We get up in a daze, the sky above us turning an ominous crimson shade. We hear a loud growl, which will get louder within the first jiffy of Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl. A mutated canine is nibbling on our leg; it has most likely chosen it as its lunch. Its eyes are glowing crimson, its fur is rotting, its flesh is rotting. Never thoughts, eliminate it – one kick later, the mutant canine flies into an anomaly and shreds in a violent blood blister.
It’s like throwing a tomato right into a blender, however there are not any tomatoes right here. Instead, there’s loads of eye-candy due to Unreal Engine 5: deserted buildings flooded with deep, wintry gentle; threadbare forests punctuated by oily, shimmering bubbles of distorted actuality; patches of quiet humanity sprawling throughout the wilderness.
That’s maybe the nicest shock. Stalker 2 has these chilly, gloomy basements that give off extra of a horror vibe. But it additionally has these lovely, nearly paradisiacal eventualities.
4K gameplay of Stalker 2:
We wade by way of veritable seas of flowers – complete fields filled with crimson, lush tulips, eager to actually drift and fall, however gunfire shatters the silence. The crops are riddled with holes, these lovely tulips fly upwards, our life bar drops menacingly.
Stalker 2 is a kind of one-hit video games the place a single assault can actually harm us and severely limit our motion. If a shot hits us within the leg, we limp. Another shot to the arm and our weapon is warped as a result of we all of a sudden can now not stability the AK 47, which itself has a substantial recoil.
Atmospheric like Fallout 5, robust like Dark Souls
We need to goal utilizing the rear sight and entrance sight, AKs are fairly forgiving, different weapons are exact however solely enable just a few pictures earlier than a somewhat lengthy reload animation follows.
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Stalker 2 is a hardcore shooter that offers you a transparent message: “You are part of this world, but you are not important. You’re not the star here, you’re a victim, just like everyone else.”
A world through which we play a component, however will not be the focal point. It requires us to consider shooters otherwise – extra like Escape from Tarkov or DayZ. One unsuitable transfer, slipping by way of the door and being found, and we’re simply one other corpse that’s taken over the zone.
It’s a tactical shooter, as a result of we’ve got to goal low, because the AK particularly has a heavy warp. And the timing of the reload is real looking – it takes time to unclip the previous journal and insert the brand new one. Reload, let’s transfer on.
And reloading feels rattling loud. We actually flinch when taking part in – in spite of everything, somebody would possibly hear the clatter. See enemy, shoot enemy, that’s how we all know shooters. In Stalker 2, it’s by no means that easy: cowl solely offers restricted safety, and if the enemy is of a better caliber, he merely punctures the overturned picket cupboards which can be supposed to offer us with safety.
A metal weapon cupboard, alternatively, can stand up to far more. We are solely ever one stray bullet away from loss of life. And the cruel recoil of the weapon makes capturing really feel actually tough. Not as easy and light-footed as in most shooters.
We actually like how Stalker 2 utilises graphic options tactically: We can inform when a soldier is coming down the steps by his shifting shadow.
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It’s soiled, uncooked, a struggle for survival through which each victory towards simply two or three opponents is hard-won and tastes all of the sweeter.
This can be because of the actually good AI: they throw grenades to destroy our cowl. One of them retains us down with steady fireplace, the opposite runs up the steps, grabs a sniper rifle and will get into an optimum capturing place.
If we run out of ammunition, we’ve got to search for extra and the fellows then chase us. They need revenge, in spite of everything – we killed their comrade – and so a battle in a storage can shortly shift into the forest. We go from hunter to hunted, identical to in … Escape from Tarkov.
The story: We get up bare within the Zone
On a technical stage, face scanning, efficiency capturing and photogrammetry are additionally spectacular and solely barely inferior to style references comparable to The Last of Us 2.
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In Stalker 2, we get up bare and destitute someplace within the Zone, be part of stalkers, do jobs for them and, above all, search for artefacts – radioactively charged objects which can be supposed to present individuals superpowers.
However, we quickly study that Stalker 2 is not any strange open-world sport, as travelling is fraught with hazard and there’s no map for the artefact areas; as a substitute, others inform us about what they’ve seen. “Follow the railway line,” mentioned one man. Too dangerous that ravenous mutant wolves lurk there at evening.
It’s thrilling how totally different weapons really feel: This Uzi, for instance, has a really excessive charge of fireside, however it scatters extraordinarily – so it’s very troublesome to hit enemies who’re taking cowl slightly additional away.
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And one thing we merely name the mutant armoured deer: The bones of this king of the forest have grown collectively to kind a type of Kevlar armor. Simple rifle pictures can’t cease it, salvation lies in fleeing.
In Stalker 2, there are at all times enemies for whom we first have to seek out the precise weapons. But if there’s an armored deer close to an anomaly, we will after all lure the bandits from the storage slightly additional forward. That’s two enemies with one stone.
The open world has one thing of The Last of Us 2 about it: the place stalkers arrange camp in a downed Russian military transport helicopter as a result of it’s comparatively simple to defend towards mutated animals.
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And thus additionally change the world, as a result of the workshop was taken from our new mates – a bunch of stalkers who’ve now arrange camp within the forest by a small fireplace – by the bandits. They have fled right here, however it’s not secure on the market.
If we recapture this base, our popularity with the boys will improve they usually’ll make themselves at residence, which can unlock new quests and, after all, weapons, tools and crafting. There are workbenches there to noticed off a shotgun, for instance, which makes it louder however provides it much more oomph. Or we will make an improvised silencer.
On an performing stage particularly, we like how ambivalent many of the characters are. How a lot takes place within the zone within the gray space. Where enemies can typically turn into mates. Or are they only pretending?
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In basic, the standard of the cutscenes may be very sturdy and at all times has nerve-wracking resolution factors paying homage to The Witcher 3 . We meet a basic who’s blind however leads a sizeable military. We can be part of him or attempt to kill him from behind, however he hears us, confronts us and presents his imaginative and prescient of a “fairer zone.”
Is he telling the reality? Is he making an attempt to lull us to sleep? Are the others truly telling the reality? Is there even THE reality or is everybody right here making it up for themselves? And then we meet a stalker legend:
This article was translated from German to English and initially appeared on pcwelt.de.