Having worked on a game in Unreal Engine 5, I can say that one of the easiest ways I improved frame rates was by unchecking "Cast Shadows" on a bunch of smaller game assets that most people wouldn't notice. The scene will play better, but obviously you miss out on some of the amazing Lumen effects UE5 brags about. I'm not saying this is their exact issue, but the lighting in UE5 can definitely have a major impact on performance. With an open world game like Stalker, it's really no surprise they've had to make these kinds of calls, because the alternative is an unplayable lag fest. Honestly, I'm surprised it looks this good! And like levelcap said, people don't necessarily play games like Stalker because they look the best, it's about the vibe, the immersion, and the challenge.
Thats why games like dayz are still alive. People love the atmosphere and the way it affects the immersion. But we still have to admit, GSC did a great job, given the fact of abandoning their home due to barbaric invasion of ruzzia.
thank you for your insight sir. Yeah i spent some time looking back n forth between the previous trailer and the latest gameplay and it seems like lots of shadows are turned down or off. floiage and cast shadows from certain sources like explosions etc. But like people who have played the demo they seem very excited about the final game so I'm sure it will be fun even if its downgraded. plus it provides opportunity to ramp it back up when hardware gets better in the future.
@@proxyjan Sorry but that simply isn't true. With the exception of Clear Sky on a good sunny day, the originals unmodded looked downright terrible and outdated by modern standards. The art direction on the other hand was really good though. They have that certain uncanny rawness that imo is nicely replicated by STALKER 2's trailers.
@@proxyjan Only played through them 2 years ago, but yes. None of them compared to the sheer amount of foliage and details of 2's graphics. Call of Pripyat in particular looked *horrible* as I remember. Visibly downgraded and looked dull brown compared to the last 2 games.
Lack of polish and reduced effects take away from that atmosphere and immersion for me. A game like Red Dead has such a beautifully crafted landscape and finished environmental effects that just walking through the woods, hearing the wind blow, seeing the beams of light cascading through leaves, having every shadow playing off of every object, and smooth framerates to boot all add up to an incredible depth of feeling like you are in that landscape. By contrast having single objects that don't have something as simple as a shadow sticks out like a sore thumb to me and breaks that immersive environment pretty quickly. Fun gameplay can go a long way towards making up for that but that fun still won't capture that creepy feeling you'd get if you weren't occasionally seeing glaring flaws.
While a graphics downgrade does suck, I just hope they can nail the gameplay/ai down. That will be the biggest deciding factor of the games success imo. Doesn't matter how good a game looks if it's not fun to play.
The first Stalker games had the best atmosphere I've seen until this day. Stalker GAMMA is the proof that it still is. It's one of the biggest factors as well.
if gameplay and atmosphere top priority graphics can improve later there several games that improves graphics later it gets worse if its unotpimized garbage like ray tracing on a game that never had one
I have played the demo and I can asure you that even it does not yet look nothing like the trailer(i do believe that the game needs atleast a year of development) it does play very very similair to all the other stalker games.
the thing IGN "complained" about with ai being very aggressive and flanking you makes me hopeful. but then again, it's game journos playing a hardcore survival game so anything will be difficult to them.
As long as GSC keeps their promise to delivering a modding toolkit I truly believe that the game will turn out just fine as long as the basics are in order. The main thing I'm curious about is the improved A-Life system and if they can nail that then I'm honestly 100% happy.
@@davidszep3488isn't that one of the things in the description of the game Or am I remembering wrong Edit: just checked and on steam it says mod support giving the freedom to the creative players to extend and enrich the game universe. However that makes me more worried just a little. As are they expecting modders to do most of the work Or will the game be enjoyable and have a lot to offer vanilla
It means nothing. Previous stalker games didnt had mod support too, the devs accidentally leaked the full source code of the game before release, thats why we can mod these games. The modders developed their own tools for modding. There are unreal engine games like mass effect where you can mod the textures, but with this engine you cant do Stalker Anomaly level mod, its just not possible the engine is hard locked.@@harleythomas701 What they say Its just a marketing bullshit...and the game should released years ago...
@@harleythomas701 it might be a bit lacking in terms of the amount of content but then again stalker is just a huge sandbox without alot of story quests, most of stalker is just a few story quests and then the rest are repeatable kill quests fetch quests ect, tbh if we get somtin like that or even less but we get the modding toolkit then it will be fine, look at stalker gamma, ppl will buy the new stalker just for the mods.
@@davidszep3488 yes they can, even if it's made in unreal engine they can still allow modding, you just have no clue what you are talking about. You don't need to own an engine to allow modding. From day one modding is a thing for stalker 2 when it get released
This is probably one of the few times where there is a legitimate reason for a downgrade. I would personally advocate for a significant delay here, let them take their time.
@@DeltaAssaultGaming looks like the new lighting has global illumination using Lumen (probably?) that's why interiors with external lighting looks brighter, it's technically realistic but the textures and stuff idk not that it matters if it plays well.
This really doesn't look downgraded, it just looks like they adjusted the lighting (probably for performance). Probably running on the latest hardware, the game will look glorious. Mabye they will release it without the heavy effects or release two iterations like Metro Exodus with the normal edition and then the raytracing only edition. Just need to see that Duga OTHR
I think it's just another example of them upping the graphics too early but having to down them as the game grows due to performance/engine limitations. Still looks fine and as long as the game itself delivers in gameplay then I will be playing.
@@LT_PL the new trailer was running on pc. You can see it was a lag fest at usually below 20fps in and never going higher than 35-40. I would assume they have a 4090 and chose a machine with top tier gpu and cpu to run the game trailer... and not with a 4060, so if you see this downgraded version running bad, imagine the one on the trailers that were most likely prerendered.
It's not uncommon for developers to create an impressive vertical slice that showcases the potential of a game, only to face challenges in maintaining that level of quality throughout the entire development process.
Yeah. The problem with making a whole level with scripted AI and events and effects as nothing more than a concept to impress people, even when they know it's highly unlikely that they will maintain that same level of detail throughout all aspects of the game. Feels like the less scummy version of pre rendered trailers.
@@VFAHSNThose "couple of consoles" just have poor hardware. CPU is decent but Zen 2 is old. GPU is basically a 5700xt. If they had waited a gpu gen we might have had those nice graphics now. Just hope it's gonna be better on pc.
There's no STALKER book. There is the movie STALKER from director Tarkovsky which killed him from radiation which the game is based on, the movie is based on the novel Roadside Picnic.
Tarkovsky didn't die due to radiation. He had a heart attack after losing the entire film reel for STALKER, having to re-shoot the entire film again. Some cast members died due to biohazardous environment. He survived the heart attack tho, but he had lung cancer and couldn't see his own movie's gala. Fun fact: STALKER Movie has nothing to do with the Chernobyl, it was made 7 years before Chernobyl incident. Roadside Picnic inspired those two masterpieces seperately.
Honestly even with the downgrade, I think graphics will still be stunning. The pacing really allowed you to become immersed and soak in the environment around you to a degree where my mind was being blown at the graphics in anomaly that were clearly very outdated and not impressive at all.
Yea if you watch that trailer in 4K it's not as bad as people are thinking. The only standout is when he gets jumped by the dog, that dog model is very low poly & texture. Might've been a bug or a placeholder. Regardless it's all about that atmosphere and muah chef's kiss 👨🍳💋 sound design. I recently replayed Call of Pripyat, Anomaly, and Gamma and this combo just never fails man. If they nail the fundamentals and the game isn't buggier than an ant's nest then I'm happy to patiently wait for S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 no matter the graphical quality. Seriously, I never thought they would make this game, I just hope they do it justice.
Base Anomaly is definitely not very well fleshed out graphically... that's where addon packs to Anomaly like GAMMA come in handy and really ratchet the graphics up without too much of a hit. I can't play base Anomaly anymore.
@@Whiskey11Gaming yeah I can’t really play base anomaly either lmao, but I think there’s something to be said about how wowed I was with base Anomaly when I first played it, as low fidelity as it is.
You all sound extremely ridiculous trying to cope. Stalker 2 shouldn't look this bad. This level of quality is unacceptable. They should delay the game until it's in finished.
I do feel like this game should be delayed longer than a few months. Honestly, considering what the devs went through, they should be given a pass with a longer delay.
Man, when the first game was developed (Shadow of Chernobil), there was no war yet, but still the game was in development for 7 years and it released unfinished with cut content
@@jimmyholster Only to an extent. Compared to things like how stable a game is without crashing and how the gameplay is for the user, good graphics won't get far.
hmm. i still think it looks good. also the lighting looks bit more natural where before the shadows where too dark and over saturated imo. also the optimization is normally at the tail end of the development and can explain the lowering of visuals if they have to try and hit specific performance point but thats just my guess
Stalker was always about the odd but terrifying ai, gameplay and the atmosphere. As long as they tick these boxes, the hardcore stalker fans will be happy.
I’m sure this will get pushed to q4 2024. It just needs time. Even phill spencer mentions this in a gamescom interview. UE5 is just not as performant as we all though or perhaps devs are not optimizing it well.
i think the graphics look fine. but i also didnt buy that that the og trailer was actual gameplay so maybe i just never set myself up for disappointment? idk. personally im digging the materials and lighting, i have faith it will be polished up nicely even if graphical overhauls are probably out of the question. i never got to play the og stalker games. cant wait to jump into this
bruh there are games out there that have the quality of those original trailers stop giving them excuses as to why it looks like claymation playdough. we have home rigs that run us anywhere from five to eight thousand dollars not to play something that looks like its from 2010 @@Mr.LeoNov
I think people saw the crazy good looking unreal render scenes like the subway station and just assume this will be the norm for games now, too. But as said in the video, it is a whole different beast to simulate the whole zones npcs and all the other stuff, basically what the STALKER games are famous for, or render a small scene where you slowly walk a few meters and look around. Yes the STALKER 2 trailers also did this imo. Just to have a great look they shut down all the meat of the game to make a cinematic scripted trailer. But the reality is that you have to compromise with the graphics to get all the other aspects of the game running smooth at the same time. I gladly take a hit in the graphics fidelity if the world feels alive like it does when playing ANOMALY/GAMMA.
Cant really blame them considering all of what is going on over there, modders and updates will surely make the game better. Either way im still eagerly waiting for it
Every day we live under missile attacks and drone attacks, and many Ukrainians want to live to see the release of 2 stalker Thanks for the wishes of Ukraine and Stalker🇺🇦
The first trailers, the ones that came before the "old" one you showed were visually even more impressive. Going back, it seems like it was just pre rendered in engine marketing stuff. They might have wanted it to look like that but now realized its not realistic, especially on consoles. RT didnt even seem to be enabled at all in the latest trailers and it was still laggy at times. I didnt believe the first trailers anyways since this is not a AAA Studio, it just wouldnt make sense they could output visuals like this on a large game with those limited resources. That being said, as long as they bring back raytracing in the PC version, it will definitely look better than what is shown here.
Every day we live under missile attacks and drone attacks, and many Ukrainians want to live to see the release of 2 stalker Thanks for the wishes of Ukraine and Stalker🇺🇦
On reddit i’ve found comment: „its hard, ai is hard, game have bugs so indeed it is a stalker” and thats true. Original stalker games also had not that good graphics and still they were, and still are great games. Downgrading graphics is something „normal” nowdays and we’ve seen many games done that. Gameplay, difficulty and good story is something (and bit of funny bugs) are the things that define stalker. It’s my second game ever that i’ve preordered. Also cant wait what mod scene will come out with to S2 since it will be way easier to mod than original games.
super siked for the game still! cant wait to get my hands on it! And just to clarify for those that are looking for the book, its called Roadside Picnic by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky and it is a phenomenal must read for SF fans
I really hope they can get a new deal for more time in development. However, the only downgrade I really see is lighting and shading. I think they can work this out at the end of the deadline, and if not, at least the game will get good gameplay.
Honestly it has been in development for so long, as long as the content and gameplay itself works they should release it. They can still give it a visual upgrade afterwards and modders can get their hands on it too and help
it should be noted that one of the floors of the GSC studio building caught fire and it was said to be the floor with the backup servers so that might have something to do with the decision
tbh if they released the game as to where to nobody could run it on a decent system I think people would be more mad than having some downgraded visuals but the game would be at least playable. As long as they nail the atmosphere and keep the same core STALKER experience from the original games I will be happy
As long as the AI is like in anomaly i cant really complain too much because if they get the ai down to where they can conduct actual tactics like having a 4 man squad attack you, have two guys fire on your position and the other two flank on each side, one close and one far along with the wild life waiting for you to get out of your inventory or your pda then pounce (chimera,lurker,etc.) That would be really cool
@@DerDrecksack87it absolutely is--played hundreds of hours of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.--Originals, Mods, Amonaly, etc... never played a game with A.I. that even came close, besides maybe F.E.A.R.
@@kaedonstark8197 come on man, i played them too several times including mods, especially Misery for CoP and Gamma as of late, the AI is ok-ish for the early 2000s, not saying its bad but squatting down in the open, running forward than back again during combat because they cant pathfind the shortest way to a target when something like a piece of wall is in between, just being oblivious when you snipe somebody in a group and you are far enough away and gettin wrecked by wildlife....ive seen it all and a lot of it. They just coded in movement like strafing and pinpoint grenade toss, occasional lazer accuracy, player vision cone detection so they can push or sneak up when you look elsewhere and voice lines to make it feel more capable than it is. Just go to any major NPC location like the Scorcher, freedom base or army warehouses with a Sniper rifle and star shooting them, 60% will pour out like lemmings the others do not even register it and go hostile when you enter their AI bubble where they can sense you (if not in stealth mode). But i have to admit that it is miles better than many AAA games have to offer sometimes.
It's hilarious to see people praise battlebit, saying "We don't care about graphics, we want gameplay", and only a few months later "oh no, why graphics bad?"
It is entirely possible there will be performance mode and quality mode, with quality pushing the graphics to max at 1440p or 4k at 30fps And performance mode dropping a lot of visual extras to get a stable 60, least that is what i hope
Let's be honest this is most likely pre alpha quality we are seeing. As fans we need to support the Devs so they feel comfortable to delay the game as long as required. I am happy to wait another 10 years.
I am mostly hoping it gets strong mod support so we can get some great experiences like Gamma, but with all the extra gameplay/visual stuff a modern engine can offer. I've never even played vanilla Stalker, just Anomaly and Gamma, so I don't exactly know what to expect from the base game lol.
Bugs, bad performance and constant crashes, thats what you can expect if you ask about the experiences people had with each official release back in the day.
anomaly and gamma are WAYYYY different to the ogs. you should play the ogs or you might be disappointed that stalker 2 isnt a grindfest pseudo mmo like gamma.
Now I’m no expert on ue5 but I’m aware of a few things that may have been changed or generally downgraded specifically for the hardware it’s running on or possibly in general. Ue5 uses what is essentially fully packaged raytraceing stuff like rtgi rtao ec. And a geometry system called nanite both are extremely heavy as shown by immortals of aveum. It’s completely possible that the device utilized for this demo had many of those features tuned down for performance reasons, or they simply toned down the use of this tech in general to improve performance
Kinda nailed actually 💪 in the industry we need to cover performance in general not only graphical but size performance, UE5 made some upgrades since the Matrix demo (going from almost 500 gb to down 250 per project, neverless large scale projects require heavy material, script, animation and asset optimization which is harder knowing that there's so many setups around. That and also I assume their comms between departments is kinda non existent since they might be working remotely or having issues since the ukraine conflict, I mean is harder just to get in sink between modeling guys and animation guys and concept guys... Inhouse but yeah aiming big usually ends up with downgrading stuff which is kinda a let down because you even axe some content too in order to make the quota.
@@georgefromjungle5211Go to war then, you have any idea how it feels? A missile flying mere centimeters from your head? Rounds hitting dirt near you? It feels exhilarating and in a way kind of exciting but incredibely nerve racking.
GSC was out of Ukraine less than two weeks after the invasion started. They're been living comfortably in Czechia, there is no legitimate excuse for them to use.
@@TrilosonicResolutions these morons act like the development team are in the middle of the battlefield...they also act like they aren't charging money for the game....i do hope for their safety but i also know they have been lying about the state of the game...this game was already delayed several times BEFORE the war started...the game is a mess...so far below expectations its truly sad and pathetic ...we all would of been better off(including the developers) if they were just HONEST and ceased development entirely until they were truly ready...years later when the war is over...when they have the man power they need etc...
I think it looks fine except the particle effects (explosions, smoke), they look kinda simplified in order to run better? idk.... Also what's up with the FPS?
I feel like, when members of your development team are drafted, and some are even killed, in a war that is taking place in the very country you're trying to develop the game in, then a slight downgrade in graphics is perhaps likely to be one of the consequences of such circumstances.
Well, if the game has competent AI, I'll be happy. I couldn't hope to go over how many times I've tried a new release only to find out the enemies are braindead.
I mean, i wouldn’t be surprised if the game doesn’t meet my expectations. They literally have a war going on there country. Tbh, they can delay the game as much as they want to. I just want to play the polished version of it.
It is a visual downgrade I think we can admit that, however as long as the gameplay mechanics are still solid and fluid I think the game will still be great
People need to stop complaining graphics, that's not the main thing anymore. Games have been looking really nice for years now, we need PERFORMANCE as the main focus. Tired of these horrible games having mediocre graphics and performing horribly. So long as the game looks good enough, plays well and is just overall a good experience, that's all that matters
So, you basically want to be stuck in 2012 forever ? "Oh let's play this wonderful game in 2040 with 2012 graphics and good performance". Why don't you mofos go back to nintendo 8-bit and leave us alone then ?
@@georgefromjungle5211 bruh, you need to chill lol. Not 2012, that's outdated. I like graphics too but graphics lately have been really good, we need PERFORMANCE improvements buddy
I mean personally it still looks great to me. Now sure it doesn't look as good as the previous gameplay we saw, but it still looks beautiful imo. Also this doesn't release till 2024 so I am sure they'll have enough time to make some nice touch ups to the graphics and gameplay.
The lighting does look very flat in the new trailer and thats such a bummer. But the biggest thing that stuck out to me was the smoke from the gun after it was shot, that looks SUPER rough. I get all the Ukraine stuff so I don't fault the studio at all and I'm still planning on playing it but I still cant help but be bummed out. Stalker makes me think of metro exodus and even though that was a last gen game on a now old engine I still believe that it was the most graphically impressive game I've ever played and with stalker being a similar type of game but on newer hardware with a new engine I was just really hoping to be wowed
Going to give the devs a break on the visuals. They are literally making the game while in a warzone. Even seen pictures of the devs working in bunkers. If it plays like stalker and has awesome enemy AI, I will be happy.
@@MsNebri Okay? They're lives are still being uprooted in the worst way possible. Family, friends, and neighborhoods they grew up with being decimated......but oh hey these graphics need to be better lol
Theyre not making the game while in a bunker in a warzone. That doesnt even make sense. If that was the case... they got bigger things to worry about than making a video game
They moved a year and a half ago to the Czech Republic, lol. Get your facts straight, also not the whole of Ukraine is a warzone. Western part lives like you and me live, lol
The devs said already that graphics will be more polish it's still early and still looks good on the pc version already! I played the demo but some pc can't handle it maybe why graphics are like that. You need a high end pc for this game.
Having played all stalkers games and mods it’s a shame im going to miss out on this. Switched from high end PC to PS4 and now PS5 years ago… going to miss this
I think that a lot of STALKER players don't really care about graphics because you do not play STALKER for the graphics. It's about atmosphere and about feeling that something or someone is always watching you. I just hope that the game will be well optimized (think Doom Eternal), that is the only thing I PERSONALLY care about :)
Stalker 1 back then tried to look like a realistic world, with realistic environments and lighting. Stalker 2 looks however like a gameworld, with a very gamy approach on the visuals.
I wish the Developer would address the concerns and explain themselves. If there was ever a title thats going to get a lot of wiggle room with customers - its this one. Just tell us whats going on.
Graphics are far from the selling point of STALKER and, supposedly, modders can 'fix' that. But it's not a good look to showcase a noticeable graphical downgrade from one trailer to another. As long as they can nail atmosphere, world, factions, survival, then this will be a priced game for many years to come. But I for sure am cautious about purchasing it, nevermind preordering it, I mean, I can just go play modded anomaly for free at any time.
I dont think its getting a downgrade at all. I think the latest footage is what we can expect it to look like on Xbox and most PCs. The original footage is what we can expect it to look like on a high end PC. Theres more to consider though, time of the day and if RT is enabled or not.
wow. just wow so people can play games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R Gamma today but are yapping and crying when they see an official game got downgraded for probably very good reason might i add seriously if graphics are peoples concern then they shouldn't even play S.T.A.L.K.E.R to begin with
I’m buying it no matter what the price or the quality is. They got every reason to delay. It must have been hard to have your co-work die to a war. If anyone is to blame, it’s the one who started the invasion.
People call these graphics bad? What? It looks fantastic! Compared to the other games it’s leaps and bounds ahead, that lighting the first scene is fantastic, the day time warehouse scene was gorgeous. Look at the details in that scene where that fella chucks you a bolt, how about the detail within that cave, in what world can you call those graphics bad. It looks phenomenal, and I’d much rather have a solidly high fps considering this is a shooter. If the original games managed to convey a solid atmosphere with those janky animations and low poly counts then this will most definitely be a step up.
horizon forbidden west, gears 5... these 2 are phenomenal graphics indeed, this is okay-ish, but the 2011 trailer was amazing it got peoples hopes up and this is just plain bad compared to that one
I'm actually more interested in the AI being as good or even better than the originals, than downgraded visuals. I need to play against a hardcore AI that will make me sweat like in STALKER Gamma.
I’m usually not the kind of person to be like “what are people talking about?” But seriously, the game looks gorgeous. Animations are fluid, lighting vibrantly colors the world, and the attention to detail is really, really, good. Am I missing something? Yes I am aware of the old trailers but this is still a beautiful looking game.
I think we can cut this guys some break. They making this during a war. Yes this studio is located in Ukraine. Everyone was cutting studios slack during COVID which most of the time didn't even effect production that much. But it was the ultimate scapegoat. This time they have a genuine excuse for once.
You can't fault them considering what happened to their actual studio in their home country. With everything that's going on, I'm sure their hearts and minds are elsewhere
It kinda pisses me off that people nowadays judge games based on their graphics. It was never about the graphics! It was about having fun in unbelievable worlds and ideas. Still very hyped about this game. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time
Why settle for less? This is 2023 we do not need games to look like last gen, while obviously gameplay is most important when you look at the highest rated games that checks out.
Never about the graphics? So why Sony games always have stuning graphics since the PS4, keep playing on a PS3/Xbox 360 or PS2 if the graphics doesnt mean nothing
@@aterraxanime well I’m not entirely saying that graphics is what makes game good or bad. Games with good games are pretty good. But gameplay is what really matters in this case scenario. I just don’t think graphics mean that a game is good or bad
@@aurious5821 Who cares, the previous games had old graphics, this is a large step up from it, so honestly who cares. It doesn't affect the game, games can have bad graphics and still be good.
old trailers werent actual gameplay)) I also played the stk2 leaked build and when the graphic settings were on the highest it did look gorgeous, even tho the leaked build was about a 1+ years old
For some reason I don't care how it looks, been playing the originals plenty of times and I will love stalker 2 to the last bit no matter how "bad" it is
I think the models and textures look great, but the lack of atmospheric fog and whatnot definitely makes it look less realistic. Most open world modern games go hard on atmospherics, and the lack of that does have a big effect.
Why are people always so upset over the smallest things like graphics? My man concern is: Is the story great? Is the gameplay stable? Are there any bugs? There are plenty of games that are great and don't use crazy Ray Tracing graphics. I'd rather have an amazing story that's not buggy with stable fps then an Unreal Engine 5 Graphics showoff...
Honestly, I wouldn't even mind the level of graphics we saw in the Gamescom trailer, I just hope they nail the Stalker atmosphere and have it run smoothly and (shader)stutter free.
![[Stalker Shadow of Chernobyl] How to get OP Gear in the Early Game !](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/b4gHXWuIh7E/mqdefault.jpg)
Having worked on a game in Unreal Engine 5, I can say that one of the easiest ways I improved frame rates was by unchecking "Cast Shadows" on a bunch of smaller game assets that most people wouldn't notice. The scene will play better, but obviously you miss out on some of the amazing Lumen effects UE5 brags about. I'm not saying this is their exact issue, but the lighting in UE5 can definitely have a major impact on performance. With an open world game like Stalker, it's really no surprise they've had to make these kinds of calls, because the alternative is an unplayable lag fest. Honestly, I'm surprised it looks this good! And like levelcap said, people don't necessarily play games like Stalker because they look the best, it's about the vibe, the immersion, and the challenge.
Thats why games like dayz are still alive. People love the atmosphere and the way it affects the immersion. But we still have to admit, GSC did a great job, given the fact of abandoning their home due to barbaric invasion of ruzzia.
thank you for your insight sir. Yeah i spent some time looking back n forth between the previous trailer and the latest gameplay and it seems like lots of shadows are turned down or off. floiage and cast shadows from certain sources like explosions etc. But like people who have played the demo they seem very excited about the final game so I'm sure it will be fun even if its downgraded. plus it provides opportunity to ramp it back up when hardware gets better in the future.
@@proxyjan Sorry but that simply isn't true. With the exception of Clear Sky on a good sunny day, the originals unmodded looked downright terrible and outdated by modern standards.
The art direction on the other hand was really good though. They have that certain uncanny rawness that imo is nicely replicated by STALKER 2's trailers.
@@proxyjan Only played through them 2 years ago, but yes. None of them compared to the sheer amount of foliage and details of 2's graphics.
Call of Pripyat in particular looked *horrible* as I remember. Visibly downgraded and looked dull brown compared to the last 2 games.
Lack of polish and reduced effects take away from that atmosphere and immersion for me. A game like Red Dead has such a beautifully crafted landscape and finished environmental effects that just walking through the woods, hearing the wind blow, seeing the beams of light cascading through leaves, having every shadow playing off of every object, and smooth framerates to boot all add up to an incredible depth of feeling like you are in that landscape. By contrast having single objects that don't have something as simple as a shadow sticks out like a sore thumb to me and breaks that immersive environment pretty quickly. Fun gameplay can go a long way towards making up for that but that fun still won't capture that creepy feeling you'd get if you weren't occasionally seeing glaring flaws.
While a graphics downgrade does suck, I just hope they can nail the gameplay/ai down. That will be the biggest deciding factor of the games success imo. Doesn't matter how good a game looks if it's not fun to play.
true but if they don't pull it of then it will be the next CP 2077 with worst graphics
The first Stalker games had the best atmosphere I've seen until this day. Stalker GAMMA is the proof that it still is. It's one of the biggest factors as well.
if gameplay and atmosphere top priority graphics can improve later
there several games that improves graphics later
it gets worse if its unotpimized garbage like ray tracing on a game that never had one
I have played the demo and I can asure you that even it does not yet look nothing like the trailer(i do believe that the game needs atleast a year of development) it does play very very similair to all the other stalker games.
the thing IGN "complained" about with ai being very aggressive and flanking you makes me hopeful. but then again, it's game journos playing a hardcore survival game so anything will be difficult to them.
It's honestly a miracle the game is coming out with everything that happened. I'm still gonna play, gameplay over graphics is my priority
Lol nothing happened.
@@Sal3600 km talking about the war in Ukraine, having your country invaded sounds pretty much like something
@@sandshark2517They moved to the Czech Republic a year and a half ago when the war started, lol.
Me too, sandshark . Plus, they will do updates
@@alexduffy7925 Not all the team had the chance to move away from the conflict.
As long as GSC keeps their promise to delivering a modding toolkit I truly believe that the game will turn out just fine as long as the basics are in order. The main thing I'm curious about is the improved A-Life system and if they can nail that then I'm honestly 100% happy.
They will not deliver a "mod kit" because its not their engine. They cant do that. Its a propyetray engine... There will be no mods for stalker 2...
@@davidszep3488isn't that one of the things in the description of the game
Or am I remembering wrong
Edit: just checked and on steam it says mod support giving the freedom to the creative players to extend and enrich the game universe.
However that makes me more worried just a little.
As are they expecting modders to do most of the work
Or will the game be enjoyable and have a lot to offer vanilla
It means nothing. Previous stalker games didnt had mod support too, the devs accidentally leaked the full source code of the game before release, thats why we can mod these games. The modders developed their own tools for modding. There are unreal engine games like mass effect where you can mod the textures, but with this engine you cant do Stalker Anomaly level mod, its just not possible the engine is hard locked.@@harleythomas701 What they say Its just a marketing bullshit...and the game should released years ago...
@@harleythomas701 it might be a bit lacking in terms of the amount of content but then again stalker is just a huge sandbox without alot of story quests, most of stalker is just a few story quests and then the rest are repeatable kill quests fetch quests ect, tbh if we get somtin like that or even less but we get the modding toolkit then it will be fine, look at stalker gamma, ppl will buy the new stalker just for the mods.
@@davidszep3488 yes they can, even if it's made in unreal engine they can still allow modding, you just have no clue what you are talking about. You don't need to own an engine to allow modding. From day one modding is a thing for stalker 2 when it get released
This is probably one of the few times where there is a legitimate reason for a downgrade. I would personally advocate for a significant delay here, let them take their time.
It'll be the next Cyberpunk 2077.
Putin bombed all the good lighting in the game?
@@DeltaAssaultGaminglol
@@DeltaAssaultGaming looks like the new lighting has global illumination using Lumen (probably?) that's why interiors with external lighting looks brighter, it's technically realistic but the textures and stuff idk not that it matters if it plays well.
This really doesn't look downgraded, it just looks like they adjusted the lighting (probably for performance). Probably running on the latest hardware, the game will look glorious.
Mabye they will release it without the heavy effects or release two iterations like Metro Exodus with the normal edition and then the raytracing only edition.
Just need to see that Duga OTHR
I think it's just another example of them upping the graphics too early but having to down them as the game grows due to performance/engine limitations. Still looks fine and as long as the game itself delivers in gameplay then I will be playing.
just drop the quality for console peaeants and restore graphic config options for pc
@@LT_PL the new trailer was running on pc. You can see it was a lag fest at usually below 20fps in and never going higher than 35-40. I would assume they have a 4090 and chose a machine with top tier gpu and cpu to run the game trailer... and not with a 4060, so if you see this downgraded version running bad, imagine the one on the trailers that were most likely prerendered.
@@gersongaete1574 At the same time, the game isnt really well optimized at this point in time.
@@LT_PLliterally the mentality of a 14 year old
@@tarakivu8861 no Stalker game/official release was ever optimized, every installment ran like crap even years later.
It's not uncommon for developers to create an impressive vertical slice that showcases the potential of a game, only to face challenges in maintaining that level of quality throughout the entire development process.
The problem most of the time is with optimizing and getting that level of graphics to run on consoles and the most common PC components
Yeah.
The problem with making a whole level with scripted AI and events and effects as nothing more than a concept to impress people, even when they know it's highly unlikely that they will maintain that same level of detail throughout all aspects of the game.
Feels like the less scummy version of pre rendered trailers.
And thatswhy you never preorder.
so why even show off something that's unrealistic and not representative of the final product?
with Series X and PS5-level hardware though, what's their excuse? the latest trailer has PS4 written all over it.
Yeah the first trailer looked way too ambitious in terms of optimization, especially for console.
Console ruins everything
@@lucianaurelius2418 bait or mental damage ?
@@lucianaurelius2418yeah it’s not the bazillion combination you can have on pc… are those couple of consoles…
I just wished stalker 2 become pc exclusive only. Seriously the modding is what keeps the predecessor alive for years.
@@VFAHSNThose "couple of consoles" just have poor hardware. CPU is decent but Zen 2 is old. GPU is basically a 5700xt. If they had waited a gpu gen we might have had those nice graphics now.
Just hope it's gonna be better on pc.
There's no STALKER book. There is the movie STALKER from director Tarkovsky which killed him from radiation which the game is based on, the movie is based on the novel Roadside Picnic.
There are stalker books but they are only written in Russian/ukrainian
But yeah, he probably meant Roadside Picnic
He ment Roadside Picnic from Strugazki, it is released in several languages & as audiobook too.
Tarkovsky didn't die due to radiation. He had a heart attack after losing the entire film reel for STALKER, having to re-shoot the entire film again. Some cast members died due to biohazardous environment.
He survived the heart attack tho, but he had lung cancer and couldn't see his own movie's gala.
Fun fact: STALKER Movie has nothing to do with the Chernobyl, it was made 7 years before Chernobyl incident. Roadside Picnic inspired those two masterpieces seperately.
Honestly even with the downgrade, I think graphics will still be stunning. The pacing really allowed you to become immersed and soak in the environment around you to a degree where my mind was being blown at the graphics in anomaly that were clearly very outdated and not impressive at all.
Yea if you watch that trailer in 4K it's not as bad as people are thinking. The only standout is when he gets jumped by the dog, that dog model is very low poly & texture. Might've been a bug or a placeholder.
Regardless it's all about that atmosphere and muah chef's kiss 👨🍳💋 sound design. I recently replayed Call of Pripyat, Anomaly, and Gamma and this combo just never fails man. If they nail the fundamentals and the game isn't buggier than an ant's nest then I'm happy to patiently wait for S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 no matter the graphical quality. Seriously, I never thought they would make this game, I just hope they do it justice.
Base Anomaly is definitely not very well fleshed out graphically... that's where addon packs to Anomaly like GAMMA come in handy and really ratchet the graphics up without too much of a hit. I can't play base Anomaly anymore.
@@Whiskey11Gaming yeah I can’t really play base anomaly either lmao, but I think there’s something to be said about how wowed I was with base Anomaly when I first played it, as low fidelity as it is.
reminds me of E3 game trailers, or safe to say this was early build of the game since the release was pushed back
I think it looks better, closer to the original style of coloring and light and most important: much more like a playable thing and not a showcase.
thats what Im thinking, this looks exactly like stalker now. The earlier trailer looked more like metro or something
It now literally looks more like stalker now, before it looked like cod with rtx on
It sure looks like early 2000s SoC playdough now😂
You all sound extremely ridiculous trying to cope. Stalker 2 shouldn't look this bad. This level of quality is unacceptable. They should delay the game until it's in finished.
yeah early state of build i guess and hearing they pushed the release date
I do feel like this game should be delayed longer than a few months. Honestly, considering what the devs went through, they should be given a pass with a longer delay.
Man, when the first game was developed (Shadow of Chernobil), there was no war yet, but still the game was in development for 7 years and it released unfinished with cut content
@ZubareusGaming do you recall that Russian originally invaded southern Ukraine in Crimea in 2014..
yeah seeing they pushed the relase date
@@jacobwujcik7200 you mean the Same crimea where there wasnt a single Shot fired
I think it is fair to say that a gamer's opinion is not relevant if they only care about graphic fedility.
Why? That's a stupid thing to say. Graphics add so much to the experience.
@@jimmyholsterno it doesn't
Not even the point here, it's about lying to your customers with fake trailers.
@@jimmyholster Only to an extent. Compared to things like how stable a game is without crashing and how the gameplay is for the user, good graphics won't get far.
@@1LotusNoirPretty sure they confirmed the 2021 trailer was pre-rendered.
Still looks pretty good to me.
hmm. i still think it looks good. also the lighting looks bit more natural where before the shadows where too dark and over saturated imo.
also the optimization is normally at the tail end of the development and can explain the lowering of visuals if they have to try and hit specific performance point but thats just my guess
I agree exept weapons, they look bad imo
they look like toys, makes me want to refund honestly just for that.@@sr-tn6gl
agree early build of the game
Huge visual downgrade unfortunately. :(
Wish the the best for them!
I'm probably going to get this still.
Just pray, the game doesn't get the "modern" treatment
I mean if it's better performance I don't care.
Stalker was always about the odd but terrifying ai, gameplay and the atmosphere. As long as they tick these boxes, the hardcore stalker fans will be happy.
I didn't care about th graphics in the other STALKER games , not that they were bad anyways, and I won't care about it in this game.
I’m sure this will get pushed to q4 2024. It just needs time. Even phill spencer mentions this in a gamescom interview. UE5 is just not as performant as we all though or perhaps devs are not optimizing it well.
Hell, I'll wait 'till Q1 2026 IF they make it BETTER and not just delay it like D4.
i think the graphics look fine. but i also didnt buy that that the og trailer was actual gameplay so maybe i just never set myself up for disappointment? idk. personally im digging the materials and lighting, i have faith it will be polished up nicely even if graphical overhauls are probably out of the question. i never got to play the og stalker games. cant wait to jump into this
Yeah like I don't understand people who really thought these old railers were legit while they obviously were pre-rendeded
not really obvious and i'm the sort that doesn't fall for that crap. They tried really hard to make it look like actual gameplay.@@Mr.LeoNov
bruh there are games out there that have the quality of those original trailers stop giving them excuses as to why it looks like claymation playdough. we have home rigs that run us anywhere from five to eight thousand dollars not to play something that looks like its from 2010 @@Mr.LeoNov
reminds me of E3, and then again they pushed back the release date, needs some polished
I think people saw the crazy good looking unreal render scenes like the subway station and just assume this will be the norm for games now, too. But as said in the video, it is a whole different beast to simulate the whole zones npcs and all the other stuff, basically what the STALKER games are famous for, or render a small scene where you slowly walk a few meters and look around. Yes the STALKER 2 trailers also did this imo. Just to have a great look they shut down all the meat of the game to make a cinematic scripted trailer. But the reality is that you have to compromise with the graphics to get all the other aspects of the game running smooth at the same time. I gladly take a hit in the graphics fidelity if the world feels alive like it does when playing ANOMALY/GAMMA.
Downgrade or no, I'll play it. I hope it goes well because the developers deserve it
Cant really blame them considering all of what is going on over there, modders and updates will surely make the game better. Either way im still eagerly waiting for it
Every day we live under missile attacks and drone attacks, and many Ukrainians want to live to see the release of 2 stalker
Thanks for the wishes of Ukraine and Stalker🇺🇦
true, needs more polish make sense they push the rlease
It really isn't that bad
Except that it is
@@sandr921 No, it's not.
it's pretty damn awful lol But made worse by the comparison to the original trailer, which is their own fault
@@avonbarksdale2506Stalker was never about the graphic dude
@@sandr921no its not stop bing so dramdic
The first trailers, the ones that came before the "old" one you showed were visually even more impressive. Going back, it seems like it was just pre rendered in engine marketing stuff. They might have wanted it to look like that but now realized its not realistic, especially on consoles. RT didnt even seem to be enabled at all in the latest trailers and it was still laggy at times. I didnt believe the first trailers anyways since this is not a AAA Studio, it just wouldnt make sense they could output visuals like this on a large game with those limited resources. That being said, as long as they bring back raytracing in the PC version, it will definitely look better than what is shown here.
console peasants always have to suffer of course *shrug* I mean it was obvious that it wouldnt look like that on consoles
yeah still a year before relase
Considering the hell this dev team went through I have zero complaints. It’s amazing that they have still done what they have done
Every day we live under missile attacks and drone attacks, and many Ukrainians want to live to see the release of 2 stalker
Thanks for the wishes of Ukraine and Stalker🇺🇦
On reddit i’ve found comment: „its hard, ai is hard, game have bugs so indeed it is a stalker” and thats true. Original stalker games also had not that good graphics and still they were, and still are great games. Downgrading graphics is something „normal” nowdays and we’ve seen many games done that. Gameplay, difficulty and good story is something (and bit of funny bugs) are the things that define stalker. It’s my second game ever that i’ve preordered. Also cant wait what mod scene will come out with to S2 since it will be way easier to mod than original games.
I loved all of the previous stalker games and I want stalker 2 to succeed I'm willing to wait however long it takes for them to do it properly.
Let me quote Bricky:
,,Graphics are temporary, art direction is eternal"
super siked for the game still! cant wait to get my hands on it! And just to clarify for those that are looking for the book, its called Roadside Picnic by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky and it is a phenomenal must read for SF fans
I really hope they can get a new deal for more time in development.
However, the only downgrade I really see is lighting and shading. I think they can work this out at the end of the deadline, and if not, at least the game will get good gameplay.
Honestly it has been in development for so long, as long as the content and gameplay itself works they should release it. They can still give it a visual upgrade afterwards and modders can get their hands on it too and help
Graphics don't matter. Of all the things to get upset about.
I used to say that but graphic matters
@@stefanburczymucha3352 Then you have a lot of growing to do as a gamer.
it should be noted that one of the floors of the GSC studio building caught fire and it was said to be the floor with the backup servers so that might have something to do with the decision
tbh if they released the game as to where to nobody could run it on a decent system I think people would be more mad than having some downgraded visuals but the game would be at least playable. As long as they nail the atmosphere and keep the same core STALKER experience from the original games I will be happy
As long as the AI is like in anomaly i cant really complain too much because if they get the ai down to where they can conduct actual tactics like having a 4 man squad attack you, have two guys fire on your position and the other two flank on each side, one close and one far along with the wild life waiting for you to get out of your inventory or your pda then pounce (chimera,lurker,etc.) That would be really cool
Lurkers are ripped from Metro series into the Anomaly mod lmao
Yeah the AI in Stalker games is...not what they tell you.
@@DerDrecksack87it absolutely is--played hundreds of hours of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.--Originals, Mods, Amonaly, etc... never played a game with A.I. that even came close, besides maybe F.E.A.R.
Yes, the ai matter much more than graphics.
@@kaedonstark8197 come on man, i played them too several times including mods, especially Misery for CoP and Gamma as of late, the AI is ok-ish for the early 2000s, not saying its bad but squatting down in the open, running forward than back again during combat because they cant pathfind the shortest way to a target when something like a piece of wall is in between, just being oblivious when you snipe somebody in a group and you are far enough away and gettin wrecked by wildlife....ive seen it all and a lot of it. They just coded in movement like strafing and pinpoint grenade toss, occasional lazer accuracy, player vision cone detection so they can push or sneak up when you look elsewhere and voice lines to make it feel more capable than it is. Just go to any major NPC location like the Scorcher, freedom base or army warehouses with a Sniper rifle and star shooting them, 60% will pour out like lemmings the others do not even register it and go hostile when you enter their AI bubble where they can sense you (if not in stealth mode).
But i have to admit that it is miles better than many AAA games have to offer sometimes.
It still looks great in my opinion, not superb like the old trailers, but still really good.
Fr
What just isn't good is how they have released "screenshots" here and there throughout the years and it doesn't look anything like it.
It's hilarious to see people praise battlebit, saying "We don't care about graphics, we want gameplay", and only a few months later "oh no, why graphics bad?"
It is entirely possible there will be performance mode and quality mode, with quality pushing the graphics to max at 1440p or 4k at 30fps
And performance mode dropping a lot of visual extras to get a stable 60, least that is what i hope
Stop focusing on graphics, graphics don’t make a game good
Fr
All I care about is if the experience holds up to the originals. I don't want a downgrade mechanically, and sensually.
Let's be honest this is most likely pre alpha quality we are seeing. As fans we need to support the Devs so they feel comfortable to delay the game as long as required. I am happy to wait another 10 years.
I am mostly hoping it gets strong mod support so we can get some great experiences like Gamma, but with all the extra gameplay/visual stuff a modern engine can offer. I've never even played vanilla Stalker, just Anomaly and Gamma, so I don't exactly know what to expect from the base game lol.
Then play it you can mod the games to be prettier like adding gunslinger to call of pripyat or autumn aurora to soc
Bugs, bad performance and constant crashes, thats what you can expect if you ask about the experiences people had with each official release back in the day.
Anomaly is a healthy ground point but there is definitely differences between the base games and anomaly
anomaly and gamma are WAYYYY different to the ogs. you should play the ogs or you might be disappointed that stalker 2 isnt a grindfest pseudo mmo like gamma.
smooth 15 fps and 50% visual downgrade is acceptable since its only been developed for 10 years
Where is it 15 fps? You blind?
gamers are complaining.
In other news: Grass is green and sky is blue
good to hear someone recommending the book. It's a quick and interesting read that gets a little forgotten amongst the Stalker lore/library
Now I’m no expert on ue5 but I’m aware of a few things that may have been changed or generally downgraded specifically for the hardware it’s running on or possibly in general. Ue5 uses what is essentially fully packaged raytraceing stuff like rtgi rtao ec. And a geometry system called nanite both are extremely heavy as shown by immortals of aveum. It’s completely possible that the device utilized for this demo had many of those features tuned down for performance reasons, or they simply toned down the use of this tech in general to improve performance
Kinda nailed actually 💪 in the industry we need to cover performance in general not only graphical but size performance, UE5 made some upgrades since the Matrix demo (going from almost 500 gb to down 250 per project, neverless large scale projects require heavy material, script, animation and asset optimization which is harder knowing that there's so many setups around. That and also I assume their comms between departments is kinda non existent since they might be working remotely or having issues since the ukraine conflict, I mean is harder just to get in sink between modeling guys and animation guys and concept guys... Inhouse but yeah aiming big usually ends up with downgrading stuff which is kinda a let down because you even axe some content too in order to make the quota.
@@nullcase404 yeah that’s another thing too consider they may have downgraded because they’re country is being invaded by the Z
God forbid the devs from deciding to downgrade when they’ve been through hell and back while
Losing a friend. People can F off.
Then don't make a game if you are losing friends. Take a gun and fight russians. If you do something, do it properly or don't do it at all.
@@georgefromjungle5211Go to war then, you have any idea how it feels? A missile flying mere centimeters from your head? Rounds hitting dirt near you? It feels exhilarating and in a way kind of exciting but incredibely nerve racking.
GSC was out of Ukraine less than two weeks after the invasion started. They're been living comfortably in Czechia, there is no legitimate excuse for them to use.
@@TrilosonicResolutions these morons act like the development team are in the middle of the battlefield...they also act like they aren't charging money for the game....i do hope for their safety but i also know they have been lying about the state of the game...this game was already delayed several times BEFORE the war started...the game is a mess...so far below expectations its truly sad and pathetic ...we all would of been better off(including the developers) if they were just HONEST and ceased development entirely until they were truly ready...years later when the war is over...when they have the man power they need etc...
@@TrilosonicResolutionsSeveral developers are in the army. And moving a company to another country is not free.
I think it looks fine except the particle effects (explosions, smoke), they look kinda simplified in order to run better? idk.... Also what's up with the FPS?
I think that no fan would be mad if they push even further the release date. I don’t have any hurry and we all know what they have been trough.
Don't care I want FPS. It's not the graphics that make a stalker game. The gameplay does.
I feel like, when members of your development team are drafted, and some are even killed, in a war that is taking place in the very country you're trying to develop the game in, then a slight downgrade in graphics is perhaps likely to be one of the consequences of such circumstances.
downgrades have nothing to do with that they probably needed to make the game perform better with a-life ai
Well, if the game has competent AI, I'll be happy.
I couldn't hope to go over how many times I've tried a new release only to find out the enemies are braindead.
I mean, i wouldn’t be surprised if the game doesn’t meet my expectations. They literally have a war going on there country. Tbh, they can delay the game as much as they want to. I just want to play the polished version of it.
It is a visual downgrade I think we can admit that, however as long as the gameplay mechanics are still solid and fluid I think the game will still be great
People need to stop complaining graphics, that's not the main thing anymore. Games have been looking really nice for years now, we need PERFORMANCE as the main focus. Tired of these horrible games having mediocre graphics and performing horribly. So long as the game looks good enough, plays well and is just overall a good experience, that's all that matters
So, you basically want to be stuck in 2012 forever ? "Oh let's play this wonderful game in 2040 with 2012 graphics and good performance". Why don't you mofos go back to nintendo 8-bit and leave us alone then ?
@@georgefromjungle5211 bruh, you need to chill lol. Not 2012, that's outdated. I like graphics too but graphics lately have been really good, we need PERFORMANCE improvements buddy
The STALKER book is called "Roadside Picnic" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky for anyone wondering
A lot of times graphics get downgraded for optimization but i really don`t care that much as long as the gameplay and story are good.
New trailer looking like Fallout 4 😩
I mean personally it still looks great to me. Now sure it doesn't look as good as the previous gameplay we saw, but it still looks beautiful imo. Also this doesn't release till 2024 so I am sure they'll have enough time to make some nice touch ups to the graphics and gameplay.
hope they put an ultra quality option, even if it runs like shit, so that we can play it when the hardware catches up and can bruteforce it
I hope they take the crisis approach, crank up the graphic to the max with a performance warning just so it will be future proof.
The lighting does look very flat in the new trailer and thats such a bummer. But the biggest thing that stuck out to me was the smoke from the gun after it was shot, that looks SUPER rough.
I get all the Ukraine stuff so I don't fault the studio at all and I'm still planning on playing it but I still cant help but be bummed out. Stalker makes me think of metro exodus and even though that was a last gen game on a now old engine I still believe that it was the most graphically impressive game I've ever played and with stalker being a similar type of game but on newer hardware with a new engine I was just really hoping to be wowed
Going to give the devs a break on the visuals. They are literally making the game while in a warzone. Even seen pictures of the devs working in bunkers. If it plays like stalker and has awesome enemy AI, I will be happy.
Most of the dev team was relocated to Czech Republic at the start of the war
Same. Will be buying regardless, seems like the gameplay is going to deliver.
@@MsNebri Okay? They're lives are still being uprooted in the worst way possible. Family, friends, and neighborhoods they grew up with being decimated......but oh hey these graphics need to be better lol
Theyre not making the game while in a bunker in a warzone. That doesnt even make sense. If that was the case... they got bigger things to worry about than making a video game
They moved a year and a half ago to the Czech Republic, lol. Get your facts straight, also not the whole of Ukraine is a warzone. Western part lives like you and me live, lol
The devs said already that graphics will be more polish it's still early and still looks good on the pc version already! I played the demo but some pc can't handle it maybe why graphics are like that. You need a high end pc for this game.
Having played all stalkers games and mods it’s a shame im going to miss out on this. Switched from high end PC to PS4 and now PS5 years ago… going to miss this
I think that a lot of STALKER players don't really care about graphics because you do not play STALKER for the graphics. It's about atmosphere and about feeling that something or someone is always watching you.
I just hope that the game will be well optimized (think Doom Eternal), that is the only thing I PERSONALLY care about :)
Stalker 1 back then tried to look like a realistic world, with realistic environments and lighting. Stalker 2 looks however like a gameworld, with a very gamy approach on the visuals.
I wish the Developer would address the concerns and explain themselves. If there was ever a title thats going to get a lot of wiggle room with customers - its this one. Just tell us whats going on.
Graphics are far from the selling point of STALKER and, supposedly, modders can 'fix' that. But it's not a good look to showcase a noticeable graphical downgrade from one trailer to another.
As long as they can nail atmosphere, world, factions, survival, then this will be a priced game for many years to come. But I for sure am cautious about purchasing it, nevermind preordering it, I mean, I can just go play modded anomaly for free at any time.
I dont think its getting a downgrade at all. I think the latest footage is what we can expect it to look like on Xbox and most PCs. The original footage is what we can expect it to look like on a high end PC. Theres more to consider though, time of the day and if RT is enabled or not.
Wrong lol this was pc when he goes to the car it says F to search.
@@MrAmazYnGaMiNg Did you actually read my comment? Clearly not.
@@brianscorcher u really believe that they would showcase there game on a low end PCs with Xbox setting instead of the best showing??
Sure they played it on mid settings, to showcase it for average pcs and it still lags. Good marketing. Copium overload.
swear to god most people are delusional@@MrAmazYnGaMiNg
wow. just wow so people can play games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R Gamma today but are yapping and crying when they see an official game got downgraded for probably very good reason might i add seriously if graphics are peoples concern then they shouldn't even play S.T.A.L.K.E.R to begin with
I think the developers are now more concerned about punishing their core audience than about making a good game.
I don't mind the downgrade as long as the game itself is good. Gameplay > Graphics.
I’m buying it no matter what the price or the quality is. They got every reason to delay. It must have been hard to have your co-work die to a war. If anyone is to blame, it’s the one who started the invasion.
People call these graphics bad? What? It looks fantastic! Compared to the other games it’s leaps and bounds ahead, that lighting the first scene is fantastic, the day time warehouse scene was gorgeous.
Look at the details in that scene where that fella chucks you a bolt, how about the detail within that cave, in what world can you call those graphics bad.
It looks phenomenal, and I’d much rather have a solidly high fps considering this is a shooter. If the original games managed to convey a solid atmosphere with those janky animations and low poly counts then this will most definitely be a step up.
horizon forbidden west, gears 5... these 2 are phenomenal graphics indeed, this is okay-ish, but the 2011 trailer was amazing it got peoples hopes up and this is just plain bad compared to that one
@@clarkndrekent there was no official stalker 2 2011 verson trailer, only fan'made ones.
@@VORASTRA 2021* sry it was a typo
Nah these graphics are average at best for 2023/2024, the demo had some neat visuals but this looks like Metro Exodus at best.
I'm actually more interested in the AI being as good or even better than the originals, than downgraded visuals. I need to play against a hardcore AI that will make me sweat like in STALKER Gamma.
A friend and I pre ordered the game quite a long time ago and it's been quite the rollercoaster of emotions for them to edge us with the release date.
I’m usually not the kind of person to be like “what are people talking about?” But seriously, the game looks gorgeous. Animations are fluid, lighting vibrantly colors the world, and the attention to detail is really, really, good.
Am I missing something? Yes I am aware of the old trailers but this is still a beautiful looking game.
Yeah, vibrant colors are a problem here, it doesn't feel like stalker with all that color, they need to go back to a more grey color palette.
@@thelordoftime803the downgrade dit some of that but i need more murkiness. Same situation as CS2 sort of
@@grzyb11 yup, i need murky, i need rough textures and bleak colors, it's a shame if they keep it so exagerated like it's cheap HDR.
it literally looks worse than mods for the first game lmao
Gaming! *everybody cheers*
Gaming?! More like, 😅 racism 😅
In 2023 trailers are more worked than the actual games
How does some of the light look so gorgeous? How does the X-Ray (?) engine manage to do this?
This game was developed using Unreal Engine 5.
They said the ai is hard. Good as it should be.
Considering that the country the company’s from is a _literal war zone_ I think I can give them a little grace on this one
This exactly. Why is this even a talking point.
Has nothing to do with the game. The company itself was never near or involved in the war, they relocated.
I would never imagine that even bad graphics now is Putin's fault. You guys are laughable. Graphics sucks not because of war.
on 3:01 the light ghost can be seen after shotgun, looks like some screen space ambient occlusion and not lumen(also no wobbling in darker areas)
Honestly, within reason, I can absolutely accept a visual downgrade if they can provide consistent performance.
Game still looks incredible to me. The fact that they’re developing it in a war zone alone is insane. I’m stoked for this and can’t wait to play
Their dev. team has been in the Czech Republic for almost the second year.
I think we can cut this guys some break. They making this during a war. Yes this studio is located in Ukraine. Everyone was cutting studios slack during COVID which most of the time didn't even effect production that much. But it was the ultimate scapegoat. This time they have a genuine excuse for once.
It’s no longer located in Ukraine
I got so tired of "Oh it's a PANDARMIC you gotta be nice to the devs!!!!!1111" excuses.
@DeltaAssaultGaming yeah that's his point they had to move where they were and hault development during relocation
Half the devs are still in ukraine and most of them on the frontlines.@@DeltaAssaultGaming
@@Nicolas_Cage_Bees Alot of the devs are literally on the frontlines lol
i dont care if the game looks graphically downgraded, as long as the devs are safe and taking their time that's all that matters
You can't fault them considering what happened to their actual studio in their home country.
With everything that's going on, I'm sure their hearts and minds are elsewhere
the ubisoft effect
the unreal engine effect.
Definitely, looks downgraded , what a shame to be honest
Graphics look better to me , closer to original titles . the atmosphere is nearly the same
Im getting tired of trailers doing this the game industry is notorious for this honestly. Should be a law against false advertising.
The downgrade is a disgrace. Dont care what happened.
It kinda pisses me off that people nowadays judge games based on their graphics. It was never about the graphics! It was about having fun in unbelievable worlds and ideas. Still very hyped about this game. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time
Why settle for less? This is 2023 we do not need games to look like last gen, while obviously gameplay is most important when you look at the highest rated games that checks out.
Never about the graphics? So why Sony games always have stuning graphics since the PS4, keep playing on a PS3/Xbox 360 or PS2 if the graphics doesnt mean nothing
@@aterraxanime well I’m not entirely saying that graphics is what makes game good or bad. Games with good games are pretty good. But gameplay is what really matters in this case scenario. I just don’t think graphics mean that a game is good or bad
@@aurious5821 Who cares, the previous games had old graphics, this is a large step up from it, so honestly who cares.
It doesn't affect the game, games can have bad graphics and still be good.
@@SparksProx That logic can literally be applied to you as well mate
old trailers werent actual gameplay)) I also played the stk2 leaked build and when the graphic settings were on the highest it did look gorgeous, even tho the leaked build was about a 1+ years old
For some reason I don't care how it looks, been playing the originals plenty of times and I will love stalker 2 to the last bit no matter how "bad" it is
I think the models and textures look great, but the lack of atmospheric fog and whatnot definitely makes it look less realistic.
Most open world modern games go hard on atmospherics, and the lack of that does have a big effect.
Why are people always so upset over the smallest things like graphics? My man concern is: Is the story great? Is the gameplay stable? Are there any bugs? There are plenty of games that are great and don't use crazy Ray Tracing graphics. I'd rather have an amazing story that's not buggy with stable fps then an Unreal Engine 5 Graphics showoff...
Honestly, I wouldn't even mind the level of graphics we saw in the Gamescom trailer, I just hope they nail the Stalker atmosphere and have it run smoothly and (shader)stutter free.
Do they plan on releasing full sdk for stalker 2 as well? modders would prolly make anomly 2 then.