IN THE ZONE

New mutants, a new faction, and new ways to die in STALKER 2: HEART OF CHERNOBYL.

- Chris Livingston

The Zone of the STALKER series is filled with radiation and dread in equal measures. Home to mutant horrors, hostile factions, and otherworldly anomalies, the Zone only promises one thing: a quick and brutal death. The original STALKER games were bleak, terrifying, unforgiving survival sandboxes. The Zone is the most miserable place in videogame history. We can’t wait to go back.

We have, however, waited for quite a while. It’s been over a decade since the release of the last STALKER game by GSC Gameworld, Call of Pripyat, and STALKER 2 (oddly enough, it’s the fourth game in the series) was originally planned for 2012. It was cancelled that same year, only to reappear in development again in 2018, this time in the Unreal Engine. Aiming for a release in April of 2022, we’re finally getting tantalisingly close to another visit to the Zone. And the wait may have been worth it, as it sounds like something closer to the vision GSC Gameworld had for its first STALKER game, Shadow of Chernobyl, way back in 2007.

“The STALKER series always aimed to be set in a seamless open world, but only now is it possible to implement it as planned,” says game director Evgeniy Grygorovych. “STALKER 2 features a vast world to explore with different biomes, numerous locations, labs, and undergrounds to explore. It’s 64 square kilometres, and it’s all yours. You can go anywhere.”

DEATH AND REBIRTH

Time hasn’t just passed for us while we waited for the next STALKER game. Time has passed in the Zone, too. Years have gone by since the events of STALKER: Call of Pripyat, and that passage of time is evident in the look of STALKER 2.