BGS 2023 – We played STALKER 2, a promising game, even in the midst of an adverse scenario

One of the unreleased games available at BGS 2023 was STALKER 2. The game from Ukrainian studio GSC Game World is experiencing numerous problems, especially as it has been directly affected by the war waged by Russia since February last year. Among several situations, there were leaks of the game’s build, which the developers claim were leaked by Russian hackers.

The game, which would arrive at the end of this year but was postponed until the first quarter of 2024, also saw many of its team leave Kiev heading to neighboring Poland, to continue playing the game, while some others stayed in the country, which has brought development with more turbulence than is common for any game.

At BGS, we had access to a build from about a month and a half ago. And, of course, fully understanding the situation that the game’s development is in, the feeling I had when playing was of having something very well done, but with the air of an unfinished product, at the same time. I explain. While the gameplay is agile and very fun, the textures did not give the confidence of a visual as impressive as the screens sent months ago.

If, on the one hand, the animations are cool and the shooting is really fun, on the other hand, we sometimes felt like we were playing a game from six years ago. But, again, fully understanding the issues surrounding the development of the game, and also believing that, in fact, what they wanted to bring to the public was something more focused on gameplay than on visuals, that each one will seek the best within the your context, whether on PC or console.

In the demo of around 20 minutes, I also experienced several crashes when exploring the map. These are problems that I believe are not in the final version, and I also hope that the team takes the time necessary to deal with these technical issues. Even with a feeling of an unfinished product, the balance was positive. Because the gameplay, which is essential for a game of this nature, is really fun.

It’s easy to aim, shoot, hit your enemies wherever you want, as well as move around the scene, without any major problems. Navigating the game world is also very simple and interesting, whereas, at least in the demo, I already had the feeling that there will be a lot of content, due to the various secondary missions available to anyone who wanted to explore them.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chronobyl is scheduled to arrive in the first quarter of 2024, with versions for PC and Xbox Series X|S. The game will also be available on Game Pass.