S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Worth the Hype or a Hard Pass?

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S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 Review - "Buy It, Wait for a Sale, Deep Deep Sale, Never Touch?"

ACG

Nov 20, 2024

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Gaming

Challenging survival in a post-apocalyptic world

  1. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is a sequel to the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game, known for its open-world design and dangerous combat. It offers a narrative and gameplay experience that emphasizes survival in a hostile environment.
  2. The game is set in an alternate reality where a second Chernobyl disaster in 2006 created a hazardous area known as the Zone. This area is filled with radiation and attracts individuals seeking valuable artifacts.
  3. Players assume the role of a stalker, a person who ventures into the Zone to collect rare artifacts. These artifacts provide benefits but also expose the player to radiation, adding a layer of risk to the gameplay.
  4. The game world is open and players are free to explore, but they must navigate various dangers including radiation, hostile factions, and environmental hazards. The game emphasizes strategic planning and survival skills.
  5. The narrative begins with a slow introduction that serves as a tutorial, gradually immersing players into the game's mechanics and story. Players are introduced to the game's challenges and the need for strategic thinking.
  6. The game features a unique puzzle-like approach to exploration, requiring players to assess and navigate anomalies and other dangers. This adds depth to the gameplay and requires careful planning and execution.
  7. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 challenges players with its realistic survival mechanics, requiring them to manage resources, avoid dangers, and make strategic decisions to progress.

Complex survival with dynamic narratives

  1. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a first-person shooter survival horror game developed by GSC Game World, known for its challenging gameplay and unique narrative style.
  2. The game introduces various difficulties such as enemy encounters, status effects like bleeding and hunger, weapon durability, scarce ammunition, and unpredictable wildlife.
  3. Narratives in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 are distinct, offering quests that feel tense and unpredictable, unlike many modern games with more straightforward quest structures.
  4. Role-playing elements are present but differ from traditional games, focusing on discussions that can lead to unexpected and unavoidable quests.
  5. Players often find themselves in situations where choices are limited, leading to confrontations with heavily armed adversaries.
  6. Exploration is a key aspect, with players encountering ruins, dangers, and treasures, all while navigating a world filled with threats.
  7. The game emphasizes a gray moral area, where loyalty is uncertain, and alliances are temporary, adding depth to character interactions.
  8. Towns serve as hubs for repairing items, trading, and taking on quests, with faction dynamics influencing available options.
  9. New players may find the lack of clear guidance challenging, as the game requires careful observation and decision-making.
  10. The world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is mysterious, with anomalies and unpredictable characters, requiring players to learn and adapt quickly.

Dynamic gameplay with strategic challenges

  1. The game allows players to save anywhere, which is crucial due to unpredictable situations. For instance, a quest involving wildlife can lead to unexpected outcomes, such as being attacked by stalkers after stealing their items.
  2. Enemies in the game can switch from being allies to adversaries, adding complexity to interactions. This dynamic is illustrated when a player is caught by additional guards after repeated attempts to exploit a situation.
  3. The game features intense combat scenarios, such as being attacked with grenades by stalkers. These moments highlight the game's unpredictability and the need for strategic thinking.
  4. Environmental elements, like anomalies, play a significant role in gameplay. Players can use these to their advantage, such as leading enemies into anomalies that can instantly kill them.
  5. The game requires players to manage their inventory carefully, as carrying too much weight affects movement speed and energy. This adds a layer of strategy, especially during combat situations.
  6. Artifacts found in the game provide boosts to attributes like stamina and weight capacity but come with drawbacks, such as increased radiation, which can be problematic in certain environments.
  7. Players must monitor survival elements like hunger, thirst, and fatigue. Resources are limited, making scavenging essential for progression.
  8. Combat involves using a variety of weapons, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. Players must understand these to effectively engage in battles.

Dynamic combat with strategic upgrades

  1. The gunplay in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is described as smooth, but hitting enemies with basic body armor is challenging, requiring more powerful weapons like AK variants for effective damage.
  2. Grenades are effective, but enemies in the game are unpredictable and do not stay in one place, making it difficult to use grenades strategically.
  3. Each weapon and equipment piece, such as gas masks and armored vests, can be upgraded to improve damage thresholds and aiming speed, but maintaining their durability is crucial for effectiveness.
  4. Weapon jamming is a feature in the game, where even well-maintained guns can misfire, adding an element of unpredictability to combat situations.
  5. Enemies have varied abilities and can be dangerous, requiring players to adapt their strategies based on the difficulty level and enemy behavior.
  6. The game emphasizes movement and strategic positioning, with features like auto and manual leaning to help players stay covered while engaging enemies.
  7. Upgrading and maintaining weapons and equipment is essential not only for survival but also for trading, as damaged items have less value.
  8. Players can unload bullets from guns they find, which is useful for managing inventory and resources efficiently.
  9. The game world includes places to sleep and store items, and players must be cautious of environmental hazards like emissions that can be deadly.
  10. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 combines unique shooter elements with traditional gameplay, where players are not treated as heroes but must help others, often feeling like part of a larger, indifferent world.

Dynamic quests and challenging gameplay

  1. The game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 emphasizes player choice and flexibility in quests, allowing players to make decisions that impact their experience. For example, players can choose to align with different factions, which can lead to various outcomes, including betrayal and unexpected challenges.
  2. Players must navigate complex political and military situations, often requiring strategic thinking and stealth. The game encourages players to learn from their experiences and adapt their strategies accordingly, such as sneaking around to achieve objectives or confronting adversaries directly.
  3. The game world is driven by the Aife 2 system, which creates a dynamic environment where NPCs interact with each other and the player. This system ensures that the world feels alive, with NPCs performing tasks, joining groups, and engaging in activities that affect the player's experience.
  4. Interactions with NPCs can be humorous and unpredictable, with language barriers and limited voice samples adding to the game's unique atmosphere. NPCs often behave erratically, contributing to the game's sense of anarchy and unpredictability.
  5. The difficulty settings in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 offer a range of experiences, from a more management-focused game on the hardest difficulty to a balanced challenge on medium settings. Players are encouraged to experiment with different settings to find the right balance for their playstyle.
  6. The hardest difficulty level transforms the game into a survival management experience, where players must carefully plan and execute their actions. This includes managing resources, navigating dark environments, and dealing with powerful enemies that can disarm the player.
  7. Players are advised to start on a medium difficulty setting and gradually increase the challenge by disabling HUD elements. This approach encourages players to rely on their memory and observational skills, enhancing the immersive experience.

Immersive but buggy with mixed visuals

  1. The game has a unique presentation style, offering a mix of beautiful and workmanlike visuals. It features a sprawling world with dynamic weather systems and atmospheric environments, such as swamps and forests that enhance the immersive experience.
  2. Bugs are present, particularly during story elements and battles, causing stuttering and requiring a restart to fix. These issues are not due to memory leaks but rather asset management problems, especially when moving static characters.
  3. Enemy AI is both challenging and flawed. While they can be dangerous and strategic, they sometimes get stuck in the environment, affecting gameplay and presentation.
  4. The game world is active and visually engaging, with enemy designs that include anomaly-infected creatures capable of invisibility, adding to the challenge and excitement.
  5. Despite its immersive world, the game shows its age with sparse environments and inconsistent texture quality. Some areas lack detail, while others are cluttered, making navigation confusing.
  6. Character and NPC models vary in quality, with some looking excellent and others appearing rough, impacting the overall visual consistency.
  7. Performance-wise, the game runs between 50 to 80 FPS on high-end hardware, but the visual inconsistencies and bugs can detract from the experience.

Performance varies; audio excels; voice acting mixed

  1. The performance of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 varies significantly depending on the environment and the amount of AI present. On a 3080 graphics card, performance can be improved by using DLSS, especially without frame generation, although some areas remain problematic.
  2. The game features a massive, dynamic world that makes testing difficult due to constant changes. FPS can be smoothed out with DLSS, and using upscaling is recommended to improve performance, achieving 110 to 150 FPS at 1440p with a 3080, depending on the CPU.
  3. A noticeable issue is the game reconfiguring shaders every time it opens, causing a short but noticeable wait. Players should check settings like texture quality, effects quality, and shadow quality, as these can significantly impact FPS.
  4. Shadows can reduce FPS by about 15 from low to epic settings, while texture detail has less impact unless VRAM is limited. Reflections, effects quality, and object details are major factors affecting FPS, and optimization could be improved.
  5. The audio presentation in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is impressive, with environmental sounds that enhance the immersive experience. The sound design allows players to hear distant gunfights, adding strategic elements to gameplay.
  6. Gunfire sounds range from good to great, with effective echo effects in enclosed spaces that add to the game's atmosphere. The voice acting, however, is mixed, with some characters sounding awkward due to odd inflections and pauses.
  7. The voice acting retains the unique style from the first game, with some characters delivering lines naturally while others struggle with accents and dialogue, often using casual terms like 'dude' or 'bro' frequently.
  8. There are bugs in the voice system, such as voices being filtered to sound like radio transmissions even when not appropriate, which can detract from the experience.

Immersive yet flawed survival horror experience

  1. The game suffers from immersion issues due to inconsistent voice recordings, particularly during tense moments. This is expected to be fixed in a future patch.
  2. Real-time voice processing can lead to abrupt changes in audio effects, such as a character's voice changing when speaking through a helmet, which can be distracting.
  3. The music in the game is a mix of eerie exploration and battle tunes, with diegetic music like punk and rock enhancing the atmosphere in towns.
  4. The game combines elements of modern gaming with a mix of double-A and triple-A level presentation, resulting in a unique but sometimes janky experience.
  5. Despite technical flaws, the game offers a fun and engaging experience, with unpredictable elements and freedom of exploration.
  6. The game reflects its ethos of freedom, allowing players to experience the world at their own pace, with consequences for their actions.
  7. There are areas for improvement, such as the climbing system, which can be awkward and frustrating to use.

Stalker 2 needs technical improvements

  1. The game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl offers varying experiences based on difficulty settings, with higher difficulties providing a more intense survival experience, while easier settings may lack tension due to abundant resources.
  2. Players may encounter bugs that, while not game-breaking, can be bothersome and require reloading, particularly with NPC movements in narrative stories.
  3. The game is dynamic, but balancing issues, especially on easier difficulties, can detract from the intended experience, making it hard to adjust the game to the desired level of challenge.
  4. The game closely resembles its predecessor, which may not meet all players' expectations for innovation, as characters have basic schedules and react predictably to events.
  5. Technical issues, including performance and bugs, suggest that players might benefit from waiting for patches or trying the game on Game Pass before purchasing.
  6. Despite its flaws, the game has moments of greatness and potential, but requires technical improvements to enhance the overall experience and meet player expectations.