Stalker 2 is looking great.

[64K]

New developer deep dive video shows more gameplay:

 

[#22]

It looks overally good and what devs say meets my expectations. My only concern is shooting kinda looking not that meaty, not having weight and sound, but it's hard to tell when not playing... What interested me the most were AI thing (13 min), how much really it would make a difference, and this social system with fractions changing squads etc (~19 min). Hard to believe it being dynamic and meaningful, not story driven, but maybe it's just something simplier like group/guys starting/stopping happening nearby each other. I btw hope it being one of those old school games with all of the characters having their 24 hour schedule - feels real and gives many fun opportunities. And then would love to see some motif of people first making me not liking them for various reasons and being possible to randomly meet in the Zone :> Like e.g. other stalkers competing with you, being however PITA, using opportunity to attack you or hiding from you, but needing to live their life like going to take a dump outside hideout

 

[Vayra86]

Slight hype. Looks good

 

[Launcestonian]

If it plays anything like Chernobylite, I'll pass on this one..

 

[Ahhzz]

If it plays anything like Chernobylite, I'll pass on this one..

If you've not played the previous S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, there's really nothing else out there it can compare to. And certainly not Chernobylite. GOG has them on sale often, and despite the age, you could get a pretty good idea of the style of the game from one of original trilogy.

 

[#22]

If it plays anything like Chernobylite, I'll pass on this one..

I liked Chernobylite, but we had rough start - you just shouldn't expect the same experience as Stalker. It's more game story driven, dialogues and resources hunting when avoiding encounters. You just land on the map and hurry to do quest when simulatanously searching for resources until PITA thing shows up. And then escape to get into quite fun part of base building, equipping it with useful stuff, training with companions or listening to quite interesting stories by this older guy. It's a nice gameplay loop, but it's not outstanding game overally, imo one solid when you feel like something slower and atmospheric.

 

[basco]

if the player cannot die it´s not a stalker experience.
there is no level system but progress is reflected in better knowledge of environment and faster reactions.

love it - did not buy a game since 2 years but this i will

 

[Launcestonian]

If you've not played the previous S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, there's really nothing else out there it can compare to. And certainly not Chernobylite. GOG has them on sale often, and despite the age, you could get a pretty good idea of the style of the game from one of original trilogy.

Played all the original STALKER games many yrs ago, they were a thing for their time with atmosphere etc. But that X-ray engine!

I liked Chernobylite, but we had rough start - you just shouldn't expect the same experience as Stalker. It's more game story driven, dialogues and resources hunting when avoiding encounters. You just land on the map and hurry to do quest when simulatanously searching for resources until PITA thing shows up. And then escape to get into quite fun part of base building, equipping it with useful stuff, training with companions or listening to quite interesting stories by this older guy. It's a nice gameplay loop, but it's not outstanding game overally, imo one solid when you feel like something slower and atmospheric.

Yeah, too much dependence on companions to level up not my thing, rather annoying to be honest. Also, not open world enough, too many deliberate barriers in game to force the player into going where the devs want you to go. But at least it had 21:9 screen support.

 

[#22]

Yeah, too much dependence on companions to level up not my thing, rather annoying to be honest. Also, not open world enough, too many deliberate barriers in game to force the player into going where the devs want you to go. But at least it had 21:9 screen support.

It's this kind of game not really worth giving secound chance. Imo just decent one, but levels of fun it was giving me was close to border of what I find worth playing. Plus it being a game definitely feeling at best AA, with many technical shortcomings and not everybody tolerate such. This strange kind of game I finished, so had fun, but recommending it feels more wrong than right.

Don't worry, it's more showing few known places, like fan service, than spoiling you every area in the game. Played Stalkers last time 10-15 years ago, but I think I recognize few of them (like isn't it starting "village" from SoC? ) or maybe some from Chernobylite. And I kinda needed this video to form my opinion about graphics. Latest gameplay taking place in mostly natural environment left me unsure, but now I can say that if they deliver such graphics, I will be satisfied. It's likely to be one of the best looking games, truly next gen, but of course in open world category, so one sentenced to be generation behind.

 

[vigor]

Amazing graphics. Hopefully it turns out to be a very good game and very long too

 

[64K]

The game will be using Unreal Engine 5 and it's expected to have incredible graphics but may require some GPU horsepower to get to that level. The game currently doesn't have Denuvo for those that hate that DRM. At Gamescom GSC has a playable demo of the game with a never before seen area at night and they are saying the game will have:

64 square kilometers of radioactive wasteland to explore
Highly branching story
Dynamic day and night and weather system
Advanced AI
Modding support

GSC is checking all the right boxes for what gamers that really like STALKER games want. I'm hoping they can deliver. The video is from the demo at Gamescom:

 

[Event Horizon]

I'm excited. Hope they've dealt with the shader compilation stutter.

 

[Ahhzz]

I'm excited. Hope they've dealt with the shader compilation stutter.

ahh, unless is rendered unplayable, I'm more about the game-play than the little hiccups. Looking forward to finding out!

 

[las]

I look forward to it but has lowered my expectations after all the delays.

 

[Flogger23m]

Even without stuttering I think my PC won't be up for the task, I have a feeling this will give a 4070 Super a hard time. CPU is a 7800X3D so should be good there, but I feel like a lot of people will probably be wanting to upgrade for this game.

 

[Ahhzz]

I look forward to it but has lowered my expectations after all the delays.

ahhh, my expectations raised heheh. Instead of pushing out a product that needs patching on release day for functionality, they're *hopefully* making the product Solid before release.

 

[las]

Even without stuttering I think my PC won't be up for the task, I have a feeling this will give a 4070 Super a hard time. CPU is a 7800X3D so should be good there, but I feel like a lot of people will probably be wanting to upgrade for this game.

Why? Requirements are kinda low.

If the game runs bad on a 7800X3D and 4070 SUPER build, then they won't sell many copies I think, thats like better than 80-90% of gaming PCs and massively beats both PS5 and XSX.

ahhh, my expectations raised heheh. Instead of pushing out a product that needs patching on release day for functionality, they're *hopefully* making the product Solid before release.

You can see it that way. And I Hope thats the case. However most delays today are because they are far from done and struggle reaching deadlines, often game is rushed even with delays. Lets hope not.

How many pre-ordered?

 

[Flogger23m]

Why? Requirements are kinda low.

If the game runs bad on a 7800X3D and 4070 SUPER build, then they won't sell many copies I think, thats like better than 80-90% of gaming PCs and massively beats both PS5 and XSX.

I think will all settings turned up it will put quite a bit of strain on my PC. I like 85-90+ frame rates. UE5 games tend to be fairly demanding.

 

[las]

I think will all settings turned up it will put quite a bit of strain on my PC. I like 85-90+ frame rates. UE5 games tend to be fairly demanding.

Would not exactly call that struggling, consoles are probably going to be 30 fps.

 

[droopyRO]

Must have finished Call of Chernobyl at around 25-30 fps. when in came out. Only about a few months later when i got a better job, did i have the money for a 8800GTS and then crancked every option to the max and got above 30 fps, at 1280x1024. So around 60 for a game like this is fine, just fine.

 

[vigor]

New game play video

 

[720p low]

Played all the original STALKER games many yrs ago, they were a thing for their time with atmosphere etc. But that X-ray engine!

I actually would have preferred an updated version of X-Ray over UE5. I'm completely serious. I realize the style of STALKER 2 probably wouldn't be a good candidate for X-Ray, but X-Ray just just seems so integral to the STALKER franchise. And, UE5 hasn't exactly been smooth-sailing in some recent titles.

 

[Launcestonian]

I actually would have preferred an updated version of X-Ray over UE5. I'm completely serious. I realize the style of STALKER 2 probably wouldn't be a good candidate for X-Ray, but X-Ray just just seems so integral to the STALKER franchise. And, UE5 hasn't exactly been smooth-sailing in some recent titles.

I don't care what game engine they use as long as it works.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

New game play video

I like everything they've shown so far, except for one thing. Why the heck do we have to play a guy with an American accent? Will there be an option to play someone with a Ukranian accent, with those you interact with also having Ukranian accents?

It just seems to somewhat degrade the immersion to have to speak with and be around characters with such accents.

 

[droopyRO]

There are zero chances we will not get a Russian/Ukrainian voice over option for NPCs. Metro series had it too, iirc, it's been many years since i played them. It's made for that trailer so as to not confuse new players in to thinking it has no English voice overs.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Crysis had a great feature that forced enemies and NPC to only speak their native language on high difficulty. So soldiers spoke Spanish, Korean, Chinese or Farsi and in Crysis they only spoke Korean.

If STALKER 2 has such an options would be so cool. Soldiers speaking Ukrainian, Stalkers a mix of Ukrainian, Russian and English, mercs and scientists English and other European languages. That would be massively atmospheric.