Jan Urbanchik
GSC Game World has had an incredibly difficult year and a half. Despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the almost constant threat to life and deteriorating working conditions, they did not keep up with the development and some employees even moved to Prague. The expected sequel to Stalker will someday see the light of day, but I say in advance that we will have to wait.
Stalker 2 was unveiled at the Xbox booth at Gamescom and, along with the DLC for Cyberpunk 2077, was by far the most popular. I also endured a not so small queue. But as soon as I grabbed my keyboard and mouse and started playing, I was shocked.
They took over all the beautiful trailers. The Stalker 2 I played didn’t look nearly as good. Low-res textures, poor lighting, or strange character models with unfinished facial animations. Compared to previous samples, it was a downgrade in almost all areas. But worst of all were various bugs and glitches. As soon as I started the demo, the screen started flickering, NPCs came into me during the conversation and got stuck on the main character’s model, there was no death animation, so if you were dying, you just got a screen with an inscription and you didn’t understand what happened at all. Add to that a long loading time and one moment where I even managed to fall under the map. Even though the demo was short, I ran into a lot of problems.
But we must admit that the atmosphere of the post-apocalyptic world was still present. I also found the gunplay to be pretty solid, though the enemy AI is a little weak and definitely needs some work. In short, the problem is that any positive of the demo drowned out all the bugs and shortcomings. Of course, one can hope that this was an older build or that something just went wrong while making it and the rest of the game got better, but I find it hard to believe. On the contrary, with such an isolated and short demo, I would like to hope that the developers will choose the best. And if that’s the case, then what really scares me is what everything else looks like.
In the end, I feel sorry for the developers, who are largely not to blame for the whole situation, because they have incredibly difficult conditions, but also for the players themselves, who stood in hour-long queues for the title to see the product. it just shouldn’t have been presented here. Although the postponement to the first quarter of next year has already been officially announced, I strongly doubt that Stalker 2 will be released during this period. The developers still have a lot of work to do, and I really hope that they are not in a hurry. If they rush development and release the game in such a bad state, they will hurt not only the players, but especially themselves.
Daniel Jaroki
Microsoft has prepared very carefully for Gamescom this year. The result was a rich gaming showcase where players could see or directly experience the Phantom Liberty DLC for Cyberpunk 2077, the new Forza Motorsport, and a range of mid-range and indie titles. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the playable demo version of the post-apocalyptic action STALKER 2: The Heart of Chernobyl. Due to the extremely complex development, which was significantly affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where the GSC Game World studio is from, the game has already been affected by several delays. Another postponement of the release date was unanimously announced during Gamescom, when the second “Stalker” was moved from the end of this year to the first quarter of 2024. However, given the demo that was presented, I have serious doubts whether the developers will stick to this new date.
Although STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl looks amazing in the official trailers, the real state of the game is much worse at the moment. From the first minutes of the demo, it was felt that it definitely did not represent the final quality of the game, but rather an alpha or, at best, a beta version. I could start with low resolution textures, stuck characters, misconfigured AI, or an unfinished interface. After playing for a relatively short period, I asked myself if it was a good idea to offer such a raw state of the game for testing by ordinary players who have to queue for hours at the show floor.
However, it is possible that after all the difficulties, the developers simply felt the need to prove to the players that the new Stalker is not frozen and its development continues. Despite all the technical imperfections, a truly gloomy atmosphere was visible from the demo, which adorned the previous parts. The potential was also felt in terms of control and the feeling of shooting, where the developers clearly emphasize realism. I personally felt this after a short burst from my AK-47, which surprisingly soon began to overheat and misfire.
In my opinion, the final quality of the second “Stalker” will be determined by whether the developers have enough time to refine and optimize it. If this is not the case, we may see significant disappointment early next year. However, if studio management gets enough time and resources with the help of Microsoft, then we could be witnessing an extraordinary experience that a traditional, established “Western” series simply can’t offer.
Source :Indian TV
