Stalker 2 Heart of Chornobyl preview: a brutal, unforgiving FPS that punishes those who don’t prepare

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl feels like a modern FPS, but it'll punish you for playing it like Call of Duty.

Stalker 2 keyart / GSC Game World

I’ve gotten too comfortable with the idea of “regenerating health.” For all of the “realism” that Call of Duty boasts, diving behind a chest-high wall and having a breather to recover from getting shot in the leg isn’t quite how things work in real life. While you’re unlikely to play many games where a single bullet is going to end your run, Stalker feels like it comes close.

In my very first combat encounter in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, I felt completely suppressed. Enemies had spotted me, and I only knew they were present from their barks and gunshots. I was dead before I knew what was happening. The world of Stalker is brutal in tone, and the gameplay complements it perfectly.

Guns aren’t the infallible killing tools that you find in other games. Instead of being able to reload and unload sprays of bullets near-infinitely, weapons have durability in Stalker 2, forcing you to sell, repair, and upgrade your equipment as you progress. If you ignore this, your guns will jam and stop working entirely, mid-fight. 

The environment is as dangerous as enemies in Stalker 2. / GSC Game World

Preparation makes you more likely to survive in most games, but here, failure to prepare drastically increases your chances of dying early. A group of rabid dogs might not usually prove much of a challenge, but you’ll find yourself overwhelmed if your gun jams between each dog dashing toward you.

Ammo isn’t plentiful either – you won’t be able to restock your supplies by rubbing up against a crate of munitions. Instead, each bullet you find on the corpse of an enemy or hidden in a drawer is precious and can extend your life. But funnily enough, my first few deaths weren’t even related to enemies. They were all from the environmental hazards and the anomalies you find inside The Zone.

The Zone has hostile human enemies and mutated monsters to deal with, but those problems can be solved by bullets. The anomalies and irradiated masses of land present different dangers. Stalkers risk their lives to keep their lives, which means contending with the sci-fi landscapes of The Zone to get supplies. Stalker’s lore saw several more dangerous labs and experiment types happening after the Chornobyl disaster, and that resulted in the extreme conditions around The Zone.

Environmental effects set the game apart from contemporaries. / GSC Game World

Anomalies can come in the form of a moving, almost ghost-like electrical field, or a distorted piece of space that will suck you in and spit you out. These effects feel almost more paranormal than scientific, and in addition to the pockets of extreme radiation dotted around The Zone, they also present a challenge to simply navigating the open world. Sprinting ahead is always tempting, but rarely recommended, as you just don’t know what invisible dangers surround you. 

There are a handful of survival mechanics present too, but they’re handled differently. Instead of distracting from gameplay, they force a certain pace. Sure, a couple of stray shots aren’t going to incapacitate or outright kill you, but they can inflict a bleed condition, which can only be solved by bandages. A more extreme healing item, like a syringe, won’t solve bleeding, meaning if you didn’t prepare with a variety of heals, you might find yourself bleeding your HP away. You should make sure to carry some food with you too, but in general, these mechanics don’t feel as intense or annoying as the usual hunger and thirst requirements you get in your average survival game.

Once you’ve adjusted to exploring The Zone, you’ll need to contend with hostiles – a lot of them. The final section of Episode 2 involved an escape from a military base while picking up weapons, ammo, and upgrades along the way. This battle took at least a dozen attempts as enemies slightly adjusted positions on each subsequent attempt. Using a shotgun took most foes out in one or two shots at a reasonable range, meaning I could make good progress, but if one or two enemies caught me in a bad position, it was over before I could run around a corner. 

Night in The Zone is too dark to see approaching enemies. / GSC Game World

This emphasized the slow pace needed to approach and surmount each challenge in Stalker 2. Running will have you dive straight into damaging and devastating anomalies while jogging through hostile territory will have you downed in just a few well-placed shots. It can feel almost oppressive, but finally overcoming the challenge is satisfying. 

Stalker 2 feels deliberate at almost every step. The guns can feel awkward to control, but laser-precise accuracy would turn the game into a power fantasy. Likewise, clear telegraphing of anomalies and radiation would remove the threat of The Zone – both the fantastical threat, and the very real threat that remains in modern-day Chornobyl.

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a fascinating open-world shooter and one of the more challenging single-player FPS games I’ve played. Period. The Zone is littered with sometimes invisible threats, but that forces a more considered and cautious approach. I’m excited to see what the full game has to offer when it launches on November 20, 2024.