A closer look to the most-awaited sequel of this years
Where’s coming stalker
Stalker was created by GSC Game World, a software house created in 1995 by Sergey Grigorovich.
The game takes much inspiration from the book Roadside Picnic and the movie Stalker. The team’s goal was to create an action-open world with survival and RPG mechanics. That was really visionary in that period. The development started in 2001 with the version called Stalker Oblivion Lost. A remake version Is playable thanks to the large community of Stalker.
The objective was to launch the game in 2003, but after many delays in the development, legal problems, and the addiction to Pepsi Cola of Sergey Grigorovich, who stole some money from the budget for this. The game at the end was released on PC in 2007.
Stalker Call of Chernobyl has two stand-alone expansions (Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat). The development of the sequel started in 2010, but in 2011, the software house closed. Many workers gave life to some new software houses and created new IPs like the Trilogy of METRO.
In 2014, GSC opened again and started again with the development of STALKER 2. In 2018, there was the first announcement with the launch of the official site.
Today, the situation for the software house is very hard because of the war in Ukraine.
Know the zone…
The zone is a dangerous and mysterious place.
Exploring it for the rookie stalker can be hard, but with the right knowledge, the explorer can be powerful and rich.
There are different factions and groups; it’s important to have as many allies as possible to survive.
DUTY: The more prepared and armed, have some advanced army equipment like Exo suits and heavy armor.
Their armor colors are red and black. The objective of this group is to destroy the zone.
FREEDOM: a group of soldiers with the objective of protecting the zone and its mysteries. This faction is the biggest enemy of Duty, but they’re not well equipped.
BANDITS: This faction is divided, and they attack in small groups: the lone stalkers. This type of enemy is badly equipped with worn clothes and some handguns and rifles in bad conditions. This faction is always an enemy of the main character.
MONOLITH: Mind controlled soldiers by the Common Consciousness and brain washed by the some brain scorchers in the center of the zone.
They’re a religious order that follow the MONOLITH, a mysterious alien artifact called the wish granter.
The MONOLITH have some preachers, this Is one of their prayers.
“We thank you, oh Monolith, for revealing the cunning plans of your enemies to us. May your light shine down on the souls of the brave soldiers who gave their lives in service to your will.
Onward warriors of the Monolith, avenge your fallen brothers, blessed as they are in their eternal union with the Monolith.
Bring death to those who spurned the holy power of the Monolith”
This faction Is Always a enemy of the main character.
MERCENARIES: The most mysterious faction of the games, they’re always in the zone for covering the secret experiments in the abandoned laboratories. They’re very well equipped and organized.
MILITARY TRAFFICKERS: They are very few and sell at a very expensive price some extremely rare equipment like army assault rifles, Exo suits and heavy armors.
TRADERS: These traders are located in the main outposts of stalkers and factions. They sell all the things a stalker needs such as ammunition, weapons, basic armors and food.
After the second explosion many experiments slipped out and more mutants appeared in the zone.
LIVING DEAD: They’re stalkers, which taking a lot of radiation have lost their mind attacking everything they meet. This type of enemy has the ability to use weapons, they’re very slow and Attack in large groups.
CHIMERA: A night’s biggest hunter. Very aggressive and stealthy, really hard to kill because they have a very High resistance.
BOAR: Big mutated boars, they’re very dangerous in group and Always prepared for an Ambush to the other mutated creatures.
DOGS: Mutated dogs in the zone, very fast and dangerous, they escape when hurted.
BURER: A human mutated with Power of telekinesis and mind Powers. This type of enemy Is very hard to defeat and can unarm the character.
BLOOD SUCKER: One of the creatures escaped from the laboratories. This creature can drain Life from the character like a vampire, there are different species of this creature. Some of these can be invisible and very fast. There are more creatures and secrets in the zone Stalker, waiting for you to Discover them.
Survive In The Zone
Surviving is hard without the right equipment in the zone. Follow this guide to Always have a chance to survive stalkers.
In your inventory you always need food like sausages and bread minimum fifteen for every journey. You can find food on enemies’ loot, wanderer stalkers or traders. Always have some bottles of vodka when you need to cross areas with radiation.
Anti radiation medicines are very rare and expensive.
Buy some medikit minimum ten for all missions, are easy to find on enemies and in exploration.
Protection is a basic thing in combat, you need to be protected against bullets, psycho attacks and radiations, that’s why you need an Exo suit. The best armor in the game, you can get easily with the trafficker in Call of Pripyat.
Weapons are the most important tools in the zone, here you can find some of the most reliable in the game.
Assault rifle: There are many of this type.The most effective for short and medium range firefights is the M4. This rifle can be upgraded with many types of sights and a grenade Launcher.
FN2000 Is a second model of assault rifle, very rare to find and has a long range sight and
grenade Launcher without needing an upgrade.
Special weapons: The gauss rifle Is an electromagnetic experimental weapon. It can shoot bullets at High Speed and Is perfect for long range combat.
What to expect from STALKER 2
The game After this years has received many trailers showing a lot of information and details and some secrets hidden very well. One of the biggest changes is the graphics engine, with the abandonment of the old X RAY engine. An impressive engine for its time but difficult to optimize on many systems.
GSC now uses Unreal Engine 5 for the numerous possibilities that this engine offers such as: photorealistic graphics, details and the meta-human tool (also used by Ninja Theory for Hellblade 2), which allowed the studio to create models of humans and creatures with high level details.
The story of Stalker 2 probably starts after the events of stalker Call of Pripyat. The subtitle Itself HEART OF CHERNOBYL open to an ending for the series or very close to It.
There’s a possibility that strelok and the main character can return to the Common Consciousness After the failed attempt to destroy It in Shadow of Chernobyl.
This sequel can reveal more secrets about mercenaries because SKYF, the main character Is one of them.
Paying attention to the armors, equipment and some sequence of the many trailers, seems his group has an important mission in the zone.
Combat and survive improved
After a long analysis of the last gameplay trailers, it’s important to notice the impressive work done with the combat system.
The combat is more fluid and the enemies work in groups more organized than the past, the attachment can be used directly in combat, unlike in the past where we’re needed to enter in the inventory.
A small but big improvement is the animation of grabbing objects and the return of the expanded weapon upgrade program.
The survival mechanics are very important in stalker games and in the sequel they are improved once more. The anomalies are back and this time it is harder to see them. The character can use nails for finding them and create a safe Road.
With a detector the character can find some artifacts that can be sold to the dealers for a lot of money (this depends on the rarity of the artifact).
Another Little improvement is the eating and drinking animation.
The hands on of the last Microsoft event
Some game journalists have had the possibility to try Stalker 2 on a work in progress build and the feedback wasn’t good.
There is a downgrade but it is possible with the release in the first quarter of 2024, this problem will be resolved. The second problem was the Impossibility to change weapons with the mouse, even if this isn’t a real problem. It’s more a choice of the developers like in the first Stalker were you needed to open the inventory/backpack for change it or use equipment.
The third feedback Is the affordability of weapons.
For some players who don’t know stalker can be a defect, but it’s a normal thing in the zone.
Depending on the areas and the factions, weapons and armors have a certain durability and need to be repaired frequently.
This can be prevented by some upgrades applied on weapons and armors.
The game can be released in the First quarter of 2024 on GAME PASS.
The developers have promised no more delays.
Good luck Stalkers
