S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl | Review Thread

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Well, the reviews I have read so far make look the game as great and terrible in same time...
 
Both OT and Review threads with the same typo: "Chornobyl" instead of "Chernobyl"... is this an inside joke I'm not aware of, or honest mistake by both authors? :messenger_grinning_sweat:
Ukrainian spelling instead of Russian

Reads the same, tho
 
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Seems to be a good game marred by bugs and technical issues. So basically a perfect sequel in every way.
Things is. Call Of Pripyat was much improved. So its disappointing to read about the numerous broken quests etc in this.
 
Was expecting it be filled with bugs and bad perf. Those can be fixed tho.

If the game is true to the originals and not too dumbed down, then I'm in. (In a few months/years)
 
Both OT and Review threads with the same typo: "Chornobyl" instead of "Chernobyl"... is this an inside joke I'm not aware of, or honest mistake by both authors? :messenger_grinning_sweat:

with o is the proper Ukrainian spelling, which the developers opted to use themselves after the invasion.
 
Nice scores, 77 is good imo, some of the most fun games this gen to me are Atomic Heart - 74 on OC, and Dead Island 2 - 75 on OC, so scores are good enough, still haven't had the chance to read them so we'll see how good is it tonight.
 
I agree, but I'll probably wait a couple of months and patches, there's no urgency, I don't want to spoil the impression of the game because of bugs, a lot of stuff came out, I have a stack of discs that I need to go through =)
That's fair!

I just think people should go a little easier on it given the dev's circumstances out there. That and, well, it's S.T.A.L.K.E.R.!
 
I was expecting 60-70s.

If it was polished, max 75.

There is a hard ceiling to a game like this. Its not a cinematic, hand holdy blockbuster.
Huh?

You were expecting it to score in the similar range as Concord, Forspoken, Crackdown 3, etc? When Stalker 1 and 2 were 80+? Why exactly?

Seems like a cop-out now.
 
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Wow, the game sounds straight up broken.

  • Performance is terrible, even with a 4090 using DLSS Performance
  • Awful texture pop-in.warping
  • Lighting is regularly busted
  • Reflections are glitchy
  • Light sources often don't work correctly (many areas that are clearly supposed to be properly lit are just black as if there's no light on)
  • NPCs and objects often glitch and just float in mid-air
  • UI elements flicker in and out for no apparent reason
  • NPCs will regularly stand on top of eachother during cutscenes
  • Weapon audio cuts out regularly and just straight up doesn't make any sound
  • Positional audio is completely borked and is completely inaccurate
  • Enemy AI is poor
  • When you complete an objective, it oftentimes won't update in the UI so you are unable to see that it's actually been completed
  • Map markers are regularly inaccurate (such as where stashes are, etc..), leading you to completely inaccurate locations
  • Stealth is totally busted; enemies can see you through walls
 
Wow, the game sounds straight up broken.

  • Performance is terrible, even with a 4090 using DLSS Performance
  • Awful texture pop-in.warping
  • Lighting is regularly busted
  • Reflections are glitchy
  • Light sources often don't work correctly (many areas that are clearly supposed to be properly lit are just black as if there's no light on)
  • NPCs and objects often glitch and just float in mid-air
  • UI elements flicker in and out for no apparent reason
  • NPCs will regularly stand on top of eachother during cutscenes
  • Weapon audio cuts out regularly and just straight up doesn't make any sound
  • Positional audio is completely borked and is completely inaccurate
  • Enemy AI is poor
  • When you complete an objective, it oftentimes won't update in the UI so you are unable to see that it's actually been completed
  • Map markers are regularly inaccurate (such as where stashes are, etc..), leading you to completely inaccurate locations
  • Stealth is totally busted; enemies can see you through walls


bbc teledu GIF by Pobol y Cwm
 
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According to Xbox Era, Day One Patch only dropepd today:

We got the game on Wednesday, one week before launch. On Monday two days before we got a 139 GB patch that fixed every major issue I had. Side missions, main campaigns, boss fights, they all broke constantly. I was hovering around a "review in progress" that gave the game a temporary 4 because it was nearly unplayable. My save only says 40 hours but I kept track and know I lost at least 15 hours to broken bosses and quests that I had to repeatedly reload.
You are lucky, and will never have to play that version of the game. Other reviewers might have only played that one though. So if you see them talk about it being a broken, buggy mess, just know that their issues might be fixed now, as mine were.

The game currently runs at 40 FPS with a RTX 4090
 
Looks like Redditor guy was right after all.

Him and Destin (IGN) either played a very very managed preview session, or they were on cocaine when they wrote their previews, there's no way something this widely touted as buggy would emerge as a GOTY candidate to you in 2 hours of playing.

Will probably pick up the past games bundle for cheap and see if I like the lore and gameplay enough to keep watch on this.
 
Stalker without bugs isn't Stalker. It's a core element of the Eurojank experience.
exactly, and it's a barrier of entry you must be willing to pass to get into one of the most unique gaming experiences.

Exact same thing as Pathologic 2, Gothic, or STALKER 1 (or Kingdom Come even)
 
so it just needs a ps5 pro patch ?

It needs a PC patch:

Wow, the game sounds straight up broken.

  • Performance is terrible, even with a 4090 using DLSS Performance
  • Awful texture pop-in.warping
  • Lighting is regularly busted
  • Reflections are glitchy
  • Light sources often don't work correctly (many areas that are clearly supposed to be properly lit are just black as if there's no light on)
  • NPCs and objects often glitch and just float in mid-air
  • UI elements flicker in and out for no apparent reason
  • NPCs will regularly stand on top of eachother during cutscenes
  • Weapon audio cuts out regularly and just straight up doesn't make any sound
  • Positional audio is completely borked and is completely inaccurate
  • Enemy AI is poor
  • When you complete an objective, it oftentimes won't update in the UI so you are unable to see that it's actually been completed
  • Map markers are regularly inaccurate (such as where stashes are, etc..), leading you to completely inaccurate locations
  • Stealth is totally busted; enemies can see you through walls

No idea how your Series S is going to cope.
 
Huh?

You were expecting it to score in the similar range as Concord, Forspoken, Crackdown 3, etc? When Stalker 1 and 2 were 80+? Why exactly?

Seems like a cop-out now.
I dunno, maybe something in line with the previous games:

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Had no idea these were 80+. …Maybe back in the day there were not enough open world games… etc

Going by currently how review scores work, no way this will cross into the 80s.
 
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