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We get up in a daze, the sky above us turning an ominous pink shade. We hear a loud growl, which will get louder within the first couple of minutes of Stalker 2: Coronary heart of Chernobyl. A mutated canine is nibbling on our leg; it has most likely chosen it as its lunch. Its eyes are glowing pink, its fur is rotting, its flesh is rotting. By no means thoughts, eliminate it – one kick later, the mutant canine flies into an anomaly and shreds in a violent blood blister.
It’s like throwing a tomato right into a blender, however there are not any tomatoes right here. As a substitute, there’s loads of eye-candy because of Unreal Engine 5: deserted buildings flooded with deep, wintry mild; threadbare forests punctuated by oily, shimmering bubbles of distorted actuality; patches of quiet humanity sprawling throughout the wilderness.
That’s maybe the nicest shock. Stalker 2 has these chilly, gloomy basements that give off extra of a horror vibe. But it surely additionally has these lovely, virtually paradisiacal eventualities.
4K gameplay of Stalker 2:
We wade via veritable seas of flowers – entire fields filled with pink, lush tulips, desirous to actually drift and fall, however gunfire shatters the silence. The vegetation are riddled with holes, these lovely tulips fly upwards, our life bar drops menacingly.
Stalker 2 is a type of one-hit video games the place a single assault can actually harm us and severely prohibit our motion. If a shot hits us within the leg, we limp. One other shot to the arm and our weapon is warped as a result of we abruptly can now not steadiness the AK 47, which itself has a substantial recoil.
Atmospheric like Fallout 5, powerful like Darkish Souls
![Zielen müssen wir via Kimme und Korn, AKs verziehen ziemlich, andere Waffen sind zwar präzise, erlauben aber nur wenige Schuss, bevor eine recht lange Nachladeanimation folgt.](https://i0.wp.com/b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Stalker2_03.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&ssl=1)
We’ve got to purpose utilizing the rear sight and entrance sight, AKs are fairly forgiving, different weapons are exact however solely enable just a few photographs earlier than a slightly lengthy reload animation follows.
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Stalker 2 is a hardcore shooter that provides you a transparent message: “You might be a part of this world, however you aren’t vital. You’re not the star right here, you’re a sufferer, identical to everybody else.”
A world by which we play a component, however aren’t the focal point. It requires us to consider shooters in another way – extra like Escape from Tarkov or DayZ. One flawed transfer, slipping via the door and being found, and we’re simply one other corpse that’s taken over the zone.
It’s a tactical shooter, as a result of now we have to purpose low, because the AK specifically has a heavy warp. And the timing of the reload is reasonable – it takes time to unclip the previous journal and insert the brand new one. Reload, let’s transfer on.
And reloading feels rattling loud. We actually flinch when enjoying – in any case, somebody may hear the clatter. See enemy, shoot enemy, that’s how we all know shooters. In Stalker 2, it’s by no means that easy: cowl solely supplies restricted safety, and if the enemy is of a better caliber, he merely punctures the overturned wood cupboards which can be supposed to supply us with safety.
A metal weapon cupboard, however, can face up to way more. We’re solely ever one stray bullet away from demise. And the cruel recoil of the weapon makes capturing really feel actually tough. Not as easy and light-footed as in most shooters.
![Richtig gut gefällt uns, wie Stalker 2 grafische Features taktisch nutzt: Wir können hier am wandernden Schatten des Soldaten erkennen, wann er die Treppe runterkommt.](https://i0.wp.com/b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Stalker2_04.jpg?resize=1200%2C605&ssl=1)
We actually like how Stalker 2 utilises graphic options tactically: We will inform when a soldier is coming down the steps by his shifting shadow.
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It’s soiled, uncooked, a combat for survival by which each victory towards simply two or three opponents is hard-won and tastes all of the sweeter.
That is additionally as a result of actually good AI: they throw grenades to destroy our cowl. Considered one of them retains us down with steady hearth, the opposite runs up the steps, grabs a sniper rifle and will get into an optimum capturing place.
If we run out of ammunition, now we have to search for extra and the fellows then chase us. They need revenge, in any case – we killed their comrade – and so a battle in a storage can rapidly shift into the forest. We go from hunter to hunted, identical to in … Escape from Tarkov.
The story: We get up bare within the Zone
![Auf der technischen Ebene begeistern auch Face-Scan, Performance Capturing und Photogrammetrie, die nur leicht unter Genre-Referenzen wie The Last of Us 2 liegen.](https://i0.wp.com/b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Stalker2_05.jpg?resize=1200%2C605&ssl=1)
On a technical stage, face scanning, efficiency capturing and photogrammetry are additionally spectacular and solely barely inferior to style references similar to The Final of Us 2.
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In Stalker 2, we get up bare and destitute someplace within the Zone, be a part of stalkers, do jobs for them and, above all, search for artefacts – radioactively charged objects which can be supposed to offer individuals superpowers.
Nonetheless, we quickly be taught that Stalker 2 is not any unusual open-world recreation, as travelling is fraught with hazard and there’s no map for the artefact areas; as an alternative, others inform us about what they’ve seen. “Observe the railway line,” stated one man. Too dangerous that ravenous mutant wolves lurk there at night time.
![Spannend ist, wie unterschiedlich sich Waffen anfühlen: Diese Uzi etwa hat zwar eine sehr hohe Schussfrequenz, streut aber extrem – es ist also sehr schwierig, Gegner zu treffen, die etwas weiter in Entfernung in Deckung gehen.](https://i0.wp.com/b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Stalker2_06.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&ssl=1)
It’s thrilling how completely different weapons really feel: This Uzi, for instance, has a really excessive fee of fireside, but it surely scatters extraordinarily – so it’s very tough to hit enemies who’re taking cowl a bit additional away.
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And one thing we merely name the mutant armoured deer: The bones of this king of the forest have grown collectively to kind a sort of Kevlar armor. Easy rifle photographs can’t cease it, salvation lies in fleeing.
In Stalker 2, there are at all times enemies for whom we first have to search out the correct weapons. But when there’s an armored deer close to an anomaly, we are able to in fact lure the bandits from the storage a bit additional forward. That’s two enemies with one stone.
![Die Open-World hat so etwas von The Last of Us 2: Wo schon mal Stalker Camp in einem abgeschossenen Transporthubschrauber der russischen Armee machen, weil es sich relativ gut gegen mutierte Tiere verteidigen lässt.](https://i0.wp.com/b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Stalker2_07.jpg?resize=1200%2C603&ssl=1)
The open world has one thing of The Final of Us 2 about it: the place stalkers arrange camp in a downed Russian military transport helicopter as a result of it’s comparatively straightforward to defend towards mutated animals.
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And thus additionally change the world, as a result of the workshop was taken from our new associates – a bunch of stalkers who’ve now arrange camp within the forest by a small hearth – by the bandits. They’ve fled right here, but it surely’s not secure on the market.
If we recapture this base, our status with the boys will enhance they usually’ll make themselves at dwelling, which can unlock new quests and, in fact, weapons, tools and crafting. There are workbenches there to noticed off a shotgun, for instance, which makes it louder however offers it much more oomph. Or we are able to make an improvised silencer.
![Gerade auf der schauspielerischen Ebene gefällt uns, wie ambivalent die meisten Charaktere sind. Wie viel sich in der Zone im Graubereich abspielt. Wo sich Feinde auch mal als Freunde entpuppen können. Oder tun sie nur so?](https://i0.wp.com/b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Stalker2_08.jpg?resize=1200%2C600&ssl=1)
On an performing stage specifically, we like how ambivalent a lot of the characters are. How a lot takes place within the zone within the gray space. The place enemies can generally transform associates. Or are they only pretending?
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Normally, the standard of the cutscenes may be very robust and at all times has nerve-wracking choice factors harking back to The Witcher 3 . We meet a basic who’s blind however leads a sizeable military. We will be a part of him or attempt to kill him from behind, however he hears us, confronts us and presents his imaginative and prescient of a “fairer zone.”
Is he telling the reality? Is he making an attempt to lull us to sleep? Are the others really telling the reality? Is there even THE fact or is everybody right here making it up for themselves? After which we meet a stalker legend:
This text was translated from German to English and initially appeared on pcwelt.de.