the Zone, in every sense of the word

After an interminable development cycle during which the Ukrainian developers of GSC Game World had to juggle the Covid-19 pandemic and the invasion of Russia, the latest opus of the legendary saga has finally arrived, almost three years after the initial date. Will he be able to prove himself worthy of his illustrious predecessors? Here is our opinion, straight away, after about ten hours as captivating as they are frustrating.

For those who are not familiar with the STALKER universe, the plot takes place in the closed perimeter around the Chernobyl power plant – or the Zone, for short. Following the nuclear disaster that devastated northern Ukraine in 1986, the entire region was transformed into a gigantic lawless zone governed by its own deviant laws of physics. Various factions engage in a merciless struggle for control of the strange artifacts born from these deadly anomalies, while trying as best they can to survive in this sort of post-apocalyptic western riddled with mutated creatures where the only law is that of stronger.

The player embodies Skif, a mysterious individual not spoiled by life who has chosen to try his luck in this nuclear hell. But make no mistake: as in previous games, it is the Zone itself which remains the number one protagonist of the game.

A gem of atmosphere

First observation: this new version of the map is absolutely immense, and full of points of interest to explore. Fanatics of the series will be delighted to note that the deliciously oppressive and disturbing atmosphere which made the success of the first opuses is not only present from start to finish, but sublimated by the immense technical progress which the industry has benefited since the release of the original in 2007.

From a purely technical point of view, the integration of Unreal Engine 5 alone is enough to breathe new life into the Zone. In short, STALKER 2 is graphically magnificent, which makes the visceral realism of this universe even more impactful; we could almost taste the acid rain that falls on these battered lands.

But beyond the graphical fidelity, the real strength of the game lies above all in the atmosphere. It's absolutely obvious that GSC put their heart and soul into building this sinister universe. This gloomy and dreary atmosphere has never been so well transcribed, and the immersion is as immediate as it is brutal. Each element of the universe has its little effect, and each step in these desolate spaces took us to the guts; you will have understood, at this level, STALKER 2 is an indisputable success.

A problematic optimization

But if the adventure begins under the best auspices, it is quickly handicapped by a host of technical problems as difficult to digest as the radioactive sausages devoured by Skif between two artifact hunting expeditions. The least we can say is that the technical part is clearly not up to the level of his artistic virtuosity; the game suffers from a more than significant amount of bugs and issues.

To begin with, optimization is absent. Those without a competition machine will unfortunately be unable to enjoy all that the Zone has to offer visually speaking. Our RTX 3070 suffered a lot, and only owners of a high-end graphics card of the latest generation (RTX 4070 or higher) will be able to aim for Ultra quality – in particular because the developers made the questionable decision to force the exploitation of the ray-tracing, with all that that implies in terms of performance. During our few sessions, we were also faced with catastrophic memory leaks that systematically forced us to restart the game – very problematic in terms of immersion.

“Anomalies” in every corner

The gameplay also suffers from some pretty horrifying bugs. Luckily, none of them have stopped us from progressing (so far) — but they're still very frustrating nonetheless.

Certainly, glitches have always been an integral part of this notoriously flawed series. Fans even got into the habit of talking about it kindly, and made it a diegetic element in its own right through the famous phrase “ There is no no bugs in STALKER, only anomalies » — a direct reference to the dangerous paranormal phenomena that constellate the Zone.

But in Stalker 2, it takes on such proportions that it's sometimes difficult not to roll your eyes. For example, several times we were spotted and then summarily executed by an invisible enemy stalker, because… stuck in a cupboard or a car wreck. The kind of sequence we would gladly do without; the Zone is already ruthless enough as it is!

Freewheeling A-Life AI

At certain levels, we even see a rather disappointing technical regression. The best example is undoubtedly that of the famous AI A-Life which greatly contributed to the success of the first opuses. As a reminder, this is a dynamic simulation system that allows all occupants of the Zone, from independent stalkers to mutants to members of various factions, to interact organically. For example, when looking for the origin of a burst of gunfire, we may come across an altercation between two groups which turned into a chaotic bloodbath after the sudden incursion of a horde of deformed creatures.

These events that make Stalker so special are still present, but they are implemented in a particularly shaky way. The fault mainly lies with a spawning system which really does not seem to work as expected in this early version of the game, the enemies often appear in a ridiculously random way without taking into account the context, which greatly harms the immersion. This Reddit post is a great example.

But as a general rule, these rather comical bugs open the way to quite exasperating situations. Too often, enemies armed to the teeth appear out of sight and also too close to the player to give him the opportunity to react, especially outdoors. This tends to offer a decisive strategic advantage to enemies who don't really need it, knowing that they generally benefit from almost perfect aim even in environments where visibility is practically zero. During our first ten hours, the fact of moving cautiously while remaining on the lookout was rarely rewarded compared to previous opusesmaking many encounters more frustrating than anything else.

And even when the player manages to catch an enemy group off guard, it usually only takes a few seconds before their strategic advantage is blown away like a house of cards in the middle of a tornado. Because in addition to being all aces with the trigger, the opposing Stalkers all benefit from overdeveloped senses which make stealth very random, if not almost obsolete. Again, this is a frustrating shortcoming in a game where we're supposed to avoid head-on confrontations as much as possible.

A more than questionable balancing

We also regret other glaring balancing concerns, particularly on the mutant side. Special mentions to the psi-dogs, and especially to the Bloodsuckers, these abominable invisible mutants who lay deadly ambushes on the player. In the past, these iconic creatures from the series were rare enough to make these encounters psychologically impactful; you could wander the Zone for hours without encountering one, before being treated to a sequence that was both thrilling and memorable when they finally showed the tips of their tentacles after having been forgotten.

But in Stalker 2, these fights have lost all their interest for two reasons: they are much, much more frequent and above all more frustrating than anything else, because even on normal difficulty, these frail mutants have become real bullet sponges who require the player to sacrifice a lot of resources without any reward. A real pain in such a punishing game where every ammunition counts and where the durability of the equipment is very limited – and this is just one example among others.

Certes, GSC a already announced working on fixing these bugs and on global balancing. But as it stands, all these elements considerably harm immersion in this universe which is nevertheless so attractive.

Conclusion: a half-baked game but still tasty

In conclusion, STALKER 2 is a very heterogeneous game which constantly oscillates between excellence and blatant lack of maturity. If fans of the series will undoubtedly get their money's worth, it is undeniable that this opus would have really benefited from more preparation time; after all, we were only a few months away after waiting so long!

Therefore, it is quite difficult to recommend it to new players… even if there is no lack of desire, because at the end of the day, the universe and atmosphere of STALKER 2 are so exceptional that the experience remains frankly captivating. This is quite an achievement; It is probably one of the only games that has enough to offer to convince us to overlook these obvious shortcomings, which would undoubtedly have been completely prohibitive in another context

Finally, it would be unfair not to point out one last time that the game exudes passion and dedication. It will therefore be wise to keep an eye on STALKER 2, as it is undoubtedly only a few updates away from living up to its potential and becoming a great classic. As is, it probably deserves a 3.6/5 — not great, not terrible !