In the trailer, Strider also mentions in his story that he saw a soldier through his scope but did not shoot. It doesn't match what was presented as the POV shot has the shooter firing. Perhaps this wasn't Strider's POV at all and instead Skiff's. Because Strider then scolds Skiff, saying... "Unlike you." So that POV on the CNPP could be Skiff as a Monolith. I always had the thought that Skiff was a former Monolith because when Strider said "when WE used to be Puppets" I interpreted that as Skiff and Strider both being brainwashed in the past. And considering how this is 10 years after Call of Pripyat and with how the Zone functions, it's possible that Skiff got his name cleared, got his mind back to normal and tried to live a new life. Joining the army to fight other Monolith fighters that still believe, like how Strider did in helping the Major in the Pripyat Underground, from the Jupiter Plant in COP.
I expect them to operate like a modern C-form. Masking everything they do with the promise of betterment of humanity, but ultimately creating all sorts of horrible monsters in the process. Maybe the only way to stop them will be to re-enable the brainscorcher and other pieces of old tech, to thwart them from taking over other unfound X-labs?
14:10 during the operation Monolith radio transmission personnel from the marksmen task force “Sova” didn’t have any sign of distress when Commander Kvartet died and the emmission was about to take place, this could means that “Sova” has already found a hiding spot and decided to launch another attack after the emission ends Tho I don’t know if the Operation Monolith radio transmission is relevant to the lore
But that doesn't explain the helicopters flying over Skif, if Sova was fighting Skif and the monolithians after the blowout why are there helicopters? In CoP we know that anti-emission technology was developed after Operation Monolith. Unless helicopters managed to reach the CNPP in time but even then they'd have a different aerial anomaly map or didn't have scanners, but that would take a lot of time. I think the battle was a bit after the brain scorcher was turned off, like when Strelok was still in Pripyat, i think that was a bit of his memories appearing as time went on but was not yet capable of fully controlling himself
If you listen to the monolith soldiers voice lines they clearly don't sound all there. I know "well duh they're a bunch of brainwashed cultists" but what i mean is that when idle they seem to have memory problems questioning where they are and who they are then quickly turning to the monolith for confort, so having a twisted time perception isn't a stretch
@Anomalous Dugout I think i cracked the symbolism of the respective pendants of Strider and *Faust. Strider one is already explained in the trailer so a quick recap - he holds an empty shell, which reminds him that he used to be a puppet - an empty shell of a human, controlled by Monolith. Contrasting with this, Faust has a shiny aquamarine blue tinted rock. It might be an ordinary rock or a fragment of some artifact, but more likely i believe that it's a shard of original Monolith, which fits on a few too many levels. First of all, it bears a striking resemblence to Monolith/ Wish Granter - it was after all a glowing crystalline rock, with a little bit of that aquamarine blue tint. Seeing as Faust seems obsessed with re-establishing the connection to Monolith, carrying a shard of it on himself would make sense, maybe he believes it will strenghten the connection or even allow it to return in the first place, it's like his personal idol - a relic. Maybe it helps him to find at list a glimpse of that bliss he felt when he was under the influence of Monolith, maybe he believes it still holds "the juice" that the OG Monolith had, and maybe it's just a memorial of what he "lost". One way or another, i think it's safe to assume that this rock pendant being a shard of Monolith is a solid guess. To wrap it up - it bears resemblence of a Monolith and it makes sense for *Faust to hold on to a shard of Monolith so close to him as he's the most devouted member of the Monolith faction who wants to get back to being brainwashed, or as he'd probably describe it - to reestablish the connection.
I can support the theory about 15.2: fan theories (including me) hinted that 15.2 is a date when S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 will be released (15.2 or 15th day of February). Does this mean GSC Game World intentionally reveals the release date of Stalker 2? Who knows. But digging on the release dates of previous S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, (especially SoC & CoP), it was released during Q1 of their years' release (during February), so it's theorize that this is the Date (2.15.2024) is the release date of Stalker 2. But still I lower my expectations regarding the release date because IT MIGHT be released in March instead. NOTE: I have no reliable source for the claims about 15.2, it's JUST A FAN THEORY after all.
You are a great storyteller and I love your theories on STALKER 2, you obviously know much about the series and your suggestions are very grounded. I've been watching your channel for days as I recount my experiences in the trilogy and wonder what happened to Monolith, and C-Con, Duty and Freedom, and who Skif is. Why they are hearing the voice again? What happened to Duty and Freedom? What other familiar faces will we see? Was Skif an ex-Monolith? So many questions remain. Anyway you've earned a sub. I'd love to hear more theories!
I feel like the story of Stalker 2 might give us some good tasty lore about who the Monolith were prior to SOC & Clearsky. At least, what I read between the lines from Strider's COP lines is that he and his boys (and presumably, all the soldiers wearing Monolith armor and w/ Monolith patches) were part of some major military operation to secure the mythical Monolith. I think that's why the whole faction has such an iconic look. I suppose it pulls on some of the UNISG origins but without placing blame on any one nation or faction; Monolith soldiers were literally that before they got brainwashed; Soldiers part of a major military operation to find and secure the Monolith for study. But it seems like the effort backfired due to the C-form, which ultimately brainwashed every Monolithian who made it to the CNPP. I would assume the Monolith faction carried on somewhat for the first year or so after the C-form was destroyed, but I imagine with more and more disillusioned Monolithians escaping the CNPP and becoming ordinary stalkers, it's possible that there is no group keeping others from reaching the center of the zone outside of SIRCA, leading to the creation of the Ward by Sirca. I suspect it's possible that a rogue faction of Monolithians are trying to bring back the C-form, but I can't see that going successfully as the Monolith was never real, just an illusion created by the C-form to manipulate feeble minds into turning back and not revealing the truth. What would have happened to the first stalkers to discover the C-form after Streloc? Also, I have this strong feeling that we'll wind up killing Streloc in the game. Perhaps he''ll die offscreen. Not sure but I definitely get some serious cut content from stalker 2's original script vibes.
I think the reason for the apparent orientation "shifts" of the map may have more to do with the perspectives. I believe that Skiff and the stranger's conversation must have taken place at a different angle compared to the flashback with Strider. It seems like, at least to me, Strider's POV is near the Pripyat hospital from SOC. Skiff and the Stranger seem to be having a conversation elsewhere, somewhere fairly far from the CNPP.
In the conversation with Stranger we can see the cooling towers for the unfinished reactors 5 and 6, which shows us they are on a building not too far West of the CNPP and looking South. The angle is not exactly the same but it's quite similar.
9:33 if im not wrong in your video of the Pripyat Paradox, it might have been the idea of two pripyats, one in the north and another in the south, two different districts that are from the same city, separated by the cnpp
hey sir anomalous i just wanna share how i started playing stalker games. As i was scrolling on youtube there is recommended video and the title was "Za Monolith" and it was 50 sec music video edit it was good but then i was curios what is this game and so i did look it up on google and did some research and i was interested playing it and lucky me the game was on sale so i bought 3 of them and then i played and your videos really helped when i was struggling on some parts of the game like stashes, story, decisions, and etc. and here am now watching your videos and earlier i watched the uhhh strider trailer. and i'll be enjoying your videos and more
I believe that the positioning of the duga radar in the e3 trailer should not be taken as factual because it does not match up with real life at all, and if your estimates of 3,7 km are correct, we should be able to see the cnpp but we can't, however in the new strider trailer it matches up with real life because we are standing at the cnpp and looking south, with the cooling towers of reactor 5 on the left and the radar on the right.
Why everyone thinks, that Strider is even talking about not choosing to be puppet of monolith? It could mean, that he was puppet of monolith and he chose not to be and that skif chose to be puppet, but it doesnt have to mean, that it has to be exactly puppet of monolith. Only that he chose to be "puppet", but it can be puppet of anyone. ...i just want to say, that those two things dont contradict itself. It still can mean, that strider was puppet of monolith, but Skif chose to be puppet of some organisation (maybe like corupt SIRCA?)
My thoughts are that maybe Skif will, if the player so chooses, to maybe be a double agent, maybe the interrogation occurs because Korshunov is suspecting of him.
I kinda hope GSC will throw us off with the story quite a bit, so far a lot of things are telegraphed and foreshadowed, and I do agree with almost al of these asumptions but I can't help but wonder if it is all that simple, like Skif is still a huge wildcard in all of this! also the rooftop monolith scene being unrelated to strider's dialogue would be pretty chef's kiss
I think they are not showing us everything, and with the ability to make your own choices and influence the story it will probably be much more complex than we might think.
Somehow I expect Stalker 2 to release in late April if they stick to the Q1 2024 release date, but I'm half expecting them to push it back to Q2 or Q3 2024.
I don't know why but I had always thought that there are multiple psi-fields with different sources and intensities depending on the distance from the Group's base... Also, I thought that Stalker 2 will tell us more about the other half of the zone, the north half. I thought that in this other half, there are still monolith members and that we will find other labs and bases of the Group... But the name "Heart of Chernobyl" means that maybe the main plot stays around the CNPP? Why the majority of the Stalkers come from the south? Is the north of CNPP harder to survive? Who is controlling this half? Mutants?
Throughoutly explained, long version: Well, judging by the IRL location of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, It's much harder to come from the north simply due to the fact that the northern part of the exclusion zone itself stretches all the way north to the border with Belarus, which could as well be a border with Russia and it would make no difference as Russia has a great control of Belarus. Furthermore, a Belarussian counterpart of the exclusion zone is located on the northern side of that border - Palieski State Radioecological Reserve, it's almost equally as big as Ukrainian part of the exclusion zone, and is also fenced off and guarded, just like the Ukrainian part of the exclusion zone, possibly even more heavily. Not only that, but to even get going from that side you'd have to happen to be in Belarus in the first place, assuming you're not Belarussian, you'd have to first get either through the heavily guarded, fenced off and barb wired Poland-Belarus border, come from and through the police state of Russia, or come through the heavily guarded and fenced off Ukraine-Belarus border which already counterfeits the purpose. IF you'f be lucky enough to get into Belarus illegally with all of your gear, no matter how cheap and small it was - there's no way of just getting in legally with obvious rookie stalker gear - you'd then have to also go through the entire police state of Belarus. Now getting back to the Stalker universe, IF you'd reach the Belarussian part of the exclusion zone- then you'd have to go through the first heavily guarded PSRR border, possibly even more guarded than the CEZ border, then through PSRR itself which is more or less just as big as CEZ, then if you'd manage that you'd have to go through Belarus-Ukraine border which in Stalker universe may or may not still be guarded - if yes assume it's as well guarded as CEZ and PSRR borders, if not - it's still a barbed fence -and only then you'd reach the actual CEZ... and then you're still on your own with all of the Zone "civilisation" of Stalkers being on the south side while you're on the completely wild territory with no safe houses, bases, no friendly faces, no human being in sight, no supplies, no traders, more or less no man made structures, only you, vast wilderness of forests, mutants, anomalies and radiation. So simply put, it's much easier to just go from Ukraine, push through one border which is already hard, and reach any safe spot controlled by Stalkers than to deal with a shitfuckery of multiple borders in police-state countries like Belarus and Russia, ONE big completely wild exclusion zone, another border, and another chunk of wild part of exclusion zone. It's a quick math 1 heavily guarded and death laced border + a short trip through the somewhat populated zone 2-3-4 heavily guarded and death laced borders + more or less 20+10km of a completely wild zones(plural), all counting in a straight line. It seems like a quite simple choice, doesn't it?
TL;DR version: 1,313 km2 of Polesie State Radioecological Reserve (Belarussian Zone) and 3 heavily guarded borders, shortest path to any Stalker settlement is +- 20km of complete wilderness, and then 10km more of complete wilderness. 2,600 km2 of Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (Ukrainian Zone) and 1 heavily guarded border, shortest path to any Stalker settlement is just a few kilometers of populated part of the zone.
@@Kebab136 Thanks for your reply. I don't like to use IRL map to try to understand the zone because the Zone in Stalker univers is different. I have never read anything in the lore that describes north of the CNPP, as if it didn't exist. If anyone has lore elements that do describe the northern part of the Zone (north of CNPP) please give me a link or an image etc I would like to read them. That is why I thought (before watching any Stalker 2 trailers) that if one day Stalker 2 gets released it will be about the other half of the zone that I have never heard about in the lore.
@@wolfonix3160 Well, Two things: As for why stalkers don't come FROM the north, using IRL map is perfectly consistent with the lore - after all in stalker universe countries are pretty much in the same place where they are IRL. At least there's nothing to suggest otherwise and zone's layout isn't much different from IRL exclusion zone, distances are just shrunk and places are moved slightly due to technical reasons that have nothing to do with lore. As for areas north of CNPP themself, it would be perfectly fine to include them, and further more it looks like they will, as Pripyat will probably finally be relocated to where it should be - north of CNPP. We can't be sure for now, but we can hope for it. The zone in stalker universe was always supposed to be somewhat accurate to the irl zone, and most of the changes were made more due to technical reasons than lore ones - moving locations down south, below CNPP made sense as in order to get into Pripyat you'd have to move through CNPP itself, which would counterfeit the purpose as CNPP was supposed to be the final location. We can also hope that they will finally bring back Generators, which were supposed to be located north of CNPP. Anything else i wrote before can still easily be applied as lore accurate info - other countries still exist, CEZ was still just CEZ before the second catastrophy, so there's no reason to think that Belarussian part of the exclusion zone doesn't exist. It really was simpler for stalkers to just come from south, and as they started to populate the zone and make settlements there, any reason to try to get in from north would become less and less convinient - nobody would chose getting in from the wild side when it's probably established info that down south from CNPP there are stalker settlements, and anyone who's not suicidal but wants to enter the zone would chose that side, as opportunity to get help, aid, supplies and etc if needed is expotentially bigger down south than up north, where these opportunities simply don't exist. But, if you look at the map at Call of Pripyat, assuming that this part IS north of CNPP, which it probably is as these locations were never seen in the previous games, and Pripyat itself is more accurate to the IRL version, it would make sense to put it north, furthermore, characters constantly refer to these territories as being "up north" or "center of the zone"- locations close up north from CNPP would easily pass as center of the zone, and previously (before brain scorcher went off) inaccessible. It would make sense that stalkers just went around CNPP to get to the new locations. Also CoP map's layout is much more accurate to the IRL map, as Yanov is somewhat to the left of Pripyat, and IRL it's the same, and they're both just up north above CNPP. And finally, what i think you will like to hear, there IS at least one stalker that came from the north, not south - Mayor Degtyarev. At the beginning of the game you start in the northern part of Zaton, location that is the furthest north, and behind you there's a road that goes north. And it would make sense for him our of all people come from right about north-west, as he is SBU and was certainly just let in by the border guards, as he was an official with a government supervised task - it would even make sense if he came through the Belarussian side, although again i doubt it was true as it's too much hustle, and he probably went in from somewhere close to the Belarussian border. Why? Because his task's targets - stingray helicopters - were already north of CNPP, and going through all of the stuff going on in the south would be a too big risk - going through monolith, faction wars, risking blowing his cover when dealing with various military outposts that are IN the zone, and going through CNPP. So they just let him go from the wild side, and the fact that you only start the game in Zaton means that it's the furthest north the stalkers got at that point, so allowing you to play through hours of wilderness was pointless and boring - they just dropped you in the game when he was already at the first encountered stalker-populated location. Discarding IRL maps as not lore accurate isn't the way to go, sure, there are changes due to many reasons, but the Zone is still located in CEZ, Ukraine, and the world outside is still the same world we know IRL, with same countries, borders, politics etc. The only thing that's really different according to lore accuracy is mutants, anomalies, artifacts, and the whole deal with the noosphere. Other than that, saying that stalkers don't come from straight up north because Belarus is not in conflict with lore, and you can easily accept everything i wrote before as accurate. And the fact that stalkers in the game come from the south is just confirming it - it is and always was easier that way, and when at the very beginning first stalkers came they came from mainland Ukraine, and later it was more and more convinient to do the same than try to break new grounds going from the north, as when the PSY emitters where active coming from the north would not only make you deal with all of my previous comment, but would eventually render you stranded there alone, without any means to push down south to where all the other stalkers are.
@@wolfonix3160 TL;DR version: IRL maps are not in any conflict with being lore accurate, CoP maps and their positions are more or less 1:1 with IRL maps so everything can still be lore accurate - there's no info or any indicators that would suggest otherwise. And after dealiwn with all of that shit from my previous comment, you'd be left stranded north from CNPP alone with PSY emitters blocking you from joining other stalkers down south. And up to this point, it's just more convinient now to go through the already checked and established routes than try to break grounds and end up in the uncharted territory alone, when everything that can help is south. And the only known stalker to come from the North was Mayor Degtyarev and he went that way only because it was more convinient for his task and he already worked for the government so 90% of what i wrote before didn't apply to him.
It wouldn't surprise me if they re-oriented the map to be a tad more in line with irl locations. I wouldn't mind it tbh, was weird that Pripyat was below the CNPP when it isn't irl. I know they did it for game flow an stuff, but I think nowadays people, especially stalker players, OG games or anomaly, have enough patience to not need that lol
I just hope this is good. So many games have come out lately that have been crap. I just want this to be a solid Stalker experience. Take some ideas from the mods over the years, make it modern, and in the end well polished. I do not expect perfection. Just not another crap show. I have been waiting over ten years for this game.
I hope they actually take their time to develop the game and not rush it because they are reaching deadline or any of that sort of thing. Alot of the community has said this to the devs though, to take their sweet time in order for giving a good game.
if the game comes out in like 3 months how will they announce the games release date. i mean it should be anytime now and you wouldve thought they would do it at an event with thousands to see. would they just post on social media instead? or is there another event coming up that they would go to to announce it
I don't buy that the Duga will not play a major role in the story.We see it in almost all screenshots and trailers just like we saw CNPP everywhere in SoC.And another detail is in the E3 trailer,Skif is killing enemies with the gauss rifle just before he reaches Duga.We all know from the previous games that you get the gauss rifle close to the end of the game.Those little details are the reason why i believe Duga,or a place underneath it(hidden X lab perhaps?) will be the final place you will visit in the game.
@@prophetthelast7849actually there are some very credible sources that told me you could buy a gauss for 800 credits in the southern part of the zone.
It's totally unrelated to this video(great video, though❤), but I hope GSC will allow mobile game developers to try and port their games again. Project S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s fate was tragic, to say the least. Modern phones can support whole console emulators and their games, which are very demanding, and many 2000's pc games have been ported successfully. For example, rome total war and its expansions(an old rts pc game. It's pretty good, but the controls are tough) Theres no way they won't be able to pull it off.
Strider appeared in Call of Pripyat, he's a neutral Monolith who was freed from the brainwashing. You could recruit him for the Pripyat Underpass mission.
@@ahealthkit2745 I started looking: Stalker | FULL MOVIE | Directed by Andrey Tarkovsky STALKER film "F.O.T.O.G.R.A.F." based on the game "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." Irradiation [4K|CryEngine] S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - The Hard Way Cinematic [FAN] WARRIORS ZONE PART/2 | Short film | S.T.A.L.K.E.R. | SFM | S.T.A.L.K.E.R | The will of the Monolith [Ep1] [SFM] S. T. A. L. K. E. R. | the will of the monolith - "Brain Scorcher" [Episode 2] [SFM] This one is probably the saddest I've ever seen: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. | "Monolith Left Us" СТАЛКЕР фильм "Цена доверия" по мотивам "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." СТАЛКЕР фильм. Трансформация - 2. Ещё живой. По мотивам игры. Similar: SCP: OVERLORD SCP: Dollhouse SCP: First Contact
In the trailer, Strider also mentions in his story that he saw a soldier through his scope but did not shoot. It doesn't match what was presented as the POV shot has the shooter firing. Perhaps this wasn't Strider's POV at all and instead Skiff's. Because Strider then scolds Skiff, saying... "Unlike you." So that POV on the CNPP could be Skiff as a Monolith.
I always had the thought that Skiff was a former Monolith because when Strider said "when WE used to be Puppets" I interpreted that as Skiff and Strider both being brainwashed in the past.
And considering how this is 10 years after Call of Pripyat and with how the Zone functions, it's possible that Skiff got his name cleared, got his mind back to normal and tried to live a new life. Joining the army to fight other Monolith fighters that still believe, like how Strider did in helping the Major in the Pripyat Underground, from the Jupiter Plant in COP.
Yes, this is also an interesting possibility.
Sircaa is indeed shady, which was revealed in S2 ARG. Probably they'll have a noble goal that will be reached with unethical ways. Who knows
Yes, we'll see.
I expect them to operate like a modern C-form. Masking everything they do with the promise of betterment of humanity, but ultimately creating all sorts of horrible monsters in the process. Maybe the only way to stop them will be to re-enable the brainscorcher and other pieces of old tech, to thwart them from taking over other unfound X-labs?
14:10 during the operation Monolith radio transmission personnel from the marksmen task force “Sova” didn’t have any sign of distress when Commander Kvartet died and the emmission was about to take place, this could means that “Sova” has already found a hiding spot and decided to launch another attack after the emission ends
Tho I don’t know if the Operation Monolith radio transmission is relevant to the lore
Interesting detail, thanks for sharing!
But that doesn't explain the helicopters flying over Skif, if Sova was fighting Skif and the monolithians after the blowout why are there helicopters? In CoP we know that anti-emission technology was developed after Operation Monolith.
Unless helicopters managed to reach the CNPP in time but even then they'd have a different aerial anomaly map or didn't have scanners, but that would take a lot of time.
I think the battle was a bit after the brain scorcher was turned off, like when Strelok was still in Pripyat, i think that was a bit of his memories appearing as time went on but was not yet capable of fully controlling himself
@@Kuro-UWUdecent sighting, this could be accurate too
If you listen to the monolith soldiers voice lines they clearly don't sound all there. I know "well duh they're a bunch of brainwashed cultists" but what i mean is that when idle they seem to have memory problems questioning where they are and who they are then quickly turning to the monolith for confort, so having a twisted time perception isn't a stretch
Indeed.
Easy game of the year 2024 for STALKER 2
Hopefully.
Neat. Interested to find out what happens in S2
We'll find out soon enough.
@Anomalous Dugout I think i cracked the symbolism of the respective pendants of Strider and *Faust. Strider one is already explained in the trailer so a quick recap - he holds an empty shell, which reminds him that he used to be a puppet - an empty shell of a human, controlled by Monolith. Contrasting with this, Faust has a shiny aquamarine blue tinted rock. It might be an ordinary rock or a fragment of some artifact, but more likely i believe that it's a shard of original Monolith, which fits on a few too many levels. First of all, it bears a striking resemblence to Monolith/ Wish Granter - it was after all a glowing crystalline rock, with a little bit of that aquamarine blue tint. Seeing as Faust seems obsessed with re-establishing the connection to Monolith, carrying a shard of it on himself would make sense, maybe he believes it will strenghten the connection or even allow it to return in the first place, it's like his personal idol - a relic. Maybe it helps him to find at list a glimpse of that bliss he felt when he was under the influence of Monolith, maybe he believes it still holds "the juice" that the OG Monolith had, and maybe it's just a memorial of what he "lost". One way or another, i think it's safe to assume that this rock pendant being a shard of Monolith is a solid guess. To wrap it up - it bears resemblence of a Monolith and it makes sense for *Faust to hold on to a shard of Monolith so close to him as he's the most devouted member of the Monolith faction who wants to get back to being brainwashed, or as he'd probably describe it - to reestablish the connection.
Love the idea but the monolith isn't real, unless they retcon that. It was an illusion by the c-con.
I have feeling SIRCAA will stab you in the back if you work for them, I put my trust into Strider
Could be the case.
13:20 only Strelok knows what realy happened to common consciousness while every stalker noticed that the Brain Scorcher was turned off
Yes.
I can support the theory about 15.2:
fan theories (including me) hinted that 15.2 is a date when S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 will be released (15.2 or 15th day of February). Does this mean GSC Game World intentionally reveals the release date of Stalker 2? Who knows. But digging on the release dates of previous S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, (especially SoC & CoP), it was released during Q1 of their years' release (during February), so it's theorize that this is the Date (2.15.2024) is the release date of Stalker 2. But still I lower my expectations regarding the release date because IT MIGHT be released in March instead.
NOTE: I have no reliable source for the claims about 15.2, it's JUST A FAN THEORY after all.
Alright, thanks for the comment!
really nice work man
Thanks.
You are a great storyteller and I love your theories on STALKER 2, you obviously know much about the series and your suggestions are very grounded. I've been watching your channel for days as I recount my experiences in the trilogy and wonder what happened to Monolith, and C-Con, Duty and Freedom, and who Skif is. Why they are hearing the voice again? What happened to Duty and Freedom? What other familiar faces will we see? Was Skif an ex-Monolith?
So many questions remain. Anyway you've earned a sub. I'd love to hear more theories!
Banger Video, brotherman!
Thank you!
Crazy this game could possibly be available sometime next month!
We are hoping for a release date soon.
Good hunting Stalkers, take care ✌️
You too!
Cheeki Breeki
Iv Damke.
I feel like the story of Stalker 2 might give us some good tasty lore about who the Monolith were prior to SOC & Clearsky. At least, what I read between the lines from Strider's COP lines is that he and his boys (and presumably, all the soldiers wearing Monolith armor and w/ Monolith patches) were part of some major military operation to secure the mythical Monolith. I think that's why the whole faction has such an iconic look. I suppose it pulls on some of the UNISG origins but without placing blame on any one nation or faction; Monolith soldiers were literally that before they got brainwashed; Soldiers part of a major military operation to find and secure the Monolith for study. But it seems like the effort backfired due to the C-form, which ultimately brainwashed every Monolithian who made it to the CNPP. I would assume the Monolith faction carried on somewhat for the first year or so after the C-form was destroyed, but I imagine with more and more disillusioned Monolithians escaping the CNPP and becoming ordinary stalkers, it's possible that there is no group keeping others from reaching the center of the zone outside of SIRCA, leading to the creation of the Ward by Sirca.
I suspect it's possible that a rogue faction of Monolithians are trying to bring back the C-form, but I can't see that going successfully as the Monolith was never real, just an illusion created by the C-form to manipulate feeble minds into turning back and not revealing the truth. What would have happened to the first stalkers to discover the C-form after Streloc?
Also, I have this strong feeling that we'll wind up killing Streloc in the game. Perhaps he''ll die offscreen. Not sure but I definitely get some serious cut content from stalker 2's original script vibes.
Nice theory, thanks for sharing.
@@anomalousdugout9557 Thanks for making these videos! Been an avid watcher since I started playing the original trilogy a couple years ago!
Nice video bro!!❤
Thanks!
Thanks for the analysis. I would have missed many things without you Anomalous.
Nice.
I think the reason for the apparent orientation "shifts" of the map may have more to do with the perspectives. I believe that Skiff and the stranger's conversation must have taken place at a different angle compared to the flashback with Strider. It seems like, at least to me, Strider's POV is near the Pripyat hospital from SOC. Skiff and the Stranger seem to be having a conversation elsewhere, somewhere fairly far from the CNPP.
In the conversation with Stranger we can see the cooling towers for the unfinished reactors 5 and 6, which shows us they are on a building not too far West of the CNPP and looking South. The angle is not exactly the same but it's quite similar.
9:33 if im not wrong in your video of the Pripyat Paradox, it might have been the idea of two pripyats, one in the north and another in the south, two different districts that are from the same city, separated by the cnpp
I don't think it will be like this in the new game but I guess we'll see.
I have been waiting for so long for more S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games and been playing the old 3
Your patience will be rewarded.
hey sir anomalous i just wanna share how i started playing stalker games. As i was scrolling on youtube there is recommended video and the title was "Za Monolith" and it was 50 sec music video edit it was good but then i was curios what is this game and so i did look it up on google and did some research and i was interested playing it and lucky me the game was on sale so i bought 3 of them and then i played and your videos really helped when i was struggling on some parts of the game like stashes, story, decisions, and etc. and here am now watching your videos and earlier i watched the uhhh strider trailer. and i'll be enjoying your videos and more
Very nice!
I believe that the positioning of the duga radar in the e3 trailer should not be taken as factual because it does not match up with real life at all, and if your estimates of 3,7 km are correct, we should be able to see the cnpp but we can't, however in the new strider trailer it matches up with real life because we are standing at the cnpp and looking south, with the cooling towers of reactor 5 on the left and the radar on the right.
Yeah, it seems they changed its position during development.
Why everyone thinks, that Strider is even talking about not choosing to be puppet of monolith? It could mean, that he was puppet of monolith and he chose not to be and that skif chose to be puppet, but it doesnt have to mean, that it has to be exactly puppet of monolith. Only that he chose to be "puppet", but it can be puppet of anyone. ...i just want to say, that those two things dont contradict itself. It still can mean, that strider was puppet of monolith, but Skif chose to be puppet of some organisation (maybe like corupt SIRCA?)
Yes, I agree.
I have to admit though, that Monolith suit looks so badass
My thoughts are that maybe Skif will, if the player so chooses, to maybe be a double agent, maybe the interrogation occurs because Korshunov is suspecting of him.
I kinda hope GSC will throw us off with the story quite a bit, so far a lot of things are telegraphed and foreshadowed, and I do agree with almost al of these asumptions but I can't help but wonder if it is all that simple, like Skif is still a huge wildcard in all of this! also the rooftop monolith scene being unrelated to strider's dialogue would be pretty chef's kiss
I think they are not showing us everything, and with the ability to make your own choices and influence the story it will probably be much more complex than we might think.
Second. Chances I could be late, so I reserve my right to be 3rd and 4th.
Nice :)
Great video!
Nice work man
Thanks :)
Somehow I expect Stalker 2 to release in late April if they stick to the Q1 2024 release date, but I'm half expecting them to push it back to Q2 or Q3 2024.
April is Q2, so it should come out before that if Q1 is real.
I love SoC hope Sralker2 will match atmosphere with sound design
We all hope for the best.
Wow les calculs de savant fou ! mdr
Bien joué pour l'analyse, très bon boulot comme d'hab Anomalous
I don't know why but I had always thought that there are multiple psi-fields with different sources and intensities depending on the distance from the Group's base...
Also, I thought that Stalker 2 will tell us more about the other half of the zone, the north half. I thought that in this other half, there are still monolith members and that we will find other labs and bases of the Group...
But the name "Heart of Chernobyl" means that maybe the main plot stays around the CNPP?
Why the majority of the Stalkers come from the south? Is the north of CNPP harder to survive? Who is controlling this half? Mutants?
Throughoutly explained, long version:
Well, judging by the IRL location of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, It's much harder to come from the north simply due to the fact that the northern part of the exclusion zone itself stretches all the way north to the border with Belarus, which could as well be a border with Russia and it would make no difference as Russia has a great control of Belarus.
Furthermore, a Belarussian counterpart of the exclusion zone is located on the northern side of that border - Palieski State Radioecological Reserve, it's almost equally as big as Ukrainian part of the exclusion zone, and is also fenced off and guarded, just like the Ukrainian part of the exclusion zone, possibly even more heavily. Not only that, but to even get going from that side you'd have to happen to be in Belarus in the first place, assuming you're not Belarussian, you'd have to first get either through the heavily guarded, fenced off and barb wired Poland-Belarus border, come from and through the police state of Russia, or come through the heavily guarded and fenced off Ukraine-Belarus border which already counterfeits the purpose. IF you'f be lucky enough to get into Belarus illegally with all of your gear, no matter how cheap and small it was - there's no way of just getting in legally with obvious rookie stalker gear - you'd then have to also go through the entire police state of Belarus.
Now getting back to the Stalker universe, IF you'd reach the Belarussian part of the exclusion zone- then you'd have to go through the first heavily guarded PSRR border, possibly even more guarded than the CEZ border, then through PSRR itself which is more or less just as big as CEZ, then if you'd manage that you'd have to go through Belarus-Ukraine border which in Stalker universe may or may not still be guarded - if yes assume it's as well guarded as CEZ and PSRR borders, if not - it's still a barbed fence -and only then you'd reach the actual CEZ... and then you're still on your own with all of the Zone "civilisation" of Stalkers being on the south side while you're on the completely wild territory with no safe houses, bases, no friendly faces, no human being in sight, no supplies, no traders, more or less no man made structures, only you, vast wilderness of forests, mutants, anomalies and radiation.
So simply put, it's much easier to just go from Ukraine, push through one border which is already hard, and reach any safe spot controlled by Stalkers than to deal with a shitfuckery of multiple borders in police-state countries like Belarus and Russia, ONE big completely wild exclusion zone, another border, and another chunk of wild part of exclusion zone.
It's a quick math 1 heavily guarded and death laced border + a short trip through the somewhat populated zone 2-3-4 heavily guarded and death laced borders + more or less 20+10km of a completely wild zones(plural), all counting in a straight line.
It seems like a quite simple choice, doesn't it?
TL;DR version:
1,313 km2 of Polesie State Radioecological Reserve (Belarussian Zone) and 3 heavily guarded borders, shortest path to any Stalker settlement is +- 20km of complete wilderness, and then 10km more of complete wilderness.
2,600 km2 of Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (Ukrainian Zone) and 1 heavily guarded border, shortest path to any Stalker settlement is just a few kilometers of populated part of the zone.
@@Kebab136 Thanks for your reply. I don't like to use IRL map to try to understand the zone because the Zone in Stalker univers is different. I have never read anything in the lore that describes north of the CNPP, as if it didn't exist. If anyone has lore elements that do describe the northern part of the Zone (north of CNPP) please give me a link or an image etc I would like to read them. That is why I thought (before watching any Stalker 2 trailers) that if one day Stalker 2 gets released it will be about the other half of the zone that I have never heard about in the lore.
@@wolfonix3160 Well, Two things: As for why stalkers don't come FROM the north, using IRL map is perfectly consistent with the lore - after all in stalker universe countries are pretty much in the same place where they are IRL. At least there's nothing to suggest otherwise and zone's layout isn't much different from IRL exclusion zone, distances are just shrunk and places are moved slightly due to technical reasons that have nothing to do with lore. As for areas north of CNPP themself, it would be perfectly fine to include them, and further more it looks like they will, as Pripyat will probably finally be relocated to where it should be - north of CNPP. We can't be sure for now, but we can hope for it. The zone in stalker universe was always supposed to be somewhat accurate to the irl zone, and most of the changes were made more due to technical reasons than lore ones - moving locations down south, below CNPP made sense as in order to get into Pripyat you'd have to move through CNPP itself, which would counterfeit the purpose as CNPP was supposed to be the final location. We can also hope that they will finally bring back Generators, which were supposed to be located north of CNPP. Anything else i wrote before can still easily be applied as lore accurate info - other countries still exist, CEZ was still just CEZ before the second catastrophy, so there's no reason to think that Belarussian part of the exclusion zone doesn't exist. It really was simpler for stalkers to just come from south, and as they started to populate the zone and make settlements there, any reason to try to get in from north would become less and less convinient - nobody would chose getting in from the wild side when it's probably established info that down south from CNPP there are stalker settlements, and anyone who's not suicidal but wants to enter the zone would chose that side, as opportunity to get help, aid, supplies and etc if needed is expotentially bigger down south than up north, where these opportunities simply don't exist.
But, if you look at the map at Call of Pripyat, assuming that this part IS north of CNPP, which it probably is as these locations were never seen in the previous games, and Pripyat itself is more accurate to the IRL version, it would make sense to put it north, furthermore, characters constantly refer to these territories as being "up north" or "center of the zone"- locations close up north from CNPP would easily pass as center of the zone, and previously (before brain scorcher went off) inaccessible. It would make sense that stalkers just went around CNPP to get to the new locations.
Also CoP map's layout is much more accurate to the IRL map, as Yanov is somewhat to the left of Pripyat, and IRL it's the same, and they're both just up north above CNPP.
And finally, what i think you will like to hear, there IS at least one stalker that came from the north, not south - Mayor Degtyarev. At the beginning of the game you start in the northern part of Zaton, location that is the furthest north, and behind you there's a road that goes north. And it would make sense for him our of all people come from right about north-west, as he is SBU and was certainly just let in by the border guards, as he was an official with a government supervised task - it would even make sense if he came through the Belarussian side, although again i doubt it was true as it's too much hustle, and he probably went in from somewhere close to the Belarussian border. Why? Because his task's targets - stingray helicopters - were already north of CNPP, and going through all of the stuff going on in the south would be a too big risk - going through monolith, faction wars, risking blowing his cover when dealing with various military outposts that are IN the zone, and going through CNPP. So they just let him go from the wild side, and the fact that you only start the game in Zaton means that it's the furthest north the stalkers got at that point, so allowing you to play through hours of wilderness was pointless and boring - they just dropped you in the game when he was already at the first encountered stalker-populated location.
Discarding IRL maps as not lore accurate isn't the way to go, sure, there are changes due to many reasons, but the Zone is still located in CEZ, Ukraine, and the world outside is still the same world we know IRL, with same countries, borders, politics etc. The only thing that's really different according to lore accuracy is mutants, anomalies, artifacts, and the whole deal with the noosphere. Other than that, saying that stalkers don't come from straight up north because Belarus is not in conflict with lore, and you can easily accept everything i wrote before as accurate. And the fact that stalkers in the game come from the south is just confirming it - it is and always was easier that way, and when at the very beginning first stalkers came they came from mainland Ukraine, and later it was more and more convinient to do the same than try to break new grounds going from the north, as when the PSY emitters where active coming from the north would not only make you deal with all of my previous comment, but would eventually render you stranded there alone, without any means to push down south to where all the other stalkers are.
@@wolfonix3160 TL;DR version:
IRL maps are not in any conflict with being lore accurate, CoP maps and their positions are more or less 1:1 with IRL maps so everything can still be lore accurate - there's no info or any indicators that would suggest otherwise.
And after dealiwn with all of that shit from my previous comment, you'd be left stranded north from CNPP alone with PSY emitters blocking you from joining other stalkers down south.
And up to this point, it's just more convinient now to go through the already checked and established routes than try to break grounds and end up in the uncharted territory alone, when everything that can help is south.
And the only known stalker to come from the North was Mayor Degtyarev and he went that way only because it was more convinient for his task and he already worked for the government so 90% of what i wrote before didn't apply to him.
It wouldn't surprise me if they re-oriented the map to be a tad more in line with irl locations. I wouldn't mind it tbh, was weird that Pripyat was below the CNPP when it isn't irl. I know they did it for game flow an stuff, but I think nowadays people, especially stalker players, OG games or anomaly, have enough patience to not need that lol
Looking forward to see new video
i wonder what that huge thing on the left side of the room is 0:24
in the previous analysis i think he suspected them to be under the brain scorcher, where skif was trying to turn it on but strider stopped him.
It might be one of the machines from the X-labs but we don't see it clearly enough to be sure.
i wonder if clear sky faction will come back someday since a big part of seems to have become monolith at the end of clear sky
Will you be livestreaming STALKER 2
Probably not.
I just hope this is good. So many games have come out lately that have been crap. I just want this to be a solid Stalker experience. Take some ideas from the mods over the years, make it modern, and in the end well polished. I do not expect perfection. Just not another crap show. I have been waiting over ten years for this game.
I think it will be great.
I hope they actually take their time to develop the game and not rush it because they are reaching deadline or any of that sort of thing. Alot of the community has said this to the devs though, to take their sweet time in order for giving a good game.
Now we wait for the OST...
if the game comes out in like 3 months how will they announce the games release date. i mean it should be anytime now and you wouldve thought they would do it at an event with thousands to see. would they just post on social media instead? or is there another event coming up that they would go to to announce it
Who knows, GSC works in mysterious ways...
I don't buy that the Duga will not play a major role in the story.We see it in almost all screenshots and trailers just like we saw CNPP everywhere in SoC.And another detail is in the E3 trailer,Skif is killing enemies with the gauss rifle just before he reaches Duga.We all know from the previous games that you get the gauss rifle close to the end of the game.Those little details are the reason why i believe Duga,or a place underneath it(hidden X lab perhaps?) will be the final place you will visit in the game.
Yeah they probably don't want to spoil anything that's why they said it won't be important.
True
@@prophetthelast7849actually there are some very credible sources that told me you could buy a gauss for 800 credits in the southern part of the zone.
wonder if I should pre order it
If you're big enough fan and you're going to play it anyways, then yes
That's up to you to decide.
could it be that skiff was subjected to other form of mind control? ... not like the monolith mind control, diffrent one
Yes it could be, who knows.
It's totally unrelated to this video(great video, though❤), but I hope GSC will allow mobile game developers to try and port their games again. Project S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s fate was tragic, to say the least. Modern phones can support whole console emulators and their games, which are very demanding, and many 2000's pc games have been ported successfully. For example, rome total war and its expansions(an old rts pc game. It's pretty good, but the controls are tough) Theres no way they won't be able to pull it off.
Amazing video comment for algorithm
Thanks.
Why was GSC not in the game awards in the first place?
Who knows.
Guys can somebody remind me who is strider from previose games bucase i cant remember but the name is saying something to me and i dont know what ?
Strider appeared in Call of Pripyat, he's a neutral Monolith who was freed from the brainwashing. You could recruit him for the Pripyat Underpass mission.
@@anomalousdugout9557 Thank you
I hope there will be a setting to have russian voices but english subtitles im not really a fan of the characters having an american accent
You will be able to play in Ukrainian.
@@anomalousdugout9557 thats awesome would be nice to see you stream the game when it releases
I'm going to watch this movie again:
STALKER Fan film - Contract [스토커 팬영상]
Does anyone watch STALKER fan films? Do you know of any good ones?
Alright, enjoy.
Watched it myself yesterday! It's super good. But I haven't seen any others. It's a real shame there's not more fan films.
@@ahealthkit2745 I started looking:
Stalker | FULL MOVIE | Directed by Andrey Tarkovsky
STALKER film "F.O.T.O.G.R.A.F." based on the game "S.T.A.L.K.E.R."
Irradiation
[4K|CryEngine] S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - The Hard Way Cinematic [FAN]
WARRIORS ZONE PART/2 | Short film | S.T.A.L.K.E.R. | SFM |
S.T.A.L.K.E.R | The will of the Monolith [Ep1] [SFM]
S. T. A. L. K. E. R. | the will of the monolith - "Brain Scorcher" [Episode 2] [SFM]
This one is probably the saddest I've ever seen:
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. | "Monolith Left Us"
СТАЛКЕР фильм "Цена доверия" по мотивам "S.T.A.L.K.E.R."
СТАЛКЕР фильм. Трансформация - 2. Ещё живой. По мотивам игры.
Similar:
SCP: OVERLORD
SCP: Dollhouse
SCP: First Contact
February.. yea..
First!.....and mozi is Gay.
:D
Welp, seems Mozi gone full gay? Welpppp.
Lol Tommy and Anomalous singlehandedly keeping the fire going !
Hahahahahahaha
real
Lel game is never coming out, they're scamming everyone
The original stalker was also delayed for 3-4 years and eventually came out.