STALKER 2 Should Bring Back Shadow of Chernobyl's Artifact System
Without the Zone, there would be no anomalies. Without anomalies, no artifacts. Without artifacts, STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl would have no Stalkers. While the pockets of altered physics known as anomalies can only be observed within the Zone itself, artifacts can be physically removed from the Zone and brought into the larger world, creating the black market which is a Stalker's lifeblood.
But like the Zone itself, the properties of artifacts within the STALKER games have changed over time. In the first game, Shadow of Chernobyl, artifacts had a wide range of unique properties which were streamlined in later titles, removing build options that should return in STALKER 2.
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Artifacts are the main reason for Stalkers to stay in the Zone. Akin to magical talismans granting miraculous properties to their users, artifacts must be plucked from the center of the Zone's deadly anomalies surrounded by ravenous mutants. In each STALKER game, almost all artifacts have a beneficial effect and a drawback, such as the Stone Blood which regenerates health at the cost of lowered defense. A few rare specimens, such as the chemical-resistant Pellicle, provide just a benefit. Some even have no effect at all besides a bizarre appearance, as is the case with the Altered Insulator.
Roadside Picnic, the original novel from which STALKER draws most of its inspiration, also featured artifacts which enticed that story's Stalkers into the hazards of the Zone of Alienation. These included self-replicating Batteries and Empties which were two floating discs that could not be pulled apart or pushed together. These artifacts are directly referenced in the games with the Battery, Shell, and Spring.
Like the Stalkers of the
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