Keep Your Gear from the Intro
The linear prologue chapter of Stalker 2 ends when you place three scanners down at specific locations. After the prologue, there’s a cutscene, and when you wake back up, you’ll find your inventory completely gone. It doesn’t have to be this way though.
Before you even approach the objective marker for the third scanner, check around the side of the building for an open window with a safe. Instead of cleaning out the contents of the safe, put all of the gear you want to hold on to inside of it. There are no combat sections coming up, and when you regain control, you’ll be just a short walk away from returning to the safe to pick all of your gear back up.
NOTE:
Also, before you leave this starting area, make sure you climb up the nearby tower to collect some food, medkits, and ammo.
Get Your First Side Mission
As you make your way towards Zalissya, the Stalker settlement in the Lesser Zone, just up ahead you’ll spot a group of bandits in the middle of a fire fight at the post office. Help out the person inside, Zhorik, by killing the banditsand then chat with Zhorik to start up a side quest involving saving his buddy Gloomywho’s being held at the Boiler House to the east. Before setting off for the boiler house, you can collect Zhorik’s stash by making a stop at the downed airship slightly northeast of the Post Office. It’s guarded by a couple of blind dogs and a bunch of radiation, but it’s nothing you shouldn’t be able to handle.
Snag a Bunch of Medkits
Before you continue to the Boiler House for the side mission, take a detour and head a short distance to the southeast from the post office and look for an empty bus. Inside you’ll find a bunch of boxes that you can break with your knife to get some bandages, five medkits, a grenade, and some vodka. All of which will come in handy in the next combat encounter. Well… maybe not the vodka.
Rescue Gloomy
Get back on the path and continue northeast to the boiler house. There will be a handful of enemies inside, but plenty of cover for you to make use of. Once you take them all out, head to the second floor of the boiler house to find Gloomy. As a reward Gloomy will give you another Echo Detector. While you already have one from the tutorial section, you might as well take another one so you can sell it later. Asking for something else simply points out the location of Gloomy’s stash, which is where our next stop is anyway.
Go to the Magnetic Cave
Just outside the Boiler House and to the east is a magnetic cave. Shoot the red barrel to blow up the crates blocking the entrance and you should see an area with a bunch of fire anomalies.
