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If you’ve ever wandered the irradiated ruins of the Zone in the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, you’ll feel right at home here—but this time, the haunting beauty of Chornobyl is more vivid and alive than ever before.

The greatest strength of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 lies in its atmosphere. From the moment you step into the Zone, it engulfs you in a deeply unsettling yet mesmerizing environment. The dynamic weather system—thunderstorms rolling in, fog blanketing abandoned villages—paired with the ambient sounds of distant anomalies and guttural mutant roars creates a world that feels alive. It’s not just a backdrop; the Zone is a character, unpredictable and unforgiving.

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This is where S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 feels most true to its roots. It captures the oppressive loneliness and underlying tension of the original games while layering on modern graphical fidelity. Whether you’re sneaking through a darkened building, hoping not to alert a lurking Bloodsucker, or sitting around a campfire listening to a stalker’s guitar, the game excels at making you feel part of its world.

The gameplay sticks closely to what made the original series beloved: resource management, exploration, and high-stakes combat. You’ll still need to juggle inventory space, patch up radiation burns, and think twice before engaging in a firefight against well-armed bandits or terrifying mutants.

Improvements to AI and mechanics make encounters feel more challenging and rewarding, but they don’t stray too far from the established formula. Longtime fans will appreciate the balance between nostalgia and modernization. However, newcomers may find the steep learning curve daunting, especially when the Zone decides to be particularly unkind.

Graphically, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is stunning. The Exclusion Zone has never looked more desolate or captivating. From the dense forests to the crumbling remnants of Soviet-era buildings, the attention to detail is remarkable. Anomalies, in particular, are a visual treat, blending danger and beauty in equal measure.

However, the game does come with some performance hiccups, particularly on lower-end systems. Frame drops and occasional bugs can break immersion at times, though patches have already improved stability.

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The narrative is solid, with a mix of personal stories and overarching mysteries that tie into the Zone’s lore. It doesn’t overshadow the gameplay but instead complements it, giving players just enough reason to delve deeper into the world. Side quests are plentiful and often as engaging as the main story, with moral choices and consequences that feel significant.

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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a love letter to fans of the original series. It captures the spirit of its predecessors while offering a more polished, modern take on survival in the Zone. While it’s not without its flaws—occasional bugs and a steep learning curve—it remains an atmospheric masterpiece and a must-play for those who yearn to return to the haunting world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Would I recommend it? Absolutely, though with the caveat that this game is unapologetically true to the series. If you’re willing to embrace its quirks and challenges, the Zone will reward you with an unforgettable experience.

I wish I could live in a universe where Unreal Engine 4 and 5 didn't exist. It's kind of sad to see developers nowadays choosing this engine, which often struggles to bring their ideas to life when they don't have the resources to make their own engine. Budgets are everything, and that's completely understandable.

Unfortunately, Stalker 2 joins the list of buggy and unoptimized games made on UE5. It's easy to understand why, especially since the studio was working under tough conditions after the war started. The resources needed to develop and polish the game probably doubled or even quadrupled. It's just not realistic to expect a team to work normally on their product during times like that. And with Microsoft as your publisher, there's probably extra pressure to deliver.

For now, the product feels unfinished. The more you play, the more it feels like the developers were figuring out Unreal Engine as they went. The animations are repetitive and feel like something out of an old Source engine game. There are so many bugs, from important NPCs missing in cutscenes to crashes during shader compilation, making every launch of the game a game of Russian roulette.

I also feel like most games made on Unreal Engine 4/5 end up looking the same. There's this lifeless vibe you get right from the start of any gameplay trailer. Sadly, Stalker 2 has that same feeling. It looks more like an engine demo than a real game (looking at you, Atomic Heart).

That said, I do believe in GSC and hope they'll release a bunch of patches by the end of 2025 to fix these issues. But right now, the game is barely playable. Sure, you can play and finish it, but will you enjoy it? Probably not.

In its current state, I just can't recommend the game.

I am falling in love with STALKER now. There are no bugs, just anomalies. Failure to compile the shader is not a fault of "game performance"; it is just an anomaly.

Just finished the game a couple days ago, here's the TL,DR;

If you are an average consumer new to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series and just want a polished, fun, welcoming AAA experience, please hold off on buying this. Despite the circumstances of its development, GSC did release a (very fun, yet) buggy, unpolished, untested, and by some metrics arguably unfinished game that needs more time. Give it a year, let them drop the modding SDK, overall, treat it like Cyberpunk at launch and let it age and get polished a little. The game has a very solid core and clearly a lot of love and effort put into it, but until they fix some things that genuinely stop the game from being playable, it's not worth your 60 clams.

If you're someone familiar to the series and REALLY want to enjoy this and don't mind a very buggy and unpolished experience, then spend the money, but be warned. There's a more than close to nonzero chance that you will encounter game breaking bugs. You will deal with a lot of ♥♥♥♥♥♥ optimization and things that can't just be laughed away as eurojank. There's a great game with easily 100+ hours of content on a single run-through under here, but even me as a fan of the series was sprinting to get to the end after like hour 30 because I was just sick of all the bugs and it negatively impacting my experience.

Other than that, game's great. It will easily be a 8 or 9/10 once they fix all the bugs and poor optimization, but until then it's a 5 or 6/10. Yeah, it's that bad in my opinion. As such, I can't really recommend the game for the average person.

The voice acting, quests, gameplay, music, narrative, EVERYTHING, has so much love and care put into it, and once they fix the game properly, I'll update this review. But until them, I can't be so nostalgia blinded as to say that this game is worth 60 dollars when I couldn't even beat it without having to backtrack 4+ hours TWICE just because I encountered a game breaking bug that softlocked me, and had to cheat because another game breaking bug gave me perma psi-radiation that I could only solve by just constantly cheating in psi-block.

The game has potential but requires a significant amount of polishing. Currently, it's in a very buggy state, to the point where it might not even be playable for some players. The developers have been releasing patch after patch, including a recent one aimed at skipping the troublesome shader compilation process, but even that only partially works. At this stage, I can't recommend buying it. It might be worth waiting a few months or for the next discount, by which time the game could be in a much better state.

Unbelievably poorly optimised, and just... empty. This isn't S.T.A.L.K.E.R. The enemies will see you from a mile away, visual cover is pointless. The economy is awfully balanced and gear breaks down way too quickly. For someone who spent hundreds of hours on the franchise this feels not only like a slog, but a slap in the face.

The game looks great. It sounds good. Other than that, it's a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Stalker 2 is an odd one. The game is visually the best looking realistic game I've ever seen, the guns feel good, there are tons of callbacks and references for long time fans, and the team managed to fit nearly the entire existing Zone into a single map without a single loading screen, and yet the game is in need of a metric ton of WORK.

Finished the game as of version 1.1.3. on Veteran difficulty, NPC spawns are still pretty busted, stealth feels wonk, enemies have near perfect accuracy and reaction time and score what feels like 80% of their shots on you the millisecond you pop your dome out of cover, and that's provided your cover is actually cover, I've been shot at through walls and what SHOULD be sufficient cover way more than I would have preferred. Mutants are TANKS and are all now 100% aggressive the second they're aware of your presence (which is usually instant, but there are exceptions).

As far as bugs go, we got plenty. Memory leaks, story cutscenes breaking and soft-locking you, main scenario missions breaking, forcing you to load an earlier save, NPCs and Mutants getting stuck on everything, and in my all too common experience, gravitational anamolies that just warp you to a grey screen, forcing you to quit the game.

Story-wise, it's the most involved a Stalker game has ever been. I've always preferred the minimal voice acting and lone-wolf type stories of the older titles, but this game flips it on it's head with EVERYTHING being voiced, by both you and every single NPC in the game, and having your character, Skif, involve themselves with nearly every single major character they come across. Everyone knows you, everyone needs you, everyone loves you and hates you. It's kinda bizarre why so many people in the Zone are even giving you the time of day, considering we're really no one special. With the ending I got, the story was overall -okay-. Serviceable.

The game very much feels like an Early Access title, and it's what it should have been released as. I enjoyed my time with it, but I'm hoping in time with official updates, and community mods, the game will shape into something better.

Overall; 6/10. If you like Stalker and your PC can tank UE5, go for it. Otherwise, unfortunately I'd rather everyone else just wait for the game to get patched to high heaven, or maybe a nice overhaul mod to get the game feeling right.

The game is fun but there are still bugs which prevent progress. The only solution I am finding online is I have to restart my whole play through! There are other issues I have with the game but I am able to look past those because I am enjoying the game and its fun. But these story bugs need to get fixed and should not be soft locking a whole play through. So until those are fixed I am giving this game a negative review.

Woow this game is so good.

Stalker 2 is a amazing game. I recommend to you play the other Stalker games too.

Stalker 2 is my favorite game of 2024 : )

I have 83 hours in this game I do not recommend there are too many bugs I've had to restart my playthrough three Times Now I've had missing models floating heads quest items that cannot be picked up because they're in the ground
elden ring is fair this is not everything in this game is actively impeding enjoyment and ability to play this game aimbot enemy who can see you through walls and shoot through them despite using nothing more than SMGS and a shotgun are NPCs are not fun
weapon reloads that take far too long and restart from the beginning because you interrupted it at the tail end of the animation is actively hostile to the player this also applies to medicine healing and other things everything takes too long intense situation with aimbot AI and hyper aggressive mutants there is no way to win this you cannot flank you cannot run away is beyond me
weapons and armor stats make no sense they're nothing but bars I can't tell what is good or what is bad not to mention the weapon balance itself how a pistol does more damage than an AK is beyond me
armour is the only thing actually makes a difference only problem is that you pay an arm and leg to prepare it after a single engagement
artifacts are supposedly able to make the game a lot easier but I see no difference other than the radiation protection artifacts maximum bleed resistance does nothing I still get bleed a one shot I'm bleeding in one hit there is literally no difference same with physical protection my health still drops to a sliver after AI aimbot mag dumps me
and then there's equipment degradation I have completed several story missions where I have come out red or have nothing but broken equipment halfway through the mission
and finally the supposed the economy all of my coupons go straight to repairs and the majority of those coupons are not coming from selling artifacts or missions no they come from the food and medicine that are extremely ridiculously overly abundant my stash literally has an entire stack of 999 bandages and a second stack of 12 meaning I maxed out the stack and it had to make a new one and Medkits I'm approaching 800 I have sold so much bread beer vodka and sausage I have literally solved world hunger games supposed to be about survival well not really survival if you have the entire food and medicine supply of an entire country
the other stalker games weren't this bad holy crap I'd rather replay the old ones than this I do not recommend this this game is actively hostile to the player