Since the start of the war in Ukraine, many players have been worried about the safety of GSC Game World employees and the development of STALKER 2. out for his future creation.
[Mis à jour le 16 juin mars 2022 à 12h38] GSC Game World is a studio based in kyiv and has been in a rather complicated situation for a few months. The indecent Russian invasion has greatly shaken up the studio behind the next STALKER 2, forced to relocate part of its resources to Prague. But the development of the game did not stop there. After several months without news, GSC wanted to participate in the Summer Game Fest and present to us at the Xbox & Bethesda Showcase conference a new trailer for STALKER 2, the long-awaited sequel to the legendary survival game. Images and information that reassure and even manage to make our mouths water, while the official release of the game has logically been postponed to 2023.
In the video above, GSC Game World gives us a glimpse into the life of its employees in and around Kyiv. Part of the studio has been relocated to Prague while another is forced to stay in the Ukrainian capital, trying somehow to continue their work developing STALKER 2 between the bomb threats and the explosions. Of course, the conflict greatly slowed down the development of the game, and the studio was forced to push back its release date to 2023. A long-awaited postponement which also testifies to the optimism and strength of will of a people who courageously pursue their lives despite the tragedy that strikes them.
The project for a STALKER 2 (which is actually the fourth game in the series) was initially announced in 2013, but it was in 2018 that we learned that it was indeed in development. . It was in 2020 during the Xbox conference that GSC Game World presented a cinematic trailer of its little protege. But make no mistake, the star is the gameplay trailer presented at the Xbox & Bethesda conference at E3 2022. Three minutes of great intensity, marked by sumptuous graphics from the Unreal Engine 5, a few strong combat sequences and above all, the surprisingly poetic and thrilling atmosphere that made the success of the STALKER games.
Regarding the gameplay of STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl, we still have very little information. We already know that it will be a first-person exploration and survival game, in an open world, where you will have to find and manage your resources and your allies in order to survive in an extremely dangerous universe. About this universe, moreover, it is inspired by the novel Stalker: Picnic by the wayside by the Arcadi brothers and Boris Strugatsky and appeared in 1981. The STALKER games take place nearly thirty years after the nuclear disaster that destroyed the Chernobyl power station. Around the plant, a perimeter has been created, the Zone, studied by scientists and guarded by the military. The Zone is a perilous place, where raiders and mutants reign supreme. It is also the favorite hunting ground for STALKERs, adventurers ready to do anything to recover its many riches, including Stif, the character played by the player.
GSC Game World recently published an analysis of the trailer by one of its developers. Zack, his first name, explains several small details to us, sequence by sequence. First, STALKER 2 introduces an instant weapon modification system, as well as a whole new faction, the exact name of which is not yet known. In the second sequence, Zack explains to us that we can visit places present in the first STALKER, and use an artifact detector called Gilka. Artifacts offer various bonuses to Stif, like “Jelly” which restores his stamina. The map will consist of several cities, including Pripyat and Chernobyl 2, and various campfires which are safe areas where the player can equip themselves and prepare for their next outings. Of the many enemies lurking in the Zone, the one we can see is the “Leech”, which we had already seen in previous games. To survive, the player will have many weapons at his disposal, including the Gauss Rifle shown at the end of the trailer.
STALKER 2 was one of the headline announcements at Xbox’s E3 2021 conference, so it’s pretty clear that it’s an Xbox and PC exclusive. We can nevertheless hope for a possible release on Playstation 5, but it seems that Playstation 4 is not an option. Indeed the performance of “last-gen” consoles does not seem sufficient to support such graphic quality, moreover it will not be released on Xbox One, only on Xbox Series X | S and PC.