Stalker 2

Performance:
It runs fine with DLSS quality on an 4080 and 7900X3D. Though a few times DLSS caused graphical corruption, FSR or XeSS fixed it. No stutter that I could detect. Graphics are fine, ranging from very good to very average.

It compiles shaders on every load. Might be to prevent the UE5 stutter.

Rebinds don’t work, so I have to use a XBOX controller as I am left handed. Numpad for some reason is used to move the camera view, even when rebound. This makes aiming a pain because fine control becomes problematic on a controller.

Gameplay:
It feel like STALKER. There are some janky quirks. Empty cardboard boxes and tin cans thrown at you by invisible enemies/ anomalies two shot you. They seem empty when I bump into them, not sure how they are so lethal.

Even on medium difficulty all enemies are bullet sponges, while you die in three or four shots. Yes an empty cardboard box or tin can hitting you causes more damage than assault rifle bullets. Turning it to the easy setting makes the game feel more realistic, a few hits and you and them are done. But like the original don’t expect to be taking on groups without decent cover.

Despite these issues I am very much getting original STALKER vibes and that is a good thing. I am not disappointed so far and if the bugs are ironed out, it’s going to be every STALKER fans dream.
 
Jase said:
Is that a hint, like I'm dying from radiation or something?
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If you are where I think you are, when the anomaly noise gets more intense take cover as a random piece of debris is coming your way. There’s nothing of worth in that building. Just run past it to be honest.
 
mrk said:
Strangely the only time I see the framerate drop is suing the cutscene and that seems almost intentional lol, soon as gameplay resumes it's back up to triple digits. You cans ee this in the video during the final cutscene bit. Almost as if they targeted 60fps for cutscenes but as fps is unlocked, it just renders above that. For that to be the onloy bug (so far) that's rather impressive I'd say as things could have been way worse.
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Could be higher quality assets for the cut scenes.
ak22 said:
Wondering how this would run on m 5800x3d & 3060ti....
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5800x3d will be fine, probably the GPU too.
ICDP said:
Even on medium difficulty all enemies are bullet sponges, while you die in three or four shots. Yes an empty cardboard box or tin can hitting you causes more damage than assault rifle bullets. Turning it to the easy setting makes the game feel more realistic, a few hits and you and them are done. But like the original don’t expect to be taking on groups without decent cover.
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Yeah, the original games were pretty bad with balancing, being very superficial with items management, weapons, etc.

First few minutes... well, fells like original series. But... don't know, i was kinda expecting more, visually.
 
I remember getting destroyed in the original game, the difficult was very spikey, you could be doing well one moment and get one shot by an invisible enemy the next, it was a brutal game where I had to press the quick save button every 60 seconds
 
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I preheated the oven, stuck a pizza in for 14minutes.
by time the shaders had compiled I heard a ping in the kitchen so hit alt+f4

10/10 will play again
 
mrk said:
The rookie difficulty is actually harder than hard in other games, this much is evident :p
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But one of the reviews said that mode was so easy it gets boring and just feels like a grind.

Probably gets easier as you gear up though
 
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Calin Banc said:
Could be higher quality assets for the cut scenes.

5800x3d will be fine, probably the GPU too.

Yeah, the original games were pretty bad with balancing, being very superficial with items management, weapons, etc.

First few minutes... well, fells like original series. But... don't know, i was kinda expecting more, visually.
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This is going to sound obvious, but if you haven’t got to the daytime part you will not be impressed with it graphically. It gets better, but not great to be fair. I climbed to the top of a water tower and it didn’t impress at all with draw distances and details. It ranges from average to very good but never “wow”.

The balancing thing is the same in almost every FPS game, if not all very game. The increased difficulty is not smarter or more enemies, it’s just the cheap ass make enemies immersion breaking bullet sponges and if they just look at you wrong you die. I gave up on hard mode and think of it more as “increased frustration mode” years ago.
 
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On a scale of Vanilla to Misery, how difficult is Stalker 2?

Also does it still have the system where random stalkers and bandits will encounter each other in the world and fight? That was always such a cool feature in the originals and mods.
 
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I've died, I've died a lot. Thought Stalker difficulty would be a nice balance but damn... That bloodsucker!!! Almost poo'ed myself! I'm not afraid to admit I ran away like a little scaredy cat! I'm going to stick with it though! This takes me back to stalker of old!
Really enjoying it so far, havnt played with graphics settings yet, was set to epic as default and apart from a few isolated choppy moments where it feels like its loading something in its been perfectly fine.
Got to say I've been very reasonably impressed so far. I've only played about an hour and passed the prologue and first proper encounter. Back to it at the weekend when I has some decent time to sink into it.
 
@Noxia I still didn't get to play :cry:

Just managed to launch game, setup graphics options and then had to go eat. After that ended back in my office/man cave as decorating it and want it done by next week so I can get out of the missus's office and into mine :D
 
umboma said:
feels horrible using a controller, like im on skates.
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gamepass or steam?

I tried gamepass version before retail arrives tomorrow and have the same - deadzone settings is busted and both aiming and moving feels HORRIBLE on the controller, worst I ever saw in a game. Mindboggling that they shipped it like this.
 
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