Stalker 2 has been enjoyable jank, but it’s also getting rapidly fixed
When the impossibly punctuated S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl released on November 20, after many delays (that included the Russian invasion of the developer’s native Ukraine), it seemed like it could have used even more delays.
Stalker 2 had big performance issues and game-breaking bugs, along with balance and difficulty spike issues. Some things that seem “wrong” in the game are just going to stay that way. The first-person survival/shooter series has always had a certain wobbly, wild feel to it. This expresses itself in both the game world, where a major villain can off themselves by walking through a window, and in the tech stack, where broken save games, DIY optimization, and other unmet needs have created thriving mod scenes.
Developer GSC Game World has been steadfastly patching the game since its release, and the latest one should nudge the needle a bit from “busted” to “charmingly wonky.” Amid the “Over 1,800 fixes and adjustments” in Patch 1.1, the big changes are to “A-Life.” In porting Stalker 2 to Unreal Engine 5, the developer faced a challenge in getting this global AI management system working, but it’s showing its weird self again.
