Stalker 2’s 35-minute developer deep dive shows off its gorgeously bleak post-apocalyptic world

Following Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl’s recent delay to November, developer GSC Game World has rewarded patient fans with a new 35-minute deep dive into the post-apocalyptic horror shooter sequel – showcasing a mission across its bleak, beautiful open-world.

Stalker 2’s “huge” world – officially known as the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone – consists of 20 regions, each with its own residents, anomalies, and nature. It’s also said to feature few barriers, meaning players are free explore locations as they choose – with the goal being to “give the feeling of freedom, to give the feeling of loneliness, to give the feeling of anxiety”.

While GSC’s deep dive offers a good look at Stalker 2’s strikingly varied enviromental work, the bulk of it is focused on the swamp – a formerly inhabited region, free of Stalkers but home to many other dangers, that plays host to a quest in which players must disable deadly, repurposed psi-beacons in order to reach the Clear Sky base.

As the quest plays out, GSC emphasises the freeform nature of its mission design, explaining it’s impossible to see all content and every character in a single playthrough – players will get a slightly different story, slightly different quests, and meet different people depending on the choices they make.

Some of those choices might be tied to missions – at one point we see the player opting to approach a key location from the comparative safety of a rat-infested wine cellar rather than the potentially deadlier overground – while others are more organic. GSC says it’s encouraging exploration by placing new equipment, weapons, weapon attachments, and upgrades out in the world – many of which can’t be acquired through the story.

In total, Stalker 2 will feature 35 weapons, and each can be equipped with different upgrades and attachments for greater diversity. They’ll be used against the likes of zombies, Pseudodogs (which roam in packs alongside phantom versions of themselves), and mutant pigs known as the Flesh. GSC notes its AI doesn’t cheat by knowing where the player is at all times, and will instead hunt them by first hypothesing where they’ll be.

Amid all this, players will want to keep an eye on their hunger levels and tiredness to ensure their efficiency doesn’t dwindle, and they’ll also need to be mindful of their equipment load, as overburdening will limit their movement. GSC says it’s deliberately avoided making Stalker 2 easy for players, as this would “kill the grip of reality” – an attitude reflected in the decision to forego a levelling system in favour of more naturalistic pogression, with players improving as they grow more familiar with the environment, or gain faster reactions through experience.

GSC’s full 35-minute deep dive features plenty more tidbits of information – including a little about the routines of different people in the Zone, and the dynamic nature of factions, which can sometimes change their leader, even break up – and it’s well worth a watch, if only to goggle at its gorgeously bleak environments.

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is now set to launch on 20th Novmber, when it’ll be available on Xbox Series X/S, PC (via Steam, GOG, Epic, and GSC’s website), and Game Pass.