So, yesterday I finished the game. My heroine reached level 40 (started on level 22, transferred from the previous game). The campaign took me about 37 hours and I took my time.
Some thoughts:
ATOM: Trudograd is an immense improvement in most areas compared to the original ATOM. The world is smaller, but more fleshed out. The writing is better and while you'll still find plenty of talkative characters and walking memes, it's not as exhausting as before. The story also seems more interesting - instead of fighting a sentient mushroom this time we're on a search for a piece of prewar technology that might prove vital for the survival of the post-nuclear world - and a professor who might possess critical knowledge about the workings of this tech. It's an interesting detective story in which you search for clues, interrogate witnesses, sometimes even engage in a risky side-gig in hope of receiving valuable intel. The second plotline concerns the political conflict and class struggle in the titular city of Trudograd which will force you to pick sides (and one of the mutually exclusive main questlines). The third plotline is a tale of doom looming over Trudograd, a doom that might make your mission harder. It provides certain sense of (ultimately fake) urgency. Of course, there is also a multitude of sidequests that lead you to different parts of the city and also beyond its impressive walls. Like in the previous game you'll explore Soviet bunkers, mutant-infested caves, and mysterious underground complexes, but this time you'll be also sailing the high seas - some of the missions take your party of adventurers to the pirate islands and an old Soviet freighter. Also, there are tons of completely optional content you will most likely miss on your first or even second playthrough, gated behind weird skill and stat requirements or specific decisions you may, but are not forced to take. Besides, there is a fun card game called bombagun that you can play with some NPCs and even become a grandmaster. It's not as engaging as Gwent, but still pretty enjoyable. Plus, the actual, majestic Soviet power armor. Powered by Diesel and producing lots of fumes. All this is supported by much-improved visuals (the game looks better than Wasteland 3, which should not be possible, taking their respective budgets into consideration) and beautiful, melancholic music.
However, despite being satisfied by the game and happy with my purchase, I have some criticisms to make:
Difficulty - provided that you may create a new character on level 15 or transfer the one you completed the previous game with (sometimes much more robust) Trudograd must have been quite difficult to balance. Despite playing the game on the second-highest, Expert level (I don't like permadeath and too harsh limits on saving, which come with the highest level) my playthrough was pretty easy for 95% of the time. Few combat encounters presented a real challenge, even fewer after I acquired the power armor, which felt a little bit like god-mode. My PC has easily beaten most skill checks and stat checks, although there were a few that required raising skills into high 200s. Most of the time I felt little need for enhancing my skills with alcohol and drugs and didn't have to ask the aid of the party members (who can also pass some skill checks). The final battle might have been a bit more demanding, but it was also completely avoidable for a character with an intellect of 10 and a speechcraft of 299. Actually, after completing the game I loaded my last save game and decided to fight it out with the end boss and his band of henchmen. It has also proven to be piss easy. I won on my first try, without any casualty on my side. The first ATOM game and least provided some genuinely difficult battles, especially in the old bunkers. Here the only challenging combat was waged during a sidequest. And it also could be trivialized if you complete it in a power armor.
After level 30 character building becomes pretty meaningless. My PC became an awe-inspiring talker, a murderous sharpshooter, a brilliant technician, an excellent picker of locks... but also a skilled engineer, a crafty gambler and a decent pickpocket. Basically, I managed to build a post-apocalyptic Mary Sue. In the end I really did not know where to invest these hundreds of skill points. On the other hand, the redesigned Perk system offered me interesting choices until level 40. Not that I really needed them though.
Economy & itemization - an issue connected with difficulty. The itemization is really weird. For 90% of the game, my character used the automatic rifle she got upon transfer from the original ATOM: the AKMS. In the late game she also used Vintorez and a special machine gun installed on her power armor, but quickly run out of ammo for this one and during the final battle returned to good old AKMS. So basically she murdered the end boss with a starting weapon. Even weirder, the most damage in the party was dealt by a follower using a GR-121 Auto Pistol, a regular pistol that could shoot bursts. It was typical for my party member to exterminate 2-3 enemies during her turn, while my PC struggled to kill one or two from her obviously superior weapon. It seems like the itemization was not much improved compared to the original game so there are few new toys to play with (except for the special weapons installed on the power armor).
It's also very easy to completely break the economy. If you explore the world diligently and regularly sell the accumulated spoils of war to numerous merchants, soon you'll be swimming in cash. It's especially jarring in the first hours of the game where you simply don't know what to do with another thousand rubles. Or three thousand. By mid-game you find a money-sink in the power armor - first you have to purchase it for a large amount of cash, then pay some more for upgrades and additional elements. However, after I maxed out the armor (and got the proper achievement) there was simply nothing more to spend my hard-earned rubles. I accumulated tons of ammo, drugs and medical supplies, emptied the inventories of every gun merchant and medicine dealer in Trudograd, and still ended the game with over 80 000 rubles.
The end game is also quite disappointing. For most of the campaign, you try to gain access to the upper Trudograd - the mysterious Seventh Heaven, place where the ruling elite dwells. However, when you finally reach the place, it neither feels rewarding nor gives access to much new content. The foreshadowed Northern Invasion also fails to impress and you never get to fight the mastermind behind it all - the mysterious and legendary Syoma Voronov. The best you can do is kill his second in command. It's a major letdown. It's a pity, because I feel that if the ATOM team would put some more work into the endgame the payoff might have been much better.
Despite all these faults the game as a whole is a very enjoyable adventure with a distinct tone and atmosphere. It's obvious lots of love went into the creation of Trudograd - as it was with the previous game. And it's very easy to love the game in return. I sincerely hope the devs manage to create ATOM 2. But I also hope that this time we will play as a fresh character that's neither Mary Sue nor Gary Stu of the Soviet Wasteland.
