STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Hands-On Impressions – Good Hunting, S.T.A.L.K.E.R

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We recently went hands-on with the first half-hour of gameplay in STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl running on PC. After a brief story-heavy introductory cutscene, we were sent off running through dark corridors at our own pace with danger not far behind. As one that has had more than a short break from the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series (Shadow of Chernobyl and the L.U.R.K. mod were honestly my last real in-depth experience with the series nearly a decade and a half ago, although I did dabble in a bit of Clear Sky back at release), so much of the world and inventory feels right at home. Name one other RPG where random bottles of vodka and tinned cat food are just as essential in your inventory as spare bandages and bullets.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl’s gunplay remains a strong focus to differentiate it from other open-world games. Both players and enemies alike go down in just a few bullets and if not for the sparsely littered medkits and bottles of vodka, I would’ve been left traversing the Zone in a permanently critical state. Most weapons thankfully use interchangeable ammo types across the class, however, I found a wide assortment of caliber rounds that would each clutter my inventory in individual stacks despite having never come across a weapon that could use them. Hiding in a side room in one of the buildings I explored was an assault rifle that was numerically slightly more efficient at indiscriminate murder that I wound up swapping to it, only to never find another stash of ammo for it. My packrat nature made me want to hold onto that gun for the rest of the demo, cluttering up my inventory space rather than discarding it. If this were the full game, I’d probably still have held onto it to vendor it for enough rubles to buy a can of Tourist’s Delight.

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Anomalies remain one of the most dangerous aspects of the landscape in STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl. Veteran players