Update 11/30/24: GSC Game World has released two patches over the last couple days which have addressed a number of issues, primarily related to quest progression bugs and game balancing. Additional patches addressing A-life 2.0 issues and additional performance and quest related bugs are in the works. Check out the patch notes here.

It has been about 15 years since the last entry in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series was released. Developed by a small team from Ukraine and now based in the Czech Republic, GSC Game World, the series has a hardcore cult following and extensive mod scene online.  Finally, this month saw the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, the product of years of hard work and passion from the indie dev team. The past two years have been a harrowing and difficult time for Ukraine, and GSC did not escape from the reality of war on its doorstep. In February of 2022, the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in full force. Now, nearly three years and hundreds of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian casualties later, the war rages on. An unfortunate reality that struck GSC hard as well, as some of their own team died fighting on the front lines during production of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.

It’s hard to quantify what living and working in that environment would be like and with the struggles GSC faced, release day likely felt like an incredible triumph, as the game quickly surpassed 1 million copies sold. Unfortunately, those external factors seemingly also had a massive impact on the game, and the experience we were delivered is no doubt not what GSC had in mind; S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is positively chock full of bugs and glitches, some minor and more than a few that can halt your progress or even hard lock a save as reported by some players online.

I did not receive a pre-release copy of the game, because I’m a nobody, so I have not had enough time with the game to provide a full review yet, however I have put a significant chunk of my spare time into the game since launch day. My experience has been very mixed, with significant performance issues even on a high-end computer; physics bugs, texture flickering, significant texture and foliage pop in, and a lot more. However, every time I close the game, I find myself wanting to jump right back in. The visuals, when they aren’t bugging out, are stunning and the Unreal engine is able to bring the zone to a new level of horrific beauty. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is more cinematic than past entries with a heavy use of first person cut scenes, much like Cyberpunk 2077, and GSC really seems to have leaned into the immersion with the upgrade to graphical fidelity. Environments are heavily detailed and dripping with ambience, and wandering the zone is a tense and mysterious venture full of creatures and fellow humans ready to rip you apart, and some who aren’t quite as blood thirsty.

However, it isn’t all roses and radiation in the zone this time around. Users on Reddit shortly after launch noted that the A-life 2.0 system appears to be either missing entirely, or severely hamstrung. In past entries, this system brings life to the zone, allowing for NPC’s and mutants to spawn and have their own lives outside of the player’s scope of play. This meant you may come across a group of bandits fighting packs of wild dogs or other factions of mercenaries. You may even team up with another NPC stalker and adventure with them for hours on end, as the system also increases NPC ranks as they undertake activities in the zone, giving them better equipment over time. The world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is incredibly dynamic with you just being another person in the zone, and that was a huge draw for fans of the series, along with its brutal and unforgiving difficulty.

GSC confirmed on their official Discord as well as Reddit threads that there are some known issues with the system that they are working quickly to resolve, but provided no timeline on when that would occur. It’s unclear at this time if the issue stems from performance problems or something else, but the feature was prominently noted on the games Steam page description, as well as in recent interviews with developers, before mentions of it were quietly pulled from the Steam page before launch. A tad bit shady that. It’s unclear if this is because they had initially planned to scrap the system entirely before the recent backlash, or for other marketing reasons. Most fans of the series consider the A-life system to be an essential part of the game, and without it S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is just another generic shooter.

Other users have reported that the improvements to enemy AI that were shown off in videos very shortly before release are also missing in game. This is something I have also experienced in my time playing the game as well. For example, I got into a huge shoot out with a number of IPSF military forces at an old base in the starting area doing one of the main quests. During the shoot out, enemies would just run directly towards me as I mowed them down, usually failing to take cover, not attempting any kind of flanking and in a few instances I watched several enemies walking slowly with their backs turned as I was actively shooting them or shooting at them. They just kept spawning, and I was getting low on ammo, grenades and healing supplies so I ended up having to book it out of there, leaving behind a pile of mostly unlooted bodies.

The AI does not seem to be working as GSC intended to say the least, as their video showing off the AI recently discussed features like enemies not instantly knowing where you are if their friends spot you and needing to communicate your location to others in their group, as well as having advanced flanking and searching mechanics, and reactions to getting shot which do not appear to be present. The devs took a lot of pride in having developed AI that truly acted like a human in combat and have actual senses like sight and hearing, but the product at release is not showing that effort in any way. There is  no stealth to speak of, enemies spot you instantly through heavy brush or walls and all in the group will know where you are immediately as well. Enemy vision cones appear to be massive, and they also have x-ray vision, often shooting at you through walls and throwing grenades against the wall you are hiding behind, even when you haven’t even entered their line of sight.

These are just some of the larger complaints that users are reporting now, and that I have experienced as well. Issues with player movement and controller function on Xbox (and PC using an Xbox controller as I have discovered) are also widely reported, making the game nearly unplayable for some. I personally experienced issues trying to get my character to run in a straight line while using a controller on PC. I couldn’t tell if it was related to the character’s body being simulated in the game, or if it was just part of the controller bug issue. In either case, it is a frustrating experience to be constantly zig-zagging ever so slightly as you try to run straight forward. Aiming and moving with the controller is also another issue, as the crosshair seems jerky and feels like it bounces around when you are using both sticks at the same time. It may be a combination of the issues related to movement and the stuttering the game experiences regularly.

There are honestly too many bugs to list here. With almost any other release, it would severely mar the experience, but as I mentioned previously, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 just keeps calling me back. I’m left wanting to play more every time I take a break, bugs, missing features, bad performance and all. This, in addition to the situation that GSC faced with development of the game, is why I cannot give the game a score yet.

I want to give the game a fair shake, both for myself and for GSC. I want to experience what their actual vision was and not what we have right now. I give GSC the benefit of the doubt that these issues are a result of war erupting mid-way through development rather than some kind of malicious or deceptive intent. Though I will acknowledge, it is concerning that the game was released in this state instead of being delayed another few week.

GSC has committed to patching the game as quickly as possible, and reviewers who received early copies reported that the game was being patched as they played, including several 100+ GB patches that fixed many issues they were encountering, so there is little doubt that GSC will be continuing to work towards perfecting what will likely be their masterpiece. According to the newest information from GSC, the first patch is scheduled to arrive within the next week, however it is mainly focused on progression stopping bugs and other major issues, not the A-life system.

Hopefully this doesn’t end up being a Cyberpunk 2077 situation where it takes years to get the game into a good state. The good news is the Nexus Mods page for the game is already filling up with a number of improvements and changes other users have made and it seems to be fairly easy to make modifications to. In any case, time will tell what GSC can do to resolve the issues and in the mean time, there are quite a few other games that need playing out there.