S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl Reviews

Very raw project, not recommended in its current state. cons: * running simulator, mostly you will fuck around * shit side quests * enemies appear behind your back in majority amount of fights pros: * interesting main story line * nostalgia

After 68 hours on game pass and buying it on steam to do another 75 hours and doing 3 out of the 4 endings I can say without regret that if you are a stalker fan at the current 1.1.4 patch its worth a buy (knowing it will get better), But if you are not a stalker fan do not buy for another 6 months as the game has not reached the full potential and polish yet.

I bought Stalker 2 with high expectations, but I was massively let down. The game just feels… boring. The environment is pretty, and the graphics are nice, but that’s about where the good things end. The gameplay loop, quest design, and overall feel of the game leave much to be desired. Most of the quests feel like repetitive fetch missions, and the world feels dead. not in the atmospheric, immersive way you’d expect given the setting, but in a way that makes it feel empty and lifeless. There’s little reason to explore, as most places that look interesting from a distance turn out to have nothing worthwhile when you get there. Quests and dialogue feel more like chores than engaging experiences. You talk to someone, they send you somewhere, you retrieve an item or talk to someone else, and the cycle repeats. I struggled to feel invested in the story or the characters, as nothing really drew me in or made me care. Overall, Stalker 2 is a major disappointment. While it has decent graphics, the gameplay and world design fail to create a compelling experience.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 is the ambitious game I thought it was going to be, 15+ years of Mounting Expectations requires a Massive project. The Developers needed to overhaul everything: Did they Succeed? Short answer: Yes. Buy it and have fun. Long Answer: Its more Nuanced... First, Allow me to tell you what I did as soon as Started the game and what I recommend you do as well. Step one: Turn off the compass and Floating Markers. This will immediately Make moment to moment game-play better and less handholdy as YOU the player will have to pay attention and look around the environment more closely. 99% of the game can be played like this with nothing but upsides the only exception is a few segments where it seems the level designers used the compass and markers as a crutch to guide players through a convoluted environment. With that out of the way. I'll give you the good and the bad. The Good: +The Gunplay is fun Updated and very Competent, Some old tactics from the Trilogy Work better than ever and some don't in the slightest. +The Zone is Perfect. Things are moved around and that can be confusing at first but once you adapt you can make your way just about anywhere in the zone without a map using only intuition and the adventurers spirit +There are secrets everywhere and the exploration is rewarding and fun. Sometimes the game is obvious about it and sometimes you must be clever to figure things out +The Key Characters are Well Written and feel like actual people with goals and ideals (Even Scar). the Side Characters are very much effective at their job of making the Zone feel alive, even the dead parts. +The Missions are Fun and there are more than enough thought provoking moments in the story to make you wonder +Side Jobs are a good time killer if you have nothing to do and need a *Small* bit of money. +Environment and environmental storytelling is masterclass, Every place feels Lived in, like countless stalkers came before you and did something wherever you are, the places sealed until you unseal them feel like they were absolutly bustling with energy at one time, as if the great work was carrying on till the last moment when the Zone was created. +The absolute attention to detail. there are so many Little things that pile up and make a big difference, you may not consciously notice but your brain will and it will color your experience. +Sound design is crisp and you can often hear treats before they appear in your face, and the benefit of it is: the game never tells you "This is what a bloodsucker sounds like from 20 feet away" you have to learn this and keep it in mind as you go from being a rookie to being a Legend. +Art Direction goes above and beyond and is a highlight. +The Endings give you a lot to think about and seem like fitting conclusions with only 1 exception and for those players... I feel bad for you. +Skif is a compelling protagonist, Hes enough of a blank slate to project yourself onto but also his own character enough to the point you pick dialog options just to hear him talk about something. The closest i can compare him to is Vincent From Cyberpunk 2077. +Almost all of the Bugs in the game are more on the Funny Glitch side of the isle than the game breaking. I do suggest making Hardsaves Before every story Mission just to be safe. +Knowledge of the previous games is an added Benefit not a requirement, but the significance of some scenes are hurt by not knowing the backstory for some characters involved, and there are stashes that come back from the trilogy +Voice acting for most characters is good The Bad -There isn't really a good "Step off Point" in the game where you can forget the main story and just explore the zone. Instead what really will happen is you will *want* to start the next story mission but you need upgrades or repairs so you will get sidetracked by that before you resume the main story, which Clicked for me personally but there are many players who will want a guilt free reason to ignore the plot. -Everything is animations based Especially Skif, so if you hit a hotkey to heal and the game fails to start the animation, Skif will stand there and continue to be Shot, Stabbed, Mauled, Anomalied until the game goes "OH" and allows you to heal. or more likely you will die. This happens the most directly after loading a save so take 20 seconds for the game to catch up. -Reloading the game is a problem that takes a while and even then the game has to Cycle Through the LOD until it renders everything. I have a Upper Midline PC well above the recommended specs and no matter what settings I tweak this always happens. and if you go into a new area faster than the game can load it you can get massive levels of pop in. -There are not enough Guides in the game and how they work is inferior to the previous games. they wont take you to new places only places you've been and price is determined by Distance and Reputation with their faction. -For 99% of the game If you want to Upgrade your weapons there realistically is only one choice, because there is only 1 tech that can and upgrade everything you find and bring back to base. To keep it Spoiler free, The Further north the Technician is the better services they provide. -Duty and Freedom are changed completely from their depiction in the trilogy. and The Ward is Just Duty with White and Green instead of Black and Red -There is no Bandit Radio -There is no Duty Radio -Travel times can be a bit long especially when you're slightly overweight -Physical protection artifacts do not work against Bullets or claws like the loading screens say, only anomalies. -The economy in this game is Busted. you will never have enough money to keep up with your gear and upgrades. Prices are too high while payouts for anything but Main quests are too low. which can be an added challenge that I appreciated early on. but it gets tedious fast. so the options are either get used to farming enemies for loot worth just ever so slightly more than the materials cost to acquire it. or Find a mod that tweaks the in game economy to offer you 30-40% of the value of the one of a kind Artifact you spent 10 hours working to find. -The game too easy unless you are on the hardest difficulty, everything else feels to easy, but there are a few super tanky enemies that are annoying but manageable. -Yellow Paint rears its ugly head so you will have to put up with that throughout the game. which is weird because there are actually some good environmental guidance methods other than Yellow Paint used. -In the English version of the game the Voice acting is very good but the Accents are all over the place. There are very Few Ukrainian or even Russian accents in the game and most of it will be "European" accents but from where can be range from Vague to 1 British guy voicing 18 different men. -some OG weapons simply do not make an appearance for no reason and some do make an appearance but as props. this also effects the balance a bit from previous games. -Some weapons need several upgrades to be viable and some are so rare and useless they are more of a salt and pepper weapon than a viable choice for anything but easy baby mode. but this isn't communicated effectively to the player All in all its Flaws are but minor in comparison to the Positives. Its an amazing game and i recommend you sink several hundred hours into it. most of the negatives can be Patched out and may already be patched out by the time you are reading this. Good Hunting Stalker

Modern gaming be like: - Buy a game - Wait few years for devs to finish it - Play a game Bought it just to support devs, but no good review till A-Life will be at least on level with Shadow Of Chernobyl

One of the best experiences I had in the past couple of years. The atmosphere and the level of challenge is top notch. Haven't had this kind of experience of being lost in an open world since Skyrim. 10/10

Latest update (1.2) fixed [strike]a lot[/strike] [b]some[/b] of the jank, so it's time for a proper review: UPDATE 2/23: I feel the need to call out some big annoyances I have with the game lately. It's a huge, incredibly fun game, but be prepared to deal with some frustration: [olist] [*]Can't pause during the (unskippable) cutscenes. Some of these are quite long, and having to be locked in to my game to find out what happens, while my dog is whining to be let out, is more than a little frustrating. Devs, fix this, it's low-hanging fruit. [*]Certain mutants can take your weapons and use them against you, which is cool on its own... until those weapons completely disappear even after said mutant is defeated. I hate re-loading a save over stuff like this, but I'll be damned if I lose that unique gun I've been holding onto for half the campaign. [*]There are still memory leaks that will crash the game. [/olist] That said, I'm still enjoying the hell out of the game and the below still applies: This game is everything I always wanted the original to be. The Zone feels bleak and dangerous, but somehow alive and beautifully detailed at the same time. Anomalies are varied and keep you on your toes. Artifact hunting is a real challenge, but with a good payoff. Using or selling an artifact can be a real tough decision sometimes; it feels well-balanced. Mutants are downright scary. The weapons system feels very real; guns jam if you don't maintain them, reloading respects whether there's one in the chamber already, ammo is weapon-specific and knowing which guns use the same rounds is genuinely useful. Several kinds of rounds for each as well; armor-piercing, etc... They really put in the effort to flesh this all out, and it shows. English translation is a little... odd in some places, but it's not too distracting. I will say I miss the accents from the original... The English voice actors mostly have UK or American accents, which is fine, but it breaks the immersion a bit. Might switch to Ukrainian for a second playthrough, and just use English subtitles. I haven't been this engrossed in a single-player experience in a long time. A proper treat for anyone who's a fan of cold-war-era sci-fi, open-world shooters, or survival horror. Can't wait to see how it ends, then immediately go back for a second helping!

I've waited ten years for this game, and I've also put 60-odd hours into it. That's why I'm so disappointed to give it a negative rating. This game is, frankly, not worth it in it's current state. The devs have arguably been proactive in putting out updates to fix the most egregious of problems, but the game is still broken and still unfinished. I have no doubt that it will remain in this state for a very, very long time. The issue is not that there are a few bugs - entire systems of the game just don't work. The old STALKER games were known for having AI that was very intelligent for it's day. They would flank and sneak, use cover appropriately, retreat when necessary and know when to turn up the pressure. Using binoculars, you could watch a team of stalkers fighting a group of mutants and this would be happening all across the in game world, even if you weren't there to see it. Stalkers would have conversations with each other, go on patrols, loot, kill, die and travel - all without the player seeing it. This system, known as the A-Life system, is why the world of the old STALKER games felt so alive. This doesn't work in the new game. You will seldom, if ever, find yourself bumping into the same stalkers you met six hours ago at a bar when you go to visit another area. You will almost never see stalkers fighting groups of mutants from far away - you will only ever see this if you are very close to the group. As such, you aren't really a passive observer; you are close enough to the mutants to need to fight them too, you can't just sit back and watch like you could in the old games. The AI itself is braindead and glitchy. They will often have pinpoint accuracy behind cover, or in the dark, and therefore be able to instantly kill you without you having any chance to react. Or, they'll be so unaware that you can kill them without any resistance. Be aware that the latter doesn't imply a stealth system - there IS no stealth in STALKER 2. You won't be able to do what you could do in the old games and sneak around with a silenced pistol, sneakily picking off enemies and keeping to the shadows. Stealth is a dice roll, a dice roll that often defies logic or explanation. Do not expect stealth - just expect endless shooting galleries. Mutants are either so weak that they are trivial, or so overpowered that they are just a chore to deal with. The bloodsucker used to be the most feared enemy in the older games. They had creepy, unnatural, loping strides which made them unsettling to look at. They struck without warning, forcing you to be on your toes once you knew they were around. However, they were quite weak; a shotgun could be used to defend yourself against them. As such, they were a rare enemy that stuck to dark areas and made them more terrifying to explore... but you could kill them. Now, bloodsuckers are so common and telegraph their attacks with the same silly jumpscare that they fail to be scary anymore. They run up to you, make the same irritating (but by no means scary) screech sound, and then appear as if at random. You blast them fifteen times with the magazine fed shotguns like the Saiga, and they die. Or, you jump up on a box and they run around the periphery of the box and never attack you. Fantastic. The economy of the game is broken beyond measure, and this ties in with the broken quest system. You can go along and do a bounty or fetch quest which can require up to twenty or thirty minutes real world travel time, only to come back and be paid so little that it's not economical to even carry out the task. Stashes contain the same low-level items, most of which are worthless or can be bought cheaply from a trader. Upgrades are arbitrarily limited to certain technicians; this was true of the old STALKER games, but at least you could find the traders easily. The world of STALKER 2 is huge, but unlike other huge games like Skyrim or GTA V, you have no easy means of travel. You walk to one side of the map to get the quest from a trader or other named individual, walk thirty minutes to where the quest is, kill whoever or take whatever, then walk back to get the reward. Rinse and repeat. This is further compounded by the stunningly surface level reputation system. There are no side quests for particular factions such as Duty, Freedom, etc. Your reputation with them solely rests on bribing the leader of a faction or doing perhaps one quest for them. You can't slowly build up your reputation with them in exchange for access to new areas or teams of companion fighters. All you do is control whether or not their braindead AI soldiers shoot at you or not. You never learn much about the motivations of certain side characters, their place in the world, or the faction's experiences beyond what a few high ranking members or short voicenotes tell you. Speaking of voice acting - the English acting is terrible. I kept it on for all of five minutes before switching to the Ukrainian acting. I can't tell you if the Ukrainian acting is any good because I don't speak the language, but I imagine it's much better than the frankly laughable English acting. Finally, the performance of the game is absolutely unacceptable. My PC more than exceeds the system requirements, but I am forced into using DLSS setting that turn the game into a fuzzy, fizzing, hissing mess that looks unclear and muddy just to achieve acceptable at best FPS rates. Frame generation is a must for those of us used to 100+ FPS games, and this introduces appalling latency problems. The game's lighting looks poor on reflected water because the forced Lumen raytracing engine has to operate at (in layman's terms) a lower resolution because it's not hardware RT like you mind find in other, better examples of raytracing. It uses software, so to be in any way optimised huge shortcuts have to be made. Baked lighting with an optional hardware RT option for Nvidia users would have been the ideal choice, and still looked good and performed well - instead, we're all forced to use a software RT method that looks poor in many areas and performs even worse. Do not expect much more than 70 FPS without frame generation, even on high end hardware. As a disclaimer - I am not a new fan of the STALKER series. I played STALKER for the first time shortly after CoP released, and I was so excited for STALKER 2. All this game remains to be is a cautionary tale about getting hyped for reboots and late sequels.

This is going to be a fantastic game, one day. Right now, I'm constantly having to find work-arounds just to progress through the main story, I've encountered several game breaking bugs, some of which can only be solved by going back in save files and approaching the event or encounter differently. I understand the difficulties the developers have experienced in making this game, and whilst it is an unfortunate situation, in the end it doesn't excuse releasing this product in an unplayable state. I will no doubt revisit this title in a couple of years time, after 20+ patches or so. Just like i did with the original stalkers series. Steam rejected my request for a refund.

A decent game held back by many issues, Stalker 2 ends up being the worst entry in the series and inferior to the original trilogy in every sense except graphics. The original trilogy was awesome because you explore, you discover the story of what happened to the world and its inhabitants instead of a marker telling you "Go here, go there" like a shopping list in a grocery store. The essence of the franchise is gone, your choices have less weight and the map is designed to make you waste time by giving you a "walk here 6 km" for every quest in the midgame. Traders disappear, whole cities are disabled and if you don't join the WARD in the story, you are GOING TO HAVE A BAD TIME as the game is designed to punish you greatly in every way if you don't join the ward by losing access to areas and resources. All of this without talking about the bugs and glitches. I suffered from having to lose hours of progress cause an NPC wouldn't show up in the main quest no matter what. I had to reload because the HUD keeps disappearing because you can walk in a swamp and suddenly drown 20 feet down. They excited you with monsters like Chimera only to have an emission every time (is an event where you go underground or you die) which means events are SCRIPTED. Like what happened? Where is the magic of Stalker? What is this lazy beta that feels unfinished, unpolished, and long for the sake of being long (walk those 6KM Skif! WALK!) Add to this memory leaks and optimization that is embarrassing and... wow. I like the gunplay, is fun and the guns are pretty good, the graphics of them plus the world is beautiful. This game had the making to be decent/good if it was baked for another year or two. Enemy spawns on top of you, enemies never miss a shot even being miles away and mutant AI is a joke, they are dumb. You can jump on a truck or a barrel and mutants will just stay there doing nothing. They are just bullet sponges designed to make you waste ammo (I like psy dog tho). The story is all over the place, with Skif just randomly being treated like the most trustworthy ally and a traitor at the same time. The carry capacity is awful,your choice between being slow and full of ammo or being fast and lacking ammo. The OG trilogy is better in every aspect (except graphics) so if you are new you might want to check them instead. Awesome games and can be bundled for almost the same price as this if memory serves right. If you are looking to get into Stalker 2, either wait for more fixes, or go in with the expectation that you are gonna lose progress, you are gonna get bugs and glitches, you are gonna have to reload a LOT, and you are going to have to walk 6 km daily on an atrocious map design. There is a decent game buried here around somewhere, but I couldn't keep up with the chore gameplay to find and chances are, you will not either. The early game is enjoyable, mid game is a chore, late game is suffering. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/43679955/][quote]If you enjoyed the review, please follow my curator! [b]StarsDeck[/b].