So, let me start off by saying that I love the S.T.A.L.K.E.R Series. This is what lead to me giving this game my $10. The atmosphere of the game is good, not great, but I like it enough to preface it. The gun-play feels solid, lowish recoil and high damage as a gun should be. It is the ultimate equalizer after all. The game features a low but diverse cast of weapons like the AK74M, the AKS-74U, the 9x18 Makarov, a strange looking shotgun that reminds me of a Winchester Model 1200, I believe a Mosin-Nagant as I found 7.62x54r ammo on a soldier but haven't actually seen the rifle, and finally a crowbar. (And to the people that will comment saying "It'S aN aK, iT hAs HiGh ReCoIl", both variations of the AK Platform in this game run off of 5.45x39 ammunition, which is functionally similar to the 5.56 NATO cartridge, resulting in similar recoil. So get f*cked nerd)
This is a survival game, so what about needs? You have 4 distinct bars. Health, Cold, Food, and Water. Obviously if your health hits zero, you die. Med-kits are craftable and can be retrieved from dead enemies. This is where the functionality of this game comes back to bite it. Cold, food, and water are non functional. If these hit zero, no harm done. Just keep walking through the game. Though this system is clearly being worked on with the abundance of animals I had found.
This is where my gripes with the game come out. The combat is laughably easy. Zombies are not attracted to noise in any capacity, but rather react via proximity. The soldiers are another joke, as they exist to just scream and then die. They can damage you, but they might as well be using airsoft guns. These two enemies basically just exist to fill up your inventory with unnecessary garbage. Not to mention the health pool for both enemies are basically the same. 2 shots to the body (Three sometimes) and you have free loot. Now as previously stated, three out of four bars don't work. A little irritating because I spent my first 20 minutes building a fire and hunting for food and water. Smaller issue, there's a Huey that flies around and just exists to make noise. Can't damage it, can't damage you. I hope this serves as some kind of "Stay On Your Toes" type of thing in any future updates. THE SHOTGUN. My god, it is laughably bad. Anybody who has used a shotgun knows that you can reliably hit a target with buckshot out to about 60~ meters. That is not reflected in game at all. You basically have to walk up and put the barrel in the enemies mouth to kill. Past about 5-6 meters you might as well be using the crowbar, it has better range. Finally, the day/Night Cycle. The days are a bit too bright, while the nights are pitch black. A bit overdone, but can be fixed with a small tweak.
I know it seems like I talked a lot of smack, but I do really like this game. This game has DayZ Syndrome. EXCELLENT concept, but poor execution. I am aware it's early access and that they have a VERY limited staff, one person if I recall, but this game has real potential. Is it worth buying RIGHT NOW? No. But it's worth the $10 to me to see a little bit of growth in the future.
Update: It has been 2 1/2 YEARS since there was any change made to Dawn Wander. I pop in from time to time to check on the progress of my $10 "investment" only to find that nothing has changed. I understand that game design isn't easy, but if you can't put out a meaningful update in 28 months on your Unity Shovelware game, then it's time to pull the plug and stop accepting purchases. If you come across this game, save your money. It's not worth it.
