In an alternate future, former Soviet scientists inadvertently created a harmful area full of mutants and unusual phenomena. It has been 15 years since we have final had an opportunity to step foot within the Zone — on this STALKER 2 evaluate, I will clarify how GSC Sport World has succeeded (and failed) at bringing this basic survival recreation into the trendy period.
STALKER 2: Coronary heart of Chornobyl is the most recent entry in a distinct segment subgenre of survival video games. As is custom, gamers tackle the position of somebody new to the enigmatic “Zone” — the area surrounding the Chornobyl Nuclear Energy Plant that reveals unusual, physics-defying “anomalies” and is crammed to the brim with lethal mutants and even deadlier males.
Stepping Into the Zone
Every STALKER recreation provides its protagonist a burning motivation to discover the Zone. Our hero “Skif” has managed to sneak in after the Zone fairly actually reached out and touched him, depositing a mysterious artifact in his condo’s laundry basket (and leaving a gap within the wall, in addition).
Skif’s naivete and inexperience with the Zone make him an ideal viewers surrogate. Neither he nor the participant actually is aware of what to anticipate, and also you’re fastidiously guided via the potential hazards you will encounter within the first hour of gameplay: unusual anomalies, lethal mutants, and cruel bandits.
There are a number of competing factions within the Zone, and your actions and decisions may make a faction fully hostile to you.
The prologue could be very a lot on rails, however the time after it represents the guts of STALKER 2 effectively — you could possibly decide to move straight to the close by city of Zalissya, you could possibly chase down some close by aspect quests, or you could possibly additionally disregard these choices completely and begin exploring the Lesser Zone area of the map by yourself.
As somebody who performed a number of the authentic STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, I used to be initially impressed by STALKER 2’s presentation. It appeared to be all the things {that a} fan of the franchise would have needed: a secure, comparatively bug-free illustration of the distinctive STALKER expertise in a contemporary engine. Sadly, that sense of surprise did not final for lengthy.
Flimsy Weapons Falling Aside
The primary main situation I observed with STALKER 2 was with its weapons. Firing a couple of dozen rounds would completely tank the situation of your firearm. The sturdiness harm to weapons and armor alike is just far too harsh, particularly with legendarily resilient weapons platforms such because the AK collection of rifles.
For example this level, one of many last story missions encompasses a working gun battle via a big underground facility. My high-quality, distinctive sniper rifle was in good situation on the outset, and it was virtually falling aside on the midway level of the mission. I needed to decide up weapons from useless enemies to have a combating probability.
Including insult to damage is the necessity to pay Technicians to take care of and restore your weapon for you. These restore prices have been frankly absurd at launch (and have since been toned down in a post-launch patch), however the sturdiness situation stays a severely annoying downside.
There is not any option to restore or keep your weapons within the discipline, both, even if Skif reveals off his capacity to expertly reassemble an AKM-74S in underneath a minute throughout an early-game cutscene. Both the sturdiness of weapons must be considerably elevated or there must be a mechanic to restore them a small quantity within the discipline.
Enemy Spawns Are a Farce
Gun points apart, I absolutely embraced the spirit of a intelligent, cautious Stalker as I explored the Zone. I might fastidiously examine my corners and sweep rooms earlier than transferring ahead, lest I be ambushed from behind. Sadly, the sport was rigged from the beginning.
The STALKER franchise was as soon as famend for its “A-Life” system of interacting NPCs. You would be trodding alongside a comparatively secure path and occur upon two teams of males in a gun battle or a gaggle of mutants attacking a lone Stalker. That occurs right here, however the best way these occasions and NPCs spawn is, frankly, atrocious.
Enemies would merely pop into existence inside my line of sight. Generally, they would seem inside a couple of meters of me! This did not all the time occur, however the recreation does a poor job of hiding random enemy spawns a lot of the time. STALKER 2’s dealing with of enemy spawns is downright clumsy.
That is particularly irritating in confined areas. In a single aspect mission, I went right into a junkyard maze of crushed automobiles. I activated a aspect goal and was instantly set upon by two teams of bandits, though I had checked all approaches and there was nobody in sight. It shattered my suspension of disbelief then and there.
Factional Friction
As with earlier STALKER video games, STALKER 2 requires you to make decisions that can have an effect on the world round you and, in the end, which ending you get. There are a number of competing factions within the Zone, and your actions and decisions may make a faction fully hostile to you. None of that is communicated as clearly appropriately.
For instance, some main decisions are offered to the participant with a novel interface displaying a selection on both aspect. Every selection reveals a selected image, however there isn’t a simple option to know which faction these symbols characterize or what the consequences of your actions are on the world, neither is there any option to see your total standing with a faction.
These identical symbols are proven on the foremost bases (that’s to say, cities) on the map. I intuited that the funky B image represented the Ward, however what faction is represented by the radiation image? How will my decisions profit them or hurt them? I had no concept and no actual option to discover out.
I may think about asking any character a few specific faction and so they’d be capable to inform me something I needed to know, however that is merely not an choice
Figuring out these factions and what their motivations are is troublesome, and this has penalties for you. I discovered myself fully reduce off from a number of main bases just because I opposed the Ward. In a recreation with restricted quick journey, that made exploring sure areas of the map a downright ordeal.
There isn’t any recorded in-game data for mutants, anomalies, or different zone phenomena, both. I solely discovered the names of Bloodsuckers and Poltergeists after I killed a truckload of them and occurred upon their names via random NPC dialogue or mission goal textual content.
STALKER 2 wants a option to clearly discover out this data and a piece of the PDA to catalog what you have discovered in regards to the Zone. I may think about asking any character a few specific faction and so they’d be capable to inform me something I needed to know, however that is merely not an choice. This lack of know-how made it troublesome to actually perceive the world I used to be in.
STALKER 2 Overview | Remaining Ideas
I spent near 200 hours totally exploring STALKER 2 at a reasonably relaxed tempo. Whereas it has its flaws, most of those are minor points which are simply fixable; gun sturdiness may very well be buffed a bit with out an excessive amount of work, and GSC Sport World has already addressed the issue of outrageous restore prices and paltry payouts for mission rewards.
The extra substantial points similar to a lack of know-how about factions or the janky enemy spawns may be mounted, too, though that can in all probability take just a little extra time. To date, the builders have proven a dedication to ironing out the tough edges and I imagine that they will make the general expertise a lot smoother in time.
Nonetheless, I can not assist however love the Zone and its colourful forged of characters. There aren’t any good guys or unhealthy guys, there are simply guys, and so they all have their very own motivations for the actions they take. It is as much as you to listen to them out and determine which decisions can be greatest for you, the Zone, and the entire odd folks (and mutants) who dwell inside.
If you may get previous these flaws, STALKER 2 is a novel taste of survival recreation that may be loved by veterans of the franchise and new gamers alike. If you cannot stand the occasional jankiness, although, it could be greatest to attend a couple of months and see if GSC Sport World can iron out the extra severe issues.
STALKER 2: Coronary heart of Chornobyl was reviewed over roughly 198 hours of gameplay on PC through Steam with a key offered by the writer. All screenshots have been taken through the evaluate course of.