Our time with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has been nothing but absolutely beautiful and fun. From heart pumping gunfights to surviving the horrors of the zone. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is a straight love letter to many of the series’s old fans and fans of the survival first-person shooter genre.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a first-person shooter survival horror video game developed and published by GSC Game World. It is the fourth main game released in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise,as well as the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game in 15 years.

Development History 

Initially announced following the release of Call of Pripyat, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was announced in 2010 with a release date set in 2012, before it was ultimately cancelled on the year of its intended release.The game then later resurfaced years later in 2018, with the development restarted and powered by Unreal Engine 5. It was scheduled to release on 8th December 2022, but due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, development for the game was put on hold.However, the development team later announced the game would release in early 2024.But It was then delayed again, for further polishing, with a release date of 5 September 2024.It was delayed for the final time, and was released on 20th November 2024.

The Story Of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2

Taking place in a fictional version of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (“The Zone”).

We get to play as Skiff. A Stalker whose house is burnt down due to an artifact and then is on a quest to find someone in “The Zone”

The Story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is roughly around 45-55 hours for a casual gamer but if you’re a speedrunner it can take you around 35-40 hours to complete or if you’re someone that wants to explore every corner then the game is around 100 hours.

The Gameplay Of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2

The gameplay in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has a special charm in it in every aspect of it.

The Gunplay is slow but extremely smooth with a great variety of different weapons and attachments to choose from. But weapons have a degradation system meaning the more you fire your weapons the more they degrade and eventually break down. Fortunately there is a fix for that and that is by visiting a repairmen in outposts who can repair your weapons for a price that isn’t cheap by a mile.

The game has a heavy emphasis on survival elements like hunger, sleep, encumbrance, stamina, and radiation.

With your protagonist getting hungrier overtime or by consuming alcoholic drinks. The Stamina on the other hand depends on how much you are carrying as the less you carry the faster you run. Being Encumbered in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 isn’t a ideal choice that’s why there are upgrades that can be made to your armor to increase the carry weight or players can simply safely put their beloved items in stashes found in every outpost near a bed, Radiation is also a big factor in.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. The more rads you take the more damage you take overtime and eventually pass out. Thankfully you can consume alcoholic drinks or Anti-Rad drugs to cure your radiation.

The Issues & Performance Of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2

Ofcourse as every AAA titles these days S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is no stranger to problems. And comes with it’s own set of problems which aren’t small by any margin.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is among the most broken video games released this year. From a lot of features not functioning properly to horrendous performance on PC with stutters constantly breaking the immersion of the beautiful world of “The Zone” crafted by GSC.

Many users have complained that the game cannot even reach a stable 60 frames per second on high settings without any frame generation or upscaling method. Even on the world’s most powerful hardware possible with the RTX 4090 being stained with the 55 frames per second mark on epic settings. All due to the game running on Unreal Engine 5.1.

On the other hand the game comes with a 30fps lock on Xbox Series S with the resolution being between 650p to 860p upscaled to 1080p while on Series X it comes with two different modes. Performance and Quality with the Quality mode being presented with 30fps and 1440p which upscales to 4k and then Performance mode with 900p upscaled to 1080p running at 60fps.

Final Verdict 

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 despite it’s heart breaking issues is still a great and enjoyable experience and is a breath of fresh air in the first person shooter genre.

The Brutality and Gorgeousness of “The Zone” is captivating to the players. With anyone that dares in exploration of the zone being rewarded handsomely.

At the end i would highly recommend checking out S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 once in your lifetime once it’s issues have been fixed.

We give S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart Of Chernobyl a rating of 

                               

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