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

Possibly the worst entry into the series, plagued by all of the worst things that come with UE5, and entire systems just not working. Mutants are bullet sponges, without exaggeration it will take multiple magazines to take even one down. With all of the issues that plague this game, it makes it so that you can't get invested into the story and world itself, of which both lack character or quality as well. Not to mention that the English dubs are downright atrocious and I switched over to the Ukrainian VO within the first 20 minutes. Just painful and frustrating to play through, and not worth your time. 3/10

I paid almost 80 dollars for deluxe edition and i cant even play because the performance is so shit that i only get 7-8 FPS so again 80 dollars and cant even play the game. pretty pissed. And ive looked every wheres online and there is no fix that works to boost the performance no mods no settings nothing. do not recommend this game what so ever to anyone until this is fixed and fixed asap.

GG awesome game played the entire game it mostly ran fine right on my 5800x3d and a nvidia 3080 gpu, it could have ran better but given its Stalker running on the unreal engine in a open world situation its not surprising it has demanding requirements It still has issues and needs more improvements in places tho but its mostly fine, Looking forward to completing it again after a year or so once there are tons of mods out and its had more updates. I hope they do something really interesting with the multiplayer update that they have planned not just some lame dm/tdm/arena mode, given all the world building and potential it has it would be such a huge waste of the ip. I hope they also improve on the looting system, for 2025 its pretty lame, you shouldn't be able to visit a place where a npc is at and just steal their stuff right in front of them unless you have built up some kind of reputation with them or are actively buying these items off them.

Game still in Beta state, plenty of all kinds of bugs and some game breaking bugs. I can't complete the main quest due to a bug and now I have to wait for a patch.

Do not buy - No way. Constant crashing, even after following tips from other players in discussions. Not even close to worth the $$

Sucks at first, takes a bit to adjust and gain gear but once you its decent, but many bugs so the thumbs down. I mean a lot of bugs. When it runs, it gets fun, most of the time. The shear amount of crashes is far worse than any other game ever, and always after big pivotal moments or long running travel time, and i mean long time just walking/running. Worse, the main line opposing faction is programmed to one shot you, and all ALL enemies have million mile, see threw all forms of stealth and obstructions, sight, A sniper 100's of meters away will hit you in a forest, crouched, threw massive brush and tree's when u poke your head out around a corner and you cant even see the building it's in/on because its a forest. Finally many random encounters just simply spawn on top of you, this is god awefull too. Man this game is great and sucks at the same time. 100 gazilion crashes after the last patch. No consistancy but when your in its a decent shooter. The massive travel is odd, way more than stalker 1, and the gated progression ruins the experience too. 1 let you go wherever but this one you have to really bug out to get past all the damn walls. A true bittersweet symphony of a game. Games getting unplayable now, stay away. 72 crashes in 18 hours played :(

Love it, Looks good , feels good. A little under cooked in some areas but overall a nice experience. Breathtaking visuals and audio, you will get lost in the zone, it lives and breathes. Alife2.0 is not ready so dont expect it to be like previous games. Mods are out already that can fix it. Mods Mods Mods , without the SDK released modders can only do so much, but with what they can do right now is great, customise your experience, make it harder or easier, better Alife, combat, expanded medical, artefacts, weapons attachments, hardcore modes, Optimisation mods, graphic settings mods, ect ect. Come and play in the Zone

Is currently unplayable due to severe optimization issues, wait till its fixed. This is not a finished game at this stage.

I wish my game looked ultra realistic at the cost of being a bloated mess and running like utter dogshit. Unreal engine 5:

After a myriad of patches finally im enjoying Stalker 2, to the point (even pretty much having every incoming "worthy" game) im having a BLAST.....Getting lost, irradiated, mauled, shot, carbonized, intoxicated, drunk, electrocuted and blown to pieces in the Zone.....And i cant picture myself playing anything else. I been waiting 16 years since Call of Pripyat for this......Also i still have around my original Stalker metalic box! Visiting places like the Cordon after all those years! The first camp of bandits where they shouted "CHEEKI BREEKI" before even the meme and internet were a thing.....Pure bliss. TLDR: Do you want a gargantuan but hand crafted open world? A real survival horror experience? A challenge? One of the most immersive atmosphere of gaming history? Memorable old and new characters? If you answered "HELL YES" to any of those questions you should buy Stalker 2 right now. Ignore the negative reviews of EXTREMLY respectable pseudo-intellectuals trying to sound smart by besmirching Stalker 2......We have pesudogiants in the zone! They look better and have more charisma than them. Post Scriptum: Oh yes......Are you sick tired of faeries posing as devs, complaining in their social networks about gamers being "MeAn"? Because they trash talk them and their dismal games? GSC Game World LEGENDS put Stalker 2 together working in the worst possible circumstances! Talk about passion and resolve.