No game in existence has been created without any issues. Whether it is technical issues, optimisation issues or bugs, development is never a smooth process.
While every studio was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, very few have had to deal with the impact of an invasion going on in their country.
That is the case for Ukrainian developer GSC Game World, who had to pause development on their upcoming game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl (the Ukrainian spelling) due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
They were forced to relocate to Prague in the Czech Republic in May of that year, where they restarted development. In 2023, they also revealed they had been dealing with constant cyberattacks from a Russian social network.
It is no surprise that earlier this year the game was delayed from September 5th to November 20th, to deal with a number of issues.
Sadly, the result is a product that still does not feel ready for release in 2024. Plagued by bugs and poor optimisation on the Xbox Series X, Stalker 2 feels overly ambitious and would have benefited from a much smaller scope.
In terms of the story, you are dropped right into an area of exclusion around the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. In an alternative reality, the power plant explodes in 1986 and a 60 km wide area of exclusion called "Zone of Alienation" is created.
A handful of scientists and engineers stay behind and use it as a testing ground for mind control, amongst other things. They mainly focus on the idea of a noosphere, where our collective consciousness is an energy source that can be utilised.
They spent the next few decades experimenting, but in 2006 a large-scale experiment went array, leading to the zone expanding and creating a rift in the noosphere. It leads to areas where physical laws are outright broken, and mysterious phenomena manifest themselves.
Survival instincts
As a stalker, you are tasked with entering the zone and trying to find unique artefacts which have a lot of value in the outside world.
It is not quite that easy though, as it is an area brimming with radiation, mutants, and anomalies.
It is a dark and brutal place where survival is incredibly unlikely and only those who have nothing left to lose dare to venture.
The game wears its realism on its sleeve as you pull up your inventory and map in real time, meaning you are live bait for enemies around you.
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The game wears its realism on its sleeve as you pull up your inventory and map in real time, meaning you are live bait for enemies around you.
While this sounds good on paper, when it comes to playing the game, it can be incredibly frustrating. The realism means your guns jam, you reload incredibly slowly and bleed after almost every time you are hit or shoot.
This problem is exacerbated when you are tasked either in a main or side mission with taking a large group of enemies who have perfect aim and never seem to have issues with jamming.
The game even gives you advice to run away from encounters in certain situations, yet most of the missions require you taking on groups head on. You also cannot fall back on stealth either, as besides having a silencer on your gun, there are no stealth takedowns.
While the overall gameplay might be antiquated and underwhelming, the real issue is just how buggy this game is.
Technical issues
I have encountered countless bugs during my playthrough that have hampered the experience. In one of the early missions, you are tasked with finding an artefact using a scanner, but it never spawned for me.
I was unsure why I could not find it, but when I reloaded the game the scanner magically appeared in my hand. There is also a weird issue where there is no sound for a good few seconds when you reload after you die.
In another main mission, after speaking to the quest giver, the door I had entered the building with was locked for some reason. Again, I had to reload the game to fix the issue.
At the same time, the village I was in was being attacked but no one bothered to tell my character what was happening and why.
The non-playable characters (NPCs) in the game also get stuck walking into objects or walls as they stare blankly at you.
The voice acting is all over the place as well, with some characters sounding decent and others like it was the first time they saw the script.
The voice acting is all over the place as well, with some characters sounding decent and others like it was the first time they saw the script.
The biggest issue with the game is how poorly it runs though. I reviewed the game on Xbox Series X and whether it was the performance or quality mode, it is a poorly optimised experience.
The quality mode runs at 30fps with slightly better resolution, while performance mode targets 6ofps but rarely reaches it.
The framerate takes a major dip when you go into bigger settlements, but even when you are out in the world there are texture pop-ins and overall the environment lacks clarity.
It is sorely disappointing that a game that was clearly made with so much love and passion was released in this state. Clearly, this game needed a lot more time in the oven and was not ready for the limelight.
Maybe in a few years, with multiple major updates and bug fixes, it will be a serviceable game, but at the moment it is an absolute mess that falls short at every level.
