The story of Stalker 2 is well known at this point. Finally, after delays, cancellations, and re-reveals in 2018, the cult classic PC game was set to get a real sequel in 2022 before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced Kyiv-based GSC Game World to relocate a large portion of the games. studio to Prague. And yet, despite all the travails, Stalker 2 is almost here and looks incredibly impressive.
For context, we had some hands-on time with Stalker 2 at Gamescom 2023, and things didn’t look too good. The game looked rough, the demo was buggy, and overall it felt a little aimless. With all that was going on, it was completely understandable that things weren’t exactly progressing, but the fact still remained that the game seemed to have a long way to go, which is why its 2023 release date was a little worrying. fear of being released in subpar condition.
Heading into Summer Game Fest 2024, we didn’t know what to expect from Stalker 2. Mind you, it’s been less than a year since we last got our hands on what was a disappointing demo, so to be honest, we weren’t expecting too much. And yet, Stalker 2 caught us by surprise right away. This is the real deal and looks fantastic.
The game’s graphics were the first thing that caught our eye compared to the Gamescom demo; something that less than a year ago looked bland by Xbox One standards was now incredibly beautiful (maybe not the right word to describe a nuclear wasteland, but you get what we mean). The character models, foliage and lighting were phenomenal and clearly took full advantage of Unreal Engine 5. Graphical fidelity obviously doesn’t mean a game will be good or not, but it was the first sign that this was far from the game we played less than a year ago.
We had the opportunity to play what was described to us as the opening 40 minutes of the game. You and your companion sneak into the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone to explore it. Of course, things aren’t as simple as walking through the front door and putting the scanner down before heading home for a nice pint and waiting for it all to fly by.
Stalker 2’s Chornobyl is oppressive, it’s brutal, and hanging around it won’t do your health any good (the series is set in a world where the second Chernobyl disaster happened, so things aren’t in good shape). And that brutality doesn’t let up when it comes to the game’s combat. Those who once played the original Stalker: Shadow of Chornobyl (or through the recent Legends of the Zone trilogy) will know that the game is uncompromising. While you definitely feel like GSC Game World has lightened up a bit for a game that’s going to be a lot more mainstream than its previous entries (in part due to it being day one on Xbox Game Pass), Stalker 2 isn’t a piece of cake.
Combat in Stalker 2 is tough; you really feel every single bullet you fire, partly due to the high amount of recoil and limited ammo supply – you have to shoot carefully. Running into a group of enemies and machine gunning them is certainly possible, but we wouldn’t recommend it. The enemy AI is merciless from what we’ve played, whether they’re humans or mutant dogs – once you attack them, they’re on your ass until either you or they die. While we played for about 40 minutes, we definitely missed 40 minutes because of this.
While it loosens up on how mysterious the original trilogy could have been, Stalker 2 undoubtedly still has some moments that could have been explained better. The returning ‘Poltergeist’ enemies (invisible creatures that love to shoot household items at you and drain your health) definitely fall into this category; how to defeat them wasn’t really explained at all here, which could no doubt frustrate some players – especially considering how much these enemies threw people off in the original titles. The demos obviously don’t indicate how the whole game will play out, and we’d hope that situations like this are better explained in the full version, but you can tell that the mysterious nature of Stalker hasn’t been completely eradicated in Stalker. 2.
Despite this, from our hands-on experience at Summer Game Fest 2024, Stalker 2 is shaping up to be something special. Visually, it’s absolutely stunning and oozing with atmosphere. Its immersive sim-style approach to mission design gives you so much to play with and experiment with. And the combat is brutal and satisfying; making an already oppressive world even scarier. Stalker 2 isn’t just an impressive game for a studio that has fallen into so many bad hands over the years, it’s simply an impressive game period. And in 2024, when it finally comes out on September 5th, it’s shaping up to be one of the biggest wins for Xbox (and Game Pass!).