I'll be honest: I was surprised to discover it had been months since we last received a substantial STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl update. Granted, I only realized this was the case when I saw t?hat the game's patch 1.2 had just been released??, bringing with it over 1,700 improvements.

It's a massive showpiece, that's for sure. Patch 1.2 came out more or less out of the blue, though the community has been expecting one such update for the last couple of weeks now. The fact of the matter is that STALKER 2 released in a bit of a sorry state. The developer GSC Game World has thankfully been sticking with the game since its release, delivering one massive update after another, though it speaks to the game's quality that even Raphael Colantonio made STALKER 2 his personal game of the year. As for myself, I was quite conflicted. Heck, I still am, but patch 1.2 finally makes me fully believe GSC will be at it for as lon??g as it takes.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Update 1.2 is now available, and it's massive

Though it's still lacking in some key areas (A-Life, for one, remains shoddy), STALKER 2 was in a reasonably solid state before update 1.2 released. The game wasn't actively in the midst of breaking after about halfway through its s?tory, for one, and there was the faintest semblance of A-Life present in NPC groups. GSC Game World could very well have pushed out one or two minor updates to the project before focusing primarily on DLC and calling it quits.

The availability of an update as ridiculously massive as patch 1.2 throws a wrench into this idea, however. Here are just a couple of notable highlights from the humongous patch notes:

• Flashlight now casts proper real-time shadows.
• NPCs can now properly loot corpses (excl. body armor and helmets) and equip better weapons and gear if they find it.
• NPC fire accuracy has been revised with randomized spray patterns in mind, with a further reduction in wall penetration capabilities.
• NPCs can now heal other friendly NPCs.
• Reduced the spawn rates for exoskeleton-clad NPCs, with further improvements to armor rarity configuration (low and mid-tier armor has been made more common, and top-tier armor is rarer).
• Improved mutant behavior across the board, allowing the Controller mutants to use a new "Roar" ability.
• Reduced Bloodsucker spawn rates before the "Behind Seven Seals" mission is completed.
• Pistols have been rebalanced.
• Fixed a variety of performance-bound crashes as memory leaks.
• Added crouch movement parkour animations.
• Added a variety of NPC death animations for various anomalies.
• Improved the appearance of polished glass and stucco materials, among a number of other visual improvements.

This is a fairly interesting list in its own right, but it barely scratches the surface of the full patch notes. The gist of it is that virtually every aspect of STALKER 2 has been meaningful??l?y improved with this update. Sure, it's going to break mods left and right, but boy, am I glad that GSC is still at it.

It's important to keep in mind that both Shadow of Chernobyl and Clear Sky still had a bunch of potentially game-breaking bugs in place before GSC released the kinda-sorta remastered Legends of the Zone trilogy. It would've been all too easy for STALKER 2 to fall into this same trap, and I'm absolutely thrilled that this?? seemingly won't be the case. So, good stuff, especially for the first update of the year!

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There's something to be said about STALKER's modding community: it perseveres, no matter what. Even when the IP was in limbo, people kept making awesome mods such as the fully open-world and sandbox Call of Chernobyl. Though STALKER 2 hasn't had anything like? that up until now, that's all changing.

As strange as it may sound, none of the STALKER games have released with a proper, full-featured sandbox mode. Sure, Call of Pripyat had post-campaign content if you played your cards right, but that was an exception to the rule. In fact, even STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl has an actual point-of-no-return, which came as a big disappointment to yours truly in particular. Thankfully, the STALKER modding scene knows that this game's true value lies in free-form sandbox goodness, and so the first free-play STALKER 2 mod is already here. Courtesy of modder Ekkaia, the aptly titled "New Game Start - A Free Play Mode Attempt" is a highly experimental experience that, nonetheless, made its way straight to the top of my must-have list of mods, among other goodies.

Get the "New Game Start - A Free Play Mode Attempt" mod for STALKER 2 today and unlock its sandbox potential

Ekkaia's New Game Start mod is pretty much a Call of Chernobyl (or GAMMA, or Anomaly, as it were) type experience for GSC Game World's latest and greatest. It's very much a work-in-progress type of thing, mind, though I am happy to report that it's not nearly as janky and broken as, say, Project Zomboid's admittedly awesome Week One mod.

Setting inherent modding jankiness aside for a little bit, Ekkaia's efforts have been directed simply at giving us a proper sandbox survival experience that befits STALKER's Exclusion Zone. To that end, the mod tears out the main story of STALKER 2, its intro missions and tutorials,?? and Skif himself. Players simply get to choose their starting location, faction, faction rank, loadout, and a few other tidbits before being thrown into the Zone to survive for as long as possible. New Game Start is, of course, designed to work with a ho?st of other mods, but don't expect it to work reliably just yet.

As Ekkaia puts it: "I know there are still many downsides, but I want to publish a "first version" the best I can, like a "proof of concept"," they said. Ekkaia also explains that New Game Start is supposed to ??be a "wake-up call for community collaboration," which means they're hoping to get more people working on the project as soon as possible.

In summary, then, do expect our very first chance to play STALKER 2 without being constrained by the main story. Do not expect a highly polished and optimized experience at any level, however. Note that it'll get broken often, too, as GSC Game World itself is still patching the game rather h???eavily.

This is all well and good, of course, but boy howdy does New Game Start - A Free Play Mode Attempt need a different title. How about Call of Chornobyl, perhaps?

The post STALKER 2’s first open-world free-play mod is here appeared first on Destructoid.

GSC Game World just released the first update for Stalker 2 in 2025, bringing some need??ed fixes to the post-apocalyptic wasteland.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl came out in a rather rough state bac??k in November of 2024, but the developers at GSC Game World quickly rose up to the challenge by dishing out massive updates that fixed many of the game's most pressing issues. Still, many problems have persisted in the game since the last update that came out over a month ago. The good news is Patch 1.1.4 is finally out, so let's look at what's good and new.

Stalker 2 Patch 1.1.4 fixes:

• Fixed crashes and freeze issues on shaders compilation
• Fixed memory leak at Rostok
• Fixed performance degradation when shooting or aiming on saves with long playtime
• Implemented fixes that should solve the problem causing saves to be lost on Xbox
• Fixed UI animations-related random crash

The team also informs they're working on the system error message tha??t erroneously informs players about a missing DLL files after a crash if you're playing on the game's Microsoft Store version. The developers also say that there are no known issues with the DLL files, so that's just a message that shouldn't be popping up. This means that you don't need to worry about anything on your end if you get the message.

They also mention a "fight" with the Shader Compilation that? proved to be one of the hardest challenges they had in recent days. The issue is seemingly fixed, but the team encourages players to report any particular shader compilation issues that might remain in their game.

GSC Game World remains committed to reading feedback and improving your experience in the zone. Did you happen to come across an anomaly you consider too strange even for the zone? Then you should totally report it via GSC Game World's support page right here.

You can now play the much-improved version of Stalker 2 on Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

The post Stalker 2 Patch 1.1.4 notes: All fixes fr?om the first?? update in over a month appeared first on Destructoid.

Many of us STALKER veterans were on the fence about Stalker 2 in the early days, but I'm thrilled to report tha??t I'm now fully on board. Following a rapid-fire onset of patches and updates, GSC Game Wor?ld has turned me into a believer, and the future is bright.

My biggest qualm with STALKER 2 by far was its questionable handling of the revered A-Life ??AI system. Since then, not only have modders managed to shape it into something formidable, but GSC itself has also managed to deliver massive improvements in this regard. The humongous 110-gig update 1.1.0 revamped almost every aspect of the game, featuring over 1,800 fixes and improvements in total. Since then, three more hotfixes have been deployed, and STALKER 2 is finishing 2024 at version number 1.1.??3. That's only the beginning, though, as per GSC's latest announcement over on Twitter.

STALKER 2 version 1.1.3 is the final update for 2024, but lots more is coming in 2025

Now, GSC Game World still has a long way to go when it comes to STALKER 2's general stability and whatnot, but there's no denying the fact th??at the game is now in a great spot. We have an A-Life that act?ually works as it should, with NPCs acting in both online and offline modes, a less punishing economy, and a (slightly) more sensible combat balance. Many of the most egregious bugs and crashes have been resolved, and almost all of the awful progression blockers are no longer an issue. That's quite the feat to accomplish in under a month!

In 2025, expect more patches for STALKER 2, but also a content roadmap that's probably going to include expansions (both free and paid). There have been murmurs of at least two story-based DLCs for STALKER 2, but let's ?not forget about the multiplayer mode, either.

For those who prefer to stick with classic STALKER, though, there's good news. The Legends of the Zone trilogy (featuring Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear Sky, and Call of Pripyat titles) is going to receive a "next-gen" patch on consoles. Furthermore, since the original PC versions of the games didn't receive any updates to acknowledge the release of the Legends of the Zone, GSC is finally going to fix this. Great new??s all around, t?hen.

On a related note, I am also thrilled to report that STALKER 2 is now firmly in the green! The development of the game has been nothing if not turbulent, and GSC Game World's team must be incredibly validated in the success and critical acclaim that STALKER 2 has achieved. Despite all the bugs and broken features, the experience on offer is virtually unparalleled. All in all, then, it's been a stellar year for Stalkers and a very promis??ing demo of what's to come in 2025.

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As you progress through Stalker 2, the game offers tons of options for new a??rmor. Some are bought, while others are discovered naturally throughout your playthrou?gh.

One of the most powerful armor types you can find is Exoskeletons. They can be found in select locations around the game world, waiting for you to locate them. But which ones are worth seeking out first? These are the best Exoskeletons you should be using in Stalker 2.

7. Bulwark Exosuit

I hope you like repairing your armor, because you'll be doing it a lot with the Bulwark Exosuit. It has the lowest wear resistance of any Exoskeleton in the game, meaning it'll cost you tons of money in the long run. It has f??ewer lead containers than the other Exoskeletons, too, and comes in at 17 kgs, making it extremely heavy compared to the other options. If you're looking for a silver lining, it matches the best PSI protection of the Diamond and Liberty Exoskeletons. Avoid if possible.

6. Cuirass Exoskeleton

The Cuirass Exoskeleton is fine by the numbers, but the fact ?that it lacks any possible sprint upgrade makes it pretty useless in the long run. The good news is that you can get the Cuirass Exoskeleton very early on in the game, so you can pick it up, try it out, and dump it for a more mobile option at the first opportunity.

5. Operator Exoskeleton

When looking at everything the Operator Exoskeleton has to offer, one thing stands out more than its stats. Alongside the Ruby Exosuit, it's one of the only options that offers the Arm Servos upgrade, which gives you 20% weapon accuracy in Stalker 2. It doesn't particularly excel in any category beyond this, though, and has fairly poor PSI protection. To get the best upgrades for the Operator Exoskeleton in Stalker 2, you've also got to buy a few less useful ones first, which is a li??ttle inconvenient.

4. Ruby Exosuit

Just like the Operator Exoskeleton, the selling point for the Ruby Exosuit comes from the Arm Servos upgrade. It has the edge overall, though, thanks to its superior PSI protection. Its 17 kg weight is the joint-highest of all the Exoskeletons in Stalker 2, so bear that in mind before choosing to us?e the Ruby Exosuit.

3. Liberty Exoskeleton

The Liberty Exoskeleton is pretty difficult to justify if you're looking for armor that excels at doing one thing really well. Its significant feature is its great PSI protection, but its base value is much higher than the other Stalker 2 Exoskeletons. This means it's super expensive to repair, which could be a b?ig negative for many players. It has okay wear resistance, so you won't need to re??pair it too often, at least.

2. Brummbar Exoskeleton

The Brummbar Exoskeleton is a great all-rounder. With no glaring weaknesses, you're never going to be left feeling underpowered while using this one. What sets the Brummbar Exoskeleton apar?t from the rest is the fact that it has very high wear resistance. You don't need to constantly repair it, making it a great option for players who don't want to engage with that part of the game.

1. Diamond Exoskeleton

If you have to choose one, you simply have to go with the Diamond Exoskeleton. Of all the options, it has the highest anomaly and PSI protection. Its upgrade tree is also fantastic, giving you plenty of options to make essential improvements here. Best of all, you won't need to waste your money on upgrades you don't want, so if you're on a budget, the Diamond Exoskeleton is perfect for your needs. All around, this is the best Exoskeleton in Stalker 2.

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If you have been playing first-person shooter games for a while, then you know about?? the existence of the classic in-game console. Just open it and use some specific commands to tweak your game and, of course, access some quick and painless cheats.

Stalker 2 makes no ex?ception in this regard, and with this console commands guide, you will be in control in no time. We will look at the most interesting commands and how to use them to your advantage.

How to open the console in Stalker 2

Accessing the console in Stalker 2 might be a bit more tricky than other games wher?e you can do it with the press of a single key. Follow these steps to access it:

1. Download the UETools (from Nexus mods).
2. Unpack the tools in a directory of your choice.
3. The UETools should be copied and pasted into the "mods" directory inside the game's installation directory, which should go into the Paks folder (for example "Stalker2/Content/Paks/mods").
4. If the "mods" directory does not exist yet, create it.
5. Just copy and paste the UETools files into the mods directory and run the game.

Now, you should be able to open the console while running Stalker 2 by using the "t??ilde" (~) or F10, both on your keyboard. If they don't seem to do anything, check again that the UETools are correctly insta?lled in the mods directory.

Using Stalker 2 console commands

Now you can use several specific console commands to do anything in the game, from spawning a certain item to flying around, along with reducing the weight of the contents in your inventory so that you ??will never get encumbered.

To get a full list of all available console commands type "UETools_Help" in the console. As you will?? see, the list is quite long; explaining them all in a single guide would be impossible. Here are a few simple basic commands to type in the console:

• UETools_God - this is the classic Unreal Engine god mode, you can use it if the specific Stalker 2 command listed below gives you trouble.
• UETools_Ghost - use this command to walk through objects, along with flying, basically allowing your character to clip into everything in the game.
• UETools_Fly - use this command if you would like to fly, but still keep the collision on.
• UETools_Walk - use this to disable the previous two commands.

Just type the commands and pr???ess Enter to activate them.

Most useful console commands in Stalker 2

As mentioned, there is a very long list of available commands for you to try. But if you would like to hav?e some quick and easy cheats to use, we would recommend sticking to the following ones:

• XSetGodMode true/false - set to "true" to activate God Mode or "false" to deactivate it.
• XAddMoneyToPlayer (value) - set a number inside value (without the () brackets) to add a specific amount of money to your character, such as "XAddMoneyToPlay 555,555".
• xHideAllWidget - you can use this if you would like to remove the UI from the game, can be useful if you want to take some beautiful and clean screenshots. To bring back the UI, use "xShowAllWidget".
• XSetWeatherTime (Hour) (Minute) (Second) - use this to set any time of day you want, useful if you want to skip the night and go directly to daylight (or vice-versa). For example XSetWeatherTime 221100
• XTeleportTo (Coordinates) - use this to teleport around the map, quite useful if you are stuck on a particular mission.
• XDKFinishquest id true - use this to force complete a quest if you are stuck (you can find a complete list of quest IDs in this mod)

There are so many other console commands that you can try, even specific ones that can circumvent specific bugs, but be care?ful as some of them might break the game. Not irrev??ersibly, mind you, but they could easily warp animations or create game-breaking bugs that would require you to load back a previous save. If you follow the commands listed above, you should have no problems of sorts.

The post Stalker 2 console commands guide appeared first on Destructoid.

Just under a month after its release, Stalker 2 is already mak??ing a profit, according to ??GSC Game World. Upon launch, Stalker 2 was met with positive reviews, and fans have returned in kind by ?putting the game in the green.

Stalker 2 turns a profit

Stalker 2 was a game 15 years in the making. Its predecessor, Stalker: Call of Pripyat, launched back in 2009, and the series has not been heard from since. Stalker 2 had been met wi??th several delays over the years, exacerbated by the issues faced by Ukrainian developer GSC Game World after Russia's invasion of the country.

However, according to GSC Game World owner Maxim Krippa, the game has already sold enough copies to sit in the green. Speaking to Forbes UA, he said, "We've already sold enough to make the project profitable." Despite this disclosure, he did not confirm the exact sales figures at this point, only pointing out th??at, "Of course, it's tens of millions of dollars."

The only concrete sales data we have for the game came just two days after its release when it was confirmed that Stalker 2 had already sold a million copies. It's fair ?to say that it has far surpassed that number at this point??.

It's also worth remembering that Stalker 2 has achieved its profitable status while only being available on PC and Xbox Series X/S. While nothing about a potential PlayStation 5 port has been revealed, there's no reason to suggest it can't eventually arrive on the platform at some point. This could potentially help Stalker 2 become even more profitable in the future.

In the meantime, GSC Game World continues to work on new Stalker 2 patches, including fixes for the contro?versial A-Lif??e mechanic.

The post After its turbulent devel?opment, Stalker 2 is already?? in the green appeared first on Destructoid.

I spent the better part of the end of 2023 playing Starfield. Now, I'm spending the better part of 2024's final stretch playing STALKER 2. Thoug??h the two games are ex?tremely dissimilar from one another, certain aspects of them do rhyme, and I feel this is well worth discussing.

I've got a long, storied, and complicated history when it comes to long-form sandbox and survival games. Notably, none of them actually deliver exactly the sort of thing I want to experience in one such title. I've discussed certain aspects of this self-imposed problem in my prior Destiny 2 and Starfield article, where I compared the two in a way that I bet you wouldn't ?see coming.

Now, let me state in no uncertain terms that I think STALKER 2 is genuinely better than Starfield in some very fundamental ways. It's got heaps of problems, to be sure, but there's grit and a soul present in this game that you'll be hard-pressed to find in Starfield. At the same time, Starfield does some things a tad better than STALKER 2 does, and mas?hing the two together really would be the ideal scenario, if we could pull that off.

This article isn't interested in discussing which is the better game, however. Instead, I'd like to check which is the superior survival experience, taking mods and other player-made cont??ent into consideration.

How are Starfield and STALKER 2 alike?

If we reduce both of these games to their absolute basics, they are both about exploring dangerous and anomalous areas with guns in tow. They are both absolutely massive open-world sandbox titles with ?a heavy emphasis on status management and a deliberate slant toward violence for con??flict resolution. Is that just a nice way of saying you get to kill stuff a lot? Yes, yes, it is.

These games invite their players to explore to their heart's content. It's an opportunit??y to jump straight into some of the most hostile yet beautiful places there ever were. Sheer exploration for the sake of exploration isn't something many games pull off, ??but these two do (and you can add No Man's Sky to the mix, for that matter), and that's definitely worth celebrating.

Both of these games also have a number of true survival mechanics in place that facilitate a more interesting moment-to-moment gameplay loop. Whereas a more straightforward shooter might just let you go from A to B willy-nilly, both STALKER 2 and Starfield add layers of resource, stat, and inventory management to the loop. The player then needs to weigh these tidbits and decide for themselves the how, the why, and t?he where of their progression. It's neat, though it's not for everyone.

This, however, is where the similarities end.

Comparing Starfield and STALKER 2 should be q?uite easy on paper. The? games are extremely similar to one another, as outlined above, but they really couldn't be any further apart when you actually play them.

Starfield is effectively the exact opposite of STALKER 2. It is a safe, curated, and deeply inoffensive experience that will accommodate the player in every way possible. Only rarely does a quest's outcome lock you out of a particular reward, and you'll almost always be capable of brute-forcing your way through a difficult encounter. STALKER 2, on the other hand,? is bloody punishing. It's the kind of game that's perfectly content with letting you not experience something just because you can't figure out how to, say, access a particular area. Heck, NPCs can up and die in the middle of a quest, making it impossible to progress or earn a reward.

The differences go beyond the gameplay loop, mind. Starfield is the puddle-deep ocean to STALKER 2's lake-deep lake. Due to the fact that virtually all of Starfield is procedurally generated, it's hard to shake off the feeling that nothing about it matters. On the other hand, STALKER 2's brimming with hidden easter eggs, valuable hand-placed loot, and just a bunch of interesting locations to explor??e.

The end result is that STALKER 2's Zone ends up feeling larger and more substantial than Starfield's literal galaxy of planets. How's?? that for ??a weird end result?

How do Starfield and STALKER 2 deliver such different survival fantasies?

I do genuinely enjoy Starfield for what it is and believe it's a reasonably compelling game as far as Bethesda RPGs go. Embracing these games also means embracing the fact that they're often very juvenile in how they handle in-game conflict and narrative. This has always been a thing with Bethesda's first-party titles, but nowhere is it more apparent than in Starfield. Specifically, this is because whereas The Elder Scrolls and Fallout come with a whole suite of old-school lore and written materials (i.e., in-game books and such), Starfield has been effectively scrubbed clean of th?ese things.

What you get in the end is an extremely safe kind of FPS/RPG sandbox. Suspension of disbelief is crucial here because almost every situation you find yourself in feels more like a vague, gamified representation of it rather than something that should be given as-is. I'm not about to veer off into an extensive critique of what Starfield is here, but Bethesda had to choose very early on to sanitize and make the game as saf??e as it ended up being.

This is important to understand because it's also the key difference between Starfield and STALKER 2. Playing the latter, I couldn't shake off the feeling that it often succeeds at doing what Bethesda might've been trying to achieve with its latest flagship. Crucially, Starfield isn't necessarily trying to deliver a different survival fantasy than STALKER 2 does. Both of these games are hybrid FPS/RPG titles that lean towards different aspects of the niche (no, STALKER 2 isn't a tactical shooter). It's just that one of them pul??ls this job off remarkably well despite its many other probl?ems.

To be clear, though, STALKER 2 is a far cry from being a perfect game. It does handle exploration, combat, and interaction much better than Starfield if we're being honest, and that's the kicker.

Once again, I feel it necessary to point out that I do enjoy Starfield for what it is. One has to admit, however, that enjoying Starfield necessitates keeping in mind the caveat that it's a very safe and surface-level game. Even mods can't do anything about story problems, stilted characters, and a severe lack of hand-produced content. Mods fine-tune existing gameplay systems and loops, yes, but that only gets you so far. The sheer believability of these games' respective open worlds is the bit that cannot be easily changed, and Starfield fails in this respect.

That really is the crux of my comparison: believability. Starfield fails at delivering a believable and genuinely immersive game world, and STALKER 2 succeeds at this job phenomenally well.

It's not the graphics, really. It's not even the physics of the games' respective engines. The narrative and the characters are somewhat irrelevant when it comes to this, as problems found in these aspects of Starfield would've been a way smalle??r deal had the game been truly believ?able.

Starfield is a genuinely excellent game from a technical point of view, and there's really nothing stopping it from being (almost) every bit as immersive as STALKER 2. Instead, it was Bethesda's game design choices that shaped Starfield into what it ended up being. And that??, I feel, is what makes it a less compelling option, even if you're into space-bound sci-fi experiences.

Which is the better survival/exploration experience?

The Zone is, oddly enough, a far more delightful and alien place than anything you'll find in Starfield's entire galaxy. It's a hostile place, to be sure, but it's not necessarily malicious. STALKER's lore delves deep into pseudo-scientific theories of the yesteryear for its world-building (i.e., the concept of the Noosphere) and stays true to it every step of the way. The Zone is entirely believable, even with ??its abject rejection of physics as we understand it.

Starfield, on the other hand, gives its players hundreds of planets to explore and fool around in. None of them are even half as atmospheric and interesting as a simple trudge through the Kordon. Of course, The Zone is an anomaly unto itself, but STALKER 2's interesting design language and curated locations are a joy to explore, even when there's literally nothing going on with them. It's made me realize just how much of an oomph is missing from Bethesda's latest and greatest.

In the end, it's a really simple equation: STALKER 2 immerses you into its world from the get-go, while in Starfield, you have to suspend your disbelief to stay immersed. If exploration and the sense of being in an alien and inhospitable yet astonishingly b??eautiful place is what you're looking for, I'd go for the gam?e you don't have to fight against every step of the way actively.

I'm still going to enjoy Starfield for what it is because there definitely is much to enjoy here. Yet, at the same time, STALKER 2 gives me a taste of what it could've been.

The post Com?paring Starfield and STALKER 2: Which is the superior?? open-world experience? appeared first on Destructoid.

2024 has been a wildly successful year for your average gamer. Not for the industry itself, mind, but video game fans sure have been eating particularly well. The obvious choic?es have been known for quite a while now, but two hugely important newcomers from Microsoft have muddled things further still.

The kicker? I honestly didn't expect this to happen. As I've written before, I'm still quite conflicted about the state of STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl. At the same time, the game is a largely compelling experience even with all of its faults. Then in comes Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which I genuinely thought would fall flat on its face in regard to mainstream appeal.? I'll discuss this at greater length below, but the important bit is this: two of Microsoft's latest releases ??have already proven themselves awesome, and I genuinely don't think anyone saw this coming.

What makes STALKER 2 and Indiana Jones potential GOTYs?

I'm not saying that I thought STALKER 2 or Indiana Jones would be bad. I expected The Great Circle to be solid, but I was surprised by how popular it ended up being. While Indiana Jones certainly has no shortage of fans, it'd be silly to pretend that the franchise isn't way p??ast its heyday in 2024.

Well, it's now suddenly back in the limelight because Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a good game, an excellent love letter to the series in general, and a return to form for Indy himself. It's not a 10/10, bu?t I think anyone jumping int??o it will find themselves having loads of fun.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl,&n??bsp;on the other hand, launched half-broken, and I was certain that it would be almost universally panned outside of us series veterans. Specifically, those of us who remember just how utterly borked Shadow of Chernobyl was back in 2007. Yet, it moved over a million copies by November 22, a mere two days after it first came out.

That's not all, though. Let's not forget about Microsoft Flight Sim 2024, whose reliance on online servers made it such a horror show that even STALKER 2 looked perfectly fine on day one in comparison. Well, it just so happens that the game itself is incredible, a genuine show-stopper in all the ways that matter, as long as you've got a good internet connection. Which I do not, coincidentally.

The unfair possibility

Even though I'm mainly focusing on recent flagship releases from under Microsoft's umbrella, that's not to say I'm forgetting about all the other awesome games that have come out in 2024: Balatro, Astro Bot, FF7R, Metaphor: ReFantazio, and (naturally) Black Myth: Wukong are all still fresh in my mind, but they are also all prominently featured as part of the arguably de facto Game Of The Year showpiece: The Game Awards 2024. Astro Bot won in the end, but none of Microsoft's aforementioned games were featured. Specifically, all of them were released after the November 22nd cutoff (or released c??lose to it/in a broken state), which ma??de them ineligible.

We've also had many other top-tier titles in 2024: Helldivers 2, Silent Hill 2, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Frostpunk 2, just to list a few. I'm not trying to deliberately leave good games off the table here. It's just that Microsoft's arguably excellent offerings have come out too late in the year to make a difference in 202?4.

"So?" you might be saying. "They'll get to shine at next year's TGAs." To which I say maybe, but also not really. All of these major Microsoft releases will stay relevant in people's minds for the next couple of months until something new and fancy comes in. Like, say, Avowed. Or heck, if we want to be daring, how about Grand Theft Auto 6? That's just how these things go, and even though STALKER 2 will inevitably have a long modding tail, this?, too, will pale in comparison to true mainstream attention.

This is just me bemoaning that a game as good as Indiana Jones and the Great Circle might fall off the docket for many players when it genuinely does trade punches with this year's best of the best. If GTA 6 does come out next year, it's going to sweep everythi?ng else by the wayside, including Microsoft's awkwardly positioned 2024/2025 offerings.

Did anyone expect Microsoft to make its way onto their personal GOTY 2024?

Microsoft's recent flagships haven't been able to leave a mark on TGA 2024, then, but Game of the Year awards have been infamously fragmented for decades now. Every outlet and industry event seems to have its own GOTY,?? which is fair enough as it's an entirely unofficial title.

This means that, even though TGAs wrapped up precisely how everyone expected them to, the gaming community is still shaping its own opinion on what the game(s) of the year were, and STALKER 2 and Indiana Jones are very much eligible in this regard. For example, Raphael Colantonio of Dishonored and Prey fame has already announced that STALKER 2 is his own personal GOTY, which is a heck of a recommendation.

And that's the bit that's exciting about this whole discussion: Microsoft's studios have managed to deliver several serious contenders for the players' own personal GOTY opinions, and that's a huge win. Xbox has been stacking questionable decisions that don't make sense from a fan's perspective for? a while now, and hav?ing a series of genuinely compelling games come out is a big deal. To have them all good enough to compare with popular-vote GOTYs is an extremely? promising sign.

N??ow, the only question remains whether Microsoft/X??box can keep this streak up. Either way, we, the players, should be thrilled with it while it lasts.

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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 9x18 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 m??yths that might've developed around its release, ?but it a?lso helps the community set the right expectations.

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 i?s 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-tie??r, 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 seem downright old-school i?n 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 a gun balancing mod of some sort, everyt??hing else seems more manageable in t??he grand scheme of things.

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STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl's got its fair share of problems, for sure, but once you've got it properly modded, it's a uniquely compelling experience with much to offer. Artifact hunting, for example, has never been better than it is in STALKER 2, and that's par?tially thank??s to legendary Artifacts.

More specifically, though STALKER 2 plays host to over 50 unique types of Artifacts, at least ten of those are bespoke legendary-rarity spawns. That's right: STALKER finally has rarity differentiation for its Artifact??s, and we've got Common, Uncommon, and Legendary Artifacts with a bit more delineation in this very last category. ??More on that later.

The important bit is that some Artifacts are now extremely elusive and won't pop up unless you're really lucky and/or skilled. Or, in some specific cases, know exactly where to look for them. Down b??elow, I've assembled a list of all of these legendary Artifacts and explained how to find them and what makes them such a big deal.

How to find all legendary Artifacts in STALKER 2

Legendary Artifacts are, of course, the most powerful of them all in STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl. Usually, they grant Skif either entirely unique effects or fully max out a particular kind of resistance. Naturally, they also fetch extremely high prices with Traders, so they're highly coveted no matter why you might be looking for them. Here's how and where to look for each of the nine unique legendary Artifacts in STALKER 2!

Weird Flower

Sleeping with this flower equipped makes it much harder for your enemies to detect you. The effect diminishes as time goes on.

The first in a long line of delightfully Weird Artifacts is the Weird Flower, which you may or may not have stumbled upon while figuring out how to deal with the Poppy Field Anomaly. The Weird Flower isn't hard to spot if you know to keep an eye out for i?t: a bright-blue flower kind of stands out in a sea of red. You can grab it around the northern section of the anomaly. Just approach from the side of the small cliff and slowly sift through the Po??ppy Field until you can grab it.

The Weird Flower massively improves Skif's stealth and lowers his visibility, with the caveat being that this effect diminishes the longer ?it is since he last slept. This means? you're going to want to equip the Weird Flower, sleep with it, and then take on stealth missions like Solid Snake would. It's a neat little Artifact, though hardly game-changing.

Weird Ball

This artifact "eats" the physical and gravitational damage dealt and grows heavier the more of it you take. Stacks up to 5 kg in weight.

The Weird Ball is one of? the most potent Artifacts you can grab during the early stages of the game. If you take the eastern road out of Zalissya and look to your left as you go, it won't take long before you spot the ominous Bulba Anomaly. Don't be like me: quick save before approaching the Bulba!

With that all sorted out, Bulba is going to kill you in a single hit if you allow it to suck Skif in. Thankfully, figuring out Bulba's effect pattern shouldn't be hard, and the crucial piece of advice I can offer here is to use the nearby detritus (i.e., the bus and the ambulance car) while crouching. This will make it impossible for Bulba to pull you in. All you need to do at that point is to slowly approach from the bus's right side and grab t?he Weird Ball once you're close enough.

Weird Ball reduces the damage you take by "eating" it. Whenever the Artifact "eats" dam??age, it grows heavier, and it takes a while before it resets. The effect is particularly potent when you're standing still.

Weird Bolt

Massively reduces all damage taken from Anomalies. Recharges by going outside just before an Emission hits.

It only makes sense that the Zone would take one of the Stalkers' fabled bolts and turn it into something magical. The Weird Bolt? is found smack-dab in the middle of the anomalous Tornado over in Yaniv, and grabbing it is going to take some skill and a whole boatload of luck.

Head on over to the Tornado and set your eyes on the tall crane. You need to make your way to the top of the crane while the Tornado is elsewhere and then stay there as the Tornado approaches. The Weird Bolt is actually inside the anomaly, and you're going to need to grab it as it flies by. Obviously, this is no mean feat, ??and I highly recommend quick-saving once you??'re on the crane to prevent undue frustration.

The juice is well worth the squeeze, tho??ugh! Weird Bolt reduces all damage taken from Anomalies by a whopping 70% or so. The slight issue is that it nee?ds to recharge every so often, and the only way to do that is to stand outside just before an Emission kills you. Neat, right? You'll know that your Weird Bolt is ready to be used whenever it glows hot-red.

Weird Nut

Passively heals applied bleeding effects, but makes healing items less potent.

If bleeding is a huge pain for you in combat (which is fairly understandable), you're probably going to want to spend some time hunting down the Weird Nut. Locating it is very easy, as long as you?? don't mind wading through squads of Monolith troops to get to it! Your target is the Fire Whirl Anomaly found in the Cooling Towers region. This one's so big and bombastic yo??u can see it right from your PDA's map: the red-hot glowing bit, you can't miss it.

To get the Weird Nut, just waltz on over to the Fire Whirl and start climbing onwards. Your goal is the small section of steel railing that the Fire Whirl basically rubs against as it moves around. There's some slightly tricky platforming involved, for sure, but th??e really problemat??ic bit is getting out of the Whirl's damaging area of effect fast enough to stay alive. Expect some trial-and-error here, but your reward is extremely useful.

T?he Weird Nut makes it so that your bleeding effects heal automatically, but the downside is that it also makes all of your healing items less potent in total. Still, it's worth the trouble in my book!

Weird Water

Automatically applies the drunken effect to your character. Reduces the effects of radiation and adds an extra 40 kg weight capacity.

Found in the Zaton region, smack-dab in the middle of the Wandering Lights Anomalous Area, Weird Water is both the most annoying and arguably the most useful Artifact of them all. That's because it increases your carry capacity by an excellent amount while also making Skif perpetually drunk. Yeah, that's some weird water, alright.

To find Weird Water, head on over to Wandering Lights from Noontide's Shelter base. You need to reach the Anomaly by 9 PM in-game time at the latest and then get cozy with a quick save. Just before 10 PM, get to the southwest part of Wandering Lights, the bit that borders with a swamp, and hang tight. AT 10 PM sharp, Weird Water should spawn on top of a big rock. It does appear to be somewhat buggy at this time, mind, so ?be prepared to keep trying this out for a while.

Did I mention tha??t Weird Water also almost completely eliminates any radiation danger while you've got it equipped? Yeah, it's like an infinite vodka that au??tomatically sips itself.

Hypercube

Maximum thermal and bleeding protection. Maximum applied radiation.

This super-rare Artifact spawns exclusively in thermal anomalies, and since it's a random spawn, all you can do is hope for the best when you find one. I recommend checking the Brain Scorcher and the?? Burning Rift Anomalous Zones, specifically, as they're fairly easy to navigate and come with a huge number of thermal Anomalies by default.

Remember that Artifac??ts will occasionally respawn following Emissions. This means you're going to want to revisit your fa??vorite thermal hunting grounds every so often if you really want to get the Hypercube. This bit of advice applies to every single "regular" legendary Artifact on this list, too.

The Hyper??cube is a huge help with thermal and bleed damage, but radiation handling will be a problem. You're probably going to want to have a Liquid Rock handy before equipping the Hypercube.

Liquid Rock

Maximum radiation and chemical protection.

And on ??that note, Liquid Rock is no easier to find than the Hypercube. In fact, it's a fair deal more annoying to look for because while avoiding thermal Anomalies is easy enough after a while, the same cannot be said about chemical ones.

My advice is to look for Fruit Punch (green/yellow acid puddles on the floor??) and Bubble Anomalies, as those are reasonably manageable even from afar. I was lucky enough to snag the Liquid Rock in the Marshes, but it's not?? a bad idea to look for it in the Chasm, either.

There's no real downside to using the Liquid Rock, either. With its radiation and chemical protection in tow, you're going to be able to both equip at least one more legendary Artifact or a bunch of regula?r ones th??at boost it.

Compass

Maximum physical protection. Maximum applied radiation.

Funnily enough, the Compass is, in my experience, the most common of ??all legendary Artifacts. This is the gravitational Anomalies' super-rare find, and it's going to pop up sooner or later as long as you keep searching thro?ugh Kordon and the Lesser Zone. There's a huge number of grav-Anomalies to be found in these regions.

Using the Compass is a problem without Liquid Rock because it massively ??increases your radioactivity, but it also boosts your protection from physical damage by a fair margin. An excellent choice to have alongside the Weird Ball Artifact, as they'll turn you into a walking tank.

Thunderberry

Maximum endurance enhancement. Maximum applied radiation.

The Thunderberry is the single legendary Artifact I am yet to come across. Sure enough, electrical Anomalies are easy enough to come across, but the Thunderberry just doesn't want to spawn no matter where I go, so fingers crossed you have better luck than I did! It's a handy Artifact, too: it allows you to run for extremely long periods of time, as long as you can deal with i??ts radiation build-up.

Since electro-Artifacts fetch great prices with? traders, farming for the Thunderberry is an excellent way to stock up Koupons for endgame-tier ra?ids and crucial equipment upgrades.

Heart of Chornobyl

Strelok's legendary Artifact. Used in the main story quest.

If you were wondering what STALKER 2's subtitle was all about, it's this particular Artifact. Now, of course, I don't mean to spoil much about the main narrative. This means I can't tell you exactly what this Artifact does. The bit I can tell you about is that STALKER series veterans will find it extremely familiar from the original cutscenes of the old Shadow of Chernobyl title.

Since this Artifact is downright pivotal for the main story, you won't be able to find it just by roaming about. A particular se?quence of events needs to play out for Skif to get the Heart of Chornobyl, and let's just say they do not necessarily lead to the best possible conclusion.

Weird Artifacts vs legendary Artifacts

Curiously enough, there may well be a further distinction we can make within the loose category of legendary Artifacts found in STALKER 2. Specifically, whereas many legendaries can be found multiple times ??if you're lucky enough, the same cannot be said for particular Weird items. Of ??course, I'm talking about the following legendary Artifacts here:

• Weird Bolt
• Weird Ball
• Weird Flower
• Weird Water
• Weird Nut

Whereas the majority of Artifacts found in the Zone are entirely new objects created out of mutated detritus and Noosphere reagent, Weird items are most definitely not that. Instead, they're kind of like Control's Objects of Powe??r: regular items subjected to physics-defying forces that mutate them into something much different.

The thing about Weird Artifacts (or Arch-Artifacts, as some call them) is that they're unique, bespoke items you can only ever find once in a STALKER 2 playthrough. They? are also found exclusively in particular places on the map, which makes finding them relatively easy.

Really, as long as you know roughly where a Wei??rd Artifact is located, all you need to figure out is how to deal with its specific Anomalous Area, and you're golden. Sometimes, this might mean coming extremely well equipped, as is the case with the Poppy Field's Wei??rd Flower. Other times, as with Bulba's Weird Ball, you might have to think fast to survive the local damaging effect.

From a gameplay perspective, the notable bit here is that whereas you have t??o use an Artifact t??o find regular legendaries, Weird Artifacts are visible to the naked eye. Finally, another important tidbit is that you probably don't want to s??ell off Weird Artifacts willy-nilly, as there's no?? way to get them again.

The post All ??le??gendary artifacts and how to find them in STALKER 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

In this modern gaming era, we kind of just accept that new releases need a lot of tinkering post-launch, and STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is no different.

Having spent a decade and a half in development, the long-awaited sequel to the cult survival horror FPS series is doing pretty well so far, with a current meta score of 73. But?? it evidently still needs work (as most modern ??games do).

Within the past week, we've already had two patches being sent out for both the console and PC versions of STALKER 2, and now a third one has started rolling out. GSC Game World is evidently keeping a close eye on the game and player feedback, as Patch 1.0.3 comes just four days after 1.0.2.

This update seems to target issues with crashes and memory leaks, speci??fically fixing multipl??e "ACCESS_VIOLATION_ERROR" and "LowLevelFatalError" issues. Whatever all those words mean.

Fixes to missions as well

Additionally, the patch also plugs some issues with the AI, including one in which NPCs would "block the doors during the Back to the Slag Heap mission." Speaking of missions, there have been a few fixes in that region as well, th??ough the patch notes have blanked some of the specifics, presumably to save from potential spoilers.

There was also an issue with saves, in which some people were finding their save files were missing after a hard rese??t of their Xbox or PC. The new update should fix this for anyone who has experienced it.

Look, it's not for me to say whether three patches in less than a week is a good thing or not. On the one hand, it shows that GSC is evidently on the case when it comes to reacting to issues and feedback. On the other, it does go back on the developer's claim that, prior to release, STALKER 2 had gone gold, suggesting it was fit for re?lease. In any case, one can't help b?ut suspect Patch 1.0.4 is just around the corner, for good or ill.

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In a twist that should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone playing STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl right now, GSC Game World has admitted that it nerfed A-Life 2.0 ahead of release. This was done, as GSC claims, due to performance concerns, and it's a believable argument for sure.

This information is the first time GSC Game World has officially commented on the status of A-Life 2.0 in STALKER 2, short of acknowledging the fact that it's broken beyond belief. It comes from a recent interview with IGN, where studio heads Maria and Ievgen Grygorovych went in-depth on their reasoning ??for cutting the feature down.

"We were fighting with optimization," said Ievgen. "To optimize, you have a lot of things that need your resources, and you try to cut things from different directions to properly optimize the game well." There is, certainly, much to discuss when it comes to reasonable management of game performance when you're talking about cutting out beloved, experience-defining features.

A-Life 2.0 was massively 'nerfed' in STALKER 2 because it came at a huge performance cost

To be frank, Ievgen Grygorovich's explanation does make sense in light of what modders have discovered about A-Life. "[To] make it work we had to optimize some things, and they make A-Life work in many situations not as it should. Also, we created some bugs not long ago before release with NPCs spawning in the air and dropping back to the bottom. They should actually spawn in the terrain," he explains. "Why it happened, I don’t know! And also we had s??ome bugs with AI?? behavior."

English obviously isn't Ievgen's first language, but I feel that his message comes through quite clearly. As many of us have suspected all along, A-Life 2.0 was truncated and cut down in STALKER 2 on launch day. In fact, had modders not been toying with the feature from day one only to find ways to re-enable it, warts and all, I'd have more doubts about what GSC is claiming here. As it stands, though, A-Life 2.0 is obviously a thing. A broken, useless thing that can be tricked back into sort of working if you install a particular set of mods.

"So, all these things connected make it look like it's very broken and not working. But we are now continuing working on the optimization part to bring more resources for the A-Life system, to increase the range where A-Life is actually visualized," Ievgen continued. What's really important here is that he took the time to expli??citly define what "A-Life" is for GSC: "There are NPCs outside of the range of the player and they are in offline mode. And when the player reaches some distance, they are going to online mode and they pop back up. The distance is dictated by our optimization range, where we stream the real world and not real world with all the collisions. It was tough work, and because of these optimization problems and bugs, it's become broken."

The objective of A-Life (or A-Life 2.0, as it were) hasn't changed from the days of STALKER, then. It's just going to achieve its goals in a different, slightly roundabout way. I will say that the mod I mentioned above has kicked STALKER 2 back into high gear very quickly. With it, active squads spawn hundreds of meters away from me. Sometimes, they just roam about to and fro. Other times, they'll interact with other (friendly or hostile) Stalkers and even mutants. POI takeovers are common, among many other non-scripted and organic encounters. GSC needs to bring this back into the base game, and they do need t?o be quick about i?t for a large portion of the community to come back.

GSC Game World claims the removal of references to A-Life 2.0 on Steam was accidental

On a similar note, GSC also used the IGN interview as an opportunity to chime in on why any and all references to A-Life 2.0 was purged from STALKER 2's Steam page ahead of the game's release.

As per Maria Grygorovich's claims, "[a member of the marketing team told her] there will be a lot of new players who don’t know what A-Life is. They ne??ed to understand what we’re talking about in this description. So I will try to change it to a more understandable form. He did that without any discussion or permission. He didn’t ask, ‘Do we have some bugs with A-Life or something?�Because we had. We knew that. It’s a really huge and difficult system. But, when he did that before release, it was a surprise for me, because I noticed it because of Reddit. We did the Steam page in 2021. So for me, I was shocked, honestly."

IGN's interviewer, Wesley Yin-Poole claims that Ma?ria? went so far as to pull out an intra-company message specifically referencing the discussions she described in her comment. This does help the veracity of GSC's argument, but it doesn't help the current state of the game at all.

Thankfully, patches are coming, and if I'm being totally honest, STALKER 2 is a pretty special game regardless. Heck, even the person responsible for the creation of Dishonored and Prey thinks so, going so far as to bill STALKER 2 as his personal GOTY for 2024. If you're on the fence over the brokenness of A-Life, steer clear of S??TALKER 2 for the time being, or be prepa??red to mod it. Do circle back to it in due time, however.

The post STALKER 2? developer reveals that A-Life 2.0 was cut?? down due to performance concerns appeared first on Destructoid.

The Unpretentious Stash is one of many resource spots you can find in the very first region in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl.

The Zone is a fairly difficult place to survive, but it can feel excruciating when you're just getting started. Resources? are scarce, and it can be difficult to complete the earlier quests without having better weapons, consumables, and ammo. The Unpretentious Stash will be immensely helpful in this regard, but for that, you'll have to find it first.

Stalker 2 Unpretentious Stash location explained

The Unpretentious Stash is located in a destroyed building, and finding it is relatively easy. It's located in the Lesser Zone and right beside the Levitating Silo. In fact, there are two stashes situated in this region if you have access to the Journalist Stashes. You need to own the Deluxe/Ultimate Edition and must have completed the Seek, and You Shall Find quest.

The Unpretentious Stash is available for all - you don't need to own the Deluxe/Ultimate Edition. Th?e Levitating Silo is situated towards the southern part of Zalissya, so you may have to backtrack a bit if you've missed out on opening the stash on your first pass. You can find it at the marked location in the image below.

The stash will be hanging from the? ceiling, but there are no stairs to get to it. Go around the house, and you'll find a broken wall onto which you can jump. Use it to hop your way to the second floor and then balance your way on the beam. Use the beams to reach the stash and open it to loot all the available items.

Make sure to loot the second stash that's available near the Silo. If you're looking for the locations of every Journalist Stash located in Stalker 2, check out this detailed guide.

The post How to find the Unpretentious Stash in Stalker 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

GSC Game World has launched the first official patch for Stalker 2 and it brings more than 650 fixes. As well as fixing some smaller issues, patch 1.0.1 is said to remedy some of the game-breaking bugs that have beset the survival horror since its November 20 launch. GSC has also said that the patch fi??xes some balancing ??issues, including the nerfing of the infuriating Bloodsuckers.

A mixed launch

Stalker 2 has had a mixed launch. The title was first announced in 2010, following the launch of Call of Pripyat. However, GSC was shut down a year later before reopening to launch Cossacks 3 in 2014. In 2018, the team once again stated they were working on a Stalker sequel, titled Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl.

Since then, the Ukrainian studio has been hit by pandemics and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which brought on the unfortunate death of a developer working on the game. In light of the invasion, GSC moved its headquarters to Prague, a huge process in itself, but the new offices then suffered a fire in 2023. They also had cyber attacks and a massive data leak to contend with. That Stalker 2 launched at all is something? of a miracle. And, in this regard, i??t’s perhaps not surprising that the game was plagued with bugs.

Despite the bugs, Stalker 2 has enjoyed good reviews. It currently has a critic review of 73 out of 100 on Metacritic, and 7.9 out of 10 for user reviews. It has been praised for its gritty and atmospheric game world. While some reviews state Stalker 2’s Chernobyl is lifeless, that hasn’t been the experience of most players, especially not those with a history of playing Stalker games.

It is worth noting that a lot of reviews were b??ased on a prer??elease version of the game. GSC was adamant that the game needed a day 1 patch to even be playable. As such, they didn’t send out review copies to the gaming press.

At the same time, several stores started selling copies of the game prior to its embargo date. Desperate to get reviews up as early as possible, journa??lists bought and reviewed copies of the game before it officially launched. This bypassed the day 1 patch, which brought some critical fixes. Notably, reviews that came a few days later were less critical of bugs.

Patch updates

The day 1 patch didn't fix everything, though. And, that is immediately obvious when you consider that the first major post-launch patch, 1.0.1, includes more than 650 fixes. This does include some minor changes, but also resolution to some huge issues. The patch was?? released on November 29 on Steam, PC, and Xbox, and, according to GMC, it included:

• Prevented NPCs from getting stuck during Emission
• Prevented NPCs from getting stuck during other missions
• Stopped the Burer from dropping mission items from the player’s inventory
• Fixed Burer’s missing Telekinesis sound effect
• Fixed memory crashes caused by large NPC crowds
• Fixed more than 100 known crashes
• Fixed 8 audio issues and bugs
• Reduced the cost of some weapon and armor repairs
• Increased the price when selling artifacts
• Increased coupon rewards for mission completion
• Made multiple other balancing fixes, including combat balancing
• Rebalanced a lot of combat features

The patch was ??quickly followed up, a day later, by patc??h 1.0.2 on Steam, bringing a handful more fixes and patches, remedying some mission bugs.

What’s next?

GSC Game World previously admitted that the launch had rough edges while stating they would be launching patches to fix issues. At the same time, they also promised free in-game content. The team hasn’t announced when the free content will be made available but? has said they plan to make an announcement later in December when they launch a detailed roadmap.  

While Stalker 2 may have disappointed a lot of day-one gamers, it has still sold more than a million copies. And, if you consider the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 and No Man’s Sky, those games suffered equa?lly challenging launches and have gone on to become highly acclaimed titles after multiple improvements and patches.

The post First Stalker 2 patch brings 65??0 fixes to the game appeared first on Destructoid.

STALKER 2 was always going to be a conflicting release. I don't think anybody expected it to be conflicting for the reasons that have since come to light, however, namely the lack of A-Life proper. Still, there's merit in this game, and the creator of Dishonored thinks so as well.

According to Raphael Colantonio, the founder and former CEO of Arkane Studios, STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is going to be his personal Game of the Year. Colantonio has been one of the lead developers on a great number of widely acclaimed games. Examples include The Dark Messiah of Might & Magic, Dishonored, and Prey, just to list a few, and he's since moved on from Arkane to the greener pastures of a smaller dev team. The man's got experience, is what I'm getting at, and he thinks STALKER 2 is the best game he's played since Baldur's Gate 3. That's high, high praise indeed.

Raphael Colantonio says STALKER 2 is his personal Game of the Year

According to Raphael Colantonio, STALKER 2's atmosphere and brutality are the best things since sliced bread, and the game is his own personal GOTY. It's not a perfect product, Colantonio admits, but he's quite adamant in stating his opinions about STALKER 2 loudly and clearly. In fact, he's been defending his takes about STALKER 2 over on Twitter with gusto, and it's hard t??o deny that there's merit in what he'?s saying.

All things being equal, I do think Colantonio is taking it a tad too far in saying that STALKER 2 is just "a bit rough on the edges at launch." Having been with the franchise from literally day one of Shadow of Chernobyl, and some time prior, my experience with STALKER 2 has been more sobering. Roughness around the edges ?I'm more than happy to excuse, and GSC Game World has already delivered two substantial hotfixes resolving many of them.

That said, I'm not happy with the fact that A-Life 2.0 requires extensive modding before it gets to a fu?nctional state. I'm also not keen at all on the way STALKER 2's narrative falls apart in the later stages? of the story due to problems with quest triggers and scripting. Are these problems unforgivable? They're certainly more annoying than Colanto?nio lets on.

The funniest thing is that I don't disagree with Colantonio, necessarily. I genuinely think STALKER 2 might be my Game of the Year for 2024 as well, as weird as that might sound. I've already written at substantial length how conflicted I am about the game, but I feel that this drives home just how good the bits that aren't broken are. The game is memorable, clearly made with extreme care, and has all the bones of a cult classic. An appropriately anomalous release, one might even say.

In other related news, it's not like Colantonio is sitting around in the Zone, practicing his guitar skills. After leaving Arkane Studios, Colantonio founded the smaller, more agile WolfEye. WolfEye has since produced the awesome �but less recognizable �Weird West. More importantly, the studio is now incubating a far more prospective Dishonored-meets-Fallout Immersive Sim in the background. It'll be curious to see if STALKER 2 ends up rubbing off on Colantonio enough to make?? a difference for WolfEye's next project, that's for sure. The Zone's reach goes far and wide, after all.

The post STALKER 2 is GOTY for the creator of Dishonored appeared first on Destructoid.

There's no doubt about it: GSC Game World's STALKER 2 came out broken, thoroughly so. Worse, one of the franchise's most beloved features, the A-Life AI system, is practically missing outright. On the flip side, this has also kicked the modding community into overdrive, leading to some astonishing releases.

I myself have been using a variety of A-Life (and A-Life adjacent) mods for STALKER 2 from very early on, testing how they work and whether they do much of anything at all. Now, while even the simplest tweaks have massively improved the base game's spawn-in problems, they did noth?ing for the lacking complexity of the AI's interrelationships.

Notably, only rarely would NPC Stalker squads come across one another or mutants, and the game would instead mostly only spawn them in to attack the player every once in a while. That's why Shay's Living Zone is such an impressive offering. This mod appears to reinstate and/or re-enable a huge chunk o?f GSC Game World's A-Life 2.0 features, right out of the blue.

Shay's Living Zone A-Life Mod elevates STALKER 2 in some really impressive ways

The fact that modders could start fiddling about with STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl's gameplay systems without an SDK of any sort was impressive already. Yet, I was all but certain that it would take a long while be??fore the community could access its advanced functionalities. Thanks to Shay, we now know it's not only possible but also crucial when it comes to making A-Life 2.0 work as it should.

Shay's Living Zone mod is a comprehensive upgrade for STALKER 2's online AI. Note that "online" is used here in the context of GSC Game World's handling of online (visible in-game) and offline (kept track of in the backend) NPC actors. I go into substantial detail on the what and why of A-Life in STALKER in a separate article, if you'd ??like to learn more abou??t the specifics of what this means.

Back on track, since STALKER 2's A-Life 2.0 has massively revamped how offline AI is kept track of compared to the legacy STALKER games, modder??s have to make do with what they've got. Thankfully, what they've got is the online component of A-Life,?? which Shay has been able to do exciting things with.

When you install Living Zone and sleep for a fe??w days (more on that later), you'll soon begin seeing a whole host of?? previously rare and/or impossible situations:

• NPC AI will never spawn in at less than 80 meters away from you.
• NPC AI will spawn at distances of up to 350 meters away from you.
• The game can keep track of over 100 AI Stalkers at the same time.
• Faction squads will spawn in appropriate regions and patrol the area, which means interacting with other squads both friendly and opposing, and with mutant AI.
• Mutants will spawn around lairs and potentially even attempt to capture them from one another.

This isn't A-Life as we understand it from prior STALKER games, of course.?? In moment-to-??moment gameplay, however, Shay's mod emulates the experience incredibly well.

It's crucial that you take a few days off exploring the Zone to have Skif sleep? to reset the game's AI direct??or. The creator of the mod reiterates this point over and over again, and I can vouch for not having any problems after sleeping for a little while.

The majority of my testing's been done on an RTX 4070/10850K rig with 32 GB of RAM, and not only have I had absolutely no difference in performance before and after installing Living Zone, but the changes were also immediately apparent in ??gameplay. Stalker squads do begin to roam around you and engage with one another, and mutants are visible from ??virtually across the map.

If you'd like to put your sniper rifles to good use in STALKER 2 and want to see AI behave? the way it should, I cannot recommend Shay's Living Zone enough. Especially with the 4X time-passage tweak, which makes days last way longer than they do by default.

Remember, though: this doesn't do anything for the game's offline AI simulation. It simply supercharges the NPCs' online behavior to a level that makes STALKER 2 far more immersive and compelling. For the time being, that's prett??y darn good compared to what the base game offers.

The post There’s a new STALKER 2 A-Life mod in town, and it’s a must-have appeared first on Destructoid.

GSC Game World's Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl has? just received an extr??a patch that you can now download.

The game came out on November 20 and, even though most have been raving about it, it's hard to acknowledge the release version's ro?ugher and likely radioactive edges. GSC Game World was quick not just to address the issues, but to come up with a patch. And what a patch that was, one single piece of software that dared to fix over 650 serious stabil??ity issues.

Though the original patch seems to have solved what it had set out to, there were some more issues left unaddressed, which GSC Game World is now attempting to fix with this new patch. The smaller but non-negligible list of fixes includes:

• Fixed an issue when the second wave  would not spawn during the â€œOn the Edgeâ€?nbsp;mission, blocking further progression.
• Fixed the issue when  could be found dead during the â€œA Minor Incidentâ€?nbsp;mission, blocking further progression.
• The fixed issue was a player could get stuck after installing the fuse in the Wild Island area if they got the  first during the â€œJust Like the Good Old Daysâ€?nbsp;mission, blocking further progression.
• The fixed issue was when a player could not successfully complete the â€œAll That is Leftâ€?nbsp;mission while exploring the Chemical Plant region.
• Fixed issue when quest enemies could spawn in unreachable areas for a player during the â€œDown Belowâ€?nbsp;mission, blocking further progression.
• Fixed an issue when  could be missing during the â€œVisions of Truthâ€?nbsp;mission.
• A few more EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION errors are fixed.

GSC Game World has been doing a great job of dealing with these issues, and a large part of that is thanks to great cooperation with players, whom the team thanks and asks to keep on reporting any future issues here.

You can now enjoy a much more stable version of Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl on PC and Xbox Series X|S.

The post Stalker 2 drops surprise extra patch appeared first on Destructoid.

The Operator Exoskeleton is one of the toughest armor kits you can come across, and it will be important for your progression in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl.

As you approach the late game, self-preservation becomes key, and the enemies that you encounter can be deadly. Na??turally, getting better armor is almost mandatory, and the Operator Exoskeleton is a great choice. That said, finding it can be a bit troublesome if you don't know where you need to look.

Stalker 2 Operator Exoskeleton location explained

To reach the Operator Exoskeleton, you'll need to be a bit patient. This armor set is located at Fluoridation Station in Jupiter. To be more specific, this location can be found close to Pri??pyat's border. To find it easily, just go to the m?arked location on the map, and you'll come across the building.

In fact, it's quite easy to get lost in this complex, and there are anom?alies and enemies present as well. It's better to take a stealth-based approach to find your exoskeleton. The first job is to find a truck located at the side of the main building. Get on the hood of the truck, and you'll come across pipes.

If you look forward, these pipes will lead you all the way to the other end of the building. Get on top of these pipes and travel to the point where they end. On the way, you'll come across electric anomalies, so be ??careful as y?ou go past them.

Once the pipe ends, jump to the seco??nd floor of the building. Go inside, and you'll find the Operator Exoskeleton suit waiting for you. There's a stash as well located at this locatio??n. Make sure to get it if you want to get more resources for your inventory.

Apart from offering better protection, this armor provides +6.4 KG to maximum weight. This bonus weight capacity will solve some of the issues you could get by carrying too many things at once. There are four artifact slots available on the suit, which is another big ?benefit. All things considered, it's certainly an ar??mor set that's worth your time and effort.

The post How to find the Operator Exoskeleton in Stalker 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

Though I'm deeply conflicted about how I feel about STALKER 2, there's no doubt in my mind that its current iteration of "A-Life," if you could call it that, is not what the developer GSC Game World originally envisioned. One particular m??odder agrees, and there's hope on the horizon.

There are no two ways about it, STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl? currently does not have an ac??tive version of A-Life. I've already written at significant length about A-Life in this franchise and its importance, and there's simply not a chance that GSC Game World would've ignored the feature in favor of the plain old NPC spawner we currently have in the game. The pre-release interviews state the developers' intention quite directly, and while some members of ??the community might fe?el otherwise, everything points to stuff being broken rather than deliberately taken out of the experience.

The person responsible for the curious Roadside Panic mod that kind-of-sort-of retrofits STALKER 2's creature spawner into something that resembles A-Life agrees with this assessment, too. In fact,?? they recently posted on Reddit explaining what they think is ??happening with the system behind the scenes and what they feel might happen with it in the future.

STALKER 2's new A-Life 2.0 system is different from A-Life 1.0, also entirely broken

Obviously, the featur?ed Reddit post is quite lengthy. I do recommend reading it through, but here's the gist of it:

• A-Life 2.0 does not have the full, permanent offline NPC persistence that the old A-Life 1.0 had.
• A-Life 2.0 appears to be a "complex and ambitious framework that already exists" in STALKER 2, albeit in a "completely broken and/or unfinished" state.
• There's a "Lair System" of some sort present in STALKER 2, which loosely simulates the movement of Stalker factions and mutant hordes across the Zone.
• These Lairs interact with the current NPC Director to simulate A-Life 1.0's classic offline and online activities.
• The Director that's currently present in STALKER 2 is "so broken that an A-Life fix does not seem easy."

Given that the author of the featured Reddit post has taken quite a bit of time dissecting what little is available of STALKER 2's game files right now, as well as developing a mod that sort of ?alleviates the problem, there's merit in their writing.

Now, to look at the situation from a viewpoint that's less favorable of GSC Game World, it's equally possible that A-Life as such was simply abandoned at some point in the past. The Director could, technically, emulate the various situations that the old STALKER t?itles organically produced as you went. There'd be no persistence betwee??n the various regions of the Zone, granted, but the illusion also wouldn't be outright ruined within hours of gameplay if it worked correctly.

The fact of the matter is that there's no software development kit available for STALKER 2 just yet, and even though modders can tweak some things along via .pak files, this is just scratching the surface of the real deal. A-Life may well exist tucked away broken in some corner of STALKER 2, but we have no way o??f knowing for real until the SDK is available.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl's very first patch is now out, and ?it resolves a frankly astonishing number ??of problems the community has had with the game. A-Life improv?ements, such as they may be, won't be coming for a while yet.

The post STALKER 2 modders might’ve figured out how A-Life 2.0 is supposed to work appeared first on Destructoid.

Journalist Stashes are an excellent way to solidify your inventory in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, and the benefits a??ccrue to those who have purchased the Digital Deluxe/Ultimate ??Edition.

Spending the extra dollars will help you get extra weapons and suits that can help you clear the in-game content with relative ease. Additionally, some of these items will carry over ?to the multiplayer side of things (it doesn't have any in-game advantages, but it's pretty cool). Unlike most video games, you won't get the benefits straightaway. You'll have to?? manually travel to the locations of every chest and open them to get the items.

Every Journalist Stash location in Stalker 2

So far, there are 12 Journalist Stashes spread all across?? The Zone. Usually, most places have multiple stashes, so make sure to round them all up when you're in a particular region.

That's pretty much it when it comes to finding all the Journalist Stashes in Stalker 2. Once you've found? all 12, you'll get to know about the presence of one more stash hidden in a secret location.

The post All Stalker 2 J??ournalist Stash locations a??nd rewards appeared first on Destructoid.

Stalker 2 hasn't been out for long, but the PC community has already been hard at work improving the game with the hundreds of mods already availa??ble on Nexus Mods.

It can be difficult to determine which ones are worth picking up, though. To help, we've compiled a list of the 10 Stalker 2 mods you should use on your fi?rst playthrough and beyond.

Optimized Tweaks S.2 - Reduced Stutter Mouse Fix Improved Performance Lower Latency

Optimized Tweaks S.2 - R?educed Stutter Mouse Fix Improved Performance Lower Latency may be a real mouthful to say, but I can't deny that it's one of the best Stalker 2 mods available right now.

This mod was released on the same day as Stalker 2's release, fixing most of the? game's most egregious performance problems, from boosting CPU and GPU efficiency to enhancing streaming and memory management. That one user has managed to fix in one day what a team of developers couldn't in years is a testament to their talent.

Grok's Modular Mutants Health

If you're finding that the mutants in Stalker 2 are not quite balanced to your tastes, then Grok's Modular Mutants Health has you covered in just about every regard.

With this Stalker 2 mod, you can have full control over?? mutants' HP. You can make them tankier, and add some extra challenge to the game. Or you can make them squishier, for an easier time. You're in full control with this mo??d.

Longer Sprinting

While traversing the post-apocalyptic world of Stalker 2, you want to be able to get around fast. In the vanilla game, sprinting uses up a little too much stami?na for my liking.

That's where Longer Sprinting has been a godsend for my playthrough. You can give yourself a ??25%, 50%, or 75% reduction in stamina cost, which, at its highest, lets you run four times as far while sprinting. I??t's a bit of a cheat, but it feels much better to play with.

Reasonable Weapon Degradation by VAXIS

Reasonable Weapon Degradation by VAXIS is another quality-of-life mod aimed at addressing the balancing issues currently prevalent in vanilla Stalker 2.

Its purpose is simple: it red??uces weapon degradation to half of its current rate. You'll still experience wear and tear, so it's not a complete cheat code. It just feels a bit more reasonable than how it currently is.

Axxii's Stealth Mod

Axxii's Stealth Mod is a pretty comprehensive overhaul of Stalker 2's janky stealth mechanics. It's early days, but it seems to be a massive improvement over the base game. These changes include improvements made to NPCs spotting you in specific weather condition??s, nerfs to NPCs noticing you through grass and bushes, and cover height and width are now considered by the game.

That's not all, either. NPCs will now search for you instead of instantly spotting you and initiating combat, and the minimum distance NPCs need to completely spot you has been increased from 4.5 meters to 10 meters. Right now, Axxii's Stealth Mod is a must-have Stalker 2 mod.

Maklane's Better gunfights - NO Aimbot NPCs

Maklane's Better gunfights - NO Aimbot NPCs addresses a common issue that many shooter games have - NPCs who seemingly can't miss, no matter the rang??e.

The mod adjusts the dispersion parameters of NPC bullets at long and medium ranges. This should make them le?ss accurate from a distance, for a more realistic and fairer combat feeling. Short-range values have not been affected by this mod.

Grok's Economy and Difficulty Fix Attempt

Grok's Economy and Difficulty Fix Attempt is an impressive effort to overhaul the overall difficulty of Stalker 2 through the changing?? of several? important values. According to creator Grokitach0, it was made for a "more balanced and less frustrating (but not easier!) experience."

So what exactly is affected by this mod? In short, lots, but some highlights include less items to be looted, durability adjustments, more expensive repairs, less?? expensive upgrades, much squishier enemies, and more deadly NPCs. That's just the tip of the iceberg for this excellent overhaul - try it out.

Even Longer Days

Even Longer Days by Nexus Mods user JCaleb is perfect for gamers who think the current 1-hour day/night cycle in Stalker 2 is much too fast.

When downloading this Stalker 2 mod, you get to choose between ?several timescale presets. These range anywhere from a 2-hour day/night cycle to a real-time 24-hour one. It's a small change, but a pretty noticeable one.

Maklane's Better Weights Balance

Maklane's Better Weights Balance isn't actually one Stalker 2 mod. Th?ere?? are three of them, and you can choose which ones you want.

This is an extremely small selection of mods that balance the weight of grenades, ammunition, and consumables. You still have to do som?e inventory management, but the aforementioned items have?? all had their weight changed to more realistic values. Some are lighter, while some are heavier.

No Aiming-ADS Zoom

When aiming down your sights in Stalker 2, there's a small FOV zoom. It's not a huge issue, but the beauty of mods is that you can fix any and all minor problems with ?the game.

No Aiming-ADS Zoom removes this. Overall, it makes the gunplay feel more like a simulation than? before.

The post The best Stalke?r 2 Mods you should install right ??now appeared first on Destructoid.

Stalker 2 ??has its fair share of unique weapons that you can unlock, and the Trophy rifle is certainly one that can easily remain hidden throughout your entire save.

Typically, you can unlock extra weapons if you've purchased the Deluxe/Ultimate Edition. These weapons can be found in different Journalist Stashes, and you'll get them gradually. That said, the Trophy gun is available ev??en if you'v??e purchased the Standard Edition.

As I said, finding it can be a bit tricky, and there are high chances that you might have gone past the pla??ce without knowing that there's a secret gun for you to discove??r.

How to get the Trophy gun in Stalker 2

To find this weapon, you'll have to play a bit to unlock the Chemical Plant region. This place has plenty of POIs, including the Army Warehouses, which itself has some great resources. If you've purchased the Ultimate Edition of the game, you can also find the Lullaby assault rifle from t???his spot. To get the Trophy gun, you'll have to travel west from where the Army Warehouses location. To simplify matters, I have marked the location on the screenshot below.

Once you reach the spot, you'll notice a broken structure. I am not sure what exactly it is (it looks like a broken incubator), and you'll find a corpse lying in front of it. If you look carefully on the map, ??you'll find two other structures located close to this spot. All three structures are actually connected, and all you have to do is throw a grenade through t??he opening of the structure (the one with the corpse).

Just wait, and there will be three explosions. The third explosion will open a structure similar to the one where you threw the grenade. Once cracked open, you'll find a stash waiting for you to be unlocked. This stash contains the Trophy gun (an assault rifle, rather) and a bunch of useful items like ammo, consumables, and gren?ades.

The post How to find Trophy gun in Stalker 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

After years of anticipation and unfortunate delays, Stalker 2 is finally here. Many dedicated gamers out there will have already finished GSC Game World's latest title,?? and are on the lookout for the next great survival game.

We've compiled a list of the 8 best games we think you'll like if you're a fan of Stalker 2, ??especially if? you're looking for that survival fix.

DayZ

DayZ evokes many of the same feelings as Stalker 2, even if the gameplay is considerably different. There's a loneliness to the exploration in DayZ, the world inhabited by mindless zombies and the occasional player. Truthfully, there's nothing quite like it, and could be a great game to play straight after Stalker 2.

Even over a decade after its initial Early Access release, DayZ remains incredibly janky, but there's something about it that is undeniably charming. Thanks to frequent updates, its community is as large as ever, meaning you'll never be truly alone in the vast world of DayZ.

Chernobylite

If Stalker 2 didn't exist, then Chernobylite would almost certainly be deemed the de facto Stalker sequel. The gam?eplay loop is remarkably similar, centered around surviving the Chornobyl Exclusive Zone while fighting off military and enemies called "Stalkers" (yes, really).

Chernobylite even feat??ures some RPG mechanics, with branching choices? to influence the narrative. If you just finished Stalker 2 and want more of exactly the same, I can't think of anything better than Chernobylite.

Project Zomboid

If the survival elements of Stalker 2 are what you enjoyed most about the game, then Project Zomboid should be well worth your time. Played from an isometric perspective, Project Zomboid focuses? on realistic survival mechanics, where you must fight every step of the way to stay alive.

Each run of the game inevitably ends in death - there's no end goal here. It's about all the fun you'll have along the way. Project Zomboid is tec??hnically still in Early Access, but it doesn't feel unfinished. I mean, it has been 11 years.

Into the Radius

I'm pretty sure that if GSC Game World were to make a VR Stalker game, the end result would essentially just be Into the Radius. Yeah, this title is VR-exclusive, but if you already own the tech, then Into the Radius is a must-have app.

Into the Radius is all about surviving and scavenging in a dystopian Eastern European hellscape filled with hostiles and dangerous anomalies. Sounds very Stalker 2-ish, doesn't it? The game is dripping with atmosph?ere, and experiencing it in VR makes i??t ten times spookier.

Metro Exodus

The world of Metro Exodus is one you can fully lose yourself in. Set in post-apocalyptic Russia, Metro Exodus offers vast levels to explore, unlike the linearity of previous games in the series. There's all your standard survival fare here, given a shine of AAA polish by 4A Games. It's arguably the best Metro game and has everything a Stalker 2 fan could want.

Although it's a sequel to Metro 2033 and Last Light, you don't have to play the previous two games to enjoy Exodus. It'll help you appreciate the story, of course, but you'll s??t??ill be able to take in the vibe of the post-apocalyptic world around you regardless.

Escape From Tarkov

If you want a game that feels like Stalker 2 but is a bit more all-action, then Escape From Tarkov has you covered. This is a multiplayer title based on completing raids, where you must ?find loot and escape in a rundown world filled with enemy players.

Moments of quiet allow you to take in the atmosphere before it's interrupted by intense bursts of combat. The real appeal of Escape From Tarkov is how hardcore i?t is. It features a minimal HUD, which immerses you further?? into the world.

ZERO Sievert

ZERO Sievert is going to feel like a change of pace for players coming directly from Stalker 2, but a welcome one, at that. This top-down extraction shooter has everything you'd expect to find in a ??standard surv??ival game, from scavenging to crafting and inventory management.

Combat feels smooth, the procedurally generated maps keep the gameplay feeling fresh, and there are even quests to give you a sense of purpose beyond survival. For an indie game, ZERO Sievert is incredibly polished.

Stalker: Call of Pripyat

Well, yeah. It stands to reason that if you like Stalker 2, then you'll probably enjoy Stalker: Call of Pripyat. Its DNA remains all over Stalker 2, with the two games following a near-identical gameplay loo?p.

Graphically, Stalker: Call of Pripyat is admittedly dated. But gameplay-wise? It still holds up. It's janky, yes, but that was always part of the charm of the Stalker series. If you like the newest entry, I'm pretty confident you'll find much to love about Stalker: Call of Pripyat.

The post 8 survival games to play if you like Stalker 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

I'm deeply conflicted on STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl. From one point of view, it's a phenomenal celebration of everything I've ever loved about the franchise. On the flip side, its single most important feature is either broken or d??eli?berately left out, and it's unclear what might happen next.

Squaring off with STALKER 2 is a complicated thing for ??me, and I suspect many franchise veterans f??eel something similar about it. There's absolutely no question about two of its launch-day features:

• There's a love for the source material present here, and it is handled with appropriate fervor by GSC Game World.
• The game is broken beyond belief, and it falls apart at the seams in the later stages of the main story.

Ever since STALKER 2's been re-announced, I've been very skeptical of what GSC Game World may or may not be able to do with the IP. Especially one that's been so ridiculously elevated by its community via mods. For the fact that the ridiculously customizable X-Ray Engine would be replaced by the sheer sloppiness of Unreal Engine 5, I had no love. In fact, even though the modding scene is already picking up, I still have my doubts about it reaching the heights of the old, classic STALKER titles in this respect.

Yet, at the same time, STALKER 2 feels right. It's a genuinely c?ompelling homecoming in some barely quantifiable ways,? and here, I aim to discuss this for a little bit. Perhaps even help someone make sense of the bits that have gone right, and the bobs that have gone left.

STALKER 2, such as it is, is a broken mess of a game. I will sing it praise in this article, but I'd like to ask you to keep this statem??ent in mind throughout. It's important for the crux of my argument.

Upon starting my first playthrough of STALKER 2 (because I've got no doubt many more will follow), I was greeted by an oddly cinematic cutscene that felt more like Crysis or Far Cry than anything else. It was tightly scripted, well executed and acted?, and it set the stage for what was ??to come.

Skif, as a protagonist, is appropriately eclectic and Weird. More so than any o??f its predecessors, STALKER 2 is a thoroughbred New Weird story where you simply have to go with the flow and accept that some things will not make sense no matter how you flip them. The vibe is king, instead, and it is downright immaculate.

In classic video game fash?ion, the prologue equips Skif with powerful full-length rifles and a face-off against the legendary Bloodsucker in the middle of the night. The powerful goodies are subsequently yanked away, and Skif is soon enough left alone and under-equipped for the horrors of the Zone, a trust Makarov at his side.

For the next five-odd hours, I enjoyed one of the best gaming experiences I've had in years. The story unravels slowly and at a fairly brisk pace, and there's really not much chance to go off and explore. Crucially, this works in STALKER 2's favor, because you don't get to see the "simulation" fall apart until you're already re??asonabl??y well invested.

When it does fall apart, though, it's like someone pulls the rug from under your feet. I've written at length about the importance of A-Life in STALKER right here at Destructoid, and though newcomers won't really understand how crucial the system is, veterans will. A-Life was the bit that made STALKER's rendition of the Exclusion Zone? such a big deal.

Sure, the mainline STALKER games only really had a severely stunted and gimped version of A-Life in place, but it gave play??ers a sense of persistence and progression that you simply will not get out of this game. It's not happening.

A-Life, as it currently stands, does not exist in STALKER 2. I can speculate as to why that is the case until the Fleshes come home, but it's irrelevant. The relevant bit is this: STALKER 2 only ever spawns NPCs within a meager 100-meter radius aro??und the player character. More frustratingly, this does mean clearing out large bases is effectively impossible, while it's conversely entirely possible for that Bloodsucker nest to replenish its inhabitants literally minutes after you've cleared it out.

This does not make for a good playing experience. In fact, once you figure out how the game's NPCs work in action, you may well be hard-pressed to drop STALKER 2 for the time being. An??d, honestly, the thought cr??ossed my mind as well.

Why did I stick with this broken game, then?

STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl was one of the first proper FPS titles I played on PC back in the day. I started my gaming career on the PlayStation, as it were, and it took just under a decade for me to think of bootin??g something on the underpowered office PC my ?parents had back then.

Boy, was my mind blown.

A-Life, as such, was barely present in Shadow of Chernobyl. It wasn't the thing that drew me in, but rather something I'd grow to appreciate in subsequent Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat releases, as well as the mods. No, the bit that drew me in was the atmosphere and the vibe. These are the two things that STALKER 2, coincidentally, pulls off phenomenally well.

Add a zest of nostalgia to the mix, then, and you'v??e got a game tha??t's just magical enough (when it works) to keep me glued to the screen.

GSC Game World genuinely has delivered something incredible as far as the Exclusion Zone itself goes. I've seen some complain that the world is empty and lifeless, but my experience has been anything but that. A general sense of dread and emptiness is absolutely necessary for the core exploration loop in STALKER, make no mistake. The absolute horror show that is STALKER 2's "A-Life 2.0" very nearl??y ruins the whole bloody thing, for sure, but the m??ore manually curated bits help elevate the experience.

STALKER 2 is full of memorable vignettes. Against the foreboding yet beautiful backdrop of the Zone, just seeing Stalkers line up for fresh bread in Rostok feels compelling. Hearing Stalkers crack stupi??d jokes around a firepit in the middle of nowhere, in the Swamps? Re-visiting iconic locations to see GSC peppering out easter eggs and nods to veteran players? Talking with the prior games' protagonists and other familiar NPCs? Just walking through the immaculate ruins of the Zone? Folks, there's something special here??, I promise.

The problem is that this "specialness" is overshadowed by the current state of the game. I have absolutely no doubt that many have already dropped STALKER 2, as if it were rad-hot. This, I feel, is warranted. This is not only? because A-Life 2.0 is a ridiculously unfun take on one of the franchise's most important fe?atures but also because we shouldn't accept broken games in general. I'm definitely not excusing STALKER 2 in any way here.

GSC Game World claims that A-Life is currently not behaving the way it's supposed to, and I think it's a given that things will improve as STALKER 2 finally receives the polishing phase it's?? obviously curr??ently missing. Frankly, I doubt A-Life 2.0 will be as potent as A-Life on X-Ray was. I also don't think modders will be able to take things as far as they did, back in the day.

At the same time, I find myself drawn back into STALKER 2's rendition of the Zone. It's such a shame that GSC wasn't willing or able to pull this off right pre-release because the c?ontent of this game deserves it. As for whether you'll be able to push through the game's proble?ms in the same way I have, I wouldn't know. If you're a veteran of the series and nostalgic to get back into it, though, maybe give it a shot. Maybe visit Sidorovich, for old times' sake.

The post ??Playing ??STALKER 2 feels like coming home, despite all the (many) problems appeared first on Destructoid.

Radiations of all kinds can be dangerous in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, but gettin?g radiation poisoning from your artifacts becomes a major issue.

Artifacts are highly useful, and using them becomes mandatory as you start exploring the later parts of the campaign. Each of them offers certain benefits, but they have a negative aspect as well �in the form of radiatio??n. If left unchecked, the resulting radiation can spike up pretty quickly and cause loss of life. So here's how you can manage the situation without having to sacrifice the use of a??rtifacts.

How to negate artifact radiation in Stalker 2

You can find plenty of artifacts pretty early on in Stalker 2. For starters, you'll want to leave them in your invento??ry. The basic reason is simple �you don't have the to?ols to manage the radiation caused by these items. Secondly, the advantages of using them aren't required immediately when you begin your adventures in The Zone.

Incidentally, one of the best solutions for artifa?ct radiation is the source itself. Certain artifacts, like Slug, for example, offer "Radio Protection," which reduces the negative effects of all kinds of radiation. However, that will only work if the strength of the?? effects of the two artifacts is identical�weak" will counter "weak," and so on.

Make sure to always use a detector when you're not roaming around with a gun. The detector will help you locate artifacts, as they can be quite easy to miss. While artifacts with "Radio Protection" can be useful, I prefer gear. There are certain suits and helmets that also have Radiation Protection. You can even ?check the strength of their in-game effect by hovering over the gear when it's in your inventory.

You can also improve the neutralization effects of your gear by equipping artifacts with "Radio Protection." This will make your radiation protection a lot more effective. This will also negate a lot of radiation from the environment if you find yourself in such a zone. That said, it will take some time for you to find these specific gear pieces in Stalker 2. Till ?then, the best option is to be proactive and be war??y of places that have high radiation.

The post How to manage artifact radiation in Stalker 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

If you find the overall economy in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl ex?tremely taxing, there's a cool glitch that can make you the billionaire of The ?Zone.

The Zone can be a menacing area, especially if you're a first-time Stalker. Constantly repairing your weapons and gear can become quite taxing, and it's not fun to earn paltry amounts of coupons by doing basic tasks. The current glitch has become a popular one with the ??community, and as of writing, it's yet to be fixed.

Stalker 2 infinite money glitch explained

To trigger the glitch, you'll need to reach Zalissya, which is the first town. Located in the Lesser Zone, this place will be your first base (of sorts)??, and there are plenty of quests you can trigger. Once you've found a few consumables and ammo, return to the trader.

Once you open the menu for trade, your screen will look like the following image. Select an item you want to use for a trade. So far, I have tested the method with bread, med?kits, and ammo. First, let's take a look at the steps.

• Add an item to the sell box.
• Select "Sell All" when prompted.
• Select the item and bring it back down from the sell box.
• You'll be prompted if you want to return all the items. Don't press anything.
• Click the confirm button. You'll notice that the items have been added to the trader's inventory.
• Now, select "Return All," and all your items will shift from the trader's box to yours.
• You'll get to keep all the coupons you just earned moments back.

Here's a note of caution: Make sure that the trader doesn't have any item on their inventory that you're using for this method. Let's say I am ?using medkits to trigger this glitch. Make sure that the trader doesn't have a single medkit in their inventory. It's better to spend your coupons to purchase those first and then try the steps mentioned above.

The items won't return to your inventory if you don't take this additional step. So, this is pretty much mandatory for the infinite money glitch to work in Stalker 2. I have tested this method on PC, and based on social media, you can also make it work on your Xbox by connec?ting a USB keyboard. If you're on a PC, the glitch should work as intended if you follow all the steps carefully.

The post How to do the infinite money glitch in Stalker 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

The Lullaby assault rifle is certainly one of the better guns you can yield in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, and it's a reward locked exclusively for those who hav?e purchased the Ultimate Edition.

But simply spending the extra dollars (or whatever currency that applies to you) isn't enough, for you'll have to obtain the gun by solving the mission. As in this case, there's a specific Journalist Stash that you'll ?need to find, which unlocks the gun for any use inside the game.

Lullaby Assault Rifle location in Stalker 2

To get this gun, you'll have to reach a location called Army Warehouses. This POI is situated in the Central Plant region, an?d there are plenty of things to loot over here. You'll find a lock?ed room at this location, which can be unlocked with a code. Make sure to check out our guide to know more about how to get the loot.

If you have the Ultimate Edition (Deluxe Edition isn't enough), yo??u will have an additional pop-up on your map w??hen you reach the Army Warehouses location. Instead of having to settle with one set of rewards, you can actually double your yield.

How to extract the Lullaby Assault Rifle in Stalker 2

Once you've reached the spot??, you'll notice a truck parked around the exterior wall.?? Jump on top of it to reach a metal overhang. From there, you can crawl to enter the building. This will lead you to the Lullaby assault rifle stash and the key that enables you to get the Army Warehouses code.

To get the code, you'll have to put in some extra effort, and y??ou can read that in your guide as mentioned above. I??f you're a Deluxe Edition owner, you can get the Monolith AR416. This is another handy rifle to use, and it can be obtained quite easily by following the steps mentioned in this guide.

The post How to get the Lullaby Assault Rifle in Stalker 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

GSC Game World, the developers behind S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, have addressed the complaints regarding many graphical and stability issues plaguing the recently released titles. Though the game is already a huge hit with over one million units sold, the developers are aware of the issues and have just taken to Steam to inform about a?? ne?w patch that will likely release next week.

Stalker 2 Patch Notes

Below are the fixes included in Stalker 2's upcoming update

"Crash Fixes, including:

• Issues and memory allocation failures, which previously caused the game to exit unexpectedly, particularly around rendering, skeletal meshes, and quest-related cutscenes.

Main Quest Progression Fixes, including:

• Several bugs blocking the main quest progression, NPCs getting stuck in objects, incorrect quest markers, and issues with quest cutscenes.
• Revision of the main quests (like Visions of Truth or A Minor Incident) to ensure smooth transitions, avoiding rare cases of players not being able to proceed.

Gameplay & Balance Adjustments, including:

• Fixing the price of the weapons with upgrades installed compared to their value without attachments.
• NPC behavior, including the way they act when lacking shelter during the Emissions.

Cutscenes & Visual Fixes, including:

• Rarely missing facial animations, misplaced NPCs, and visual inconsistencies like detached heads and clothes clipping.
• Quality and stability improvements of the visual effects.

Softlock Fixes, including:

• An issue where players were unable to close the trade screen after putting ammo in the wrong slot while playing on a gamepad.

User Interface Improvements, including:

• Quest notifications now show correctly during dialogues.
• Corrected texts and missing interaction prompts.

Noted to be addressed in future updates:

• Analog stick dead zones bugfixes.
• A-Life system bugfixes."

Stalker 2 is finally out and, the good news is, we're looking at a classic Stalker (the video game) experience. The not-so-good news is that Stalker 2 is a fantastic game filled to the brim with exciting ideas, but all that is covered by a massive amount of glitches and jank in dire need of fixing. Luckily, things have b?lown out of proportion community-wise. We gotta thank old Stalkers for that, as they've been assuring newcomers who likely weren't even born by the time of the original's release that this is just how things work in the zone.

I hope the upcoming patch will fix many of the game's more severe problems, and I'm glad the Stalker 2 devs were much quicker to assure fans things are being worked on than Konami was when dealing with Silent Hill 2's remake issues on the PS5 Pro. Still, I'm secretly hoping some of the?? glitches that make the zone feel like the inexpl??icable place it's supposed to be remain in the game.

You can now play Stalker 2 on PC and Xbox Series X|S.

The post Stalker 2 patch will arrive soon appeared first on Destructoid.

Stalker 2 might be an excellent release if you con?sider the story and gameplay, but there are certain performance issues, to say the least.

The situation may have improved a bit, but I have experienced plenty of stutters and random frame drops. If the internet is to be believed, I am not the only one. Thankfully, there are a few tweaks you can make to the graphical side of things to smoothen the overall experience. While they might not magically make the game lag-free, the in??cidents of stutters and FPS drops will be min??imal.

Best Stalker 2 graphic settings

Stalker 2 allows you to make plenty of tweaks to the available settings to get?? the best out of your hardware. In general, the requirements might be high, but you can make the necessary changes to smoothen your gameplay experience.

First, let's check ??out the optimal Display settings.

Stalker 2 Display settings

• Graphics Card - Primary GPU
• Display - Primary Monitor
• Screen Mode - Fullscreen (Exclusive)
• Display Resolution - Native
• Aspect Ratio - Auto
• Field of View - Personal Preference, but avoid setting it too high
• V-Sync - Off
• Framerate - 60 FPS (You can change this to No Limit once we have better in-game optimization)
• Nvidia Reflex - Enabled (It's better to turn it on from the Nvidia control panel)
• Sharpness - Personal Choice (20% feels like a sweet spot)

Graphics Settings

• Overall Quality - Custom
• Texture Quality - Medium/High
• Hair - High
• Object Details - Medium
• Effects Quality - Medium
• Materials - High
• Post Processing - High
• Anti-aliasing - Medium
• Motion Blur Strength - 0%
• Dept of Field - High
• Light Shafts - Enabled
• Upscaling Method - DLSS/FSR
• Upscaling Quality - Balanced
• Resolution Scale - 100%
• FSR 3 Frame Generation - Disabled (The input lag isn't worth the hassle)
• Shading Quality - Medium
• Global Illumination - Medium
• Reflections - Low
• Shadow Quality - Low
• Clouds - Medium
• Fog - High
• Sky - Low
• Foliage Quality - Medium
• Environment Draw Distance - Far

While these settings will help you to improve your Stalker 2 performance, there are existing fundamental issues with the current version of the game. Developer GSC Game World has already announced that they're looking to solve the existin?g problems, and a couple of upcoming patches will likely remove the optimizing issues that are currently plaguing the players.

The post Best graphic set??tings for Stalker 2 to prevent stutters and FPS-drops appeared first on Destructoid.