A S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Review After 230+ Hours

[@herpingandgaming]

*That* scene with Strider (you know the one) is one of the best scenes I've seen in a video game in a long time. GSC really has a solid base here, what they do with it in the coming months and years is what's important.

[@mycustardlove4168]

Only 65 hours in, still haven't gotten to Rostok, fabulous game.

[@MrCurlybob76]

Hi series S player here and after watching your explanation on the A-life system and AI encounters I have to disagree because on Xbox if the game spawns enemies they are instantly trying to kill you and that is 100% of the time since the A-life update a while ago the only thing that has changed is the game spawns more enemies but the enemies are still 100% focused on just trying to kill the player because you the player are the encounter you cannot on console walk away from any encounter without killing everyone first that is not how A-life is supposed to work and from your explanation it sounds like PC got a totally different game than us on console I would love to play the PC version over the console version but I’ve still loved playing the game and continue to play keep up the good work

[@Sleepy_Drago]

That sucks l hope they get it figured out for Xbox sooner rather than later

[@sinakhodaie]

Spoilers ahead! I have 165 hours in this game and couldn't agree more with your review! I was greatly impressed by the Stalker 2 story! I managed to experience Skif and Strelok Endings on my 1st playthrough through a save (kill the doc!) blindly with no spoilers (didn't even spoil myself to know there could be multiple endings!). On my 2nd playthrough I sided with Ward through and through and I could feel the disappointment from folks that helped me along the way! Experiencing completely different main missions was such a nice surprise! In the 3rd one, I'm the believer of the zone and trying to get Scar ending! The beauty of this game is that no matter what you choose, you end up disappointing some people, and all you did to "save the day" was in vein at the end! I'm excited to see how GSC pull off DLC content!

[@Ghoulishskrr]

you have said it right. it is a great base of the game that has a enormous potential and therefore we want more of it because more stalker is always good. i am always thinking of any big overhaul like Gamma and you would not ever have o play anything else. Thank you for a great base review. good job!

[@Dymatize91]

Game is amazing just need few more patches and its gona be epic, DLCs are coming and they are not gona make same mistakes with bugs again for sure.

[@pennywise5095]

Because they choose to include them on purpose before?

[@WalterHeseinberg]

They will, gcs is the epitome of lazy and excuses

[@pastichiorocker]

@@pennywise5095 In a way they did because they willingly released a broken AF game.

[@MM-op6ti]

This is such cope, it's worse in every way than the original except for graphics.

[@wawa-wah]

Get a grip on reality. They are absolutely going to release more slop because people like you will believe them again, and they get paid anyway so they couldnt care less.

[@danielmartin7547]

The original Stalker since the inicial premise and alphas in the 2000 fueled my gaming passion and make me upgrade some GPUs along the way; now playing Stalker2 I go from 41 to 20yo happly with my humble PC enjoing every moment. It´s all great and we shall support the developers. 10/10 hoping for a A-life update in the future. Greetings from Argentina.

[@MarkSpencer-u4i]

40 hours in , stopped doing the main quest for a few weeks so I can explore and take in the few areas I’ve discovered so far. Totally engrossed , very much enjoying!

[@Cychreus]

i never played the previous games and i can say stalker 2is one of the best games i have played. i re enjoy it. i keep grinding hard. i thoguht it would nothign special. glad i was wrong. pleasant surprise for me.

[@chrisw11]

Commented early, having watched the lot I have to say I appreciate and agree with your review... I'm also a PC player but the Windows versions is a nightmare, wish I'd got it on steam. Original was a masterpiece, and honestly I loved this first playthrough of Stalker 2, I'll be doing the next one on Steam though!

[@cantgameright]

maybe GOG too. You actually own the game that way since the installer is yours to keep.

[@macsattic7155]

This is my GOTY. Once A life is fully implemented and dlcs added it will become one of the GOATs

[@belldrop7365]

The thing with the loot in the game is that because there's no lootable money, the player only ever find items like ammo and consumables. These "boring" items then just rot in the stash because players don't sell items and at the same time they complain about how everything is expensive because there's no "money" from looting. They could have just made these overabundant loot into trader junks to make them more digestible for the typical player.

[@Sleepy_Drago]

It’s definitely a wonky situation going on

[@gabrier165]

Great review! Very on point with the game's pluses and minuses. I just finished my first playthrough, 119hrs. Loved it! ...that said, the enemy spawns are just stupid, like, last mission I was fighting Monolith and the game spawned enemies one after the other 2 meters in front of me. Headshot and another one would spawn. Crazy! 😆Looking forward to my 2nd playthrough where I think I'll side with Ward

[@Kylewats]

STALKER 2 superb unique game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Sgt.St3ve]

A life will come. S2 will supersede any feelings you have on the original trilogy. They needed to release S2, and so there are going to be features that are lacking. They also have to cater for lower end machines/consoles which will directly affect what features they can have up and running. This will get fixed.

[@WalterHeseinberg]

Why didn't they just do it at launch?

[@pastichiorocker]

@@WalterHeseinberg The funniest thing is that they delayed the game several times to iron out all the bugs. Not sure what they've been doing all that time...

[@MM-op6ti]

(Press X to doubt)

[@fg786]

I still don't get why they didn't implement night vision goggles after4 patches. 4 patches which for me didn't really do anything. Shader comilation is still a slog, sometimes taking 2 minutes but other times 8 for some reason. Main quest can still be broken as hell. I too didn't really have a lot of crashes, mainly anomalies yeeting me into oblivion but else nothing much to write home about. I wish we could save into other game slots to play along taking other decisions. The game is just too long if you want to experience it all, get all the good artifacts etc. Combat AI fucking sucks when they have aimbot and super vision through dense shrubbery. The yshoot you to shreds with shotgun from 60 m and you can actually see the tight spread of the buckshot. It's fucking nuts.

[@SavageAntiHero]

Just needs a few more updaes/patches and it'll be fine. We can all agree the game isn't perfect, but no game is especially at launch these days. This game will be even more awesome when it gets more updates & dlc content. 👍

[@BakunLT]

First playthrough, game bugged out after killing scar and it stopped me from completing the game. Second playthrough the game locked me in the duga tunnels. Third playthrough, 30 hours in and it's been a permanent thunderstorm. Lol I wish we had console access on xbox. That way I can at least see the ending of the game

[@heztorm]

Nice review! Series X player here. I loved the game until it became unplayable. Cannot play since 1.1.3 due to bugged main quest. Still waiting for real fixes or mod support for xbox in order to play again and finish one playtrough. Already bough it so patience is mandatory.

[@juanolivieri9798]

After all the shitty games in 2024, this one deserves Goty

[@pastichiorocker]

Excellent review, but not going to play until A-Life, AI and most of the bugs are fixed. I want the best experience possible.

[@Akac3sh]

i feel lied to its like they took my money and ran off with it and gave me a uncooked burger and said we will cook it later

[@Thegoodsherman2]

I miss flashlights shadows

[@Ghoulishskrr]

there was a mod for this feature like 3 days after release. look it up

[@Akac3sh]

this game just sucks i havent touched the ultimate edition i got in months and i refuse to until a lie 2.0 is fixed the world just sucks in this game its so bad ai is so bad loot is trash economy cooked game just needed another eyar of dev time instead we are paid beta testers oh we will fix it later f gsc for another unreal engine 5 unfinished slop fest

[@Akac3sh]

fix a life gsc this game is so stale