chobbes can you pick classes like in original misery?
No you can't pick the original 3 Misery classes (no sniper, recon or assaulter classes).
You can only pick your starting faction (e.g. Loner, Duty, Freedom, Monolith, Ecologist, etc) and your starting location (Cordon, Bar, Yantar, etc)
You start with approx 35kg of carryweight, some rubles, a Ppsh (at least for my case), a light armor, and off you go.
Try to get a decent shotgun as soon as possible (e.g. TOZ-34), even worn or rusty variants are good enough in the beginning.
For me, my first major battle was with the Military near the bridge.
For some reason, the military assaulted the nearby bandit carpark soon after gamestart.
Very satisfying to defeat them with PPsh after many tries.
Next, I sneaked into the military base and shotgunned all of them.
You can loot all their AKs and Military armor and helmets.
I was so laden with equipment I had to stop to pause for breath every dozen or so steps on the way back to Cordon
Let me know if you need more starting tips.