Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl review: Unforgiving in nature and design

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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl (Which we’ll be calling Stalker 2 for the sake of our fingers) has some big lead shoes to fill, given it’s been 15 years since its highly revered predecessor, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat released. Yet while the sequel brings back the grimdark designs fans loved, it does get snowed under by its shortcomings.

Despite the darker and unforgiving style of the Stalker series, it’s hard to deny how beloved this franchise is. In fact, the series is so beloved (the previous three games have 9/10 on Steam) that expectation was higher than a geiger counter in a nuclear power plant for Stalker 2.

After all, with a 15-year wait when the last title was arguably one of the best survival horror games ever made, it’s hard not to get your hopes up.

However, while Stalker 2 managed to impress, it does have some rather glaring shortcomings that left us calling back to the (not so) safe haven of Pripyat.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl screenshots & details

Price: $59.00 / £49.99
Developer: GSC Game World
Release date: November 20, 2024
Platforms: Xbox Series X and Series S, PC
Reviewed on PC

Lots to live up to

While Stalker 2 deserves to be judged wholly on its own merits, it’s almost impossible not to draw some comparisons, given its position as a sequel to a franchise-best.

As such, the game has a stellar amount of worldbuilding laced within its easy-to-follow storyline to help bring new players and series veterans up to speed.

From the first few minutes, it’s clear Stalker 2’s radioactive environment isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s grim, intense, and incredibly dangerous. Even in locations where I knew easy-to-kill zombies would be around the corner, I found myself hesitantly inching through the corridors. Every flicker of the torch sent shivers down my spine, but instead of looking away, I found myself getting closer to my screen — I had to see the horrors before me with my own eyes.

There’s no denying how truly horrifying these moments are, and Stalker 2’s stunning visuals and immersive setting make it stand out.

An adventure new players can enjoy

Sequels can be daunting. There’s always some hesitation that you might not understand the setting, not gel with the action, or be thrown into the middle of an overarching story with very little explanation.

Luckily, since it’s a sequel, the world is already laid out for Stalker 2. From the moment you start, you’re thrust into the Zone with very little knowledge of what each faction, location, or even Anomaly does, outside of your knowledge from the previous games.

Combine this with the relatively simplistic storyline, and you have a recipe for a digestible game, one that’s far more appetizing than the questionable-looking cans of meat you’ll consume on your adventures.

That being said, this doesn’t mean Stalker 2 is a simple game — in fact, it’s far from it. Even playing on normal difficulty had me dying countless times to monsters, fellow humans, or just falling off a high ledge (that last one’s on me).

Like other games in the franchise, Stalker 2 is unforgiving. Your mistakes have consequences, your misplaced trust will cause you to watch that loading screen all too many times, and the first few hours will drill into you just how squishy Skif is. This is especially apparent against radiation and some well-placed shots or invisible claws to the head.

A few anomalies

However, while it certainly wins points for its atmospheric world, the general gameplay is far from perfect. During my 35-hour playthrough, I experienced plenty of bugs, significant framerate drops, weapon-firing lag, sound issues, and the occasional conversation with floating headphones.

It’s worth noting that some of these were fixed with patches that occurred during the review process, but plenty are yet to be ironed out. I reviewed Stalker 2 on a powerful PC (3080 GPU), yet I had to put the quality down to medium, showcasing just how much of a powerhouse this adventure is.

While that says something for the pure scope and size of Stalker 2, its inefficiency on PC is something to be noted and was a point of frustration on multiple occasions. The graphical improvement and framerate of the adventure didn’t feel like it warranted the heavy spec demand. Meanwhile, the massive download size (146 GB) and the investment you’d need to put into playing the game on high settings are laughable.

I wish I could say that all of these problems were down to performance. However, in many cases, the weapons struggled to pack the punch, which is largely down to the lack of sound. In fact, weapons that didn’t have suppressors made no noise upon firing, and close-range shots missed by miles.

As such, the already unforgiving experience was often made artificially challenging by unexpected bugs, lag, and general instability. The majority of these issues will be solved in the first few patches, but when these teething troubles are paired with the extremely demanding hardware requirements — many owners of mid or even slightly higher-ranged PCs will undoubtedly come away disappointed.

So much going for it

Performance issues aside, it’s hard to ignore how many excellent features are littered throughout the game, each aiming to make your time in the Zone more immersive or unforgiving.

Emissions help to keep you on your toes during the exploration, implementing a natural element of fear through just the weather. Complementing this is the oppressive design of the climate, too, with lightning strikes threatening to reload your save or torrential rain soothing you almost into serenity – if you weren’t in the middle of the Zone.

Ultimately, exploration is never boring. Thanks to the stamina, over-encumbered feature, lack of fast travel (naturally), and the general size of the map, you’re doing a lot of walking. However, that walking is often halted by a variety of mysterious and loot-filled buildings or some unexpected anomalies that threaten to make you bleed, poison you, or just completely obliterate you if you ever dare to let your guard down.

Combine this with your ever-dwindling hunger gauge, constant weapon repairs, and the need to always look for more money, Stalker 2 makes you feel like an ill-equipped loner who’s truly against the world. Stalker 2 is unforgiving, and all its features contribute to that. While that won’t be everyone’s idea of a great adventure, that’s the Stalker way.

Frustrating features

While it’s easy to praise the anomalies, Emissions, and added features, there were equally a handful of frustrating elements. One of the most annoying was the Poppy Field.

Naturally, players who don’t want any spoilers can probably guess what a Poppy Field does if you’ve ever seen The Wizard of Oz… it sends you to sleep. Now, I love this design. The ability to use your energy drinks to explore further was tense but also incredibly confusing and frustrating.

There was no real way to tell when your long blink would be your last. The lack of a timer would have been fine to deal with if there was another way to tell when you need to drink an energy drink, but there was nothing, only a series of blinks regularly and then the death screen.

Lastly was the inventory. Thanks to the quick-use buttons, healing and energy are relatively simple to apply without heading into your bag. But on the controller, accessing half of those buttons was extremely convoluted and often left me heading into my bag to apply bandages while hoping the giant rats wouldn’t send me reeling back to the loading screen.

Then, when you get into your inventory, moving items around on the controller is a pain. It’s slow, frustrating, and extremely unoptimized. I often found myself needing to move something into the quick-use section and switching to my mouse, as there was no way to do so with the controller.

Of course, while these are relatively minor, they did add some notable frustrations to an already unforgiving game, only serving to heighten any irritations.

Dexerto Review Score: 3/5 – Good

Stalker 2 is brutal, unforgiving, and not for the faint-hearted. While its storyline is poised for new players, its gameplay feels the opposite, providing a hardcore experience for anyone looking to dive into the Zone.

Nevertheless, Stalker 2 is the kind of game that ages like a fine wine, getting better, richer, and slightly bolder as you push through its 35-hour campaign. That being said, the performance issues and missing features do leave a somewhat bitter taste.

However, the beauty of Stalker is that you evolve along with the protagonist. You’ll be thrown into an unforgiving landscape with few tools to keep you alive, but every mistake serves to shape you into the hardened lone wolf the game portrays.

Sure, it’s not perfect, and those who haven’t enjoyed Stalker games before will likely not enjoy this one – but those who adore the franchise will find hundreds of enjoyable hours to sink into this radioactive land.

For more information on how we score video games, check out our scoring guidelines here.

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