S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2: Heart of Chornobyl

Release Date: September 5, 2024

Platforms: Xbox Series X/S, PC

People have been waiting a very long time for S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2: Heart of Chornobyl The immersive FPS from Ukrainian studio GSC Game World was delayed in 2022, when the team had to flee their country after it came under siege by Russia. Making a game is already incredibly difficult, now try making one the midst of an invasion. After several delays, S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 is set to launch this fall, and I got a chance to try out a demo build at Summer Game Fest. Though my build wouldn’t let me invert my Y-axis and I embarrassed myself in front of Phil Spencer (who was behind me while I wheeled the camera about wildly trying to unlearn years of inversion-brain), it’s clear that GSC has made something special.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 looks incredible. The game world is incredibly dark, not so much so that you can’t clearly see where you’re going, but just enough that the bizarre electrical anomalies chasing you through a sewer will overwhelm you and make a scary situation even more terrifying. Then there’s the resource management, which you’ll quickly learn is crucial if you’re going to make it through the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. Enemies are smart and painful, ammo dwindles fast, radiation poisoning stacks quickly, and you can very easily get over-encumbered with shit. You need to have your head on straight to succeed in S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2, as it offers a level of immersive FPS that surprised me. This game is going to be brutally fun when it launches in the fall, and it’s an instant cop for me (though it’ll be day one on Xbox Game Pass). — Alyssa