Stalker 2 preview: Huge mod support and post-launch roadmap confirmed
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- Опубліковано 21 жов 2024
- Radio Times Gaming had the opportunity to visit GSC Game World’s Office in Prague for a three-hour hands-on preview of Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl.
Here's what we learned, including some interview clips with Yevhenii Kulyk, where we talk about modding support and post-launch content.
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Video preview by Cole Luke
00:42 First thoughts
03:55 Developer talks Unreal Engine
07:00 Larger map
12:36 Mod-making community
13:50 Post-launch content
14:19 Final thoughts
#Stalker2 #Stalker #RadioTimes #RadioTimesGaming
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A STALKER 2 dev commenting on Anomaly and GAMMA is huge, thanks a lot for your video and thanks a lot to GSC ❤
Thank you Grok for your hard work, I, like many others are excited for your next huge update for Gamma. It's great to see such a amazing modlist recognized for once 💪.
Would be funny to see you work on a Stalker GAMMA 2. As someone who plays Gamma a lot lately, I look forward to even small modpacks for stalker 2.
Much love to you and the GAMMA team 💚 ! Looking forward to the new systems and the story rework !
♥
Idk Grok, but seeing the gameplay as of late, it's hard to not draw comparison to Anomaly and GAMMA. I'm sure they're atleast aware of it and what the fans are doing.
Great to hear some feedback from someone who's already a fan of the series and has lots of experience with the previous games.
It's so refreshing not hearing about "jank" in a preview.
This!!! Most of the previews out there seems to have been made by people who never played the series. Their comments makes this impression quite clear.
Whaaaat, a reviewer that actually knows what he is talking about and played the originals and the mods ? Unheard of.
It's not IGN xD
Hearing the AI is still active during offline mode puts joy in my heart, GSC truly kept the heart of Xray this franchise alive.
THANK YOU FOR ASKING ABOUT A-LIFE 2.0. It’s the thing we have the LEAST amount of info on and it’s such a major part of why STALKER worked so well. Great rundown of gameplay and great interview!
PS.
I’m glad you talked about the dialogue system in depth. Seems to be more active unlike og stalker where it’s reactive. Having timed options and hostile options and ACTUAL CONSEQUENCES sounds like a great addition to the RPG side of STALKER
I've been at the studio in prague as well and got to play the game. Hearing from the team what they already implemented and have in stock for the future made me not only excited for the release but ALSO the time after it!
It's so reassuring to hear the Devs play Stalker Anomaly and Gamma regularly
All the anomaly and gamma haters seething right now cuz a stalker 2 dev likes anomaly and gamma
@@funnyman3030 EFP discord in shambles rn cause he mentioned GAMMA.
@@funnyman3030 ...Yeah, it's amazing how much people hate Anomaly and GAMMA. Without those mods, STALKER wouldn't be as big as it is today (plus all the precursor mods to make Anomaly + GAMMA happen) but they're "soooo" bad when you clearly can see in STALKER 2 may not be like those mods, they did take some key notes from those mods.
As much as I love STALKER, the community is a cesspool of toxicity and most people being cunts and thinking they're better than everyone else.
@@j.w.5510 its because the game is going to play much closer to Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear Sky, and Call of Pripyat than like GAMMA, Misery, or base Anomoly. There is a notable portion of the Stalker Fanbase that has never played the original trilogy and many of them are expected to be upset at the launch of Stalker 2 when it does not at all play like the mods they are used to. I played the original trilogy first and GAMMA after and they are basically entirely different games that dont play the same at all.
Why?
The radiotimes article was one of the best previews I've read in a while
Thank you, this is the best preview I've been about the game. So excited to play it, we've been waiting for so long !
For anyone who wondered, the song playing in the background at the very beginning is "паліндром - не дожив"
Nice to see a review from a seasoned Stalker player, that also played the mods. If you enjoyed it im sure all stalker fans will. Thank you!
The "took notes from anomaly and gamma" is gonna piss off a lot of people. A lot of silly people, because there's some solid QoL and aspects in both.
Yeah stalker purists are the most annoying fans in the world, even gsc agrees.
@@mikeity2009 Og trilogy fans?
Honestly anything that pisses off the most toxic section of the community makes me happy. I'm sure at lower difficulties it will be more true to their vision of what stalker should be as well
@@kim_4298
There's a big difference between being a fan of the original games and being a stalker purist who tries to bash stalker anomaly when it's probably the greatest single mod ever made.
A lot of anomaly fans are the former as a matter of fact. Anything that gets the latter triggered is a win for me.
@@mikeity2009 I wouldn’t mind, really I wouldn’t, if they had a point. Gatekeeping is a necessary thing, sad as it may be. There are those in the world that would rather your thing change to suit their preferences. That said, the outrage at the idea of “modern” kit in stalker is asinine. Of course the mercs would have GPNVG’s, they’re likely some of the best off fuckers in the zone, especially of the movie takes place in 2022, then it makes even more sense for those to exist in the zone because FUCKING CIVILIANS have relatively easy access to them nowadays, and that’s just one aspect.
I saw people freaking out because the Kapris had a suppressor, laser, and an RMR on a picitnny mount, complaining that the way skif eats the tourist delight is “too tacticool” when soldiers in the 40’s fucking ate like that at times, or even that the AS-VAL reload is “too tacticool”, like flicking really? It’s a joke.
Чудове інтерв'ю і огляд гри. Дякую. Ще місяць і нарешті зможу також зіграти. Чекаю з нетерпінням.
Bro is built like a STALCRAFT character. I am in awe at the size of that jaw.
I haven't felt like this since Christmas as a child. I seldom get hyped. I am about as hyped as somebody could possibly be right now.
yeah man, let's hope the hype is real. Not something we get much of these days. At least we know what the modding community can do with stalker so there's that.
Me too. Played stalker first as a kid. Accompanied everything and mods through the years
I am as well. I have a tendency to REALLY binge these kinds of special games.
When RDR 2 came out, I played for 36 hours straight. No naps, tons of junk food and almost no water. I was pissing brown stuff by the end of it, but worth it all.
@@NicholasAdamDemonte come on that's way too much 😂 😂 but we get it
@@LuisC7 Meh, I’m fine. When I get in, I get in HARD.
JUST ONE MONTH LEFT:)
One month left Before ww3…
The longest month in history,it's gonna kill me lol.
yeah they still have time for delay.
@@kvitravn666lets hope not...I'm on console and already played the trilogy, and any games similar to this...I NEED this to drop 😂
I need to download it before I get evicted lol
SUCH a great interview with great questions, thank you for making this video!
Our pleasure!
How many acoustic panels you want?
"Yes"
Always good to watch a review of the coming Stalker 2 from a guy who has actually played the older trilogy and mods 😁👍
dude, that is some serious soundproofing you have there haha
A-LIFE IS BAACK!! So glad to finally hear about it. Also glad that he didn't explain how it works in detail, cause then it wouldn't be fun to discover yourself :)
Just some honest feedback... while I agree maybe we can all be a bit more understanding of some launch bugs, I don't think that means we should ignore and not report on them. Regardless of the situation, this is a product people are buying, and they should have all of the information you have about the product, so I hope you would not withhold details about problems you know about simply because you feel bad for the developers. I think that would be a breach of integrity. I watched wargame and it was very emotional and I wish all of the best for these people. However, I am still not pre-ordering the game because pre-orders have no business in this industry and only serve to hurt progress and innovation in the industry. I'll wait for release, wait for the reviews, and make my decision based on that. I hope that I will be buying the game. I am a huge S.T.A.L.K.E.R fan.
I agree with some of your points, but can you explain how preorders hurt innovation with this series in particular? I get why preorders are scummy for lifeless, tired series like assassins creed or COD… But I would argue that pre-orders for this game are a means to build hype and generate cash flow to help GSC offset dev costs and marketing campaigns in prep for a big surge in sales on release. I don’t think they’re using preorders here as a way to reduce accountability for launching a broken game, or worse, a game without substance.
@@s0lace462 What you said could apply to any dev that you have a bias towards. The OP has a moral compass that he apparently doesn't compromise on, which is a good thing. The point is pre-ordering is an abusable practice as we've seen, it's anti-consumer by nature. Also it's not like there's absolutely no reason to be sceptical of GSC's integrity when they attempted to put NFTs in the game, they walked back on that one due to (incredibly foreseeable) overwhelming negative feedback, but they still tried.
this guy is living in the acoustic foam mines
the children yearn for the foam
the most pristine, least echoey audio possible.
If I remember correctly those acoustic foam things are NOT cheap either. I imagine that cost quite a bit of money.
It's great to hear input from someone who is an actual fan of STALKER.
9:52
“Hey, Vsauce, Michael Here”
Fantastic feature, S.T.A.L.K.E.R!
I got 2 weeks off from work when this comes out, going all out on the highest tier. Super stoked about this!
Wish you guys a smooth release date and high scores on reviews from Hungary.
Thank you for asking the right questions and providing the right details about the preview!
the mod support is a really good idea as the game universe is still alive because of the mods and so lots of things from stalker mods we have now will probably not be in the base stalker 2 game but then modders can put them in.
I first played stalker as a kid. Accompanied and played the games and mods throughout all these years. This video gave the so much hope and hype :)
Really nice interview and commenting, sprinkling game contents in between. Great job!
I want to se the exosuit in this beautiful new graphics.
The radio times have a gaming segment? 😅 what next, the FT with a skateboarding pullout…
Can’t knock it though, this guy rocks: the perfect attitude, respectful, informed, witty - and he actually knows Stalker.
I thought I was the only one who skates and knows Stalker and War Thunder WTH
it's only stalker if there's a campfire and acoustic guitar playing
Man is trapped with sound foam
One thing I don’t like is the automatic leaning. I really hope the devs add manual leaning before modders do.
thanks man, this was the most informative stalker 2 pre-launch video yet
I cannot WAIT for the modding scene for this game.
Superb video format! Loved watching it! Thanks!
Thank you so much!
6:25 almost reminds me of the Shadow of Chornobyl Agroprom battle cutscene where you momentarily loose control for it.
This was the best preview video I watched, thank you Stalker
imagine how good this game truly will become with mods
Bro. You knocked it out of the park with this interview.
Thank you Radio Times Gaming for giving us the mod names you've played that REALLY allow us to relate to the reality of the gameplay.....Buying the Ultimate Physical Edition here btw....Please let me know if the difficulty is scalable and if the HUD is also in Stalker 2 please??
there are 3 difficulties (so far, they said they might add more after launch)
Easy Medium Hard
HUD is customizable
you can change the way the crosshair looks
6:20 i mean its a cutscene
What do you want them to do lol
But great review here!
Finally a review coming from someone who plays the og games along with the mods
I think he was expecting more of a half-life type of cutscene, where the player still has full control throughout. Not sure how it would work with stalker though
Unlike half life, it's a non-linear experience and you interact with characters through a dialogue ui
@@bo2_435 that's the thing
So nice to hear in advance that they have optimised UE5.. I have a 4080 and and equally performant CPU - Silent Hill is a mess on my system so I do have my hopes up that GSC have managed to get it smooth at least. 😊
10:02 there are some dots on the suit, would they be possible upgrades? Does upgrades update our suit visuals as long with the HUD's?
I remember the days of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, when the vanilla game felt quite incomplete. That's when Russian modders came together, famously under the name AMK Mod, and created a revolution with features like NPC looting, offline A-Life (for example, if you were in the Cordon, offline A-Life would function in other levels), Dynamic News, and emissions where NPCs would run to safe zones. I'm glad they're releasing the modding kit. Much respect to them!
i love how he openly says "we re wrote unreal engine 5 because its not made for open world"
UE5 is a multi purpose engine which means it's capable of ALOT but not really good at it. It is on every developer to rewrite, expand and optimize it specifically for their needs. Most publishers forget that it is not a free ride and you still have to heavily invest into your technical teams and give them ample time to write better tools, test and refine. There was a tech talk by CDPR on some UE5 conference where they already said that they rewrote 1/3 of the code and tools since switching away from RedEngine.
Best review I’ve seen yet. Actually good info thank you!
Awesome interview & preview.
Thanks!
Thanks for watching!
Good to hear from a "Stalker sicko" on the game, as I've played a lot of modded Stalker over the years. Great preview, looking forward to the game.
Super nice infos thank you for doing this!
Thanks for this video, you have answered all the questions I had in my mind but no others were talking about
Reassuring to hear that they take optimizing UE5 seriously.
Hoping a 3060 can run it at 1080p/60 without upscale, not with everything on High i assume.
Very excited for this, became a big fan since i tried SoC years ago 😄
I think you will be fine with a 3060. Hell, you could probably pull off 1440p with at least medium settings. I have a 3080 and 3060 and to be honest, the 3060 does very well with 1440p.
@@michaelthompson5252 Maybe, i'm on a 1080p/165Hz display. 🙂
The only recent games i've seen perform well with UE so far are Everspace 2 and now Akimbot.
Would be kinda crazy if Stalker 2 runs fast, considering SoC and CoP were both system melters back then 😆
Awesome video!
Hello Klean
Glad you enjoyed it!
Gamma has been a true blessing. Adding mods to that has been truly rewarding. I hope alot of mod ideas gets translated over such as climbing ledge's
Worst modpack ever! Spent 2 years just by trying to install it and still couldn't manage. So complicated that if I applied to NASA I would've got accepted before those 2 years ended, that's how complex the installation of that mod is
@@Maxtaticful The installation is super easy and there is a Discord channel with clear instructions and thousands of people ready to help you.
Your failure to follow the step-by-step instructions is all on you, and claiming the modpack is "the worst" when you simultaneously reveal you haven't played it is beyond stupid.
Consider taking some kind of computer beginner course before trying to install mods.
@@syltis1994 I think he's trolling lol
@@syltis1994 the level of difficulty of its installation is beyond computer beginner courses I assure you
I didn't know GAMMA introduced the climbing ledges mechanic to the videogaming, wow 🤯
Wow to be honest mate I saw "Radio Times Gaming" and I expected someone who had really never played anything like this before. I saw another reviewer from a major gaming outlet describe being flanked by an enemy and shot from behind as "jank".......... which made me spit my goddam lunch out. Anyway, not been hyped about a game like this for a while....... good to know a real fan is so positive about it.
oooh this is going to be fantastic, can't wait
bro you built yourself an anomaly bunker with all those panels. must be nice
I really have high hopes for this game... Imagine this game in few years with mod like gamma :D
bro has the delivery box recording studio setup
Better engine and mod support means no matter what problems may arise the absolute mad lads in the mod community will fix it all. Might take a year but whatever lol.
so is the new map going to be like the old one where it looks big but really you're confined to "large paths" essentially? Would love to see a true open world.
It's true open world
4:59 YES YES YES YES They worked with reoptimisng the crappy Unreal Engine render threads! No wonder this game looks so smooth.
This has been my most anticipated game of 2024, even over WuKong. I can tell this game is going to be amazing and they said the map is bigger than 3 full open world games combined. I hope it has some randomness and isnt totally scripted like the Metro series. If it is scripted thats ok, i just really enjoy some random things to happen multiple different ways.
If you are referring to the Stalker suit in the cordon at rookie village in the attic, they patched it into the Merc suit
GAMMA with Stalker 2 is going to be transcendent
Please answer to this. Does it feels dark, cruel and mysterious ? For me stalker is so special but i need to know if its feels like that
I hope they port the original trilogy into UE5, but I hope the modding community does embrace it
Nice! Looking forward to it
Mod support! Excellent, someone can fix the MP5!
This is great confirmation of A-life 2.0 and OFFLINE MODE...offline mode is what A-life is all about. Outside of the players Immediate radius things are being simulated....Waited a long time for this confirmation........
You praised the English voice acting, but honestly...it's really not great at all. Hope you're not on that copium - what makes me worry is the fact that you presented yourself to be a big STALKER fan, and people like us have it easy to fall into that kind of trap.
Plus you boldly waved aside the significance of the technical aspects by espousing the dangerous mindset that such trifles don't matter because of all the hardship they endured - no, Sir. True, it IS something everyone should keep in the back of their heads, but is by NO MEANS a free pass to deliver a half-baked experience.
I'm just not sure what to make of this video - I don't know the channel, I just landed here because it promised information I didn't have previously, and sure enough, that's what I got. So that's certainly a positive. The fact that GSC invited a smaller-time video game journalist that (hopefully) can't be bought off is certainly a breath of fresh air as well. That is, of course, assuming we're labouring under the assumption that each and every big gaming platform is corrupt anyway.
So yeah...in conclusion, I don't know what to think. I sinfully pre-ordered anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter...
Stalker 2 ❤
Привет, если ты играл, то скажи был ли в Залесье проводник "Дядя Лёня"?
Dunno only about this interaction UI, it looks so weird with those keyboard buttons floating on the screen, normal subtitle would be enough, I guess it's some console bullshit?
Anyway modders will probably fix that
no need for mods, UI is (from what I’ve heard) customisable.
I think I heard somewhere about a feature where you're punished by looting a guy because he's the friend of the quest giver, so the quest giver gives you nothing. Is this true? If so I'm a little torn on the game and might not bother. It's like Dishonored chastising me for having fun by using all the tools and killing some bad guys. In this game I would like to go full loot goblin mode without the game reprimanding me and punishing me. I think it would've been better if they just stopped you from looting corpses for story purposes instead of shitting on me for not paying close enough attention.
Do you know about the 9mm ammo in Garbage though?
Developer should make the empty magazine be put in inventory taking space
Or thrown via inventory or by game settings
Why keep empty magazine?
Maybe sometimes you will get bullets without magazine, so you can put in the gun
Extra survival fps
Mechanism
A-lift 2.0 let's goooo
G A M E - P A S S
at least some game journalist call things as it is: "...when Russia invaded Ukraine", not just "all the stuff/things/COMPLICATED SITUATION happened with their country". Idk why they fear to name "difficult circumstances" correctly.
Thank you.
I punched my neighbour. People say i was out of order. To give context, my neighbour threw a brick through my window. Context is key. Russia invaded Ukraine, sure. Was Ukraine just minding its own business? No. I don't agree with Russias Special military Operation but it isn't black and white if you acknowledge western interference in Ukraine.
You do realize there is a Russian minority who is being oppressed in eastern ukraine by the radical far right of ukraine right? And you do realize that at the start of the special military Operation 3 million ukrainians moved back to Russia, a news that not a single western media outlet source would dare to show you or to cover it. Yes, Ukrainians who have Russian family ties. Stop believing the MSM narrative
@@jameslindsay5889You do realize there is a Russian minority who is being oppressed in eastern ukraine by the radical far right of ukraine right? And you do realize that at the start of the special military Operation 3 million ukrainians moved back to Russia, a news that not a single western media outlet source would dare to show you or to cover it. Yes, Ukrainians who have Russian family ties. Stop believing the MSM narrative
@@jameslindsay5889, Ukraine minding its own business until Russia annexed Crimea and started a proxy war in Donbas in 2013-2014.
Want a little more context? "People's republics", which "spontaneously formed", held meetings in Moscow years before that.
Maybe a little more context? 2003 Tuzla Island conflict.
I really want to know about steamdeck performance
So what there saying is: "WAIT" do not buy right away.. wait till the mods are developed and the bugs are fixed
Wait. If you can ;)
I wonder if mods will be installed manually or MO2, always liked MO2 as it shows you clashes & you can deactivate mods etc
It's unreal engine so it'll be mods in the form of plugins. Take a look at Squad/Insurgency sandstorm and other unreal engine titles with mod support.
Hearing positive things from a real fan gives me hope. But cybertrash 2077 has taught me not to believe anyone until I see the game for myself. God, please let this not be another cybergarbage situation. The game looks so promising, I just want to play a good game at long last
if you got steam you can just refund it if thats the case
Cyberpunk 2077 is great?
@Tiiliroskis yes now it is, its was a mess at launch with poor performance, crashes and a huge lack of feature implementations.
It took 2 years to fix.
Cyberpunk kept silent about the gameplay until the release. The stalker has already shown enough gameplay to create a complete picture
@@tormotormo15 not necessarily a ''comeplete'' picture, but a framework, dont trust gameplay until its out, just look on like rainbow six siege, or For Honor.
A warm glow.. in Chonobel… 😂
pretty sure gordon freeman was in the camp
Will stalker 2 be on ps5? Can we confirm this?
Do they have an stealth takedowns or finishers? Knife throws. That's what I'm wanting.
A life 2.0 @7:50
looks nice
I hope A-Life isn't severely butchered. I don't have high hopes for their ability to recreate let alone expand on ALIFE in UE5.
A life is nothing special anymore with current tech, the problem most devs dont put in enough time to make good AI, since Fear nobody made as good AI for fps shooter even budget and tech allows it, most of them just doesn't bother to create something new, only probably rdr2 made progress of world and AI.
A-life was never good in the original games aside from SOC which was a cut down version of what was originally promised. Things can only go up from here not down.
Your comment about dialogue being Bethesda like made me soooo sad 😢
I've yet to see UE5 run well on any game. I fully expect performance issues with this game. If so, it's okay. I'm just hap[y they managed to finish the game
Whats a lorry?
Trucks.
@michaelthompson5252 oh okay 👍
W interview
Are you recording in a coffin?
Vampire lol
@@armintor2826 what's wrong with coffin recording sessions?
I like that idea