S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Was Announced... Again

[Eligos]

 

I'm at a loss for words. I never thought we would see this game again. I'm not sure how many people here care about Stalker, but I love the series and was wondering what everyone thinks about the possibility of seeing Stalker 2 again.

[wheresthebeef]

Announced for 2021 and will still likely be delayed.

Really should've waited until the game was actually close before doing this, but eh.

Also wow, it's been 9 years since the last Stalker

[Avoozl]

Please tell me they dropped the previous idea to make it an always-online game?

[Eligos]

30 minutes ago, wheresthebeef said:

Really should've waited until the game was actually close before doing this, but eh.

 

 

I don't know why they decided to announce it this early either. It seems like a bad move on their part. Especially given the problems they had developing the first Stalker and the problems Stalker 2 as had.

 

23 minutes ago, Avoozl said:

Please tell me they dropped the previous idea to make it an always-online game?

 

They haven't given us any kind of details like that yet. All they said was they're making the game and that's it. It's probably going to be another two years before we see any gameplay (if they don't cancel it again). But they could give us information in the meantime.

Edited May 16, 2018 by Eligos

[Avoozl]

8 hours ago, Eligos said:

They haven't given us any kind of details like that yet. All they said was they're making the game and that's it. It's probably going to be another two years before we see any gameplay (if they don't cancel it again). But they could give us information in the meantime.

I was referring to what they said when they announced the second game in 2011: https://kotaku.com/5847942/stalker-2-requires-a-permanent-internet-connection?IR=T I am just hoping that they don't go with that idea this time around.

 

Also I hope they allow a drm free release for GoG and retail while also releasing it on drm platforms such as Steam.

Edited May 16, 2018 by Avoozl

[june gloom]

Where was this 5 years ago when I still cared?

[Eligos]

11 hours ago, Avoozl said:

I was referring to what they said when they announced the second game in 2011

 

Sorry I misunderstood.

 

Since the announcement of Stalker 2 I've gone back and looked into some of the old information about the game. There were some design documents leaked a couple years ago. They describe aspects of the story and mechanics of the game. They also came with the map of the zone, if anyone's interested.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

4 hours ago, arobase said:

Where was this 5 years ago when I still cared?

 

GSC Game World was "dissolved" during the development of Stalker 2 which is why it was canceled. There's some more information on the wiki if you're interested. As to how stable they are now I can't say, a lot of their team went to go work for companies like 4A games to work on the Metro series.

[Touchdown]

These are the best news ever. I don't know if anything good will come out of this but just seeing that they're working on it again made me super happy.

[seed]

Radioactive s*it this is awesome, never thought I'd see the day a new Stalker game is announced.

 

I'm looking forward, Shadow of Chernobyl was amazing.

[june gloom]

3 hours ago, Eligos said:

 

Sorry I misunderstood.

 

Since the announcement of Stalker 2 I've gone back and looked into some of the old information about the game. There were some design documents leaked a couple years ago. They describe aspects of the story and mechanics of the game. They also came with the map of the zone, if anyone's interested.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

 

GSC Game World was "dissolved" during the development of Stalker 2 which is why it was canceled. There's some more information on the wiki if you're interested. As to how stable they are now I can't say, a lot of their team went to go work for companies like 4A games to work on the Metro series.

Yeah I know. I was being facetious because they shouldn't have run the company into the ground and we should have had this game five years ago when I still gave a shit about STALKER. 

[Taw Tu'lki]

So, I'll be only glad if S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 will be released. 

 

[Reisal]

I'll believe it when I see some gameplay footage. Loved the first game.

[snapshot]

Up you go

 

 

[seed]

Looks pretty nice, the atmosphere is definitely still very much Stalker.

 

Now it remains to be seen how it plays.

[Slipgate Tourist]

Looks and sound good I just hope they don't dumb it down too much.

[Taw Tu'lki]

Hmm... that's interesting. I should play it if I would have enough money.

[Redneckerz]

Unreal Engine 4 based, no UE5 things yet so far. But its Stalker, so i will be looking forward how it stacks up against its proto-successors, the Metro series.

[Denim Destroyer]

There quite a few things I am hoping for in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 but my biggest ones are the AI not being dumbed down and mod support. With this those two things anything is possible.

[Avoozl]

Stalker was primarily a PC franchise but this first trailer is on the Xbox channel.

[Boaby Kenobi]

5 hours ago, Redneckerz said:

Unreal Engine 4 based, no UE5 things yet so far. But its Stalker, so i will be looking forward how it stacks up against its proto-successors, the Metro series.

 

Shadow of Chernobyl makes Metro 2033 look like Mario Kart. I just finished it last night, first time in years. I used the ZRP mod to stop crashing but nothing major in terms of changing the experience. It was absolutely glorious. It's brutal, more so than I remember, but if you get into it's one the the most atmospheric FPS games I've ever played. I was hooked until the very end. I even stumbled across the "true" ending by accident. I didn't even know that existed.

 

I hope this new installment can something great. There's no reason why it shouldn't be incredible but in this day and age you never know. 

[Mr. Freeze]

I like how the trailer doesn't even show the VILNPP but from the first shot of the ferris wheel you instantly know where the trailer is set. 

 

I can't wait. 

[Doom_Dude]

This is looking cool. I'm up for some Stalker goodness....

[wheresthebeef]

Yeah, I could go for a new Stalker right about now.

 

Metro Exodus was good, but I've beaten it twice now. I need something new and more open.

[FractalBeast]

Hopefully STALKER 2 amps up the horror with more diverse fears. The STALKER games were scary at times, yes. But I haven't felt ANYTHING in post-apoc shooters like I've felt in Metro whenever I was in the dark and knew there were MANY Nosalises out there somewhere in the dark.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck, I hate Nosalises in the dark. I wanna feel like that in STALKER 2. A large mass of melee enemies that force constant tension instead of the typical "excuse me stalker, you are being hunted" fears you get in STALKER.

Edited July 24, 2020 by FractalBeast

[Boaby Kenobi]

@FractalBeast Metro is Mario Kart compared to Shadow of Chernobyl.

[FractalBeast]

3 hours ago, Boaby Kenobi said:

@FractalBeast Metro is Mario Kart compared to Shadow of Chernobyl.

True, but the Nosalis encounters really stood out. You can't compare that to blind dogs or pseudodogs.

 

They're certainly a step up above the dogs, but certainly below the bloodsucker, which I think is a great place to add a new kind of enemy.

[Boaby Kenobi]

@FractalBeast I think the Controller enemy is impressive. First time I encountered one I was genuinely perturbed. I haven't ever played a game like Shadow of Chernobyl that has the same atmosphere and makes you dread going to certain areas.

[Chezza]

I know Stalker 2 was announced months ago. And of course the closed project that was announced years ago.

 

I'm a bit nervous. The old GSC crew is gone and I'm not convinced the company has been in a good place for all these years. Are they are capable of pulling off another Stalker? Will it be overly refined and simplified to meet the console market?

 

Fingers crossed it's going to be great. I love Stalker.

[Boaby Kenobi]

39 minutes ago, Chezza said:

The old GSC crew is gone and I'm not convinced the company has been in a good place for all these years. Are they are capable of pulling off another Stalker?

 

I don't think we'll ever see a game like SoC again, sadly. I can't speak personally for CS or CoP as I haven't played them yet but I've read and heard that the 2 sequels "fix" a lot of the complaints about SoC like the map, inventory, etc. I actually enjoy the map in the first game as it works if you know how to use it but it doesn't feature flashing icons pointing you exactly to your destination (even though it does in a way) like games do now, and I also love the way you discover more about the world through your PDA. The information is there if you want to find it but it's not presented directly to you like in a lot of games now.

 

I honestly don't know how I'd feel about SoC if I haven't played it back in 2007. I think it's a relic of a time when some PC games could be brutal, almost infuriating at times, but if you are willing to put in the time to learn then you can overcome any obstacles you may end up facing. Having said that, there really is no excuse for the state the game was released in back then. You should not need to rely on modifications to stop a game from crashing as much.

[FractalBeast]

To be fair, I don't think GSC has EVER been in a good place.

 

As far as I know, GSC has always been in a very bad messy nasty place, basically being used by the Russian mafia for money laundering.