S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl - Ultimate Edition

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3.4/5

( 87 Reviews )

3.4

87 Reviews

English & 17 more

Overall most helpful review

Posted on: November 21, 2024

THX1342

Verified owner

Games: Reviews: 15

Souless... Stalker: Call of Duty

Performance at launch is terrible. To get the game to run on a "normal" PC the game need to look like absolute garbage and, even then, you get severe stuttering. But performance aside, since that can eventually be easily fixed, this game has bigger issues. 1) The Zone feels dead. There is no A-Life. Mutants don't interact with each other. Stalkers are not going about their daily routines. The Zone exists as a bubble around you, the main character. NPCs stand looking at the horizon waiting for you to go talk to them. After you talk to them they continue to stand there. With no purpose. With no agency. This is not typical of a Stalker game. In this one you are the main protagonists, the reason the Zone exists and this makes the game look and feel more like a Call of Duty 2) Overuse of cut-scenes that completely rip player agency. There are a lot of very well produced cut-scenes but that turn the game, in pivotal moments, into a movie and not a game. You don't get to have that amazing gunfight with overpowered enemies. You watch it happen. Your character making decisions for you. This is not typical of a Stalker games and makes the game look and feel more like a Call of Duty. On the positives, when you manage to get enough frames to process what's going on, the atmosphere (visually at least) is there even though the real things that make the Zone, the Zone, isn't (Stalker fans know graphics are not even 3rd on the list of what matters for the Zone). Also gunplay can feel pretty good. Developers did not have courage to take risks and bring back the uniqueness of Stalker. They played it safe and followed pre-existing, blockbuster formulas. Overall, this is a Call of Duty game with Stalker makeover. A disappointing Stalker game...

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Posted on: November 25, 2024

betahax

Verified owner

Games: Reviews: 3

Beautiful but sad

Once I finally competed the extremely lengthy download, I was whisked into The Zone and I eagerly strapped in to see what 17 years hath wrought. The first hour was magical: Beautifully tragic landscapes, uncanny and imaginative anomalies, deeply immersive sound design. I was rapt as I cautiously made my way forward from the starting point, taking my time to carefully inspect every room, every corridor, to look in every nook and cranny and think about what I was doing and where I was. Is this place safe? Do I have my exits covered? What direction am I likely to be attacked from? Do I have an escape route? Then I got to the first scripted encounter, then the second, then the third, and I realized: none of that stuff matters. The encounter design is a throwback to Doom's 1993 monster closets but even cheesier, because the mutants just... appear! Usually right next to you, or behind you, or on top of you. No amount of careful planning or cautious exploration can help you because the monsters pop into existence from nowhere, once you've picked up the item or opened the door or crossed the invisible trigger line. Now you're in combat, which has a whole host of other problems that you can read about at length elsewhere, but my top problems are twofold: creatures that were jump-scare glass cannons in the previous games are now heavily armored bullet-sponges & the stamina requirements for movement and melee combat are stupendously taxing which makes operating with a low ammo supply practically nonviable. I'm just a person on the internet, but I do have over 2000 hours logged in the previous games of the series, all on Master difficulty, so my opinions come from a place long- and strongly-forged. This game needs at least 6 months to a year more of dev work and playtesting on economy, balance, A-Life, balance, scripted encounters, and balancing. But then again, playing a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game in pure vanilla was always thus.

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Posted on: November 23, 2024

Vizera

Games: Reviews: 17

Not a Stalker game.

Really wanted to like this game but ended up refunding it as i ran into a game breaking bug after just a few hours. A swarm of rats would suddenly spawn for no reason and kill me as i was talking to npcs or even in a cutscene. At that point i was already bored with the game and unimpressed with everything i had seen sofar. This plays like a fairly generic shooter that does nothing new while liberally borrowing some mechanics, monsters and ui elements from the original Stalker series, without doing any of it well. The AI is bad and the spawn mechanics are awful. Monsterns and npcs just seem to magically appear around you, which is especially noticable if you stay in one place for a minute. There is also no reason to fight anything as monsters are all massive bullet spounges that gives no reward. The game is poorly optimized and runs badly even on a very high end system. Sadly, i just can't reccomend this.

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Posted on: November 21, 2024

omglol200

Verified owner

Games: 262 Reviews: 4

Poorly Optimized Bug Ridden

The game is filled with bugs, runs like crap, is somehow 150 gigs to download, the graphics menu doesn't give the option to turn off things like depth of field or motion blur. The english voice acting is really bad everyone has an english acceent, guess they couldn't even bother to have some eastern europeans voice the english version. And unfornately the game is missinga lot of the slav jank that made the first 3 games so memorable. It feels like they jumped on too many modern gaming trends that lead to the awful games we have been seeing for the last 5 or so years. Despite what people are claiming its really not much like the older games. Honestly just wait a year or two to play it and maybe the bugs and performance will be somewhat sorted. If they fixed the bugs the game would be mid, but where it stands it is below mid.

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Posted on: November 21, 2024

UnpureSoul

Games: 38 Reviews: 1

I expected more

after 14years of waiting we got a game that would have been great,,, but about 14years ago. Gaphica it's just a little better than the first parts on mods, but with requirements as if it was at least some kind of Cyberpunk game. mutants look simply pathetic, nothing has been changed compared to the original STALKER 1 except the resolution. Ai of enemies is annoyin as in the first parts. The economy of the game is tragic, repairing eqipment after a mission costs more then the reward you get! Huge (and empty) map but so what if the running annoys you by getting tired too quickly. ...And many more things including voice actors and faces without any emotions (almost like Starfield) Overall the game falls far short of the level of what is expected in 2024. Even Ubisoft's games are a masterpiece next to this overhyped thing. Gives 3 stars but only due to the sentiment of the title. It's a shame to call it AAA game

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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl - Ultimate Edition

Ultimate Edition for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl provides all the Deluxe bonuses, including weapon & armor sets and Bonus Side Quest!

Deluxe bonuses for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl provide unique in-game items that will wait for you in the Zone:

Discover the legendary S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe and experience:

EPIC NONLINEAR STORY IN SEAMLESS OPEN WORLD

VARIETY OF ENEMIES AND HUNDREDS OF WEAPON COMBINATIONS

LEGENDARY MUTANTS WITH DIFFERENT BEHAVIOUR MODELS

ARTIFACTS OF INCREDIBLE VALUE AND UNFORGIVING ANOMALIES

GOOD HUNTING, STALKER!

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