Stalker 2 Heart Of Chornobyl Review – Good Hunting, Stalkers

After 14 years of waiting, Stalker 2, the anticipated follow-up to Stalker: Call of Pripyat, has finally been released. It’s been quite the journey to get here, with the game taking seven years to make, going through countless delays and even a cancellation,  and then being re-announced and delayed even more. It’s a game that many thought would never see the light of day, as the developers faced many ongoing real-life challenges, from the COVID-19 pandemic to a studio fire, to hacking, and now a full scale war, which saw many of their fellow Ukrainian workers join in.

The odds were stacked against GSC Gameworld at nearly every step. Yet, they didn’t give up hope, and through it all, they have managed to persevere, pushing through the hardships to deliver on their long-awaited vision. While many of you are about to start your journey into The Zone, I’ve been playing through Stalker 2 this past week, sinking in well over 30 hours. Though I haven’t seen all the game has to offer, I will say that GSC Gameworld has not disappointed me, as Stalker 2 is nearly everything I was hoping to see in the series’ long-awaited return. 

Walking the Lonely Zone One More Time

In Stalker 2, you play as Skif, a lone Stalker (Scavengers, Trespassers, Adventurers, Loners, Killers, Explorers, and Robbers) who is tasked with entering The Zone, a restricted area closed off from the rest of the world after the disastrous Chornobyl reactor explosion that occurred decades ago. There’s not much known about Skif, but such is the life of a Stalker, who typically keeps to themselves. In many ways, Skif is a nobody, a blank slate meant to be filled by you, the player, as you explore freely through The Zone, interacting with countless NPCs and factions that will shape the story around you. Though make no mistake, despite being in control, you are a blip in time, an insignificant speck, as the Zone itself is a character, arguably, the main character, that is very much alive with a ruthless and uncaring nature, that you and everyone else is trying to survive through.

With the Zone constantly evolving and new threats being born, such as an electrical storm, radiation zones, anomalies, mutant creatures, and warring human factions, it’s a dangerous and unforgiving place to explore. It’s no surprise that the locals, the armies, and other Stalkers who stick around have so little faith and trust in one another because, ultimately, this zone has turned even the best of men into cruel monstrosities who will do anything in their power to thrive. For you, the player, you aren’t some grand savior who will change the world. Instead, you’re just another grunt, a nobody, just like the rest, doing anything you can to survive in these harsh lands. 

That’s where the series has always shined the most when it comes to the story because it’s never been about saving the world; it’s been about how you go about freely, in almost a sandbox-ish type of way, as every decision you make will come with rewards or dire consequences. There’s no morality system or clear systems of faction standings, but you can certainly make decisions that may be considered “good” and decisions that may be considered “bad.” Emphasis on the quotations because Stalker doesn’t always paint things as black and white, as you’ll quickly learn that choices often fall more in the gray. 

Sure, there’s a central plot to follow, but it’s your story to control along the way, and you can decide who lives and who dies in it. Some of those choices will have major ramifications, while others will offer you unique opportunities in the form of side quests, each with a tale to tell. That’s the kind of world the Zone has created, a world that is so easy to get immersed in, as for every breath it breathes, new beauty and horror is birthed.

So many dynamics are happening in the world, leading to many different stories that make the world feel alive, something that so many other games fail to do. It’s not littered with things to give the player content but instead filled with life to make the world a living entity. Like I said, you aren’t the story’s hero; you aren’t even the centerpiece of it; it’s the Zone. That’s why so many fell in love with the original trilogy: because of how much focus was put on the world. Stalker 2 doesn’t hold back and recaptures the feeling I had so many years ago when I first explored the Zone. 

However, for those looking for a more focused plot, Stalker 2 does have you covered. That is, if you can overcome some of the harsh challenges that await you.

Like previous Stalker games, starting Stalker 2 can be very unforgiving. You’ll be given a pistol with ammo and a few resources, such as bandages, health packs, and radiation cures to start. It’s just enough to get you into the Zone, which, after decades since the reactor’s explosion, has been reclaimed by nature, with the radiation that was spewed from the reactor bringing forth nightmarish mutants that now roam the land. It’s not long after your first steps into the Zone that you’ll encounter those very dangers, as a mutant mole-slash-boar viciously runs towards you in hopes of mauling you to death.

Playing on the hardest difficulty, it took nearly 20 shots to put the beast down, with a few medkits and bandages to heal and stop the constant bleeding inflicted by nearly every attack. At that moment, I knew instantly that this would be the same experience I remembered when I played through the original Stalkers, and fans who grew up and loved those games will undoubtedly love what Stalker 2 has to offer. 

It’s a challenge, even on the lowest difficulty, and because of that, one could say that Stalker 2 isn’t meant for the casual gamer. However, don’t let that scare you if you fall into that category of gamers. I know I do, as I’ve mostly stuck with games such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, Apex Legends, and the like for the last decade, which are described as more casual-friendly shooters. Playing Stalker again after so many years (over a decade since the last major game), I wanted to throw the game out the window. But it started to come back to me slowly, and the critical thing to know about going into Stalker 2 is that the world has a very specific set of rules that are easy to learn by trial and error. Don’t get me wrong, it’s brutal, but once you learn how things work in Stalker 2, you’ll appreciate what the world has to offer, which is quite a lot in terms of lore, content, and freedom. 

But continuing with the gameplay, Stalker 2, like its predecessors, is best described as a blending of genres. It’s a survival horror, an RPG, an open-world, an immersive first-person shooter, and many more, all rolled up beautifully into a single package that makes Stalker, well, Stalker. 

If you’re new to the franchise, the gunplay might not feel all that good. It can be pretty clunky, though once you start learning about the several systems in place, it becomes clear why. There’s a bit of “realism” in the sense that there are bullet drop-offs, wear and tear that affects aiming and even jams up weapons. If something feels off, it’s likely due to its condition, as everything has durability.  So, if you find a gun you like, you’ll have to ensure that you always maintain it by bringing it over to a gunsmith for repair. Plenty of systems like that in the game, where you must do things to keep it in shape. You, the player, for example, get hungry, which can bring on dizziness if you don’t eat something. Too much damage can also cause bleeding, which you must bandage up. Stay around in the radiation for far too long, and you’ll get sick. Even coming into contact with certain anomalies in the game can apply these debuffs. 

On top of all this, there’s an inventory system like the ones you’ve seen from classic Resident Evil games. Your character has a weight limit and can only carry so much at a time, but it’s pretty generous in that you can carry more than enough without limiting movement. Still, you’ll find that you’ll be in constant battle, balancing your inventory-to-weight ratio and making tough decisions on what to keep and what not. 

That sounds like a lot to deal with, and for some, it might be, but personally, it makes for a rather enjoyable survival experience. It’s not as hardcore as some other games I’ve seen, and once you get used to how things work, it takes little to no effort to manage. It also all comes together nicely, such as going up against a group of soldiers and realizing you’re running low on supplies in the middle of a fight. So you end up in a firefight, scavenging what little scraps you can find around the battlefield to keep fighting. There are some tactics underneath all of this, and as soon as it all started to click for me, I found it pretty exhilarating. There are a lot of stakes in combat, as it feels like life and death.

It’s Stalker, Expect the Jank, With a Side of Performance Issues

All right, so initially, this portion of the review was going to tell you to stay away from the Xbox Series version of the game. I had a few paragraphs written out discussing the poor performance and that players should probably stick with PC for this release. Well, I deleted most of that because, despite being told previously about one, the studio released not just one but two pre-launch updates a day before release. It’s a puzzling decision to do so, considering the prior build wasn’t what I would call very playable, but with this update, most of my performance gripes with Stalker 2 on the Xbox Series X were addressed. 

It did involve redownloading the entire game as an update, followed by a 36GB update that was released soon after that one, but as of right now, Stalker 2 performance on Xbox Series X is pretty good. Mind you, it’s not perfect; there are still occasional dips, which clearly shows having trouble maintaining a lock 60 FPS on the platform. However, from not recommending the platform to now saying, go ahead, PC is probably better, but the Xbox Series version “playable” is quite the turnaround. 

It does need more optimization and performance patches, but I left feeling pretty impressed by the improvements, something I don’t think many players will really mind, or at least be able to tolerate a lot better.

With that said anyone who knows the Stalker series is probably well aware of just how janky and buggy they can be. They aren’t titles known for their groundbreaking level of polishing, as every single one of them has had countless quality-of-life updates, with even the community overhauling the titles with mods (Zone Reclamation Project) and such to make them better titles. They’re a buggy mess, but like a Bethesda game, sometimes, those bugs are just part of the charm because of how hilarious they can be. 

So, as one might expect, Stalker 2 is a very buggy game. It starts out very “OK,” but once you get deeper and deeper into The Zone, things start breaking everywhere. Enemies will randomly spawn in front of you (and not for lore-specific reasons) while trying to sneak around quietly, which can result in some extremely frustrating moments as you’re gunned down, like Alex Murphy from RoboCop. Cutscenes will have NPC models desyncing from some of their equipment, leaving you talking to a floating piece of gear or clothing while the rest of their body drifts elsewhere. Graphical and audio bugs are very common, with lighting breaking in many areas, and characters who are supposed to be voiced are suddenly muted. Clipping is pretty common, too. The overall experience is best described as “janky.”

Considering the past games, that’s probably not a big issue for the long-time fans. It wasn’t much for me because I expected that, but for newcomers, that might push them away from the title, as it can get annoying. There are some bugs I don’t mind seeing because they can be so funny to happen. One such bug had a bunch of NPCs have their necks snap and twist into themselves, leaving them walking around with their head facing backward. I got a chuckle out of it.

Of course, I’m not excusing the bugs, as some can be pretty game-breaking. Luckily, the save system is very generous, auto-saving several points and allowing you to save almost anytime. Abuse it, as it can get you out of a tight spot. 

Still, if you’re on the fence and it mostly concerns performance and bugs, I would suggest waiting a bit longer for more patches. PC players can probably expect the community to work around the clock, just like they did with the originals, creating unofficial updates and performance boosts. 

My Kind of Eurojank 

Look, if you’re a fan of the Stalker franchise, then Stalker 2 is going to be everything you’d hoped and probably expected from it. It’s a spectacular game with enjoyable combat that is filled with challenge and thrills, with a story and world that will have you hooked the moment you step in. It’s not breaking away from the formula established by its predecessors, but despite coming out 14 years later, it’s impressive that GSC Game World still has that magic touch that made the original games so special.

That’s with everything going on in Ukraine; it’s commendable that GSC Game World even managed to release this. It doesn’t excuse the technical aspects, as Stalker 2 needs more polishing on both bugs and performance, though if you can look past that or wait a few months, you’ll find Stalker 2 to be quite an experience. That’s, of course, if you can even make it into the Zone alive. 

Score: 8/10

Pros:

• Fantastic story where decisions matter, and affect the world around you. 
• There are tons of side quests that all feel unique. They aren’t cookie cutters spread across an open world. 
• The Zone truly feels “alive.” Its gritty and brutal atmosphere is easy to get drawn into. 
• A harsh and challenging world that lives up to the survival expectations of the game. 

Cons:

• The game is pretty buggy. Whether you think that’s part of the charm, some still impact the experience and can be game-breaking. If it weren’t for the save system, I’d probably never beat the game.
• Performance – The day zero patches improved the frame rate, but it can still get pretty choppy from time to time. 

Stalker 2 Heart Of Chornobyl review code was provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.

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