Test – STALKER 2: a sequel that disappoints

Among the most anticipated games of this end of year, STALKER 2 will definitely have caused a lot of talk. And for good reason, since this game has been in development for 15 years already!

It definitely took a lot of patience for STALKER fans before they could finally discover the second chapter of the saga. Certainly, the series already had 3 entries, but even from the developers, this second chapter should indeed be the continuation of the first opus, and not a simple spin-off or extension as the two previous titles could have been… 15 long years, that’s the time it took the Ukrainian studio GSC to finally deliver its game to us. 15 years during which the project experienced ups and downs. For a while, the founders of the studio were even accused of scam by part of the community. But signing an exclusivity with Xbox gave fans hope. And here it is today, arriving on PC and Xbox Series.

Released only on PC, STALKER remains a video game monument, the type of FPS that has marked the history of gaming, in the same way as Half-Life, Goldeneye 007, Perfect Dark or Wolfenstein. The game stood out from other productions by its open world and its dark universe, since the player finds himself in the heart of the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Focused on survival, the title offered a rich universe and abundant lore. More than 20 years later, the franchise is back with a sequel which has the merit of being faithful to the original, perhaps even a little too…

From the first contact with the game, we feel it, STALKER 2 is a sequel that respects the lore, the universe and the origin of the series. Pad in hand, we have the impression of playing an updated version of the original. We find everything that made the franchise successful: a vast game area to explore, inspired by the Chernobyl exclusion zone, a fairly large bestiary which includes human enemies, monstrosities, anomalies, mutant animals ,…, a fairly varied arsenal and a concept very focused on survival.

The Chernobyl exclusion zone is de facto not a play zone like any other, in the sense that it contains an incalculable number of dangers… Radioactivity is very present and it will not only be necessary to avoid it but also to ‘take care of it. There are also numerous anomalies of different types which act as traps for the player here. Fortunately, a radar will allow you to be informed of their proximity… Most also give visual clues to their presence. And then of course there are the many types of mutants, deformed creatures and humans that will try to eliminate you. Like any good survival game, the game also relies heavily on loot: you will have to collect weapons and ammunition from the corpses of your enemies, but also various foodstuffs such as food to fuel you, water, vodka to treat you from radiation, treatments and bandages to stop bleeding The game system is quite well designed even if you have the unpleasant impression of playing a game from 20 years ago. And then of course, there are those waves of radiation that will completely irradiate the landscape at regular intervals and force you to seek shelter to survive…

On paper, all this had sold us a dream. But not in hand, it’s cruel disillusionment. Already because we quickly realize that the game was finished with a trowel. There are such a large number of bugs in this game that we come to doubt that the developers will one day be able to patch them all… It goes from the corpse that levitates to the boss that gets stuck in front of a crate, including corrupted save, crash, and hundreds of texture bugs not displaying. It’s very simple, in gamer memory we have rarely seen such a festival of bugs. Even the remake of XIII, which came out a few years ago, was cleaner when it came out.

So of course, we understand that it is a triple A game and that the context is quite particular: the developers were based in Ukraine at the time of the invasion of the country by Russian forces. Some died at the front. Most were relocated to the Czech Republic and inevitably all of this must have affected the final quality of the title. That being said, let’s remember, the game was in development for 15 long years and already last year, when we tried the title at Gamescom we pointed out the disastrous finish of the title…

And the trouble is that even without these bugs, STALKER 2 is far from being a phenomenal game… The AI ​​is extremely basic, the game is very poorly put together in terms of its construction, certain sequences are extremely painful, the The scenario is generally not very interesting to follow, the design of certain enemies is laughable, the modeling of the faces also makes you smile, not to mention the absolutely atrocious English dubbing. We finally come to wonder if de facto, STALKER 2 was not a scam from the start. Because honestly, where did all the budget for this game go?

Visually, we are also far from the slap announced. Certain panoramas are certainly very pretty but overall, we are faced with a game that could very well have run on the old generation, with runny textures, often very basic modeling, visual effects that are sometimes completely botched… We have seen games under Unreal Engine 5 much more successful. The worst part is that the framerate is far from optimal. We often experience slowdowns during shooting sequences, which can sometimes be downright disabling. It’s all the more a shame because in terms of sensations, the title is rather pleasant. The gunfights are nervous, the feeling of the weapons is excellent, the survival part is overall rather successful even if we regret the absence of explanations…

So no, STALKER 2 is not a complete trainwreck. Fans of the series will no doubt be delighted to be able to dive back into the zone once the game is patched. And believe us, it will probably take months to correct everything… But even if it had been released in impeccable condition, STALKER 2 would probably not have marked the history of video games because de facto it is about at best an average FPS, at worst a bad clone of Fallout 76…

Conclusion

With Dragon Age: The Veilguard, STALKER 2 is one of the biggest disappointments of this year 2024. GSC’s game certainly remains faithful to the STALKER universe and offers pleasant gunfights, but overall, we have the impression of playing a title from around twenty years ago which would not have been modernized… nor refined for that matter. Despite its 15 years of development, the game is riddled with bugs, so much so that you will sometimes find yourself stuck in the adventure by a save that refuses to load. Visually, it’s not very glorious either for a “new-gen” game that runs under Unreal Engine 5. But the most disappointing thing is the overall gaming experience, with long loading times. , a frame rate which hinders certain fights, aiming bugs, sketchy AI, bosses who end up blocked by a crate… The grandiose open world which was promised to us also seems atrociously bland, empty, dead and above all repetitive in its composition. Everything is not to be thrown away, the gunfights remain pleasant despite the numerous bugs and the experience of survival and loot in the bowels of Chernobyl is a treat, but it must be admitted, the series has aged badly. The patches should logically improve the experience, but even without bugs, don’t expect the FPS of the decade, or even of the month to be honest with you…

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