When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Heres how it works.
Stalker 2(often stylized as S.T.A.L.K.E.R.)
is an upcoming open-world shooter at its core, but the franchise representsso, somuch more than that.
Stalk the zone, in an alternative timeline where the Chornobyl nuclear disaster turned into something far more other-worldly.
Perhaps now, more so than ever.
To this day, the surrounding towns of Chornobyl and Pripyat remain irradiated.
What is Stalker 2?
Stalker 2 is as much a hardcore survival sim as it is open-world shooter, with unashamedly complex systems with intersecting RPG traditions.
Finally, after over a decade, Stalker 2 is nearly ready for its time in the spotlight.
The following interview was conducted with GSC Game World, with some answers edited for clarity and brevity.
Stalker 2 begins with our player character and a comrade sneaking into “The Zone.”
Stalker 2 is as much a hardcore survival sim as it is open-world shooter, with unashamedly complex systems with intersecting RPG traditions.
For the most part, Stalker 2 seems to be marching to its own tune.
“We had our core pillars of what Stalker should look like, and we went from there.
We just build aspects that fit into Stalker.
Life in “The Zone” is about as dangerous as you might expect.
We want to ensure our map feels alive, feeling dense with content.
The content should be differentiated, it shouldn’t repeat.
In Stalker, you only have your feet.
In this way, we can zoom into the map and make it feel bigger.”
Stalker 2 is no different.
“We’re not relying on procedural generation.
Hauntingly beautiful, and viciously deadly.
We are handcrafting everything.
We have some prefabs of course for buildings, but we renovate them with unique stories and content.
99% of the work is hand-crafted, and you might really feel that.”
I was impressed by Stalker 2’s penchant for detail, with guitar-playing stalkers animating proper chord shapes while strumming their irradiated guitars.
Stalker represents an oddly captivating mix of horror and apocalyptic tranquility.
“I personally like to play Stalker 2 without the HUD.
You start feeling yourself in the game.
Scavenging equipment, upgrading your gear, and boosting your rep are all key to surviving the zone.
you could also optionally turn off the HUD on the lowest difficulty, though.
“The loneliness there, the remnants of the stories of people living in this world.
It’s a unique feature of the game.
Head into the zone on November 20, 2024.
you might spend hours just talking to random stalkers, talking about random topics with them not narrative-driven topics.
They will tell you about the zone, and their lives.
I love what we’ve done, even with the generic NPCs in Stalker.”
Your starting weapons are shaky, prone to jamming, and inaccurate.
Stalker 2 launches as an Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC exclusive, at least for a short while.
“We actually started with zero contacts inside Microsoft.
We got a near-instant response and a connection to the correct team.
GSC isn’t phased, though.
With Stalker 2, we’re hoping to find fans in all new countries, too.
It’s not just a local story for us, especially if we’re talking about global sales.
Stalker is new to consoles, so going through Game Pass will help us reach a new audience.
So, it really depends on the project and the company.
For us, for Stalker 2, Game Pass has been a very good decision.”
“At first, we thought bringing Stalker 2 to the Xbox Series S might be impossible.
We have such a big game with so many mechanics, a huge amount of things.
It felt like this must be impossible to do.
But then we start optimizing, adding new features for streaming information.
We have quite low minimum PC requirements for a modern game.”
On the Xbox Series S, we stick to 30 FPS.
We think it’s possible.”
Yet still, life thrives here.
Stalkers set up check posts and bars, camp out, and play guitar.
For all the efforts made by military powers to prevent excursions into The Zone, they still happen.
The mysteries of Stalker 2 get their hooks into you almost immediately and refuse to give you away.
I see a lot of cynicism towards gaming on social media these days.
November 20 can’t come fast enough.
Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl will also launch straight into Xbox and PC Game Pass.
