I'm not going to tell you the mechanics of 'Cost of Hope'. I'm not going to tell you the levels, or the story beats.
This is less a review, and more an after-action 'vibe' report. So if you want an actual review, skim past this.
For better or worse, melodramatic or not, i'm going to tell you how it made me feel.
And, to cut it as short as possible - it made me feel inconsequential.
As seems to be thematically on-point for the Zone as I understand it.
By default, I am the type of person who wants people to get along, who understands that two opposing ideologies can, sometimes, reach a common ground that benefits them both for the common good even if it bends the thesis of each faction a little.
'Cost of Hope' seems to use this idea to batter you over the head with one consistent idea; the Zone doesn't care which side you're on, so long as it can use your human idealism and instinct to 'other' yourself from your peers to divide you and conquer you to protect itself and its machinations.
Initially, it gives you a glimpse of what rationality and compromise offers; Duty and Freedom working together, an almost perfect combined force that complements each other as if purpose-made to do so, the DLC seems to make some effort to highlight this.
And then it rips that concept of comradery and coexistence from you, the outcome a seemingly foregone conclusion due to 'differing ideals'. But that isn't really the idea Cost of Hope is trying to get across, I personally think.
For all their talk, the two main figureheads of each faction do not hate each other, they just have differing ideals that at a glance seem reasonable, but are individually objectionable enough that counter-arguments and movements are not only expected, but inevitable.
The certainty in their ideals, and the unwillingness to compromise, equate to the real loss. The real 'Cost of Hope'.
No matter whether you are a Dutyer, a Freedomer, or a Loner. You can understand why each faction wants what it wants. You might side with one more than the other, but if you really take the time to think about it, you can empathize with the 'opposition', and even regard them as misguided, not evil.
And yet, due to circumstances out of your individual control, you will have to pick a side. There is no happy middle ground in the Zone. The stakes are too high for that, no matter your reputation, no matter your background.
Hate the Zone for its dangers, or love it for its potential, it will force you to pick a side.
And any such side only results in fighting your fellow human at the end of the day.
For this reason, I believe this phenomenon is both a sad reality of the human condition, and a realistic pressure point for the Zone to exert pressure upon to protect itself, an insight it has gleaned, intelligently or intuitively, from its dealings with us.
We are at the end of a day a highly tribal species, and it is demonstrably easy to sway us to 'other' our fellow human beings on the most mundane of subjects, be it skin color, place of birth, belief system, or otherwise.
If 'Cost of Hope' gave me any specific vibe, it was that we are all ultimately rats trying to navigate a purposefully confusing rat warren. One that pits us against each other while the true enemy, the Zone itself, strives to persevere and propagate for as long as it can.
So, I regret every Freedomer, every Dutyer, every Warden and Sparker, every Loner, Merc, and Bandit I find myself killing. Because ultimately all those deaths serve to benefit is the Zone. Only the Zone. No matter our ideals, our reasons.
So, at the risk of coming across as a sap.. be compassionate Stalkers, but never naive.
Love your friends, and respect your enemies. The Zone cares for neither.
It understands the concept of love, of respect, even less than we do.
Then again, what do I really know, I'm just another stalker wandering the desolate, dangerous fields seeking meaning where there may very well be none. So take my musings with several large tablespoons of salt, since that's all they're really worth.
For those who stuck around for my rambling, I would highly recommend this DLC.
It is not perfect, but GSC has put some genuine effort into this offering, and it shows.
The story, the characters, the locations, the pacing - it all feels very good to me personally as someone who is fairly critical of these aspects in videogames, nothing feels specifically 'wrong' or out of place, outside of some minor hiccups with wonky collisions in parkour segments.
I think it is worth your money as it was worth mine, and that is all I will say on it.
Good luck, stalker.
