Stalker 2 is hard for all the wrong reasons

After pumping ~25h into the game at this point I can fairly say I'm getting very annoyed at the difficulty of the game and how it presents itself.

The thing about difficulty in the older games were - everything did more damage, including you. That meant you would have to carefully plan out any kind of attack you want to make - or sometimes even avoid a fight at all cost.

That system meant playing on the hardest difficulty was the true stalker way, where you were really just a dude in a world that moves around not a superhero, being able to die to a random zombie 1tap if you got unlucky. Combat and positioning had more weight behind it.

When it comes to Stalker 2 I feel like they went the opposite way, the fights feel very unsatisfying and at times too easy or too hard. When it comes to Human AI i find them way too easy. The guns offer you laser precision so with a mouse and keyboard you are pretty much dominating every single Human AI. While they can't do any significat damage to you before you 1tap them. I feel like the dynamic the 1st game had is gone and combat vs Humans feels way too easy and unfun. Especially since they randomly spawn behind you - multiple times I've entered an empty camp to loot just for 6-7 AI Stalkers to spawn on a blob behind me and start shooting, it's very much immersion breaking - worst part is most of the time I dont even die because they are way too easy. I would like them to revise the damage model by doing this:

a) Decrease laser accuracy of our guns

b) Increase the AI accuracy a bit

c) Make headshots mostly lethal if you dont wear the right headgear (Think ballistic face mask/helmet that gives you a chance of surviving a headshot)

When it comes to mutant combat... this is my biggest gripe I have about this game. It's a joke and needs a total rework. The mutant combat in this game is the least fun I've had in any stalker game. Instead making mutants deadly and unique with a twist they went the bullet sponge route where a mutants purpose is just to drain your ammo and med supply. They also just randomly spawn behind you or around you????

For example I feel like bloodsuckers got a big downgrade this time around, instead of being a super scary mutant with the ability to 1-2shot you if you dont watch your back you just get a super annoying random mutant that slaps you on the ground and runs around braindead.

Another big downgrade are the dogs. In older games they kinda behaved like a pack, and if you do significant damage to them they scatter and go way, they were also "BLIND" Dogs, meaning if you make no noise they weren't really able to spot you.

Controllers are also very underwhelming now, their only purpose at this point is to ssoak up as much ammo as they can before they die. They used to be a menace, striking fear into every stalkers bones who comes across him who was unprepared. With him being able to sometimes take control of you and force you to off yourself was an amazing detail and it was true to his name. Now? yeah they walk around taking 250 of your bullets before falling while some zombies take potshots at you.

Mutants overall just got watered down and their only purpose is to be bullet sponges and nothing more.

Overall the combat feels very very bad if you ask me - either unsatisfying by the enemy AI just randomly spawning in a 15m circle around you, posing no threat at all or just being bullet sponges.

The only good thing I think they did is with the map size and the limited carry weight. This makes you consider your loadout before each run. Do you run 2 guns but less ammo for each? Do you run 1 gun with more ammo? Do you carry more meds-food or do you risk it and try & find some around? Do you stock up on everything and slow yourself down or do you travel light and use the increased stamina to your advantage?

This part of the game is very well done and I like it, I just wish the combat would be more deadly and impactful, instead with human AI where I just headshot them and be done with it within 15 seconds or if a mutant comes by I just sigh that I have to go trough this again because it's not fun at all. A single mutant fight sometimes forces me to walk all the way back to restock while fighting mutliple Human AI makes me use almost no ammo at all (headshots just 1tap everyone without having the risk of being 1tapped it makes very easy) and after that I usually end up overweight because I dont use any of my resources so i have to drop a lot of stuff.

Thank you for reading, this is just my opinion about Stalker 2 and its combat. This is supposed to be a critique for a game franchise that i adore. Leave your feedback down below, maybe some dev will read it!