S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl

In order to dispel all bias and so on, I also decided to leave a review. Yes, I’m a fan of the series and have been waiting for the second part for a very long time, but I won’t turn a blind eye to the mistakes

What really pleased me was the lack of politics in the game, despite many antics from PYS (yes, yes, I know for the song on the radio in the Bar, This is tinny and overkill, fortunately they cut it out). I didn’t buy the game, they themselves refused to sell it, I didn’t look for workarounds and didn’t intend to.

And let's be clear right away: yes, the game is not finished, starting from the fact that the content that was made has not been added (the same locations Iron Forest and Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, North Pripyat and Jupiter), although it looks normal and ending with troubles with the economy, bugs and disgusting optimization (the problem of Unreal Engine 5 in every/almost every game), but they will finish it all. A lot of patches have already been released in the month since the release, and even more will be released. The fact that there is no A-Life - well, yes, it’s sad, although in one of the latest patches they began to slowly add it.

Graphics: what I completely agree with is that the game has problems with lighting. In sunny weather everything was somehow faded, why are there no shadows, although in the rain/at night everything looks good, the emissions are beautiful, there are still no shadows from the flashlight, which is also strange. Apparently they wanted to add a lot, but they couldn’t cope and problems arose. Otherwise the graphics are good, the visuals are very cool. The way the textures, global illumination and shadows look (yes, not from a flashlight and in clear weather) are beyond praise, as is the water and its behavior (which for some reason many people neglect). The animations are also good, heaven and earth are in the background of the trilogy and that’s good.

Shooting: I was pleased, to be honest. Yes, it’s arcade-style, but there is feedback and scatter, and you don’t need more. This is not a simulator to do super-duper shaking and stuff. Each gun feels different, the sound is great, as are the animations. Damn, they even did an animation of the wedge, it makes me happy. But what is not encouraging is the impact from the shooting. You shoot and shoot, but the enemy is on the side, only in the end you feel something and then fall. I hope this detail will be improved.

Locations: the only questions are about the new location (as well as the absence of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which is visible in the fog), but if this is justified in the DLC/prequel, then there will be no questions. Also questions about filling and emptiness, which are the problem. Otherwise, there are no questions, the locations are made amazingly and I’m very pleased with their actual location. Even cooling towers were added with 5-6 power units and the village of Yanov, the village of Chistogalovka, which I have never seen in mods. Finally, the Dead City and Generators have arrived, albeit not in the form in which they were in the builds. And the great thing is that the groups were given a logical location, namely Freedom and Duty: the former sit in the Bar, and the latter at the Cement Plant, closer to the Center of the Zone. After all, everyone is such a defender and fighter, but in the TC they were chill guys, they sat in the Bar. However, both groups are not involved in the plot, there are not even / very few quests with them. It’s unfair, since these are the main groups in the series, all the controversy is around them.

There may be spoilers, be careful!!!

Plot and characters: the plot of the plot is not bad, there was even an attempt to stitch the lore together, but again there were some confusion. Apparently there was no single lore, and there never will be... In my opinion, the best ending for Strelok.

Of the characters, Korshunov, Tramp and Faust are really good, especially the last two. Yes, and the Monolith/Noon itself did not lose face, they are revealed as much as possible, although it’s a pity for the Tramp (Shooter and Scar: yes, we went like crazy, but it’s as if we survived a lot: we made the first few trips to the Center of the Zone, saw a lot of tin, and also coding Scar survived at least 3 super-emissions, an explosion at the Chemical Plant, and also underwent coding, a mixture of personalities. The good news is that many were not forgotten. characters from previous games, it’s a pity that some of them are still missing(

The mutants were given new features, some of them are now knocked down, the burer can even shoot bullets, the chimera is one of the tenacious mutants, battles with it are difficult.

Bottom line: a good game, with potential, but still crude with problems, of which there are quite a few, the game does not deserve more than 7 points at the moment, I’m waiting for improvements and DLC.