I finally finished my playthrough. I think I agree with @Bateau, probably a 7 or 8 out of 10.
It’s got a ton of things to do, interesting NPCs and a sense that you make a difference in their lives, a sense of humor, and some quirky Russian weirdness. There are also some really odd balance decisions in the game, and some total joke scenarios where you had to either have been building a character to handle them or be willing to use the temporary augmentations (drugs and alcohol) to open alternative solutions. I had to do this for the last couple conflict missions; I got my ass handed to me multiple times so I had to take more peaceful approaches (which is actually my default, but I sometimes experiment with saves to see how the other paths go).
I typically don’t play long games multiple times through because I have a huge backlog calling me, but I think doing this one over again with a sniper would be more satisfying than the pistol/speech character I used this time. Combat at higher levels rewards deep specialization and investment.
I ended with three human companions but just missed getting the dog. I wish they’d have given you more opportunities to get one.
One interesting thing to me is that the game likes to do little thought experiments on you. Sometimes if you deny a reward from a quest giver, you’ll get more experience. I think I’ve seen that in some other games but only for certain quests. In this one you regularly get an option to deny payment. Also in this one, when you finish, it’s done. There’s no going back to finish any quests or knock off the guys that you found to be assholes. One guy, Tawfik Mozambique, actually disappears in the game and you never get to see him again…wonder if he’ll show up in Trudograd.
I ultimately liked it and I can see the heavy Fallout influence, but Tim Cain’s masterpiece is still the king of letting me play how I want.