Several amazing video games have been paraded at the Xbox Games Showcase 2024 that was recently broadcast. Many of them have ended up becoming big surprises and titles that you definitely have to keep track of with complete certainty. Of all of them, one that I have had the opportunity to try in Los Angeles during the Summer Game Fest 2024 celebration has been STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl.
With the number of years it has been announced, it seems unthinkable that the time to get our hands on this FPS is getting closer and closer. If there are no more last-minute changes, in just three months it will finally be launched, which has undoubtedly become a moment that I am looking forward to because the 30 minutes I have spent at the controls have been enough to convince me that a great game with a lot of potential is coming.
The dangers that lurk in the Exclusion Zone
As we already know, all the action takes place in the so-called Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, where you instantly enter a completely radioactive place and where security is conspicuous by its absence, because dangers and threats lurk everywhere. The demo that I had the opportunity to try was dedicated entirely to the first stages of this adventure, just when you enter this place it makes it very clear from the first moment that you are going to have a really hard time surviving.
This is mainly reflected by the dark and sinister setting that is achieved to perfection by being able to make your hair stand on end because you know that you are in the depths of a completely post-apocalyptic and radioactive open world. Despite this, in this fragment, the action was somewhat linear and you had to follow the steps and objectives that the game automatically set for you, which was not a bad thing to gradually discover its strengths.
With the task of investigating the anomalies that this area housed, I came across some really strange ones, like a cloud that is launching lightning bolts and that can be too lethal if you get close to it. But if there is one that caused me immense fear, it was an imposing creature, with a terrifying appearance, that was capable of making itself invisible, so it was essential to pay attention to the sounds and pay attention to footsteps because of how the grass moved since the only time it became visible was when it gave you an inevitable slash to dodge.
He killed me on two occasions until I calmly began to pay close attention to his movements and you can shoot him down without problems. Of course, despite being an FPS, don’t think that it is one very focused on pure and simple action, because it didn’t give me that feeling due to the way in which the confrontations against other creepy beings that I was encountering take place, especially due to the lack of resources that also makes it clear that every bullet counts and shooting too little is something that can be paid dearly later.
For example, the most essential are bandages, necessary to cure bleeding caused by enemies, such as the aforementioned being that became invisible, as well as injections that can instantly heal your life. For this reason, the most advisable thing is to explore all the places from top to bottom in case there are boxes, trunks that house items of all kinds or corpses from which you can extract everything they had in their pockets, because in total, they already They won’t need it.
On the other hand, in this radioactive world you always carry a detector that tells you when you are near a place where, if you spend too much time there, death is guaranteed. In this sense, I located a pond that from its appearance left no doubt that I should not stay in it for too long, although it was good to gather enough courage to obtain a kind of medallion that protected me from the damage it caused.
What’s more, you can equip the character with several objects of this type while it is possible to manage an inventory that reminded me of the Resident Evil saga, which had to place anything in the right place so that everything fit and thus be able to carry more articles. For the rest, the map, available to consult on a tablet at any time, always tells you where you should go, although the other option is to use a bar that appears at the top of the screen and that has been used lately in too many video games to show you how many meters you are from the destination.
Returning to everything that has to do with the setting, it is indisputable that it is superb and its strongest point. Graphically it looks amazing, something that is achieved thanks to the fact that it uses the Unreal Engine 5 graphics engine, just as it is appreciated how it transmits that feeling of loneliness and fear when moving through certain places due to the darkness and insecurity that it constantly radiates.
I was left even more eager to explore the environments and discover what else the STALKER 2 Exclusion Zone had to offer. In any case, for it to have been a first contact, it has been enough to make me want to continue exploring this radioactive world which could be one of the highlights of 2024. Maybe I’m suicidal because of the dangers that abound, but it will be worth it to enjoy an experience that can keep me glued to the controls as much as this first section.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Release Date
The release of STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is set for September 5, 2024. GSC Game World, the company in charge of its development, plans to publish it on Xbox Series X/S and it can also be purchased on PC through Steam.