STALKER 2 Heart of Chernobyl Review
STALKER2: Heart of Chornobyl should go down in history as one of the games that pushes the boundaries of a modern single-player FPS all the while raising the already high stakes that it has due to its name. This 2024 game is the latest addition to the STALKER game franchise including 2007’s Shadow of Chornobyl.
Plot
We are once again dropping into Chornobyl for this adventure where our hero, Skif, goes into the exclusion zone with the hope of cashing in on an artifact that landed in his home. As he progresses, he gets sucked into a web of lies and treachery, all the while battling all sorts of creatures as well as other STALKERS lurking in the zone.
Environment and Engagement
This was my first foray into the world of STALKER and I can clearly see why people like it. It’s atmospheric and gloomy but at times can go completely bonkers with the visuals. You’ll love the sound design and the musical scoring here. I made the mistake of playing this at 2 in the morning and it disturbed me for a few hours. I guess it’s the feeling of isolation plus the music, the visuals that makes it an enjoyable game to play.
Duration
Let it be known that the game is a long game, like hours upon hours of gameplay. There’s a total of 45 hours for just the main story alone but it could be a little more if you’re a completionist.
Playing the side quests can go from anywhere from fun to frustrating, but if you want to succeed in finishing the game, you’ll really need to go for those nice bonuses given by side quests.
STALKER 2 is a first person shooter that’s been in development for a long time and follows the STALKER: Call of Pripyat and has gone through several dramas over the years.
One of the fun aspects (or terrifying depending on your perspective) is that detector that you use throughout the game that notifies you when anomalies or radioactive traps are around. As you progress through the game, you naturally evolve and improve your tech but for the first few hours, that detector might mean life or death.
Why this game might rank high up on me is the fact that it grounds you. Take that in two ways. Ground being it literally grounds you to a pulp for a number of times before you understand how to deal with the pesky monsters or tough bastards. Grounded also means there are no upgrades to be had in this game. There’s no improvement in your vision or a skill that improves your speed. Strip down what you have at the end game and you are what you started with. That makes it tough and a breath of nostalgia for old school gamers.
The game’s fun factor is also magnified with the game’s faction system. So initially I thought it would be mostly just your standard fetch quests but apparently they feel more like the Yakuza / Like A Dragon subquests where you get better rewards which helps improve your game down the line.
STALKER 2 also offers you a limited sense of freedom especially as more and more parts of the Zone open for you to explore. You can have the option of just peacing out of the factions or working with them to a limited extent. But remember closing off other NPCs would also make your game tougher though but if that’s what you truly want then more power to you.
