In an alternate future, former Soviet scientists inadvertently created a harmful area stuffed with 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 am going to clarify how GSC Recreation World has succeeded (and failed) at bringing this basic survival recreation into the fashionable period.
STALKER 2: Coronary heart of Chornobyl is the newest entry in a distinct segment subgenre of survival video games. As is custom, gamers tackle the function of somebody new to the enigmatic “Zone” — the area surrounding the Chornobyl Nuclear Energy Plant that reveals unusual, physics-defying “anomalies” and is stuffed 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 house’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 by way of the potential hazards you may 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 selections might make a faction utterly hostile to you.
The prologue may be very a lot on rails, however the time after it represents the guts of STALKER 2 effectively — you might choose to move straight to the close by city of Zalissya, you might chase down some close by aspect quests, or you might additionally disregard these choices fully and begin exploring the Lesser Zone area of the map by yourself.
As somebody who performed a few of the authentic STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, I used to be initially impressed by STALKER 2’s presentation. It appeared to be the whole lot {that a} fan of the franchise would have wished: 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 subject I observed with STALKER 2 was with its weapons. Firing just a few dozen rounds would completely tank the situation of your firearm. The sturdiness harm to weapons and armor alike is solely far too harsh, particularly with legendarily resilient weapons platforms such because the AK sequence of rifles.
For example this level, one of many ultimate story missions incorporates a working gun battle by way of 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 lifeless enemies to have a preventing probability.
Including insult to damage is the necessity to pay Technicians to keep up 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 subject stays a severely annoying downside.
There isn’t any strategy to restore or keep your weapons within the discipline, both, even supposing Skif exhibits off his potential to expertly reassemble an AKM-74S in beneath 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 totally embraced the spirit of a intelligent, cautious Stalker as I explored the Zone. I would fastidiously verify my corners and sweep rooms earlier than shifting 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 possibly can be trodding alongside a comparatively protected path and occur upon two teams of males in a gun battle or a bunch of mutants attacking a lone Stalker. That occurs right here, however the way in which these occasions and NPCs spawn is, frankly, atrocious.
Enemies would merely pop into existence inside my line of sight. Generally, they would seem inside just a few meters of me! This did not at all times 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 vehicles. 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 selections that may 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 selections might make a faction utterly hostile to you. None of that is communicated as clearly accurately.
For instance, some main selections are introduced to the participant with a novel interface exhibiting a alternative on both aspect. Every alternative exhibits a specific image, however there isn’t any straightforward strategy to know which faction these symbols signify or what the consequences of your actions are on the world, neither is there any strategy to see your general 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 selections profit them or hurt them? I had no concept and no actual strategy to discover out.
I might think about asking any character a couple of specific faction and so they’d have the ability to inform me something I wished to know, however that is merely not an choice
Figuring out these factions and what their motivations are is tough, and this has penalties for you. I discovered myself utterly minimize 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 by way of random NPC dialogue or mission goal textual content.
STALKER 2 wants a strategy to clearly discover out this data and a bit of the PDA to catalog what you’ve got discovered concerning the Zone. I might think about asking any character a couple of specific faction and so they’d have the ability to inform me something I wished to know, however that is merely not an choice. This lack of knowledge made it tough to actually perceive the world I used to be in.
STALKER 2 Evaluate | 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 can be simply fixable; gun sturdiness may very well be buffed a bit with out an excessive amount of work, and GSC Recreation World has already addressed the issue of outrageous restore prices and paltry payouts for mission rewards.
The extra substantial points equivalent to a lack of knowledge about factions or the janky enemy spawns will be mounted, too, though that may in all probability take slightly extra time. Up to now, the builders have proven a dedication to ironing out the tough edges and I imagine that they’re going to make the general expertise a lot smoother in time.
Nonetheless, I can not assist however love the Zone and its colourful solid of characters. There are not any good guys or dangerous 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 selections might be finest for you, the Zone, and the entire odd folks (and mutants) who dwell inside.
If you will 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 finest to attend just a few months and see if GSC Recreation World can iron out the extra critical issues.
STALKER 2: Coronary heart of Chornobyl was reviewed over roughly 198 hours of gameplay on PC by way of Steam with a key offered by the writer. All screenshots have been taken through the evaluate course of.
