After a long 15 year wait, we finally got a STALKER 2 sequel. Was it worth the wait?
No it was not, not yet at least. The game was not ready. It has built a reputation since yesterday. People are calling it “a worse launch since Cyberpunk 2077.”
I had a feeling the game would launch to a rocky reception. This is due to review codes practically being non-existent. Pr teams across Xbox have been ignoring requests and information regarding the game to many influencers and professionals alike. Embargo broke a mere 2 hours before launch. Something was up.
I installed the game the day before launch with a whopping 148 gb file. I was later met with a day one patch bringing the file size to about 186gb. A colossal file size to be sure.
I finally booted up the game and was genuinely surprised. I had not run into any bugs with only a minor performance issue. I was delighted! But after a very short period the curtain was drawn back and I witnessed a game that was not ready. Which unfortunately is the norm in this day and age.
I was tricked into thinking the game looked stunning in the prologue. This was absolutely due to how dark the area was. It took place at night and was very difficult to get a full grasp of the entire landscape. Once the prologue ended I was thrust into a whirlwind of issues.
Textures constantly loading in and out, my characters cursor continuously moving upward on its own. This particular issue was driving me insane!
A friend was able to get hands on with the game previously. He was not impressed. Stating it felt like an old shooter. Luckily I believe they rectified this issue as the gunplay wasn’t bad, it was not great either. But better than expected.
The game does not really have much going for it. The story is not captivating, albeit I am not very far in. Nothing I have seen thus far has me excited. I mainly want to just explore ‘the zone’. The voice acting is atrocious and extremely soulless.
I heard two very clear Eastern European accents in the opening cut scene and have not heard one since. The game literally takes place in Chernobyl, yet many NPC’s are have thick as chips Irish and Scottish accents. My jaw literally dropped.
I rescued one particular STALKER from bandits and was utterly shocked when he sounded like a Temu Conor McGregor. Maybe I would be better off changing to the Ukrainian dialogue.
The main character is an American? Very odd choice there. He unfortunately is an utterly dreadful voice actor. A wooden chair has more life in it.
I am packing away the game for now until a slurry of updates drop. I can’t unfortunately recommend this game at this time.
