Stalker 2 Review Round-Up - Luke Reacts

[@s3nate22]

Unlike Starfield, it'll actually get better over time.

[@Scrahdabley]

and it's actually interesting at the start.

[@thecatdaddy1981]

Thinking UE5 is any better than the Creation Engine

[@Shirou8492]

@@thecatdaddy1981it is

[@SpliffyHusk]

@@thecatdaddy1981it isn’t performance, starfield just has lackluster story telling and exploration. I haven’t felt engaged in a world in a minute, my first session was nothing but pure engagement. It’s great, can’t wait to play more tomorrow

[@AstartesGaming]

Crapping on Starfield is such a lazy take, the game is exactly what everyone should have known it would be. Plus, no one expects Bethesda to fix their own games. Never have, never will. But give the modders another year, and Starfield will be a better Star Wars: Outlaws than the actual Star Wars: Outlaws.

[@BH-ci1xo]

There are performance issues, and some people have game breaking bugs. That said, this is not even close to as bad as Cyberpunk IMO. CP2077 was missing so many promised features, this game is just unoptimized and has some crashing/visual bugs. This game will be playable very quick compared to CP2077 imo.

[@donatedpizza]

@@BH-ci1xo honestly, at least I could run Cyberpunk. Sure the game isn't absolutely busted like cyberpunk but it's optimized like ASS.

[@GrimAbstract]

You don't know if this game will be fixed.

[@amongstus4418]

This, people forget CP2077 was hated so much because of the broken promises and cut features. Stalker 2 didn't promise anything it didn't deliver (with the exception of Alife 2 being kind of a shit but that's likely just bugs).

[@GrimAbstract]

@@amongstus4418 cyberpunk is also a way bigger game, you can't compare the two.

[@ТАДАМ-ю4ж]

Cyberpunk 2077 still a masterpiece

[@TrippyTheShroom]

STALKER 2 will be amazing in 4-6 months.

[@cxngo8124]

the game is pretty good as of playing. Im 1hr in

[@Joe-ti7qd]

I'm not having major issues with it. But my rig is kinda op

[@stonecoldsteverharvey7862]

Should be good now

[@Joe-ti7qd]

@stonecold it is. I'm playing it now. Not sure what version these reviewers got.

[@DevinPosey20]

On the PlayStation port

[@Doom_Guy__]

Doesn't seem bad from what I've seen. I mean, sure, it has jank, but compared to the cyberpunk fiasco I'd say they did as well as expected with their whole country being invaded and all.

[@argumentativelysound2001]

The game definitely can use some optimization but in recent comparisons, Dragon Dogma 2 was infinitely worse and isn't much better now, after a year.

[@partheshmittal]

And VGC gave Cyberpunk a 5/5 at launch....

[@sumstuff6956]

There whole country isn’t being invaded 😂

[@Igoreshkin]

@@sumstuff6956 there, where???

[@armabearo]

​@@sumstuff6956*their whole country* and yes it is, they are located in Ukraine

[@JC-vx9ht]

I'm really rooting for these guys. Developing the game in the middle of a war and even some of the devs left to serve in the military.

[@luc1us__]

@@JC-vx9ht the creator of the game series even served, and unfortunately passed away fighting for his country. I have the upmost respect with the team and their game

[@SamXyilo]

2 of them were killed by russians, unfortunately. God bless their souls

[@Geoffhuhn-q7p]

Good you should join them fucking little bitch

[@SolidSnake240]

​​@@luc1us__ I haven't found anything about the creator of the series dying. The only thing that comes up is the dev that served and was K.I.A. The only thing about the og creator that popped up was an interview he did in May of this year. His name is Sergiy Grygorovych

[@ewjiml]

@@luc1us__False. It was a game developer. Stop spreading misinformation.

[@TyranusRex721]

Reviewers: It has a lot of bugs. Stalker fans: YES!!!!!!!!!

[@Tragicx77]

"Its a stalker game ofc its buggy" kinda feels similar to justifications I and other fans of assassins creed use. Like, yeah its got some problems and sure the parkour ejects you into the stratosphere at random, but thats part of the charm. Im not a stalker fan, this is my first game, so its harder for me to find justification in the "thats just how stalker games are" reasoning, yk?

[@TyranusRex721]

@@Tragicx77 JFC, dude. It was a joke. Relax. And if you really care to know, this game is far less buggy than the other Stalker games. At least it has been so far for me anyway.

[@Tragicx77]

@@TyranusRex721 i was responding genuinely. Im not upset tf 🤣 i know text can be hard to decipher sometimes but it aint that serious

[@pyrosupreme4473]

@@Tragicx77 Yeah your comment seemed pretty chill idk what he's on lol

[@Tragicx77]

@@pyrosupreme4473 the online environment is usually very hostile thanks to morons so sometimes it feels like a default setting to have to defend your statement from idiots. I dont blame him

[@simonbarabash2151]

from personal experience around 10 hours in: -Shootouts with human enemies are fun and satisfying. AI is good at flanking, using suppressing fire, finding cover and will frag you if you try to sit in one place. -Enemy has actual sight range instead of being Mr. Magoo who only react when you start shooting or stroll into their agro range -Atmosphere and world design is top notch. Loot is believable, not every abandoned farm has a secret treasure chest. -Some more complex mutants like poltergeists have cool mechanics. -Lots of anomalies, with some pretty cool ones like chemical bubbles that float around or a flare that predicts your path and explodes where you will be, as well as unique ones like the poppy field. -Controls arent the best, with some limitations on how you can remap. AFAIK you cant have a quick grenade button or gun bash. -Some mutants are too tanky. Ones that rely on stealth like bloodsuckers or poltergeists shouldn't require a magdump. -More basic mutants, especially swarming ones like rats or dogs are janky to fight -Equipment degrades far too quickly, especially for how limited your options for repair are -Enemy spawns are terrible. The simulated AI patrol paths are obviously not working and squad after squad will drop on you when your trying to loot. -Stealth isn't really viable. I might just be bad at it though

[@ArielCleirigh]

IGN: Cyberpunk is perfect 10/10 IGN: Stalker 2 so broken 6/10

[@uncleclaps44]

GSC has opened a support page for players who want to help submit bugs and technical issues on various systems and setups. I am probably gonna be a shill here who is high on cope when i say that S2 is their first big launch on UE5 and to give it a chance for a turn around or wait for updates.

[@dipoz2254]

@@uncleclaps44 yeah I'm on copium aswell but the game is pretty neat though the first part of it is rather dry

[@uncleclaps44]

@@dipoz2254 doing a bunch of sidequests and stashes for money, storm rolled in and took cover in a nearby bus stop and watched a blind dog get struck by lightning, sky started to turn red and i no longer felt safe in my roadside shelter. total F5 moment.

[@ruvanefriebus-cv6td]

For Unreal Engine 5 this game runs alot better than other UE5 games out there it can only get better

[@zone453]

@uncleclaps44 I'm sure it will get better. Hyped for when it does. But I'm so tired of people coping and going "erm but ukraine and russia" dude. It's a product. We are reviewing the product. All the love to everyone over there but holy cow.

[@MarcioSilva-vf5wk]

It is an unpolished gem, much like the first one at the time of its release.

[@jake-ps4rh]

boycott companies releasing subpar - performance games.

[@ALiberalVeteran]

Stealth is useless, injury. System is useless. Hunger is useless. Anomalies are useless. Yeah it's a real gem. It's a great game back in 2008.

[@ofrenic]

​@@dogseya4668 Cmon, you don't genuinely think they stayed in Kyiv? They left Ukraine.

[@nathanielday649]

@@dogseya4668 They moved to Czech Republic to make the game. Stop spreading false information please

[@alexduffy7925]

@@dogseya4668 They moved to Prague 2 and a half years ago, lol. Stop spreading lies.

[@MrLookinatyou]

No issues on series X. Solid movement, gun play and inventory systems from weapons wheel and quick use along with regular inventory.

[@Vinnie-jr7hm]

Yep same with me, only issue I think is stealth but nothing else

[@FranzAudio]

i'm playing on Geforce Now and, after around 10 hours, I've encountered only 2 non-game-breaking cosmetic bugs; other than those 2 negligible occurrences the game has been quite solidand I'm having a blast.

[@techienate]

140gb patch is insane

[@AfricanGiant24]

Unreal engine 5 game have crazy gb’s

[@wilihey1425]

​@@AfricanGiant24 its cause it redownloads the entire build with every change which is almost redownloading the entire game once again

[@greed-1914]

Yeah, if the download is 150 gb, that isn't a patch so much as downloading a whole new version of the game.

[@GusMixGaming]

I mean just how can you mess your game so much up that your patch it bigger than 3 regular games itself? Why release it at all in this state. Just make it early access or delay it for 3 more years. But no they need to rake in the cash.

[@XmarcX92]

@@GusMixGaming Because the fanboys will deepthroat the game no matter the issue

[@joshnizzle]

They should do launch scores and post launch scores, that way the flaws arent waved away and the lower score sticks wit the games life not getting changed later. Instead just having an updated score in addition. It may end up better but it will always have that crappier score from the beginning.

[@vast634]

Sounds like a wait for sale. Letting the cheese get ripe first.

[@AlphaMachina]

It's already only $45 on cdkeys.

[@Jakco808]

Good idea

[@isaacA38]

thats what i do with my dick cheese as well

[@KyrenCross]

All they need to do is to have an option to turn off Raytracing and not set it to on by default in all systems. Why even choose that direction? Will probably re-buy the game when hey add the "performance patch" after the contract with Nvidia/AMD expires in hopefully 6 months time.

[@FlyfishermanMike]

Isn't that every game?

[@darkbeach72]

Game breaking bugs in a Stalker game?!? I'm shocked. The reason I was never able to finish Stalker back in the day was all the quest breaking bugs. Couldn't do it until the community patched a shit ton of bugs in the pirate distro. Anyway, gamers now aren't built like us OGs. They cry in their lunchables if they don't get rock solid 60fps. Grindy? Died a lot? Welcome to the Zone.

[@murderycatdoll1380]

Skill Up's Review is super fair imo. He did what u mentioned, rated it as the broken experience he had but highlighted that the Game underneath can be very good when fixed. So ATM he didn't recommend it sadly, what is a fair take. I would never recommend a broken game. I pay in front i wanna have a working game day 1. Period.

[@shadowronin]

This is the only time im going to give a company the benefit of the doubt and pay full price upfront. They went though enourmous hardships getting us this game. They need our support more than the EAs and Ubisofts of the world. F them. But these guys by pure grit got us this game and its REALLY good, just slightly buggy. It will get fixed if we support them.

[@murderycatdoll1380]

👍👍👍 Jep

[@kaydnburns5935]

@@murderycatdoll1380 imo i haven’t had any game breaking bugs yet but performance sucks and definately janky and buggy lol but the actual gaming experience is awesome! I’m loving the gameplay and story

[@murderycatdoll1380]

@@kaydnburns5935 hope it comes to console soon, i really wanna play that too 🥰

[@guidoc5772]

Dude is watched the skill up review. Loved his dragon age review, but he missed the mark on his criticisms for the game when it comes to stalker 2. Dude does not know how to rotate his loot or sell at vendors and complains about encumberance. This is an actual open world game with actual quests and choices to make and it isn't bloated. It's so much fun

[@joelkummer3372]

I think you should evaluate a game based on how it was released at launch. It can't be the case that as more and more developers release a technically unfinished game, we then have to wait several months, if not years, until they have patched their game into a playable state and the developers then end up with a better rating reward. A game should simply be ready at launch and have hardly any bugs or performance problems.

[@nahuelkid]

True but also in this case its understandable LOL

[@InfamousOne158]

If this was any other game, I would agree with you. However, the fact they were able to make a game at all through an invasion of their country is wild. From what I've been hearing, it's just the performance that needs to be worked on and I find that to be a miracle. I'm about to play shortly to see for myself.

[@joelkummer3372]

@@InfamousOne158 Sure, the developers had difficult times, but I don't think you can use that as an excuse to defend the game. Especially considering the game has been in development for a total of 15 years now and it was delayed for 2 years. So, despite the difficult circumstances, they had enough time to release a technically clean game.

[@markobucevic8991]

@@InfamousOne158 the majority of developers live in prague and outside of ukraine

[@GothaBillsAndDeath]

@@joelkummer3372 One of the lead devs died and relocating your entire base of operations to another foreign country is no joke. You have to find office space, reset your hardware/software setups, reorganize people, make sure everyone has proper passports, make sure employees can even find room/board and settle-in, not to mention the looming threat of your extended family being bombed. There are still devs who live in Kiev who couldn't go to prague and had to program remotely. I give games like this a chance if only because it maintains the core of what fans wanted. Compare that to a Starfield or a Veilguard and it's night and day difference.

[@thosewhoslaytogetherstayto3412]

Personally, the technical state of a game is incredibly important. Thats going to be a huge part of how I review a game. If the frame rate/pacing is uneven and the game crashes or has bugs. The severity of all these things is going to mean a lower and lower score because it impacts EVERYTHING.

[@FallenErWin]

@@thosewhoslaytogetherstayto3412 This game will be played for the next 10 years. Its release ratings are irrelevant.

[@clintgarrett9703]

Game has run fine for me, mid 80s frames with no noticeable drops. had I think 1 moon walking npc so for, and the weird bug where the radio distortion effect is applied to character voices being inconsistent. Other than that it's been great so far

[@George-um2vc]

@@clintgarrett9703”runs fine on my PC”

[@kinzo9636]

"If you have a 5k pc, it runs playabley " Luke 2024 that was hilarious

[@Ravix0fFourHorn]

main problem is, people are trying to play it with rigs that dont even meet the bare minimum requirements. Those that play it with balanced systems and reasonable for their rig settings have a good time with it minus the glitches.

[@CourtneyRG]

@@Ravix0fFourHorn Nah, it still runs like ass

[@azthall4645]

@@Ravix0fFourHorn I have a 3080ti and I have bad performance on low settings. My buddy on a 4090 has common frame drops and stuttering issues on high/ultra. Your comment is very disingenuous to the absolutely terrible optimization people are experiencing, especially for 60 dollars.

[@twojastaratobieber]

@@azthall4645 the game has a massive memory leak, it maxes RAM and VRAM and makes the game unplayable, they need to fix it asap

[@2019SubaruWRX]

​@@CourtneyRG runs great for me lol skill issue tbh

[@mikeleon3618]

The way I look at is…it’s like homework. You turn it in when you’re done and that’s what graded. They have quality control. They know if the game is in a bad state. Patch after patch. It’s to the point I never buy games day 1. You have to wait 3 -4months before you buy. Hopefully by then you catch a sale.

[@krixtorei]

What I think people aren't talking enough about (and is probably the single biggest fault with the game right now, more so than the poor performance) is that the map is empty of life. All the enemies and friendlies you see outside points of interest spawn in a 30-50 meter radius around the player at given intervals. You can sprint from one side of the map to the opposite and as long as you ignore those blatant spawns (many times spawning right behind you) you won't have anything to worry about or any crazy story to tell. With the originals, A-Life served to make the Zone feel lived in: squads and entities would move about, patrol, they would have routines, they could go from having a clear goal of storming an enemy camp into going back to base, then maybe sit by a campfire, then maybe go out hunting for artifacts in anomaly fields, then traveling to a friendly outpost and join other squads staying on guard duty, they could bump into other patrols and have a chat for a moment, you could find those same stalkers you passed by at the start of the game alive later on with much better gear and deeper in the zone. There's none of that in Stalker2; It's an illusion. And when those spawns happens they break any sense of immersion. If you're quick enough you can actually see them spawning in and transition from T-posing, it's that bad. The Zone is empty.

[@Brian_Sleesman]

A reviewer should review the game and NOT the circumstances the game was made under. As amazing as the circumstances are, that does NOT automatically make the game good or worth your money

[@salazar591]

The game is great no question.

[@cajohnson130]

Part of gaming is lore and the lore around the studio is compelling. People like an underdog story. It's gonna play a role in the reviews because nothing is in a vacuum.

[@Brian_Sleesman]

@ it should be tough. The studios “lore” doesn’t make a game good either. If they’re charging money for a thing, then the thing they’re charging for should be the only thing being taken into account for the review

[@Brian_Sleesman]

@@salazar591 it is. It had way to hard of a time getting it running cuz u had to update the bios first apparently but I’m enjoying it so far. I also haven’t ran into any bugs yet so far so I’m probably an outlier there

[@sunshoe-l5r]

would rather spent money on this than dragon age FAILGUARD

[@fourohsevenfishing]

to me the main attraction of Stalker is the living world AI, they completely removed it in this game and completely botched NPC/AI spawns

[@oleg5738]

The developers are in a unique situation. Making a game in a war-torn county is no joke. I think we should cut them some slack. I'm sure they'll fix most of the bugs in time. And it's up to consumers whether they want to support the people in this terrible situation

[@vulpesinculta672]

They fled from Ukraine a couple of years ago and are now comfortably sitting in a European country (Czech Republic or whatever), while their compatriots keep dying in vain fighting against overwhelming odds.

[@KiddBuu_]

@@vulpesinculta672only some of them fled. There are people that are still working from Ukraine. 2 employees died fighting against the invasion

[@willnatmartin]

Days Gone was patched right away, but IGN never went back and adjusted the score.

[@TheLoafyOne]

A product being sold is still a product being sold, you can't sit there and go "Oh well they were developing this during covid and in the warzone" as an excuse, period, if they felt the game wasn't ready they probably shouldn't have been selling it. A game is still considered a product, if you went to a restaurant and were served a half cooked piece of chicken, you'd send it back and request a refund or a new piece of chicken. It's no different here.

[@kaslain1234]

it's a stalker, og stalker fans just like it when it's jank like old days. problems are not nearly as bad as og game had

[@kirkvanallen5202]

I’ve had 0 issues with the game but only have a few hours in. So the reviewers might have had a rough time but from a consumer perspective so far so good.

[@pedroquintanilla3821]

This guy played a review copy weeks before release. Final version is not as bad and what they call "issues" is just a few frame drops and voices

[@salazar591]

Have you played it or just watching glitch compilation videos?

[@PhilipAgren]

@@TheLoafyOne I think they have just as much of a right to sell a "broken" product as you have of not buying their product. And they have postponed the launch several times but they felt the game was good enough at this state to sell it as is. If the game is bad and broken then people won't buy it, simple as that. As yes I do think a warzone or a pandemic is a solid excuse because we do have to remember they have deadlines to meet and investors to make happy. They can't just wait for forever, doesn't really make sense. And lastly, the review version was a broken mess, the release is not. Maybe in 4K max settings but that is like 2 percent of the entire gaming community playing at those settings.

[@theLonelyLemnn]

Any Game that has a same day review embargo is an immediate no buy for me. Been burnt too many times now.

[@TraphikHD]

This is why Gamepass reigns supreme.

[@bazzy5644]

If you want to play a buggy broken version now, sure. Otherwise waiting for the thing to be fixed as well as the modding community to do it's thing is still the best way to play Stalker.

[@RuezgaDaniel]

I played about an hour of the game on my Series S last night and had absolutely no bugs or issues. It ran at a steady framerate, and the graphics look beautiful. Im so glad I switched from a PC to a console. No more dealing with troubleshooting and bad optimization on release day of games I've been waiting years for. Even Flight Simulator 2024 runs and looks beautiful on my Series S. I do miss the higher framerates and resolutions on PC, but those are really the only things I miss.

[@valerio0091]

Same here, and 6+h in with no bugs. Like actually 0 bugs

[@ricijs2000]

"Its a buggy mess" Ahhh just like the good ol days

[@argumentativelysound2001]

Not really, no more than BG 3 and definitely less than DD 2.

[@nelsonsham2368]

​@argumentativelysound2001 the Trilogy was considered unplayable without modding community support... and that was 15 years ago...

[@Creed5.56]

The is one of those moments that I’m thankful for pc game-pass. I’m playing STALKER 2 on my PC at 3440x1440 on a very good system (specs at the bottom) and I can BARLEY crack around 70fps… with DLSS frame generation & DLSS on performance. Because the optimization is just… bad. But the game itself? As a fan of stalker gamma & stalker anomaly… it’s pretty good. I made some personal changes to the UI to de-Ubisoft the hud & it’s super immersive. The gunplay feels slightly off, not sure if there is some hidden mouse acceleration or something going on here. But aside from poor performance and wonky aim, it’s fucking fun. Pc specs: RTX 4090 Ryzen 9 7900x 32Gb DDR5 @6000mhz 970evo 2TB m.2 game install drive Not sure why this rig can’t crack 100+ FPS… hopefully it’ll be fixed soon lol

[@ahapxir]

i'm lucky i have a 14900k and a 4090. game runs at 4k on all max settings consistently over 100 fps with quality dlss upscaling and frame generation. also i'm only like 6 hours in but i don't think i've encountered a bug yet. i think a lot of these reviews were done without the massive day 1 patch. and so far holy shit i'm immersed. i just want to keep playing. i understand people leaving negative reviews on steam however i do really hope they go back and amend the reviews once their issues get fixed because the devs really deserve love for this game

[@dddddddddddddddadddddddddddddd]

100fps with frame gen is not good

[@ahapxir]

@@dddddddddddddddadddddddddddddd at 4k fully maxed settings on day 1 yeah it's pretty good. when i'm playing an fps with a mouse anything over 90 is fine. it's often around 120 which is great. and of course it's going to get optimization patches

[@sybslays2740]

​@@dddddddddddddddadddddddddddddd100fps for a single player game is perfectly fine lmao put down the pipe

[@Lyoko42o]

Its kinda sad considering the creative director just had an interview with Skill-Up where he stated they were working on optimization for the available platforms

[@chabbab6698]

where was the interview

[@Odder-Being]

Second*

[@CrossGuardMania]

Skill Up said the same thing about “this game is going to be great in a couple of months”, I find that silly, a game should work on day one, it doesn’t have to be perfect but still….

[@aeolussvichi7680]

So we’re just accepting now that when games are sold that they can be broken as long as they promise to fix it later? People who rate games for what they COULD BE rather than WHAT THEY SOLD AS are the type of person who forgive when their significant other cheats on them.

[@benpoke]

Crazy I had to scroll this far down to find common sense.

[@doyouwantsli9680]

This has been standard for AAA for a long time now. Remember no man's sky or battlefield 4... Countless examples. No need to bully stalker 2 specifically for it. What to learn here is that custom engines aren't as bad as UE fans say.

[@bigzed7908]

Just watch their documentary on the development of the game. You'll understand why it is how it is.

[@aeolussvichi7680]

@@bigzed7908 do you not understand my point? I’m not faulting the game for its flaws, I’m condemning the journalists who wave off the flaws, calling the game PERFECT, for reasons outside the realm of development. Yes the game is just ok be wise of the war, that’s terrible, but the game has flaws and it was sold to people as a full priced game nonetheless. They rated the game for what they whised it was, not for what it actually was. That’s a problem and it has nothing to do with the development troubles or the war in Ukraine. They essentially gave them a pity score because they didn’t want to judge the game fairly out of fear of ruffling feathers. That’s not honest and not only does it do us the consumers a disservice but it’s also an insult to the developers themselves.

[@aeolussvichi7680]

@ you’re not understanding my point, and I’m not “bullying” anyone. What I am doing is condemning the gaming journalists for not being honest and doing a disservice to gamers as well as the developers by handing out dishonest pity scores that mislead everyone. Do you want every review to score games based on what they hoped the game would be rather than what the game actually is? What even is the point of reviews at that point?

[@ofrenic]

Lots of bugs, huge lighting issues, AI have xray vision through demse foliage, just like old games, AI are so stupid as well. Stealth also doesnt work at all.

[@zhenyad1484]

For me it's solid 8 out of 10... and I'm sure in few years its become 10/10 for sure.

[@123fakestreet3]

Ya.. No one should have to revise any review.. Epic Mickey Rebrushed had major sound issues so I didnt even bother..

[@stalkholm5227]

@0:47 I'm going to pick a nit: Some of us really did have good first time experiences with Cyberpunk 2077, that's not to say bad experiences didn't exist, obviously they did, but I can't critique bugs I didn't encounter.

[@Adromelk]

No, I will not excuse poor performance on launch. I'm not going to pay for something NOW, that will be fixed LATER. MAYBE.

[@5urrea7]

I’m getting 60 FPS minimum with zero crashes in 10 hours

[@Gooooooooooooooooooooooooo]

@@5urrea7everybody must be on potatoes playing this 😂😂 runs good for me too bro

[@pira707]

@@5urrea7 frame gen? pc specs?

[@Pointi78]

You can force using Vsync in the driver control panel even when using FrameGen

[@blacktie8330]

I bought it, not having played any of the games before, so that I could donate $120 to these guys & I still haven't launched the game. God Bless.

[@draco2xx]

💙💛

[@shadowronin]

THIS. for what these guys went through to get it to even this stage is a miracle of epic proportions. Most these guys were from Mariople. Im gonna donate whatever the cost to this team. They deserve all the praise.

[@vulpesinculta672]

Can you donate me some money? Sounds like you're rich.

[@Jomama7272]

Nah, I feel like cranking up the brightness in a dark setting is just easy mode.

[@greenstreet1289]

It's wild. I'm playing on 1440p. Smooth as butter on max settings. Haven't ran into anything game breaking. Not even that many bugs in general. Nuts how so many people have so many different experiences. I have a 4080super and 7800x3d.

[@KonekoToujou2448]

same here, few minor bugs (for example npc floats in the air) beside that game runs smoothly gunfights are satisfying, but they need to work with A-life 2.0 even though its not as bad as everyone say (for example i've never had a feeling that interactions are forced or an npc are spawning around me) i have rx 7900 xt and same cpu (playing on high-epic settings with fsr on)

[@tlevs7621]

I think it should def still be penalized even after being fixed for releasing it that way. Scoring it a 9 a year later after fixes just feels wrong. Don’t release a game that you know is not ready period. Unless it’s labeled early access.

[@jonr7364]

ya we should be like cyberpunk and just give them a score we think theyll eventually hit

[@TheKennyboy92]

As a reviewer I am doing a bad job if I am NOT taking into consideration how a game runs. If a game is fundamentally broken when you are playing it your job is not to say "well it will be great in a few months."

[@jreal5]

I love how devs spend countless houra and money on games and then cant even spend like 14 hours or pay someone to test play it one time

[@rafterman5072]

They do. That is what QA is for.

[@asdadsgsaadasf6043]

They just don't have time. Assume the bugs they did fix before launch were far worse than the ones that made it into the game.

[@iamzod]

a 'perfect' review can't include problems. haha Man what is happening to our review system these days? Thanks Luke for always bein' real. lol

[@Alpha___00]

Amount of cope in comments is impressive.

[@Paul_Hardy]

I have a 4070, i7 9700k, 16GB DDR4 and I game at 1080p. Running it native (no DLSS) on Epic settings (which were the default), I get between 25-30 fps in the hub area and around 50-70 in the wilds. According to nVidia FrameView my CPU utilization is at 70-80% and my GPU at 60-70%.

[@kaloncestres8199]

I'm leggit hardlocked in Stalker, inside a bunker i keep getting stuck in place randomly. This one needed more time in the oven.

[@XmarcX92]

But according to the fans, that's the charm!

[@armabearo]

7 hours in and had no issues. What bunker? Cause its possible it's your rig

[@kaloncestres8199]

It’s in the Sphere, when I try leaving it. All my keyboard inputs work except for WASD after picking up an enemy weapon (was not over encumbered).

[@armabearo]

@kaloncestres8199 yeah I was in and out of the sphere no worries. Might want to verify your game cache. Also see if anyone else has discovered this issue

[@nyoblitor]

1:46 I like how basic behaviorism knowledge slowly leaks out to people. There is some hope in the future. Usually postive / negative reinforcement is teached in relevant psychological studies and a dark magic to outsiders (many ppl don't even know how their own minds work). Just glad to see it out more.

[@TheChrisLouis]

1:40 "Peen-il-ize"...

[@mathewstewart1692]

You have to use upscaling for it run smoothly. I’m on a fairly high end system myself, 7800x3d/7900xt, and with FSR or XESS Quality/Super Quality, and frame gen on, at 4k I’m consistently over 100 fps. The game looks great, besides indoor lighting, and is extremely smooth with very few frame dips. I’m really enjoying it. I’m 6-7 hours into it.

[@user-im2te2fg9y]

AMD don't make high end GPU they'll even tell you that if you ask

[@KyrenCross]

Cyberpunk got blasted with bugs and performance issues. While Stalker 2 gets a pss!! That's Fair!

[@ТАДАМ-ю4ж]

I saw zero bugs playing CP2077 on release, sadly many people bandwagon hate not even playing games

[@Lobardan]

Stalker 2 did not hype itself up as being the greatest game of all time before it released. Cyberpunk did.

[@KyrenCross]

​@@Lobardan So by that logic, as long as future developers dont hype the game up, its ok to release an unoptimized game with tons of bugs and performance issues? Then they can have a pass like Stalker 2?

[@ApexSpartanHD]

​@@KyrenCross CP2077 promised a lot of features that ended up being straight up cut from the game without any prior warning. Showcases showed only some of the best quests to make it seem like all quests had 50 choices. It was marketed to be a game changer of the decade. One of the most hyped releases and marketing in the past decade. Stalker 2 doesnt have much cut content, nor did it have nearly as big of a marketing. On top of the cut features, Cp2077 was far buggier than Stalker 2. Straight up visual glitches, quests not working, NPCs had literally 0 logic. Police AI was non-existant. Do I really need to go on? CP2077 took 3 years of updates and patches to reach the level where its at now. I think S2 is in a far better state compared to CP2077. People just forgot how bad CP2077 was because its been 4 years and is now finally fixed. I love both franchises, games and studios btw. I loved CP2077 at launch, but damn was it bad when I compare it to now.

[@Herne0011]

Did Project Red get invaded? Did they lose developers to being shot and killed? Did their studio catch on fire? Did their studio shut and then come back from the dead? Stalker fans are very very very different to Studio Project Red fans (though I play both without issue). We back the studio - not just the game. We knew who they were and what to expect and we got what we expected. The only people crying now are either new players or casuals. The hardcore fans are fine and enjoying the game. If you don't like it - or the community - you can refund on steam and nothing but your feelings will be hurt.

[@kujiko88]

I grabbed this on gamepass. I have a 12th Gen i7 and an rx 5700xt. Running it on medium settings and gonna be honest, performance is way better than I expected after watching the skill up review. Maybe not trying to run it at 4k max settings helped me here. Also those big patches you mentioned probably helped a bunch too.

[@therealharshlycritical]

People are either glazing it or saying how bad the performance is. And that's after the patch. I have a ryzen 9 and 4090 and I'm struggling like a fat woman fuck outta here with eurojank excuses shit is 109 dollars it needs to play outta the box. still softlocked 1 hour frame drops when its more than two people on the screen and stealth is still pointless. all of this is after the patch. but it got good bones tho

[@Vinman666]

9800x3d and 4090 with no issues at all so far. It was running really smooth honestly

[@thedragonnatorpd210]

@therealharshlycritical What edition did you buy? Because you did not need to spend that much lol. Could have spend 60 or whatever it would be in your country.

[@atgwiuz]

Update your driver's I'm doing fine with 4070 super and 7600x , yes there's jank and stutter but that'll get better with patches.

[@maurice5402]

​@@atgwiuzI guess your standards for what is good performance are just low as hell

[@atgwiuz]

@@maurice5402 it is what it is, i wish it was better but what can we do

[@glitched-be8036]

Its an 8/10 for me so far, only FPS issues I have are in the town area's. Had a few issues where I undid my laser sight on a weapon and could not get it back... Other than that, the game is great.

[@BarryofNazareth]

Performance for more resonable specs, 3080ti, 32gb ddr4, ryzen 5. (On max sertings) Similiar frames to higher end pc. What i would call stable 60/70 frames. No audio or visual problems, as mentioned in reviews. About 3 hours played.

[@opticalsalt2306]

Honestly in terms of vram usage this game is genuinely impressive idk what black magic is going on all I know is most games that look like this demand 10+ and it’s hovering at like 7 all high max textures

[@fettuccinitortellini5830]

1080p? 1440p?

[@CoreyC225]

I genuinely thought that people were going overboard with performance issues even though I absolutely agree it shouldn't be an argument on launch anyways. Too many games are coming out broken. That being said, I decided to give it a go and WORDS cannot describe how broken the directional audio is. People were NOT blowing it out of proportion. In a game that is SO vastly important to always be aware of your surroundings, its unthinkable that they released the audio in this state. I got about 30 minutes in before I gave up because sounds are just omnipresent, its the strangest thing. The very first sound when you gain control is a truck pulling away behind and to your right. It got about 20m and the sound started to come from literally every direction. I wouldn't have been able to pinpoint the truck if i didn't know where it had already gone. That was the FIRST sound in the game. It didn't get any better as i ventured inside. Generators 2 ft to my right sounding like they are coming from some random place in the room. Its just TOO game breaking right now. Its already partially a thriller, i don't need broken audio to add to that in the worst way possible.

[@user-im2te2fg9y]

but it wont run on someones gpu that launched7 years ago at 60fps 1/10 literally saw that on steam reviews

[@LucciClubStudios]

im loving the game so far

[@cxngo8124]

same

[@crm484]

Same here. Good graphics which is not as demanding as I feared. But damn it requires a good CPU and have never seen a game use this much RAM 😅

[@merrakul894]

One major problem is that we the public aren't aware when the devs enforce NDAs so close to launch. As reviewers, it would be really cool to announce that to the general public.

[@nebulajumper6216]

Here there are technical issues, but the gameplay loop is great and the world is amazing. So if the tech issues get resolved, the gameplay and world won't need to be fixed like in Cyberpunk where a lot was missing or in Starfield were the gameplay loop is not enjoyable.

[@THETWUAN-r3u]

Exactly

[@DirtyWookie7]

Lol DualShockers gave Dragon Age: The Veilguard an 85 so I find it hard to believe they would know what good is if it smacked them right in the face.

[@gowary]

This game is 150gb+ on xbox, the actual fuck!?

[@Joe-ti7qd]

I have 3 tb on my Xbox. Don't really care. I'm playing on my pc which has more storage too.

[@NameUserOf]

Where did you live for the past 5 years, big games are roughly 100gb for quite a while and small ones are 30gb. It will only go up in years to come.

[@weiserwolf580]

i have a spoiler for you COD is 300 GB

[@D3CK_co]

Weird cause my download was only 145gb

[@cynthiaandoh9575]

​@@weiserwolf580 Its not unless you download everything and multiple games. Its like 150 for Black Ops 6 on Steam (Campaign, multiplayer, and zombies)

[@TheSnolana]

I understand that it’s frustrating timing when these massive patches are released just before launch and it complicates the reviewing process, but idk whether we should be super critical of the devs for doing it. Ultimately, 140gb of bug fixes is still something you’d rather them put in the game before launch rather than afterwards, and we shouldn’t scald developers for fixing their game.

[@ALiberalVeteran]

Outside of the bugs, the game mechanics are just boring or don't make sense. Hunger is useless, the anomalies are useless, stealth is completely useless, health system is useless. There's no immersion like there was in Metro exodus.

[@Vityaz-of-Rus]

That’s just all wrong maybe stop playing on Rookie mode. There’s parts of the main story where you’re basically required to do stealth to beat it the intended way. Health system is useless makes no sense, anomaly’s neither are useless, literally everything you said makes no sense. The gun play in COD is useless, you sound stupid.

[@Memememe-zm1ki]

😂I’ve been playing since launch haven’t had 1 bug.

[@NagolKram]

This is the problem I have when he said to give the devs credit for fixing the game and re scoring it. That gives the devs incentives to not release a stable game because they know that critics would re-score it after 4 to 6 months and give it a better score. That is a terrible opinion to have

[@agenttxgaming4409]

Not gonna lie I'm impressed with the overall game, minus performance and bugs. The structure and gameplay loop is what I focus on, not so much things that will be fixed relatively quickly. The game is fun, the story is fun, the characters are interesting, the world is beautiful. Could not have asked for anything more.

[@roblereck]

When did it become normal to pay +$80 to be "Beta Testers"? -The graphics are not that impressive for how poor the performance is (4070TI - Ryzen 7 5800X3D - 32GB DDR4 - +2TB NVME) -Unreal Engine 5 keeps disappointing me -Missing options for key bind customization, like flashlight and fast melee -Unacceptable price point for such lacking release -The story is unfocused and uninteresting, just like the characters -A bunch of collectibles that contribute nothing to the story and are very boring, in the form of documents that you can read -The on-screen elements like hints and tutorials are insufferable and intrusive, like a Far Cry game -Having to hold keys instead of snappy menus like previous instances in the series is just pure trash -The AI ​​is terrible and fake -Overall, this doesn't feel like a Stalker game, it lacks soul and personality I may repurchase later on, when they properly deliver what it is expected and fair for the price point, for now, I rather save that money for Half-Life 3 and Left 4 Dead 3. People joking around saying that the game having bugs and glitches was expected and it should be accepted as normal are just completely braindead and fanboys. Insta refund for me, no game should launch on this state for this price point in 2024. A pity, because deeply you can see the developers were trying to create something great here, but I think the should've started by creating their own engine.

[@ТАДАМ-ю4ж]

Non linear game with vast world with same price as Veilguard? Really? Stop talking

[@sybslays2740]

Nice save your money for games that are legitimately never releasing lol

[@roblereck]

​@@ТАДАМ-ю4ж How much did GSC pay you for being their stepdad?

[@roblereck]

@@sybslays2740 We will see

[@Xccr1]

What 80$? The game's 60$.

[@goodgammer3978]

12:38 "ai received some serious updates since the last game" i hope so its been over a decade lol

[@ryanbentley8475]

The only bugs I've noticed so far is npcs getting really quiet when you speak to them & a guy standing through another guy sleeping.When loading in it takes a few seconds for everything to load in.But I've only played for 6 hours. I'm playing on the series x & it looks fine.Maybe colt played before the patches because it looks beautiful at times especially in day time.Metro exodus is one of the best looking games ever made that's kind of an unfair bar.

[@ForeignFabric]

This is the first time I've preordered a game and found it so underwhelming. Usually, even if preordered games aren't exactly what I expected, I still have fun. But this game is boring, unoptimized, and the entire story feels like a fetch quest.

[@vivavideo-videofilmer]

in his world Luke is the funniest person he knows

[@yol_n]

STALKER 2, BALATRO AND BLACK MYTH WUKONG SWEEP 💪

[@fenrir-125]

@@yol_n stalker 2 ain’t getting shit

[@Joe-ti7qd]

@fenrir you haven't played it. I have. Not buggy like they are saying. Must've been the day 1 patch.

[@MyztikalForcez]

Stalker 2 will only get brownie points, lol

[@WRosario]

Game awards did not include stalker 2. They closed the year before the game officially released!

[@saat14095]

well... i got bad news

[@rasmachris94]

As is the case with most games, wait a while to purchase. Pre-order and buying day 1 you're bound to experience bugs especially with the release now, fix later attitude a lot of the games companies seem to have adopted over the years. Game looks great, but that doesnt mean much when you cant see every 90s. I'll personally be waiting a few months for most bugs to be ironed out to be fully immersed in the best experience possible.

[@iliketurtles667]

There should be no sympathy of any game that releases unfinished.

[@Glucosevoogd]

@@iliketurtles667 except for these developers because they developed the game while they're invaded. Even some developers went to fight themselves.

[@GabrielPereira-rc4dv]

@@Glucosevoogd The studio is located in Chypre

[@patpanic2365]

@@GabrielPereira-rc4dv No, the studio was in Ukraine, now most of the devs are Prague, in Czech Republic. The Chypre loocation is only an administrative office.

[@manfredgeorgburggraf533]

@@Glucosevoogd dude most of Ukraine is safe. People go there for vacation wtf.

[@monto4944]

@@manfredgeorgburggraf533 you are not very bright

[@Ravathiel]

so yeah, got it for my RTX 3050, and runs pretty decent. my only issue with the game is just how DARK it is. everything is just pitch black, regardless if I have the gamma/brightness maxed or not

[@MiamiSunrise]

Its a really unfortunate reality that we are appropriating the idea in modern gaming where a game gets to come out super buggy and broken and basically damaged goods at the outset, and then when its fixed we give it full credit and change scores. The point is to have the game come out correctly to start with. The fact we forgive some of the nonsense weve seen in the last 10 years alone is striking. The more we let these studios get away with putting out launch trash the worse this is going to get.

[@MrJamess1982]

Luke I completely agree with your review opinion. The game should be reviewed as is and then if there are patches that come out in six months that improve the game. Re review it again. We should not reward companies for releasing a mess of a game. Ideally the devs should not have released this game in that state anyway. If they chose to, then you should not reward them. We should show them our disappointment

[@jasonnchuleft894]

As for performance my system runs the game at a stable locked 60fps in 1080p at Epic settings. Had one crash so far, but the framerate is buttery smooth for me. I have a R7700X and a RX7800XT. So yeah compared to the usual euro jank / the older Stalker games at launch I'm kinda surprised I haven't had any problems so far 🤔

[@sasagrcevic475]

Funny how no one plays this shit on AMD GPUs. So far I found only one dude showing performance on AMD. Everyone is pushing Nvidia.

[@opticalsalt2306]

@@sasagrcevic475I have a 6600xt and max textures high medium with low shadows and it’s been a good experience , pretty bad 1% lows but it seems like the port favors Nvidia cards. Typical but still enjoyable enough, I might get a new gpu becusse of this game

[@sasagrcevic475]

@@opticalsalt2306 Nvidia users report a lot of stuttering even on high fps. Some say its unplayable because its annoying. They say that even something like 100 fps (dlss+fg) feels like its 30-40 fps. Everyone complain about 1% lows. Btw I have 6600. On what resolution are you playing and what fps did you get with those settings?

[@MrBaKalu]

@@sasagrcevic475 it might me more issue with CPU. Game really CPU demanding or not enough ram/vram

[@sasagrcevic475]

@@MrBaKalu I dont know these fuckers are all playing with 7800x3d or better stuff. Most even going for 4k res. I think that devs just fucked up like most UE5 games.

[@iandavis8725]

I love the game, great new addition to the series. Good seeing newbs like reforge trying to play it.

[@landonturner3856]

Honestly I played it the guns didn’t sound good at all and there was no dead zone option either

[@skitkjell85]

The thing about this game; It was mainly made for STALKER-fans. And by that I mean the old STALKER-games. Not the ultra-polished GAMMA-type modpack versions we see today. And those people will most likely love the game. They endured the mess and jankfest that was the OG STALKER-launch back in the day. This is NOTHING compared to that. But yeah, it probably isn't for people who didn't see this coming or was expecting a "GAMMA"-tier STALKER-game. It was never intended to be that either. With the modding being endorsed from the get-go though we'll most likely see similar things to this game. Just give it the 15-plus years the OG games had to spawn mods and you'll be set. Also: "Boohoo! Devs bug-fixing their games before launch inconveniences me!" Cry me a river ^_^ I'm enjoying the hell out of it. And I was the for the OG launches back in the day. This truly is NOTHING compared to that xD

[@lawnmanGman]

stalker: quad overdraw edition

[@neofaktion]

What do you mean?

[@Ha-fy6zv]

I have a 3080 and its running surprisingly well. Only about 2-3 hours in, but no bugs and only a bit of slowdown at the first settlement. I got it free on gamepass and am pleasantly surprised.

[@ZGamingGuy]

It's hard to bash the game too much, when they have easily the best excuse by any developer ever. Being caught in a war and all. I know at least 1 dev lost his life to it. So I think most are understanding and just want it to succeed. But yeah, it's rough coming out the gate sadly

[@NkosanaMakhubele]

RELEASE NOW, FIX LATER

[@danielmiller4354]

Had to go gold before Russia attacked again lol totally joking

[@Shikori_Tsuru]

​@@danielmiller4354Attacking is nothing new. "Before they nuked" sounds more accurate 😅

[@thecounter.54231]

I've played it for 5 hours now and it is amazing. Performance is really good in UWQHD, Epic Settings and DLSS with way over 100FPS. Can't wait to play it again later.

[@sasmozza7019]

So far I have not had a single issue. Just the A.i play up sometimes. Deffo fun on veteran. And when the modders come along they will sort little things out.

[@carny15]

Devs and players should not be relying on modders to.fix the game. Devs have the obligations to ship a working product. It's like buying a car. Imagine it has no working brakes, but you are expected to take it as it is and loom for some amateur mechanic that works in his living room to fix your brand new car.

[@deenman23]

@@carny15 its unfair to hold the devs to the potential workload thausands of modders do lol,fallout 4 has 3000 pages of mods on one website alone,no dev team is gonna be able to do that

[@isaacA38]

@@deenman23 then they shouldnt make a game if they need modders to make it playable

[@deenman23]

@@isaacA38 so now alowing modding is a bad thing?:))))

[@isaacA38]

@@deenman23 oh mod support should definitly be in there. But its not the players duty to make the product functioning correctly

[@FooFighter477]

I’m about 2 hours into the game and so far it’s good. And surprisingly well in technical state. On 5700X+7800XT system it works great on high settings at 3440x1440, providing stable 60 fps with FSR Quality. And I didn’t encounter any significant bugs. Worst I saw is grass clipping through building. I know I’m still at the beginning and I didn’t reach big hubs yet but I expected far worse state.

[@wilihey1425]

bugs are not "anomalies" if you cant play the game correctly and crash all the time the old jank of the xray engine was more funny than actually breaking the game, dont do this reddit bullshit where the game is instantly excused of all issues because the xray engine was half broken

[@chandude3]

i ran into far more bugs in the old games than stalker 2, what kind of crack are you smoking

[@djdeemz7651]

Swear xray monitored your gameplay and crashed at the worst time possible every time

[@suicidalbubblethecopyninja5984]

My bro the “they are not bugs they are anomalies” thing is running joke in the Stalker community it is not this deep Edit : I am not defending the game constantly crashing I am defending a joke that is funny to me and others

[@CharleyKing-c4z]

Luke’s the type of guy to display statues of games he doesn’t like.

[@eyegate]

Comparing this to prey or cyberpunk is a bit ridiculous if you’ve actually played. People are just an echo chamber and will ‘soft lock’ themselves out of changing their opinion that they learned from someone else.

[@CybulDot]

That's the average luke stephens viewer.

[@eyegate]

@ yeah this guys videos always hit my feed when new games dropped- wanted to see his reaction to something that he didn’t have early access codes and instinctive for- I’m not suprised this is the reaction. Gamers are weird

[@murdersinc2682]

Some guys sent me DM calling me a Nazi and A Fascist for not supporting Ukraine by not preordering a game😂😂

[@xwaltranx]

cyberpunk was not only broken, it was MISSING WHOLE features that were PROMISED. and still do, they just fixed them with workarounds, never really put those features fully developed back in. and people are praising it regardless...

[@JMM-ke7br]

Stalker isnt stalker if it doesnt have bugs, crashes. We call them "anomalies", peak stalker moment

[@brettstout-rojas5833]

I have a 3080/Ryzen 9 5900x. I'm getting an average of around 120 fps on High/Epic settings at 1440p. It appears I got very lucky however, as many are complaining of much worse performance on better hardware. I'm about 2 hours in though, so hopefully it stays that way. There are stutters for me as well, but even for my very low tolerance, it's not bad at all.