The Second Coming of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. ( PC & XBOX Review in Progress for STALKER 2 Heart of Chornobyl)

[@ArtificialHuman1]

in barrel dog we trust 🙏

[@Dark_Brandon_2024]

@@ArtificialHuman1 "You cannot kill barrel dog, just like you cannot get rid of the sky up above. I smile, it is you who cannot feel"

[@slamshift6927]

"Just drop it, you don't need it" I HAVE 15 ENERGY DRINKS, I CAN MAKE IT TO SHELTER

[@smurphy55656]

Lmao me in a nutshell

[@CouchWarrior561]

First things I did after starting the game: Turned off compass and weapon crosshair. Best game of the year so far.

[@LoneWolfFromEast]

Best game after Elden Ring for me. Didn't had so much fun in years.

[@R3TR0J4N]

Don't forget rebind and turning mouse smoothing off

[@EvilSlothsTony]

Same, I disabled the enemy arrow indicator too, I dont want a farcry look of the game. 😂

[@032_m.alfathcirrus5]

​@@LoneWolfFromEast I can see the Elden Ring comparison, I hope my brother will love this once it's optimised. He loves Elden Ring.

[@MKPwrz]

Same. Does anyone else find it hard to identify other factions. Most of the they shoot at me before I recognise them

[@brunoactis1104]

To be fair, from what i gather, the A Life might or might not be there, but the real problem is that, even if it is, it's not exactly turned on. Even GSC acknowledged that, at the very least, it is not working well. Me and most other people heavily suspect it is either not in a very developed stage and they're buying time, or it's literally not there and they will now go and make it. And as i said, GSC themselves acknowledged this and said they'll work on it.

[@thebiggeridiot]

from what i have seen, apparently the game in the scripting has a life and it's sorta functioning but not only is it buggy but the code it's self has mispellings like ''EAlife '' instead of ''Alife''

[@Puddspanker]

It's in the game. On the reddit, someone broke it down very well from data gathered from discord. Basically the spawner from it is wonky. It's been patched for now. Because the only thing working in A life is the online radius for NPCs. When the game goes to pull the API for offline radius of NPCs, something is bugged and it can't finish what it started. So the NPCs aren't life like, living and fighting like they normally do. That's not exact, but close enough.

[@uncleclaps44]

I was on my way to rostok when a storm rolled in and took cover in a bus stop, i then was then attacked by a pack of blind dogs, one of them was struck by lightning and i laughed... then the clouds started to turn red and i wasn't laughing anymore. i had to escape the coming emission.

[@uncleclaps44]

I also wanted to mention there is a stealth mechanic not mentioned in the game. under the compass is a blue bar that moves when you make noise like how previous stalker games had a sound bar, this is where that indicator is located in S2 and its so easy to miss it.

[@OmegaEnvych]

@@uncleclaps44 thanks, now I know what that damn blue thing means :D

[@smurphy55656]

​@@uncleclaps44I was wondering what the heck that was

[@OmegaEnvych]

You know what I got from Stalker 2? Something that I wanted to get from Bethesda games for years. I saw a coolant tower with something burning inside of it. I wanted to see it. I went there. It was a long and difficult journey. But I got there. I had share of difficulties getting there as I was just unprepared to journey. And then I saw it. That massive fire tornado ravaging inside the unfinished coolant tower similar to caged beast. I didn't knew (and don't really care at this moment) what is around it - I know that it's around unfinished part of CNPP - 5th and 6th units that were under construction when 1986 disaster happened and they are still there. I didn't care who are living there - I just wanted to see that place. And then I found teleport to the top and was rewarded with a view... and I couldn't figure out how to get back so I had to reload the game, but it was still worth it for me. I didn't feel that I wasted my time, I didn't feel that I got nothing from it (issue I had with Bethesda games since, probably, Oblivion, really and in Fallout 3, Skyrim, Fallout 4, 76 and Starfield it got only worse and worse and worse) - Yes, I can go wherever I want and journey will make me ask "Was it worth it?" and I can still say "Yes" Another anecdote comes from main quest - the Swamp part - I won't tell any spoilers, but main story leads through the difficult scene. At first I thought that game was unfair to me - It threw very strong monster and Blowout at the same time AND there was no place to hide... I thought I will have to reload. But then I realized that it all was part of a setpiece - I wasn't supposed to fight the mutant - running was better option. And then it hit me. We are so conditioned to fight monsters - games love to give us constant empowerment that when many met mutants in Stalker - they are like "Fighting mutants sucks!" It goddamn should! Mutants are strong, hard to kill and unless you HAVE to go where mutant is sitting, avoiding it and running away is a better option. For the most part you won't get anything from fighting mutants - they don't drop anything, and unless you have a quest to kill them, you will have a hard time. Regarding gamebreaking bugs - I had few crashes (1 at one dialogue and 1 at loading for some reason) but here's the deal. Unlike Black Ops 6, I had crashes that took at worst - 30 seconds of progress. Ok, 1 minute of progress because I was running around location like a headless chicken trying to find NPC. Nothing of value was lost, I reloaded and had no other crashes afterwards for a long time. In BO6 a crash at Iraq level (which is like 4th mission of the game) brought me back to VERY BEGINNING of the game! It didn't save around hour and a half of progress! 95% of bugs I met in the game were just Stalker jank. You know the one. You love that jank. A-Life does have issues with spawning NPCs way too close - I noted that on few occasions and it was confirmed that devs are working on fixing it, but ETA is unclear for now (fair enough). But A-Life is there and it would be silly to say it isn't. Also funny - I have 12gen i5 and 3080 and for the most part game runs absolutely fine on mixture of High and Epic settings at 1440p. One time when framerate divebombed, was at SIRCAA chapter, maybe because of all shiny surfaces or something? I dunno. I am pretty happy with performance though. I heard IGN had issues on 13gen i7 which is odd and others had different issues as well. Then again, it's not like Stalker games weren't always very hardware demanding. We just don't see that today because old ones are running on hardware that far exceeds what they need. Regarding VA - I'm playing game in Ukrainian (entirely, yes), I saw some typos there and VA is... well Ukrainian is good but has sometimes weird moments. I also feel that Ukrainian voiceover in Legends of the Zone Trilogy was done better where some stalkers would be speaking russian, some - on surjik (unholy mix of russian and Ukrainian) and many would have varied accents of Ukrainian - like Military and Freedom are clearly from Kyiv and Center while bandits are from Volyn region with few outliers with clear Western accent (I don't mean English, I mean people from Western Ukraine - people from Carpathian mountains, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk etc.), and some characters would have clear Southern or Eastern accent (people from Dnipro, Odesa, etc.) - in Stalker 2 dialogue feels way more uniformed

[@АлексейВашкевич-ш1ю]

The best review ever. Thanks !

[@tzeentch7900]

Want to share my story from Stalker 2 i spent 20 hours in Garbage and Lesser zone, visiting Cordon once, i have accomplished main quest Garbage, and decided that i wish to see other locations. I visited Rostok 100rads Bar, got a quest from old pal Barmen which was leading me to Bandit base in Red forest. Packed my things, and get out for journey, visited Forester place, and by the time i was approaching Bandit base, it was Dusk, during my journey in forest, invisible Psi-force attacked me, obviously controller, but i couldn’t see it, so i ran away. By the dark i approached missing Freedom group, found my way into Bandit base, did Call of Duty style Stealth clean up with my AS VAL, and when base was cleaned out i left in midnight, the Yantar was nearby and Sakharov bunker, i decided to visit Yantar, after all i haven’t been there before, wondered if Sakharow still around. Its dark, quiet no thunder no rain, just very quiet, as i approaches bunker i noticed: No lights, no people silence, i came closer, and then heard multiple footsteps, and then Psi phantoms, and psychic attack from controller, i fought for my life in abandoned territory of Sakharov bunker, fight was hard i nearly lost, no psi-blocks, only First aid kits. After a fight i sat in silence near dead body of mutant, and wondered, was it the same Controller psychic field i have entered in Red forest earlier? Did it followed me there? Was it waiting already preparing ambush? Was it different Controller? I don’t know, but i would like to keep wondering and believing that it was same monster hunting me down all this time.

[@thegenericlad1365]

Been playing Stalker since SOC launch. I’m happy other people are having fun but I had to give up after reaching the Garbage and felt I was deluding myself into thinking it was good. The world, NPCs, weapons, all of the bones of the game are great but I was just not seeing *any* mutants or real enemy interactions in the wild like the old games outside of obvious scripted events and missions. Most of the game felt like wandering an empty tech demo world like a survival crafting game, where enemies would occasionally spawn in 20 feet behind me. I’ll let them cook before I jump back in.

[@darkunion4]

A-life is there but it is bugged. I only ever run into mutants or NPC‘s when I’m in a compound looting or raiding and they are spawned in. When I’m out in the open, I never get into fights. I see lots of videos of people with their weapons out and they get yelled out by the NPC to put it away. I don’t get that. I just get ignored.

[@rangerdave8418]

Great to watch a review by someone who understands how to play the game. Too many reviews criticised the game for what makes stalker great, tough enemies, a realistic weight limit, limited fast travel etc.

[@612sPhenomenal]

I’m brand new to the series and have tried to grain of salt every review before hopping in. I was having fun and waiting for the bad parts… This video was the perfect “shut up; it’s fine. They’ve got skill issues” I needed. You long time stalkers have been a huge help

[@Dark_Brandon_2024]

The controller mission was the best hour in the Zone for me. No spoilers, it was spooky and heavily immersifying.

[@BoxFloat]

Yes, that and the abandoned tunnel for quiet are both incredibly spooky!

[@awkwardGardener]

I think the most shocking thing to me is we actually just got more Stalker. Not something with a bunch of extra features that were popular in other games or modern gaming sensibilities. Just improved Stalker features. The game is basically exactly what I wanted, and I'm enjoying the hell out of it

[@oleksandrsirenko226]

I was walking at night following the road and met a group of friendly stalkers coming my way. I just passed by. Some minute later, 3 invisible mfs jumped me from the forest... first thougth - RUN!!!. Ran back to those stalkers for help, bearly made it alive. Best feeling ever when you are genuinely terrified of monsters and use anything you can just to survive. The entire group but one dude was wiped. As soon we killed the last bloodsucker, the surviving guy just goes "I wish i could have some tea"😂 what a leggend

[@omardarwish958]

But the enemy aims with iron sights better than that Turkish guy in olympics

[@Narniak69]

After spotting you with their eagle eye using wall-hacks!

[@Puddspanker]

There is Alife. From data gathered, the offline radius is currently bugged. It cant connect to the API that it pulls info from. So the only thing working atm is the online radius.

[@reapthewhirlwind6915]

after turning off the compass and reconfiguring the controls to match SOCGA im having a lot of fun (f1 f2 for consumables, 1-7 for items, b for pda, v for melee, disable radial menu, disable mouse wheel weapon select)

[@Dark_Brandon_2024]

Oh yeaaah. When it is configured as we remember, it is easier to get immersed because the faster you get the intuitive grip on Skif - the faster you get da loot and dodge unpleasant fates.

[@JINGWA64]

It's not really mis-info, A-life is virtually non-existent or functional, you can check the files yourself, modders checked the A-Life scripts and went through them, currently it's just scripted spawner, that spawns in crap in based on the script next to you, so that ward patrol alongside the bandits was spawned just as you arrived, the spawner has a very limited spawn range as extending it will tank your CPU due to lack of optimisation and UE5 not being a good engine, so currently it just spawns from a script based on how long you have gone without a encounter, if you leave certain places eg U might notice it's very common leaving certain holes, stash types you get spawns the instant U head to the exit. The Devs stated A-life was meant to function independent of you, so your not supposed to be a walking spawn beacon for AI to spawn around, that's only meant to occur for scripted events, mission stuff etc, static spawn areas like bases etc, while everything else was supposed to be dynamic not dependent on you being there, but non of that is active in the files, doesn't even exist according to modders.

[@JF-vz1ju]

About 20 hours in and this video has perfectly echoed my experience with Stalker 2 so far. The sound design especially is just amazing. They deserve a ton of praise for it and probably some kind of award.

[@nich_nikk]

The game is great. I just can't stop playing, and I'm even a little afraid to play too much so that I don't finish it in a week.

[@chSnake_]

I've actually took some time to dig into console commands and files, since I was trying to bugfix a quest (and subsequently spoiled myself a chuck of the plot). There are direct mentions of A-Life. I cannot comment on it's complexity and scripting, and I did ancounter a few "spawn bandits behind my back" scenarios, but saying that it's been cut is a ridiculous statement.

[@brunoactis1104]

It complicated. GSC has said themselves that it's not really working, i don't remember the wording exactly. They literally made a statement about it.

[@chSnake_]

@@brunoactis1104 They said that it does exist and confirmed that it's working incorrectly.

[@R3TR0J4N]

Yea they spawn out of players perspective, to cut random encounters cpu usage since it's already that intensive I guess(??)

[@OmegaEnvych]

@@R3TR0J4N Yeah, it's the same issue that Capcom faced with Dragon's Dogma 2 - game ended up being very CPU-intensive

[@R3TR0J4N]

@OmegaEnvych UE5 and RE engine when used for big scale games 💀

[@LiterallyLozyl]

Man looking up to the upper left corner to watch the minimap and there is nothing took a while to adapt

[@thrwwccnt5845]

needs logs too, and notifications with stalker faces

[@Spoggi99YT]

This is the best Stalker 2 review I've seen so far as it aligns best with my own experience after playing for ~25 hours on PC. I've been waiting for a new Stalker game for so long, I cannot believe the wait is finally over and I am having an absolute blast. Great video - you've earned a new sub :) Good luck in the zone fellow Stalkers!

[@husseinmusani7405]

I love this game. My personal game of the year. I would've only wished to hear bandit radio somewhere in the zone. I'm just 12 hours in, so here's hoping! Regarding grenades, unless I'm hallucinating I feel like I can hear them pull the pin and I always get away in time

[@VERsingthegamez]

I'm honestly going to wait a few months before hoping in just because I really don't like buying games with issues at launch that are being talked about not just in stability and performance, but also missing features. I know the circumstances that this game was made under and it should be applauded that despite all those this game came out, but I really don't like giving into the norm of broken games at launch being a common thing now. The only thing I can do as an individual is choose when I am going to buy games. Yes the Stalker games have always had bugs part of their charm like Bethesda games and I give GSC more leeway due to their own circumstances with Xray, but I feel with UE5, we should have less of these issues since its a more stable engine. That's my take on this whole thing but curious to know if anyone else has a similar take right now.

[@R3TR0J4N]

man reviewers literally beta tested the game, glad for day one one patch. From broken and jank, its only jank now. edit: glad theyre voiced about fixing AI or a-life.

[@Narniak69]

Call it "A-life" or whatever you want, but the scripted enemy spawning is completely broken. Packs of zombie dogs and soldiers should not be materializing out of thin air before your eyes. There are numerous videos on KZbin illustrating the busted laughable spawns. I have experienced the exact same type of garbage all throughout my first 15+ hours with the game, and it completely ruins my immersion every time. Still love the game overall, but this a MAJOR problem and needs to be address as quickly as possible by the dev team.

[@BladeRunner031]

A-life,just that,fixing that and about all other things I could care less.15 hours in I didn't found enemy ambush me from in front,just from the back.Mutants too.Jump on something they hide,jump down they rush,jump up hide,jump down rush and like that every time.I mean when you jump on something mutants tend to hide behind tree or some object and peeking,just like humans lol. I just wish they fix A-life and AI in general

[@sskrs9170]

Waited for you❤️ thank you for the review

[@samz8691]

Sadly for me I have encountered extreme loading issues on PC. What truly kicks into absurdity for me is the *PAUSE MENU* can take up to 10 seconds to load. If I want to draw another gun and I didn't draw it for awhile, I have to wait 5-7 seconds for a very low poly version of it (sometimes even lacking textures) to appear in Skif's hand. (Even once the gun is loaded, if I don't use it for a few minutes, it will actually deload and I'll have a delayed equip again.) It's also very consistent for me as sometimes the game loads guns/healing animations very slowly while other times it's nearly instant. (So I don't think it's an issue on my end as other games don't have this issue outside of COD Warzone, not regular COD, Warzone which is infamously buggy as well but Warzone at least lets me use my gun even if it appears invisible while STALKER 2 doesn't let me use it at all.) The fact the Pause menu also needs to load sometimes means that just pausing and giving the game time to load sometimes isn't an option. It's a shame as I do love this game but this is the most broken loading I have ever seen and needs fixed, Pause Menu and my currently equipped guns should always be loaded in.

[@mattd6204]

I, too, have only encountered that single bug (trying to talk to the dead guy) on Xbox. The game is running very well and look great on Series X. A VRR, 120htz tv really brings the wasteland to life.

[@tzeentch7900]

Want to share my story from Stalker 2 i spent 20 hours in Garbage and Lesser zone, visiting Cordon once, i have accomplished main quest in Garbage, and decided to put main story on pause and that i just wish to see other locations. I visited Rostok 100rads Bar, got a quest from old pal Barmen which was leading me to Bandit base in Red forest. Packed my things, and get out for journey, visited Forester place, and by the time i was approaching Bandit base, it was Dusk, during my journey in forest, invisible Psi-force attacked me, obviously controller, but i couldn’t see it, so i ran away. By the dark i approached missing Freedom group, found my way into Bandit base, did Call of Duty style Stealth clean up with my AS VAL, and when base was cleaned out i left in midnight, the Yantar was nearby and Sakharov bunker, i decided to visit Yantar, after all i haven’t been there before, wondered if Sakharow still around. Its dark, quiet no thunder no rain, just very quiet, as i approaches bunker i noticed: No lights, no people silence, i came closer, and then heard multiple footsteps, and then Psi phantoms, and psychic attack from controller, i fought for my life in abandoned territory of Sakharov bunker, fight was hard i nearly lost, no psi-blocks, only First aid kits. After a fight i sat in silence near dead body of mutant, and wondered, was it the same Controller psychic field i have entered in Red forest earlier? Did it followed me there? Was it waiting already preparing ambush? Was it different Controller? I don’t know, but i would like to keep wondering and believing that it was same monster hunting me down all this time.

[@mcfeddle]

I have a sentimental connection with my Makarov, for it has killed many-a-Bloodsucker for me. (Stalker difficulty.) Another thing, I'm glad I refreshed myself on the original trilogy before getting back into it. Even other tactical shooters helped quite a lot. Human combat is easy because of it.

[@RemixedYoshi]

It would be interesting to see someone show every single difference between the 3 games vs stalker 2 atleast in systems. Personally I think it sucks u cant loot mutants for parts like if I'm fighting a creature for my life at least let me get something back. I do understand this hasn't been a feature since the first 2 games and the mod packs but it still sucks all risk no reward except living another day.

[@yenotte]

The only technical problem I encountered is the 8 gb video buffer in my 4060. When it fills up, the game becomes very unstable. Solution: just lower the settings

[@nikolozjalabadze]

Isn’t A-Life supposed simulate zone all the way down to individuals? In stalker Call of Pripyat, for example if you help someone in the middle of nowhere and that box becomes green, you can see that guy in the base of he’s back. Then if he dies somewhere he will no longer show up. Maybe you even stumble upon his corpse. So one thing is generating random events or engagements around you, but another is generating those things around whole zone. That was the best thing about A-life I think.

[@live4christ295]

Bro if I had the support you guys give this game I’d just go rob a bank and tell everyone how hard it was to do it, and get off lol I’m just saying people absolutely DESTROYED games that came out in better shape than this. I get it the franchise has loyal fans but man you guys make a lot of excuses for this one that wouldn’t pass in reality.

[@mikeity2009]

Stalker fans not being delusional for 1 second challenge: Impossible.

[@bigmaczippenzap]

Im currently 20 hours into the game, after playing hundreds of hours of stalker gamma, I can safely say that this game is much easier. I’ve run into a few bugs that forced me to restart the game but the game is playable.

[@Chosen_Ash]

We get 800 med kits/bandages per dungeon i swear

[@R3TR0J4N]

​@@Chosen_Ash 1st he 21 nades for me

[@Puddspanker]

Cuz youll be using em like crazy too. ​@@Chosen_Ash

[@witherwolf3316]

The game is good, it has great atmosphere, things feel right, but there are some things that are letdowns and some things that are frustrating. My main letdown is that there often isn't a reason to bother trying to negotiate with AI. Avoiding spoilers, there were quite a few times where I attempted to defuse a standoff because that's the kind of person I wanted to be. But no matter what dialogue option I picked they would always attack me. I'm about 15 hours in and this has happened at least twice. And since these scenarios force you into the dialogue I have to wonder what the point is. Unless this is supposed to be some sort of theme about futility of negotiation this is just clunky and honestly frustrating game design. And second, the mutants are sooo tanky.

[@GtSaalfeld]

if your playing on anything below veteran im a little mad but 3 hours without dying is insane. bloodsuckers walk up with the fiancée of a chefs blade and the strength of an M1 Abrams and the sedulity of a fentanyl addict in LA that is to say broken and simply exist to tax me of my items and its the first thing you fight... anyway 40 ish hours in and I'm at around 80 deaths mostly to aforementioned bloodsuckers and radiation pools that just instant kill you. oh and 10 to a chimera that is literally just a tank that moves at the speed of light. I've probably only died like 10 times to actual people

[@cantgameright]

@@GtSaalfeld yeah first death was to a bloodsucker And it was almost 4 hours

[@roxombplaysroblox8511]

For me this game is 10/10 despite bugs I put every single free hour of my life into playing this masterpiece I have w8ted 12years of my life for it to come out and I’m not disappointed at all

[@robbertvanhovendingelstad6205]

cannot agree more. i have been playing non stop since day 1. runs great on quality mode

[@freecake5838]

barrel dog is so hillarious, new stalker meme being born

[@WayneJetski_]

I save every few minutes because the broken A.I. will gun you down literally out of nowhere for no reason.

[@R3TR0J4N]

I got the game fortunately for 36$ regional price. nowadays im just watching review to learn more about the game about details i missed. Yours goes hand in hand with ACG depth (sorry fo comparison). Love the A-life in game if it works its magical had 2 life saving random encounters. and graphically and visually its beautiful it enhance the atmosphere of the game, notably my favorite were: thunderstorms and the poppy field with a cool anomaly rhat speaks with a motif of "elysium". This sequel id say the sid quest were its strongest, im in awe that im save scumming in a STALKER game. Oh i appreciate coming back to Stalker 1 locations with more environmental details.

[@skitkjell85]

A-life is indeed there. It just doesen't work properly. The devs stated as much, and they are working on it. Won't be in the upcoming patch this week, but most certainly in the second one. I would seriously hope. A disfunctioning A-life in any STALKER-game is catastrophically bad. It's what makes these games so amazingly immersive.

[@freecake5838]

Thanks for the video, fellow stalker!

[@EAZUP]

I WISH i could shot from cover . But the stick drift is so bad i move on its on. The game is unplayable on Xbox and they seem to not care to fix it

[@lucasadams5042]

I believe they said adding dead zones is one of the top priorities on their discord.

[@fordprefect80]

I'm loving Stalker 2 and well done Ryzen 7 7800 X3D.

[@GrailSeeker]

Finally, an adequate Stalker 2 review.

[@slim420-e8v]

Runs great on my AMD system. 4k 60+ fps

[@hern7213]

I'm still trying to figure out what kind of game Stalker 2 is. I'm a person who is easily scared and yet something just pushes me forward when I play this game, despite the foreboding, depressing and horrorish atmosphere. What is happening to me?

[@brunoactis1104]

Average STALKER experience. That's the appeal of The Zone. Reminds me of the Stalker in the movie. A haunting dangerous place, but he felt more alive, more real there than in his normal life. Danger constantly looming over one, gives more meaning to life somehow.

[@hern7213]

@brunoactis1104 You are definitely onto something here!

[@R3TR0J4N]

Speaking of KCD. Im calling it now, KCD will recieve the same reception at release. I hope im wrong

[@LuisC7]

This video is amazing it's at the same time a review of how good STALKER mechanics are so great, and how people don't play it with brains.... It's like players really have to think for the first time after playing other FPS shooters with just run and gun..... We are another level far above. Thanks

[@MiniGamers717]

I can’t help but feel like this review is incredibly biased. I completely understand the passion for the game, but there’s a good amount of things in the game that just make it an unfun experience. Alife is completely broken. Point A to B is extremely boring because nothing is spawing. Economy unbalanced, and stealth doesn’t work properly. Flashlight being incredibly useless. Bullet sponge enemies. The list goes on. I uninstalled and waiting for them to fix these issues. Back to GAMMA.🤷🏻‍♂️😂

[@tamplier3724]

thank you so much)

[@yezzirp__]

Yo, plz do another stalker 2 recreated in anomaly video, that would be nice.

[@WehrmachtKradschutzen]

Guys what’s the song I need it for my walks through the zone

[@templarknightac]

You were lucky, I already have 50 hours on the PC and after 40 the game started to bug in the missions (obviously it has nothing to do with the hours, but you need more time playing to find more bugs)

[@LaughingMan44]

the game just spawns bots within a 50m bubble around you as if you're too stupid to notice, I guess most people are

[@mikeity2009]

Stalker fanboys are dumb.

[@RedWolfenstein]

They shouldve waited. Its full of bugs and the distances without any fast travel is tedious. Half yhe game is me walking through areas I've already been through. I get it the whole war thing but its not my war so im a consumer.

[@burnbarrelnetwork4013]

My experience on pc has been awful. 7800x3d 3070ti. Even when turning everything to low the stutter mess sadly makes the game unplayable.

[@fredsifyable]

"i have a beast of a gaming pc and got so may fps the game isnt even hard."

[@mrfootfxtish9430]

So far, I think you may have gotten the lucky end of the stick. On MANY, and I mean MOST people’s ends, they’ve been suffering from massive bugs and performance issues, especially on pc. On xbox it isnt as bad but then it suffers from that horrible 0 deadzone that you cannot change. Another thing is just that A Life is NOT present, the devs said it’s broken rn and is getting a fix but im not optimistic that we’re getting this within the next 2 or so weeks. The rest of the game is really good, but one of stalker’s defining features that makes it unique is alife, and without it can feel like a generic open world rpg shooter at times. Also the economy is a little irritating with the repair costs, as well as durability running down like WAY too quickly, and with mutants even compared to the og trilogy, they are too tanky, especially bloodsuckers. FOR NOW, I give Stalker an 8/10, once all the issues are ironed out, performance becomes better, alife is fixed, definitely giving it a 10/10, but just an 8/10 for now

[@SimianRagestien]

people complaining about bugs like this isn't STALKER. bugs are less than ideal, but i don't care if the game is authentically stalker

[@sid9104]

2:04 No, I don't think I will

[@Raickten]

If ALife 2.0 is just spawning friendly or enemys constantly behind you in waves than i have to say this system is pretty shit. the world feels empty it compensate that bye spawning NPC near you or if you go to a building complex who has this white buble around it, it will just spawn random enemys in this just sucks. the scriptet events are cool but without a Real Alife system the game feels empty. thats been said see you in 6 month+ or when modders fixt it

[@smurphy55656]

Devs have said that A-life isn't working as intended and are working on it. From what I know A-life has two factors radom spawns then what it did in previous games. Currently the part that it does in previous games is not working as intended so normal spawns have been increased to compensate for it but the rate is a little too high hence why shits spawning behind you. All I can say is that it's being worked on but it's gonna be at a little while before it's fixed can only be paicient

[@TheDwarfishjoe]

All the problems aside, wtf is with the shadows in this game... they look worse than most games from 10 years ago right?

[@walidromawarzone8292]

what means A-LIFE !

[@CheriShin21]

Can you do long range sniping in the game?

[@deus_nsf]

As soon as you get the proper weapons, sure, you could in the original so theres no reason you cant here :)

[@CheriShin21]

@deus_nsf I mean I read that there are only up to 2x scopes in S2, whereas in the older games (or mods) most scopes are 4x (pso and acog) and there are dedicated sniper scopes with even up to 12x zoom, so you can snipe bases from extreme range. Is it possible to do the same in S2?

[@Frankyjiu]

The game is unplayable for me on quality. The fps is like 30

[@coaiemandushman1079]

I don't recommend this game yet. Constant crashes, no A-life as enemies spawn in front of you now since there are about 6 spawning scripts, no reason to go for stashes as you get loads of loot, mutants have 10x the HP they normally do (28 shotgun shells in a controller and he is still alive). Play TrueStalker for now.

[@izraphailzero5610]

"Just drop it, you don't need it" real stalker CAN"T say that! real stalker rather die because of anomaly storm than will drop his loot

[@cantgameright]

@@izraphailzero5610 only I didn't choose that path. Unlike you.

[@kazimierasmickus8097]

anybody have a link to lennik video?

[@cantgameright]

The reason I don't link it is because searching for the video and the creator actually helps their content get recommended by KZbin. The title is visible in the clip.

[@shasotaualfa]

True Stalker wasn't so bad.

[@shasotaualfa]

Also how's this A-Life lol? The OG A-Life worked differently, a lot, not just "Spawn enemy in the back" or "Spawn friendly closer ish so it feels organic" no, what it did was spawn few squads at their spawn points and then let them roam. You yould meet a Stalker in Cordon who would later be encountered in Dark Valley or the Bar for example. This is not it and i blame their transition to Unreal Engine 5.

[@Americawtff]

It really does seem like true stalker was a super early build of 2. Especially with all the knock you out cut scenes​@@shasotaualfa

[@daviduribe5095]

My man, I really enjoy ur channel, but that was the most biased review of a game ive ever seen. A-life is non existent, audio bugs galore, quest bugs galore and im not even talking about the performance issues. Im also enjoying the game on PC, but we must acknowledge the facts...

[@OwOchina]

Героям Слава! Thank you for your great vids!

[@farshpatel]

Great review and some good stalker advices in the intro! Played all weekend, exploring every nook and cranny, and can't get enough of it. 20 hours in and it's a phenomenal experience I haven't had in games for years (except for, maybe, Silent Hill 2 remake). Didn't encounter any outstanding bugs except for minor glitches as mentioned in the video. RTX 3060, Ryzen 5600x, 16GB RAM and game is reasonably smooth in 2K, High preset with DLSS Quality and FSR Frame Gen. 1080p is even smoother. The only issues that really need fixing: - A-Life seems to be replaced by random encounters for now. They may be fun, but I'm looking forward for GSC to bring back at least CoP-level simulation out in the wild and fix the spawn system. - The game economy is very underwhelming. Everything is too expensive for the money you earn. - The Veteran difficulty needs a complete damage rebalance. Humans are too tanky, and every mutant has hit points like they're a Final Fantasy boss, which effectively ruins the great gunplay and makes your weapons feel like water pistols. I recommend playing on the Stalker difficulty for now.

[@Supernautiloid]

Please don’t drop sellable items. That’s terrible advice. Sell excess items for more money. Stash the rest for later.

[@daveuerk4030]

I think he was talking about reviewers complaining about encumbrance while carrying around so many weapons and not running a lean inventory.... Gotta drop the loot sometimes. So hard to do. But it's like BG3 where I probably have some potions I picked up at the beginning of the game 50 hours later. It's not that important.

[@Supernautiloid]

@ I never drop loot! Never! 🤓I will get that loot back to my stash if I have to crawl back. 😂

[@bestwind4618]

Cool review, but the game is unplayable on pc performance wise. just refund it if you get it boys

[@cantgameright]

@@bestwind4618 I'm curious, trying to find a trend with performance issues. What rig are you running?

[@bestwind4618]

@cantgameright rtx 2060 ryzen 5 3600 32gb ram, insanely good ssd. Game is unplayable in settlements with large stutters

[@cantgameright]

@@bestwind4618 I see, you're pretty much in the minimum spec tier my friend, and if you're running a laptop, it's below the minimum spec tier, I know it sucks. Does low settings with DLSS targeting 1080p 30fps not do the trick? If GeForce Now Works well with your internet connection, it may be worth playing there too.

[@vladlvv]

I see on the footage that u have that ugly yellow ladders and stuff. Just letting everyone know that u can turn it off

[@RedWolfenstein]

I turned it off and it's still on

[@Albatrox]

I played 30hours and I encounter bugs that ruined quest and I have a bug right now where they just stand there in rostok. two npc block the doorway of each entrance of the arena bar lol so to go in you need a guide to bring you there and when you want to get out you still need the guide lol. Atleast I did all the arena mission which there are 4. so I dont have anymore reason to go inside but I cannot use the guide to go to rostok because ill be stuck inside lol.

[@Wolfie_0202]

Wow I am actually first....noice.

[@cantgameright]

You get to play it Wolfie?

[@Wolfie_0202]

​​@@cantgamerightI did! I sat down and played for like 5 hours yesterday without noticing how time passed. I loved the scares, the fear of having to hide and worry on every firefight if I am going to die from a random grenade or lucky enemy headshot. A game like this was definitely missing. I have to plan, I have to think, I cant just run around like a maniac and improvise everything. I am just wishing they can improve the performance a bit as I am running it on a 5800X3D and a 7900XTX and it's rough in towns but other than that it's just wonderful. I never played the original Stalkers but after you mentioned this one is easier I want to try them now. Thank you for your videos and your hard work.

[@dimaz3]

I understand why the devs chose unreal engine 5 but it's such a mess of a engine. The awful performance just intensifies the annoyance of bugs in general, reminds of Jedi Survivor. Maybe this will be worth a pickup in 3 more years with much powerful hardware and mod fixes.

[@soromesolo]

enjoying this raw gem immensly Heroyam Slava

[@rollerr]

They kinda shot themselves in the foot with the early access reviews. At the same time, people need to stop parroting what they've only HEARD about a game without trying it themselves at all. If I had a nickel for every person I saw saying it's a "cyberpunk level disaster launch" without even playing themselves, I'd have many nickels. The game is fantastic, honestly. Yeah it's got some issues, I hope they tighten up A-life, but DAMN this is a great base game. The mods are going to be INSANE

[@smurphy55656]

Game is definitely not cyberpunk levels of disaster but it's not the greatest launch. But at the same time it's a miracle the game is even out with all the shit the devs have gone through with the war and the studio moving so I'd say for the state the game is is it's a solid 9/10 for me once they fix the A-life and release some optimization patches the game will be amazing

[@sgtcaco]

This guy claims to be an old stalker fan, doesn’t even understand that the enemies spawn system.

[@bencesarvari2235]

Please play this game with ukranian voice acting for your own sakes.

[@LB0]

Not A life

[@johnny5805]

If someone is going to spunk 70 dollars on an unfinished game, then they want an HONEST review, not a "biased review" (quoting thumbnail)

[@EvilSlothsTony]

Its 60$

[@cantgameright]

Isn't an acknowledgement of my biases an "honest" thing? Hence, it would be dishonest to come off as neutral. Btw, It's 60$ in your country and regional pricing is incredibly generous too. it's almost half of that in mine.

[@britexitengineer1407]

In it's present state it is unplayable because of the never ending crashes & looks to much like true stalker, maybe in a few years time when they fix it & the modders give it the misery treatment it should be a good game.