally enjoyable experience. The best example of this is how looting enemies for weapons, something that’s a no-brainer in other rpg’s, is almost pointless. Life is cheap in the zone, guns are everywhere, not having one at hand means you’re probably already dead. That’s great from a worldbuilding perspective, but it goes against the open-world standards to a degree that anyone trying to play with those assumptions is going to have a bad time. This is why fans of it, including myself, will say that you should play Stalker and enjoy it specifically for the ways it alienates you. The resulting atmosphere is worth it.

Note: Appreciating some clunkiness does not mean appreciating bugs. I recommend installing the Zone Reclamation Project (ZRP) mod, as it is the lightest-touch bug fixing mod out there.