The long-awaited sequel, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, has finally released, and it was worth the wait. Return to the Zone and face off against the monsters inhabit it, whether they be mutants, people, or anomalies. Essentially, the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games are surviving supernatural Chornobyl.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 perfectly captures the magic of the original games. Every fight is just that, a real fight. In most games, you don’t really worry about failing, because you are the main character, but not in S.T.A.L.K.E.R., instead, you are just as mortal as the bandits you fight against, forcing the player to think strategically. This makes every fight exciting, and making even one bad choice could send you back to your last save.

I was glad to see that GSC Game World, the developers, didn’t streamline the game to make it easier for first timers, because that takes away the fun of discovering the difficulty.

Another thing that GSC once again excelled at is the atmosphere. Every step you take in game, you’re never completely at ease, even it seems to be safe. There could be bandits hiding in the trees, or invisible mutants stalking you, or there could be nothing, but this uncertainty has the player constantly surveying the area, fearing what could be just out of sight. The gunplay follows the trend of the previous games, giving a responsive and realistic feel to each and every firefight.

I do, however, have a couple gripes, one of which being that there are some bugs that need to be patched. Personally, I haven’t experienced as many as others, but I’ve still gotten the occasional dialogue or audio glitch, which can just take you out of it. I’m willing to give some lenience to this though, because GSC has had a rough couple of years.

For context, GSC Game World is a Ukrainian game development studio, meaning they have been extremely impacted by the Russia-Ukraine War, especially since one of their lead devs was killed in said war, so in my eyes, it’s a miracle S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 even came out at all. I do have a slightly pedantic gripe about the name as well, because it isn’t the second S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game, it’s the fourth, but that’s just me being frivolous.

Overall, I’d rate S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl a 10/10, it’s probably my game of the year. It just so perfectly captures the difficulty and horror of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, and there just so much to explore. If you feel like exploring the ruins of Chornobyl, fighting mutants, and collecting strange artifacts, then this is certainly the game for you.