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

Game is heavily bugged. Quests are bugged. NPCs AI is bugged. Weapons are bugged. They released a game in beta state and we paid to test it and to get the story spoilered. The atmosphere is good, sound is good but graphics is the same Unreal Engine thing as other 2millions titles. Good ideas but very poor implementation.

GSC sought to be true to the STALKER legacy when they created this game, and that is precisely what they have accomplished - in more ways than one, and not always positively. What they have released is a game that absolutely oozes atmosphere, but has some rough edges. Before we get into it, my PC specs are as follows: - CPU: Intel i7-8700k (stock clocks, 3.7GHZ) - GPU: Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti-8GB - RAM: 16GB @ 3200 MHz - Primary display: 1920x1080 @ 60Hz I can hit 60FPS no problem on a mix of High and Medium settings, only experiencing frame drops in settlements. To ensure I hit 60 as often as possible, I play with DLSS "Quality." I have not experienced any crashes, serious stuttering, or major bugs as of this writing. First, the bad, since it's noticeable but pretty quick to sum up. - AI spawning and persistence (called "A-Life" by the devs and community) is a bit busted. This is my biggest disappointment, since it's constantly palpable; the Zone isn't as lively as it used to be. I say "busted" rather than "absent" because the devs seem to indicate that it's not working as intended. - The difficulty curve is a bit off. HP/damage of mutants are way too high for how often you encounter them, and you find mutants that were considered rare or late-game in previous entries much more frequently. - The quick selection controls are pretty strange on PC and there's no good way to rebind them. - Sometimes, the lighting effects freak out a bit, creating overly dark situations. The rest is so, so good. Sound effects, textures, models, and animations are top-notch, aided by some truly impressive lighting effects. UE5's Lumen is definitely a bit heavy on performance, but with the shadow quality turned up it's often very beautiful (though I do hope for a hardware RT solution to be available in future patches). I've managed to squeeze just under 9 hours of play in a few very busy days' time. After a few patches - and a few mods, no doubt - STALKER 2 will shine brightly indeed.

At this point, patch 1.3, Stalker 2 is just a glorified tech demo, not deserving to be called a game. Somehow less than the sum of its parts, it hates you for playing it and does everything to make the process of getting through it as tedious and mediocre as possible. "Ubisoft at home" is probably too generous of a description.

VOIR EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS: EN: Having spent 10 hours playing now. I can say that if it continues on this path, I think it's safe to say that it'll be great. The graphics are pretty good. The atmosphere and sound are very good (like the original Stalker). You're quickly immersed in the game. The game's system of random events seems to work pretty well. Enemies can be attacked by mutants or other rival gangs. Some optimization problems that mar the game a bit, unfortunately. I hope the studio will work to optimize it. The AI is pretty good, despite a few bugs. Maybe some problems of visibility in the vegetation to find the enemies I find. They, on the other hand, don't miss you. Which also allows me to mention that the game isn't at all easy in normal mode. I can't imagine it being difficult. In a nutshell. A very good game for those who like difficulty and the old Stalkers. If the studio fixes the few AI and optimization problems. I'd raise the rating to 5 stars (when GOG allows us to modify reviews). FR: Les graphismes sont bons. L'ambiance et le son sont très bons (comme les Stalker originaux). On est immergé très vite dans le jeu. Les événements aléatoires semblent plutôt bien fonctionner. Des ennemis peuvent se faire attaquer par des mutants ou d'autres bandes rivales Quelques problèmes d'optimisation qui entachent un peu le jeu malheureusement. J'espère que le studio va travailler pour l'optimiser. L'IA est plutôt bonne malgré quelques bêtises. Peut-être parfois des problèmes de visibilité dans la végétation pour trouver les ennemis, je trouve. Eux, par contre, ne vous ratez pas. Ce qui me permet également de mentionner que le jeu n'est effectivement pas facile du tout en normal. Je n'ose pas imaginer en difficile. En résumé. Un très bon pour ceux qui aiment la difficulté et les anciens Stalker. Si le studio corrige les quelques problèmes d'IA et d'optimisation. Je ferai monter la note à 5 étoiles (si GOG nous permet de modifier les avis)

By the fourth game you expect all the basics to be sorted but this one actually got worse. Sleep function can't set wake up time. Interiors too dark and the light is like a single candle. NPCs seem lifeless and the speech function strange as the characters switch to different voices when answering questions. Map and compass just seem off and uncomfortable to use. Buying and upgrading not part off speech and require separate button pressed. All these worked before but now actually feel like a downgrade. This game has the feeling it was designed by people who never spoke to each other and functions changed on a whim. Looks like graphics were given 99% of the time and gameplay the rest.