Thread: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl |OT| Atomic Heart
Hype Thread
Official Thread
Imagine if this drops sometime this holiday season - WE STACKED yo!! Not funny 🤭

Yeah I'm curious about the release date. The rest of the year is stacked and I think something like Feb 2024 would be much better for them.

Seeing the latest UE5 games though, I'm rather concerned about performance here. With all the scale and features they're pushing, raytracing in a detailed open world, with the known Unreal Engine issues regarding texture streaming and CPU utilization, combined with the difficult development, there's a lot of potential for severe tech fuckery.
 
Yeah I'm curious about the release date. The rest of the year is stacked and I think something like Feb 2024 would be much better for them.

Seeing the latest UE5 games though, I'm rather concerned about performance here. With all the scale and features they're pushing, raytracing in a detailed open world, with the known Unreal Engine issues regarding texture streaming and CPU utilization, combined with the difficult development, there's a lot of potential for severe tech fuckery.

I hear you!! has a huge potential slippin away to mid 2024 or holidays

Once it's cooked the atmosphere of this gm will be unmatched
 
  • Like
Reactions: Vyse and regawdless
Article:
STALKER 2 might be less than four months away from release if a new listing on the official German PLAION Store is to be believed. As spotted by fellow press member Andrew Marmo, the store mentions a December 1st release date, and it might not be a placeholder.

First of all, it's the beginning of a month rather than the ending as usual with placeholders. Moreover, it's a Friday, which is the most common weekday to launch games. Lastly, the German PLAION Store isn't new to leaking release dates; it already happened with the Nintendo Switch version of Darksiders 2. As a reminder, PLAION (formerly known as Koch Media) will be distributing the game's physical editions.

In case all of that wasn't enough to convince you, there's the fact that GSC Game World had previously planned to launch STALKER 2 in December 2022 before their plans went awry due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Moreover, the recent confirmation from the studio that the game will be playable publically for the first time at Gamescom 2023 later this month is yet another hint of its near-complete state. If it launched before the end of the year, it could be the proverbial cherry on top of what's shaping up to be an absolutely memorable year in game releases.
 
We're about to get more on the game in a few weeks time. I'm very excited and happy for the development team to be able to work on this in the real world shit they're going through.


 
Impressions from the demo are mixed.

- Metro Exodus maxed on PC looks better according to DF
- Rough edges
- No Nanite for foliage, so theres pop in for foliage, but no pop in for any other structures
- Lumen lighting and reflections, but shadows aren't great
- Abysmal facial expressions from NPCs and questionable voice acting, feeling like place holders
- VERY crisp image quality
- OK gunplay but not that good
- Clearly unfinished game, a lot of work until release
- AI was impressive and engaging
- Great atmosphere
- Was running on PCs
 
  • Brain
Reactions: VlaudTheImpaler
This is such a great looking game. Very clean, photoreal visuals while still being atmospheric. A new bar that all first-person shooters should strive to reach in my opinion.
 
  • Star
Reactions: regawdless
This is such a great looking game. Very clean, photoreal visuals while still being atmospheric. A new bar that all first-person shooters should strive to reach in my opinion.

Game looks promising but it's still rough. From the playable demo, very mixed opinions. Tech wise, a bunch of issues like low quality shadows, bad facial animations, pop in etc. But very clean and crisp image. Seeing all the wild stuff happening around the devs, with a war, hacking attack and a fire in the office, I don't see any chance this will be a well polished experience. Very good looking from what I've seen, but I expect weird visual issues and rough edges.
 





So much for the Q1 release lol. Hope that means they'll get enough time to polish it, making a great game despite the war, dead devs, fires and hacks.
 
  • Brain
Reactions: Zefah
I hope this one turns out as good as the trailers look.

Was pretty janky when it got shown during Gamescom, with mixed feedback. Likely leading to the latest delay from Q1 to September, improving the probability of it turning out good.
 
Aw, why did you edit the title? It was so nice seeing it named properly.

I didn't change anything since... ever. But now that you say it, I looked for it and the image from my opening gif says Chernobyl, might be from old promo pics, all the other info say Chornobyl.
 
I didn't change anything since... ever. But now that you say it, I looked for it and the image from my opening gif says Chernobyl, might be from old promo pics, all the other info say Chornobyl.

Chornobyl is Ukrainian transliteration. Chernobyl is Russia. Leave it as Chornobyl.
 
  • Like
Reactions: thebigR and Vyse
Excited for this game. Is the first stalker still playable today? My rig back then wasn't able to handle it.

It was extremely atmospheric back then, a unique experience. Don't think it holds up that well today tbh.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Eneru