STALKER 2’s world is exactly as bleak and unforgiving as you expect
8.23.2024
By Laura Kate Dale, Contributor
Returning this year to demo the game’s opening half-hour, I wondered whether starting from the opening of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 might mean that sense of overwhelming danger would ramp up a bit slower this time around. Of course, that wasn’t the case. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 wants you to feel overwhelmed, outmanned, and alone right from moment one.
The demo starts right at the beginning of the game, with main character Skif heading into the Chornobyl exclusion zone with an artifact he allegedly “found in the washing basket." He plans to charge this lucky find with a large device and a series of anomalies that you'll uncover with their coordinates. From the very start, it’s clear you’re not meant to be here. Military helicopters fly overhead, searchlights scour the map, and you can see crashed tanks all over the place. You hear voices over the radio that seem to suggest your entry has been noticed. All you can do is scramble and hide.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is pretty unforgiving by design. For example, the game doesn't explain that you need to sprint away from the artifact-charging device while it powers up to avoid damage, or that you have to use careful observation to spot damaging energy spots on the ground.The expectation is that you’ll die, respawn, take a moment to work out what killed you, and try again. Death is a learning experience; learn from it, or it'll keep kicking you back down.
While there were a couple of human enemies in the demo that I fought in a frantic gunfight, figuring out how to understand the cues given by environmental anomalies was a much bigger part of the early learning curve. These anomalies deal massive damage if you deal with them incorrectly. That’s not to say that gunfights won’t be a challenging part of the final game—our demo at Gamescom last year demonstrated how intense firefights in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 can get—but they’re certainly one of many aspects of the game's approach to challenge.
My first half-hour with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 reinforced the game’s deliberately bleak tone, but also explained its mechanics (in its own unique way) that made identifying lessons to learn a little more manageable. It’s a gorgeous game, and it's definitely going to kick your butt until you learn how best to stay alive.
You can wishlist S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl on the Epic Games Store. It comes out on November 20, 2024.