STALKER 2 datamining reveals entirely nonsensical weapon balancing

Oh boy. If you were struggling to make sense of what GSC Game World was doing when balancing STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl‘s weapons, I can tell you now that chasing realism wasn’t it. Datamining has shown that this game’s guns make absolutely no sense whatsoever, as many have suspected.

Choosing the right gun in STALKER 2 is no mean feat. Not only will you have access to a select few low-tier armaments early on, but it now turns out that you won’t even be able to stick with your trusty AK for long, either. According to SMGJohn_EU’s findings while data-mining the game, STALKER 2 is way more of an RPG when it comes to gun and weapon progression than I expected it to be. In other words, the fact that Skif’s Makarov fires 9×18 Doesn’t matter at all for balancing purposes. It just hits harder than many other guns do! Fun.

Datamining of STALKER 2 shows that GSC Game World wasn’t trying to create a tactical shooter at all

Slowly but certainly, we’re learning more and more about STALKER 2‘s backend and production. In some ways, this dispels certain myths that might’ve developed around its release, but it also helps thꦆe community set the right expect꧅ations.

For example, we now know for sure that all guns aren’t made to be equal in STALKER 2, and that you absolutely need to be moving on from one gun to the next as you trudge through the Zone. As SMGJohn_EU’s comprehensive weapon datamining shows, there is a surprisingly (and annoyingly) linear line of progression when it comes to weapons, and you cannot realistically expect Valik Lummox’s AK to be able to take on high-tier Monolith troopers. This particular weapon is, in fact, substantially weaker than even the baseline AKM rifles you’ll find off of random dead Stalkers.

Kind of ridiculous, isn’t it?

As per the data mine, GSC Game World actually wants you to slowly but certainly make your way towards high-tier, exotic armaments regardless of your preference. When it comes to 5.56 weapons, for example, the 416 is a “low-tier” variant, the GP-37 is a mid-tier option, and the Kharod is a top-end choice bar none. In reality, all three of these weapons should be effectively the same outside of handling characteristics and ergonomics.

Now, to be perfectly fair, something similar was in play with the old STALKER games of yore. Though they felt extremely tactical and realistic back in the day, they too had low, mid, and high-end choices for all available calibers. Players were expected to move on from one tier to the next as they progressed. Really, it was just the mods for the old STALKER games, like Call of Chernobyl, that tuned its guns to be more varied and less RPG-ified. This makes STALKER 2 se⭕em downright old-school in the balancing department.

Further, having a baseline sense of progression from one weapon type to another does have merit from a gameplay point of view. STALKER 2‘s default balancing makes it so that Skif is always on the hunt for a better gun, which guarantees variety for the average player. If you know something about how guns and ammunition work in reality, though, this whole reveal is bound to make you cringe.

Even with all of this in mind, I do still think STALKER 2 is an excellent game. Not necessarily excellent in much the same way as Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which is taking the world by storm, but regardless. Whereas Indy is releasing in a polished and delightful state, STALKER 2 is going to need months (if not years) of additional development and a whole posse of modders before it achieves its true greatness. That’s okay, I suppose. As long as I have , everything else seems more manageable in the grand scheme of things.