Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl Preview – Get in the Zone

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl has had a long journey to get to where it is today. It’s a project that’s been in limbo for over a decade since it was originally announced in 2010. It’s been canceled multiple times, and the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine didn’t help.

But we’re closer to it coming out since the last time we saw it at Gamescom, and I was lucky enough to try a demo of the game at Summer Game Fest Play Days, and it was a surreal experience that immersed me into its world.

The demo introduced me to the protagonist, a man on the mission who acts as if he has nothing left to lose. Despite any warnings, he needs to dive deeper into the Zone to learn more about some artifact, and that’s where our story begins. 

At its core, Stalker 2 is an immersive first-person shooter, and it leans into supernatural horror elements. I started off with a pistol and knife, and I had to scavenge for any other equipment and ammo. 

The game started me in the Zone, a place suffering from the aftermath of a second alternate-history Chornobyl disaster. The local wildlife has been irradiated and irreversibly mutated, and I ran into a few of these creatures. 

But of course, the real monster in any of these sorts of stories is our fellow man. Some military group is also looking for the same artifact my character is learning about, leading to some gunfights in dark places.

Overall, the gunplay here feels a little bit floaty and weightless, which is at odds with the rest of the movement. Running and turning felt a little heavy and intentional, inherently slowing down the general pace of the game. But when the guns feel a bit like peashooters, the experience doesn’t quite mesh well. 

Stalker 2 seems like the sort of game that will really encourage exploring and looting anything that isn’t nailed to the ground. Ammo was scarce, and I found lots of new weapons to switch to just by searching enemy bodies or rundown homes. 

In terms of story and dialog though, I was mostly hooked into the mystery of the world and the protagonist. I haven’t seen much of the other Stalker games, so I’m likely missing some context. But considering the franchise has been quiet for a couple years, I’m likely not the only person who could experience it for the first time through Stalker 2. 

There’s something eerie in the air in the Zone. The protagonist wants to keep digging deeper into it to figure out the secret behind some weird artifact he found, despite someone else telling him to leave before things get worse. 

But is it the Zone itself that’s somehow getting worse? Are the other soldiers going to be the problem? It always feels like something is lurking in the shadows, making the atmosphere tense. 

While it’s hard to say how Stalker 2 will shake out when it releases on Sept. 5, I think there’s enough here to keep me interested in seeing more. It has an interesting narrative hook with a compelling setting, and there’s a dystopic open world to explore. 

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl was previewed at Summer Game Fest Play Days courtesy of Xbox.