Really enjoyed this game, the story was pretty confusing at first caused me to go to some false endings not knowing what I'm doing but that's fine because it's not meant to be straight-forward, however along side the mind provoking story (which I'm not going to talk about it or spoil it here) what makes the game entertaining and enjoyable in my opinion is it's gameplay and atmosphere.
Gameplay
I'll be probably lying if I say I've seen anything like this before, at least as long as I can remember.
it's an Tactical FPS so you have to be very precise about where you shoot and when to react, always care about their fire rates, damage, accuracy, handling and be ready for some miss shoots now and then.
but that's not all the game can also be known as a Survival-Horror which means for example in the middle of intense combats you should constantly loot the bodies of the troops you kill for some extra ammo or bondage and First Aids otherwise you'll have to continue with a low Health Condition and fight with a simple Pistol or knife that is going to make the combats even harder. (enemies can die with one headshot but so you do/ knife attacks kill the opponent with one stab.) You only can carry 50 Kg (Unless you are using an Armor like Exoskeleton which won't be given to you in the start of the game and will stop you from being able to sprint which is a turn down) of Items with you and will have to manage your inventory with a balanced amount of ammo and Healing Items.
the gameplay is also heavily inspired by RPGs, is open world, and Oh... what a world we'll get more to that in the atmosphere section but it's world is to a surprise full of soul and very lively unlike what you expect from in apocalyptic game but it fits in very well with NPCs always being in an event/fight/playing music and chilling etc. you can choose to be part of factions and fight the other one which will effect the game world or stay neutral and go on your own way, you can also attack other loners (your first faction), go on a few paths that lead you to some false endings and choose what to do in the last moments of the game, so the choice is pretty much yours.
Atmosphere
this is an apocalyptic piece of art so the opportunity and potential is there, fortunately the creators used it and did a stunning job. from the beginning you feel that this place is unsafe from the sounds that your detector when you get near to anomalies and other dangers and the sound effects keep holding you on your toes weather it's a slight movement from an enemy nearby the just something falling designed to creep you out. Visually you can feel the atmosphere in how levels are designed to show that this zone is collapsed, from the broken cars in the middle of the streets, dogs and mutants eating dead corpses in the distance, abandoned and derelict buildings that you can go inside and search them, mattresses in back of the big cars and so many other little details the sells you the Idea of an apocalyptic city. this game is not scared of using and playing with Visual Distortions to keep the players freaked out in a mission when you want to get close to a place called Brain scorcher the Visuals go crazy, I'm not going to spoil it for you but it will transfer the right feeling to you. one other thing that I really enjoyed was the genius use of music, if a relaxing or catchy songs plays out of nowhere it will definitely makes you feel weird because it's unexpected but there is a way to use some relaxing music to give players a break. do you remember how you felt really safe in the resident evil saving rooms ? well it's not the same but is similar, when you go to Sidorovich's place you'll hear a catchy and cool song playing from his radio or the same goes with the song in the Barkeeps Place, it really adds to the feel that there are people living there in these areas.
Overall this game is a really interesting experience which for me I didn't expect it to be like this so I'm walking out surprised and happy.