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Initial release date: September 5, 2024
Platforms: Xbox Series X and Series S, GeForce Now, Microsoft Windows
Developer: GSC Game World
Genres: First-person shooter, Survival horror, Action-adventure game
Engine: Unreal Engine 5, X-Ray Engine
Composer: Yaroslav Odrin
License: proprietary license
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- My review is for the Day 1 version
- Lots of bugs and glitches
- Not that janky from a gameplay perspective
- More impactful choices than most western RPGs I played this year
- Played it on Xbox Series X
- Well over 100GB install
- Great visuals
- Depressing, bleak stressful open world
- Great variety in enemies and monsters
- Love looting and customizing
- Skif was whatever
- Enjoyed a few NPCs
- Great gameplay loops and mission variety
- I did the full campaign with a lot of side content
- Made well over 300 gameplay videos
- Some of the BEST atmosphere in any video game
- Difficult game in spades. Played on Normal and Easy for the gameplay videos
- Can be a full on survival game on the hardest difficulty
- Story is decent with in-game choices being the main story catalyst
- Weapon variety was decent
- Three true endings
- Great enemy variety
Introduction
My experience with STALKER revolves around all of the mainline games excluding the mobile game. So Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat. Thinking back these games came out around the time of Crysis which transformed PC gaming from a visual standpoint.
Anyhoo, STALKER as a whole is a open world survival game centered around the “Zone” a metaphysical transformative anomaly mass in-between Ukraine and Belarus. Despite the jank and difficulty I always liked STALKER as an idea and thought the older games were good not great. STALKER 2 Video Playlist
Presentation
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl on launch had MANY issues from enemies always spawning behind me, to crashes, bugs, mission bugs, glitches you name it. This game also had taken up around 140GB space on my hardrive. And the fucking updates my lord lets not go there.
With all of the above I still loved playing STALKER 2 due to it’s atmosphere, The Zone’s survival gameplay and story driven choices which could lead to three separate endings. For reference I played this via Gamepass on my Xbox Series X.
Story
You play as a random ex-military man turned STALKER named Skif who returns to find his home destroyed by an anomaly. Skif takes the artifact left behind and the game starts.
What impressed me was how STALKER 2 used choice driven dialogue between factions creating a solid story that revolves around Skif. I enjoyed STALKER 2’s gritty writing and voice acting. This game doesn’t want you to feel safe when you talk to NPCs or whoever.
Gameplay
Open world survival gameplay is at the crux of this game. The Zone is the star of STALKER 2. I loved how dangerous the Zone felt throughout it’s day and night cycles. I enjoyed battling humans as well mutants especially the Burer, Controller and Poltergeist.
Amazing atmosphere is engrained within STALKER 2’s gameplay whether it’s exploring, finding stashes or battling mutants. Weapons degrade over time which wasn’t a problem as you can collect special weapons and suits that last much longer.
Visuals | Art
STALKER 2’s overall aesthetic was gritty, depressing and many times beautiful. There’s vast variety within the zone from swamps, cityscapes, sterile science facilities like SIRCAA that shows off what the engine can do.
Sound | Music
The music and voice acting were decent and added to the game’s overall atmosphere. When the sound design worked it really worked from anomaly emission storms to your scanner beeping. One thing I thought that was weird was how many different accents were used by people in the zone.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl: A long time coming but worth it even with all of the bugs and glitches. Atmosphere is unmatched in this story driven first person shooter. – Jason
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