GSC Game World’s long-awaited S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is the sequel to the beloved survival shooter franchise, offering a massive world to explore, teeming with secrets, Mutants, Anomalies, and much more. The sheer breadth of it all is almost unreasonable, and the Ukraine-based team delivering all this despite long-standing struggles is itself a miracle.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 launches on November 20th for Xbox Series X/S and PC, while also being available for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers on the same day. Here are 15 things you should know before playing.
Story and Skif
Besides taking place in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, what is going on in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2? Developer GSC Game World has been quite coy about the overall plot, as you control Skif, a newcomer who enters the Zone in modern times to search for Artifacts. Very little is known about him, and though described as “complicated” and “not very talkative”, he’s also “not afraid to act.”
His legacy is ultimately in your hands, as you can decide whether to unravel the various mysteries of the Zone, befriend its people, or kill anyone who looks at you funny. Choices have consequences, which can lead to four different endings, and characters from previous titles like Strider return, so it should be interesting to see how the story plays out.
Choices and Consequences
Speaking on choices and consequences, these apply to things you wouldn’t even think twice about. Remember how in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, not shooting any enemies in a raid with other NPCs could result in no rewards? There’s similar attention to detail here. IGN’s preview revealed that looting the corpse of an NPC’s ally could result in the latter ending the quest and forgoing any rewards because, well, of course, they would. Deciding how to handle situations, whether through force, stealth or talking will dictate the overall narrative direction.
Creative director Maria Grygorovych explained it best in the developer deep dive from August: “You will not be able to see all content and meet everyone within one walkthrough. Depending on your choices, you’ll get a little different story and quests and encounter someone new. If you walk through again, you will find yourself on the other side of the barricade, so to speak, and look at it differently.”
Unreal Engine 5
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has quite the history, originally announced in 2010, cancelled, and subsequently revived (alongside the studio). The current version of the game is developed on Unreal Engine 5, utilizing Nanite, Lumen, World Partition, and much more alongside photogrammetry to bring the Zone to life. It also features full motion capture for facial and body animations, further enhancing the realism.
Immersion
Of course, the immersion goes beyond just the visuals. You encounter plenty of threats, human and mutant, but there are plenty of quiet moments (which can also be just as terrifying if there’s an unknown Anomaly in the area). It’s also possible to just hang out and speak to “random Stalkers. The developer told Windows Central, “You can spend hours talking to random stalkers, talking about random topics with them – not narrative-driven topics. They will tell you about the Zone and their lives.” You can also sit around the campfire and listen to stories or hear music from other NPCs, just as the trailers have showcased thus far, interact with the Black Market for supplies, and much more.
Survival Elements
As with previous titles, survival is a core element of the experience. You must manage your hunger, rest to ward off fatigue, repair gear, and even deal with lower-quality guns jamming when least expected. Radiation is also a major threat, continuously depleting your health if you’re poisoned, so keep a Geiger counter handy, keep an eye out for potential artifacts or gear that can help shield against it, and stay out of the water.
Size and Scale
The world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is seamless and occupies more than 60 square kilometers across 20 regions. GSC Game World says it’s “one of the biggest open worlds in video games to date.” There are almost no barriers, players can explore any location freely in “most cases.” Much of it is based on the real world, with some redesigning and polishing done.
Hand-crafted World
As big as the world can be, it’s surprising how everything (or, as the developer puts it, 99.9 percent) is hand-crafted. There is much to discover, including random events like saving other NPCs (who could open up an entire side quest chain) or mysterious (and potentially hazardous locations) that may have artifacts. Even if some prefab buildings are utilized, you’ll still encounter unique content in each. Such is the amount of hand-crafted content that even the development team is unsure about everything included.
Mutant and Anomaly Types
Hostile Stalkers and factions roam the Zone, but what kinds of Mutants will players have to worry about? The Pseudodog, Flesh, Controllers, and Bloodsuckers all return to make life miserable. However, there are also new additions like the Bayun, which imitates the voices of injured Stalkers, thus luring unsuspecting individuals. As for Anomalies, there are harmless types like the Cushion, which negates fall damage, and more terrifying ones like the Burner, erupting in a fountain of fire when least expected. Keep that Gilka-1 detector and tons of bolts handy.
Weapon Variety and Customization
There are over 35 weapons in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 with an extensive range of attachments, optics, and upgrades, which can make life in the Zone less torturous. The Black Market may be an ideal place to find some, but you can also complete side quests, discover Stalker stashes, and loot bodies for the same. There are stocks for improving aiming speed, laser designators to reduce spread, foregrips to reduce recoil, and more, though you have to pay technicians to upgrade them.
Difficulty Options
Anyone who played the previous games will tell you that the challenge is no joke. Walking into a region with Veteran or Expert Stalkers is a great way to get decimated (forget dealing with other enemy factions or mutants). There are different difficulty levels, and the same goes for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, which has three available at launch. However, as the studio revealed to Windows Central in an interview last month, even Normal difficulty is tuned to be “really difficult.” There’s also an “even higher difficulty mode that doesn’t just make the gameplay more difficult, but also strips back HUD and UI elements.”
If you’re suddenly in combat and didn’t check beforehand, you may be a bullet short and a day late on survival. However, for those seeking a less stressful experience, the lowest difficulty is equated to Story Mode (though you still have the option to turn off the HUD for more immersion).
Xbox Series X/S Performance
GSC Game World revealed last year that the Xbox Series X version would have a Performance mode delivering 60 frames per second and a Quality mode running at 30 frames per second with various reflections and high-resolution textures. The resolution for both modes is still unknown, but what about the Xbox Series S, the parity bane of all developers? Lead producer Slava Lukyanenka revealed that it’s running at around 35 frames per second. The team is still optimizing, so we’ll need to wait and see how the performance shakes out.
Playtime
For all this talk of a massive hand-crafted world with so many things to discover, what about those in it for the main story? Well, good news, because it’s about 40 hours long. Not quite the standard for open-world shooters, especially since side quests and other content haven’t been factored in, but it’s equally absurd next to previous titles. And if you are keen on discovering everything, it’ll take over 100 hours.
Free Multiplayer and Other Updates
Despite the long journey to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s launch, it’s far from the end of development. GSC Game World has two paid expansions in the works and free multiplayer, but that’s only the beginning as a “variety” of post-launch updates are planned. There will even be some new features for the base game that come into play with the expansions, as confirmed by the developer to Windows Central.
Mod Support
If you’re a long-time S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Fan, you may have experienced mods like Anomaly, Call of the Zone, Lost Alpha, and much more. The potential for similar experiences in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is enticing, especially with mod support confirmed. However, Xbox players can also access mods. It’s yet to fully detail everything the kit offers beyond allowing players to create mods and total conversions so chalk that up as another thing to look forward to post-launch.
PC Requirements
Given its fidelity, the hardware requirements for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl are surprisingly reasonable. Minimum requirements include an AMD Ryzen 5 1600X or Intel Core i5-7600K, 8 GB RAM and either Radeon RX 580 8 GB or Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB. The recommended requirements demand a Ryzen 7 3700X or Core i7-9700K, 16 GB RAM and a Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB, an RTX 2070 Super 8 GB, or a GTX 1080 Ti 11GB. You’ll also need 150 GB of installation space and a solid-state drive is mandatory.