Sticking the touchdown with a sequel is difficult, doubly so for a recreation as lengthy within the making and with such a nightmarish improvement as Stalker 2. GSC Recreation World’s survival FPS will arrive 15 years after 2009’s Name of Pripyat, a recreation that also haunts my goals. The sequel was introduced in 2010, canceled in 2012, and resurrected in its present type in 2018. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to additional delays as GSC confronted essentially the most difficult circumstances any creatives may doubtless think about. Now, with launch mere days away, the developer has had years to replicate on the unique trilogy, however lead producer Slava Lukyanenka stresses that Stalker 2 is its personal beast.
Earlier than I even sit down in a comfortable assembly room in GSC’s lavish Prague studio, I’m already reminded of the hype and sky-high expectations for Stalker 2. A whistle-stop tour whisks me by way of the developer’s world, from staff hunkering to refine essentially the most minute of audio particulars to the UI group tweaking each side of textual content. There’s a tangible reverence for the primary three video games, as posters and memorabilia paint a celebratory image. Whereas the Stalker sequence hasn’t been within the limelight for a while, its devoted fan base has ensured its legacy alongside the perfect FPS video games on PC.
Lukyanenka displays on engaged on Stalker 2, saying that for “several years, the level of anxiety, it’s increasing constantly.” Stalker video games are identified for his or her unnerving environment and brutal, uncompromising design. They’ve a legendary fame within the PC gaming area, however Lukyanenka is aware of that Stalker 2 can’t relaxation on the trilogy’s laurels, saying “we’re not just trying to marry [it with] new references, new cool tech.”
But Stalker 2 nonetheless glistens with a refined sheen, balancing rural magnificence with otherworldly horror in painstaking constancy. The unique trilogy is stuffed with moments of cold-blooded terror of the kind that scrapes away beneath your pores and skin. My Stalker 2 preview makes it clear that GSC has achieved this as soon as once more.
“We took the trilogy [and thought] how can we keep the essence of what there was? What should we do to make it more modern?”, Lukyanenka explains. The originals aren’t the be-all, end-all, although; GSC is trying to them to “boost” Stalker 2’s personal sense of id.
Given the sequel’s protracted improvement, I ask the way it feels to lastly see gamers go hands-on with it. “Every time that someone is playing Stalker 2, in most cases, it either makes me determined to fix something or makes me excited to find that it can be played ‘this’ way,” he shares.
I too felt Stalker 2’s monumental sense of freedom throughout my three hours with it. I may strategy most conditions nonetheless I needed, be it tactically or in any other case. Any intrusive concept lurking in my mind would inevitably result in shocking outcomes, although Stalker 2 is simply as prone to mess with you as you might be with it. It has a grim humorousness in that means, with its programs primed to upend your expectations at any second.
Lukyanenka explains that the “zone keeps living. It’s alive. It’s not just [full of] empty ways to end with nothing and no one.” Cultivating a mounting unease in in any other case idyllic landscapes is commonly integral to Stalker 2’s strongest moments. “The beauty of nature is one part of the visual style of the Zone, which has never been that great in the original trilogy, but it has to be [in Stalker 2] to show you the feeling of the dangers, and of the loneliness,” Lukyanenka provides.
With that comes the friction the Stalker sequence is understood for. I felt Stalker 2 was much more punishing than its predecessors. You die quick, you’re in virtually fixed hazard, and minor errors can snowball into full-blown disasters. “It will not be forgiving. Assuming that not everyone is a huge fan of being challenged all the time, we’re still keeping the easy mode, which allows the audience to see it through the eyes of a close-to-invulnerable stalker,” he clarifies.
We’re simply days away from the Stalker 2 launch date now, however GSC is already trying in the direction of the sport’s future. Pre-ordering the final word version grants entry to the season move, which options two confirmed post-story DLC packs. “We have four endings. One of them will definitely be canon for future DLCs and future titles in the franchise,” he teases.
Earlier than my interview involves a detailed, he passionately says that the studio “is counting days till the moment we see many players will be able to play it. We want to start this journey of Stalker 2 with you because that’s not the end for us. That’s the beginning.”
You may get a headstart by testing our lists of the identified Stalker 2 weapons and Stalker 2 anomalies earlier than launch on November 20.
