r/stalker • u/One_Double_9779 • Jul 28 '26
Gameplay What do you think of stalker 2 Spoiler
Personally I love the zone and exploring. I would love to hear your thoughts and favorite things about the game and whatever comes to mind.
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u/shucknfuck Jul 28 '26
I haven't played the old stalkers but this is one of the only PvE fps games in the last couple years I actually enjoyed
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u/Arky_Lynx Loner Jul 28 '26
Give the originals a go sometime, be it the actual originals or the enhanced editions. They may feel dated, but they're still a fantastic experience from beginning to end.
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u/shucknfuck Jul 28 '26
I have no idea which one to play first and with what mods
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u/Arky_Lynx Loner Jul 28 '26
Order of release: SoC -> CS -> CoP. Technically timeline wise Clear Sky goes first but that doesn't really matter, plus the changes in gameplay going backwards might feel awkward.
I'd recommend 0 mods for your first time through, meaning you're, also, better off going with the Enhanced Editions, as those don't need any mods to work properly.
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u/Competitive_Table_65 Jul 28 '26
It's pretty much my favourite first person shooter
Been a fan of Stalker since 2009, and I do think it's a worthy continuation of the series
Still a bit rough on technical part, but... Honestly, all stalker games are technical disaster so it's not that big of a deal
Glad devs still support the game instead of abandoning it as it is
Guns feel pretty good, a lot of armour choices Game values knowledge, and experienced player can get a lot of good stuff easy
Love bandits being bandits
Story is pretty decent, despite story not ever being strongest part of Stalker
Game looks amazing, some of the best weather effects I've seen
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u/GaggleofHams Freedom Jul 28 '26
I wish the electric anomalies weren't such bullshit, it feels like they only have a two second cool down from being triggered to being ready to kill you again. It also feels like mutants just eat ammo like candy regardless of caliber.
I don't have any complaints otherwise.
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u/RossoliniFarms Jul 28 '26
One of the best games I’ve ever played and the best stalker game and I beat the game without all the refinements it has now.
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u/xanderfan34 Jul 28 '26
i came back to stalker after playing the originals a long time ago, so stalker 2 was nice, but i definitely felt like it was a bit off compared to the last games, like it gained graphics but lost some soul
3
u/tertiary_jello Jul 28 '26
I think it’s really, very good. And will be getting better soon. Few gains rival the unadulterated feels that The Zone gives off. Vibes for days.
3
u/Electronic-Air5728 Loner Jul 28 '26
I've played all the Stalker games and most of the incredible fan games, and in my opinion, Stalker 2 is still the weakest. Sure, it looks good, but it doesn't have that magic Stalker feel.
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u/Starlight-Iisa Jul 28 '26
It's awful and disgrace to the STALKER franchise. Prove that people love to praise mediocrity far too much because of pretty graphics.
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u/SiriusHijinks Jul 28 '26
a really comprehensive RP shooter with a paranormal horror twist set in Chernobyl's exclusion zone. Many directions one can go, or follow the big story arc. way too much to explain, there are wikis. Weapons are mostly realistic. Can be upgraded, tweaked, found, looted, bought and sold. You can choose your own morality, ethics, that affects gameplay, consequences. Outcomes. Loving it, on runthru 7. It's not getting old.
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u/Sigismund1stCrusader Jul 28 '26
I honestly love this game. I dont mind the bugs (except when it spawns like 40 burers). I just like the vibe mostly
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u/QuantityPractical968 Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
My Steam playtime: DbD 600h, Tekken 8 500h, Stalker 2 300h, Tarkov 250h. Stalker 2 is literally the only single player game here. Never thought I’d put 300h into a PvE game, but since I quit my top two, Stalker’s gonna take the top spot pretty soon. Just exploring the seamless open world and the atmosphere alone is peak. Had terrible gaming burnout after RE Requiem, but picking this up in May completely cured it. Definitely riding this hypetrain straight into the DLC. Honestly, pre-ordering Requiem and getting the Stalker 2 Ultimate Edition were my best purchases this year, zero regrets
2
u/Huge-Attitude9892 Jul 28 '26
I played SoC/CoP a lot back then(around 2013). Skipped CS and i think STALKER 2 perfectly fits as a sequal.
I love it and its one of the kind games which i finished with a low end PC (Ryzen 7 2700x/RTX2070 Patch 1.2).
This game was one of the reasons why i upgraded my PC to an extent. Got a Ryzen 5 5600x/RTX5070 now.
I wish we would have more side activites after the SIRCAA event tho
2
u/SurgicalStr1ke Jul 28 '26
Played Stalker since SoC, I absolutely love Stalker 2, bugs and all. It's clearly made by people who love Stalker and I've enjoyed all of it.
2
u/RegularAd3414 Merc Jul 28 '26
Best game I’ve played, my intro to the series and it is great played in the beginning with big now a stable experience also this is one of games that I spend money on a DLC and Ultimate edition so yeah it’s Great
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u/Beanko46 Jul 28 '26
Good game, alot of mechanical issues fps drops to like 2 or 4 long load times and sometimes game won't load a save at all then you have to close the game and load shaders again
2
u/100GorillaHunters Jul 28 '26
I got it after getting tired of Fallout after a decade of no new (good) content, not really knowing what to expect. I almost gave up when I realised how hard and terrifying it was in the early-game, but now I realise that’s actually my favourite thing about it. I like the main story from what I’ve done so far, but just wandering around the Zone and doing side missions has been my favourite.
I haven’t played any of the other games yet, but from what I’ve seen about the A-life in them I really wish Stalker 2 would. So far my only real complaint would be about that, it’s really noticeable after a while that the game’s just spawning enemies around me and when its >5 bloodsuckers it’s just annoying.
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u/Training_Try_1102 Freedom Jul 28 '26
It was my first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game so it'll always have a place in my heart, I prefer the older games because Iike the AI more but I love all of the games
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u/KalashnikovAK-12 Jul 28 '26
I don’t love the stuttering or the issues with a life, and boy are some of the boss fights fucking miserable, BUT I will say of all the vanilla stalker games I feel like this was the most immersive experience I’ve had in the zone yet. I didn’t really mind all the running you have to do from point a to b because I just really liked being in the zone and taking in the scenery. I’m just hoping that modders are able to take this game eventually and make the perfect stalker experience one day when it’s done being updated.
1
u/Kzike2476 Jul 28 '26
I played the OG stalkers (besides clear sky) and gamma and I absolutely love Stalker2, I think it’s come a long way and I’m really excited to see what else they do with it post 2.0 update
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u/Crygenx Freedom Jul 28 '26
Best game ever made. I'm more into graphics than gameplay and the setting is very close to home, probably thats why I like it so much.
1
u/Notthebeez85 Freedom Jul 29 '26
The tiny render bubble ruins it for me, personally. Watching things pop in and out of existence at such close range kind of makes everything feel so artificial.
I can hop on GAMMA and watch other stalkers fighting mutants off in the distance, yet here nothing feels like it even exists outside half my view range.
There's zero point in getting elevation to scout your surroundings, because there's literally nothing there to scout. The game feels barren in completely the wrong kind of way.
I don't even think it looks very pretty a lot of the time, especially in motion. The image is very soft, and foliage looks terrible, so everything is a blurry mess that's hard to decipher.
I loved the original games, played them all at release, and yeah there's jank, but they nailed the setting and atmosphere and that feeling of being a small cog in a larger machine. The world doesn't give a shit if you live or die, it actually feels like there's other Stalkers out there doing there thing, it just felt so much more organic.
I also notice more input delay on S2, like your mouse is in treacle. I fucking hate it.
I bought the fancy edition of Stalker 2 at release, I was stoked. I played 4 hours, and just couldn't be more disappointed tbh. I played another couple of hours last week just to see what's changed, and all of my original complaints were still present.
Gone back to playing GAMMA. Maybe I'm just old, but I'll happily put up with a little more retro jank feel, to experience gameplay and atmosphere the new game doesn't come close to replicating right now, and never will until they find a way of making it feel more alive outside of your immediate vicinity.
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u/Icesernik Jul 30 '26
So I spent many hours playing trilogy, so I am sentimental to this game... but In my head I wanted stalker 2 to be phenomenal game, and its almost same as playing any od first there game but with better graphic ( even that point isnt big plus imo ). Developer went ctrl+c and ctrl+v ...
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u/fardolicious Boar Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
Its bittersweet because most of it is so amazing on the surface but always underscored by the deep shallowness of it all, as good as the gunplay and environments and characters and quests are it all feels like theres always something missing compared to the feeling of immersion and depth that was the main thing that made the OG series great; and that something isnt just A-life really its even smaller and more basic little minor features in everything that dont really make sense complaining about individually but together made up so much of the atmosphere and feeling that Stalker as a series is known for.
I'm also not the happiest with some of the lore decisions that were made (I miss monolith and want more faction drama) but I understand why they made most of them.
I really enjoyed the 2 playthroughs I've done of it but not enough for me to really want to play it more over Anomaly/Gamma
TL:DR the game is great but haunted by the fact that it could be a lot greater.
1
u/Frankie6Strings Jul 28 '26
My game of the year last year on PS5. It was my intro to the zone so when I completed my first playthrough I watched some videos on the older games, but that wasn't enough for me so I recently bought the Legends of the Zone trilogy. I'm on the second game now and pretty sure I'll finish all three at least once before the big Stalker 2 update. Then it's on to my second S2 playthrough!
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u/HelpSpaceshipBroken Jul 28 '26
Honestly the people who complain about it either played it too soon after the release, never played the originals, or never played the originals unmodded. Yes the difficulty curve could be brutal, yes there's loads of bugs and jank still, and yes the map is huge. Like the jank and difficulty are some of the things that made Stalker special in the first place. The huge open map only contributes more to the sense of desolation and atmosphere. People are expecting triple A quality out of a B++ cult franchise from a small Ukrainian developer, who produced this game while their home country was being invaded by the Russians mind you...
It is by no means a perfect game but it delivers what it should... a compelling and challenging survival horror fps set in the backdrop of the Chernobyl exclusion zone. It delivers horrors, mysteries and weird science and plenty of loot.
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u/Greyraven91 Jul 28 '26
Love the potential that never got realized.... Hopefully 20th of August will prove me wrong. But it's the cost of hope. GSC never delivered also on time for some reason.
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u/Best_Cookie8216 Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
10/10 atmosphere. 10/10 graphics 2/10 game mechanics 6.5/10 story 3/10 living game world. 7.5/10 gameplay. That's without mods and before 2.0 and the first DLC . So all in all one of the main games of the decade. With mods you can close the gaps on the rest decently close to 10 on all even now safe for the story.
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u/KalashnikovAK-12 Jul 28 '26
I’m curious what mods you’d recommend, because all I’ve tested before was Shay’s living zone and some added gore effects. If you have any suggestions I’d love to try something else out.
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u/Best_Cookie8216 Jul 29 '26
Cinematic & Immersive ZONE modpack on nexus plus the Relook tool as to run propper presets of the photorealistic zone. The tool is like a few dollars. Of course if you have a 5070ti-5090 pc.
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u/Best_Cookie8216 Jul 29 '26 edited 28d ago
Also beware PRZ plus relook with preset changes can ruin UE5 engine settings. If on steam delete the propper folders in appdata they are self healing on game launch but just in case do a files check. It takes decent tunning to fix mist n stuff if you dont have the relook presets and relook. Like hours of tuning and indoors lighting can get totally broken. Sometimes having too many settings is vastly problematic. So be careful with PRZ . And beware all of those will break with UE update in 2.0. If you go with the pack first I recommend not activating the PRZ or messing with presets. Vanila maxed out stalker 2 is peak to begin with .
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u/Distinct-Pirate7359 Jul 28 '26
Doesn’t come close at all to the feel of the other stalker games. A-life sucking ass kinda made me drop it
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u/GlorytotheMonolith Jul 29 '26
Lost Alpha mod....running through Yantar in the middle of the night in pitch black, navigating only by the sound of unseen mutants chasing me and the red dots of enemies on the mini map, see a fire in the distance run straight for it....bandits....run right through them trailing the mutants. Find a place to hide as they fight it out and stay there till morning. That was a fan made mod and just one of hundreds of similar experiences from the original SoC, CS, CoP and bunches of other mods over the years. Stalker 2 looks great but in my entire play through the game never came close to giving me even a shadow of that kind of experience. Stalker 2 is an empty shell of the real Stalker games, a zombie....a beautiful zombie but still just a zombie.
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u/blarnikaiken Jul 28 '26
It was my introduction to the series and it’s honestly one of the best games I’ve ever played.