S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Ending Explained, and How it Sets up DLC or Sequels

As a seasoned Stalker fan who’s been trekking through the Zone since its inception, I can confidently say that Stalker 2 has truly outdone itself. The narrative depth, the choice-driven gameplay, and the sheer scale of the world have left me spellbound. I’ve seen the four endings, each as intriguing as the last, and I must admit, I’m still reeling from the twist at the end of Scar’s dreamy Shining Zone.

As a gamer, I can tell you that Stalker 2 is one heck of an immersive journey. The main tale unfolds like a labyrinthine path, even when you’re not delving deep into its side quests. It may seem slow to start, but as it nears the end, there’s no denying that things have picked up speed and the tension is palpable – the stakes are sky-high!

In Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl, your decisions at crucial points throughout the game will shape four distinct endings. These choices not only influence minor details like resolving key conflicts and determining the fates of significant characters, but also major aspects such as the destiny of the Zone itself and its impact on the wider world. By the game’s conclusion, the world has undergone profound transformations in one way or another.

In the initial ending of Stalker 2, players find themselves strongly allied with a well-known character named Strelok, a seasoned Stalker whom series enthusiasts will undoubtedly recognize. Strelok was the lead character in the franchise’s first game, and is arguably more knowledgeable about the Zone, its intricacies, and its hidden mysteries than anyone else. Given his deep understanding of the Zone’s danger to the world, his objective now is to maintain it as securely contained and isolated as possible. In Strelok’s ending, he enters a pod that was intended for the eighth member of the former C-Consciousness, a collective digital intelligence created and initially overseeing the Zone before its destruction (at Strelok’s hands) at the end of the first game. The scientist who was originally meant to enter that pod but declined was a character known as the Doctor, or Dr. Kaymanov, an old ally of Strelok’s.

Stepping into the pod will connect a person to both the global consciousness (noosphere) and the mysterious area known as the Zone, and in Strelok’s conclusion, he does just that. Following this, Strelok takes control of the Monolith group, effectively sealing off the Zone so that no one can enter or leave it under any circumstances. His rationale is that by preventing outside influence, the Zone will eventually revert to its natural state (assuming internal conflicts have been resolved). In essence, this ending mirrors the beginning of Stalker 1, where the Zone is cut off from the rest of the world and the Monolith fiercely guard against any changes.

In the second act, Skif aligns with Scar, a character previously encountered, who by then has risen as the head of the Spark group in Stalker 2’s timeline. Throughout the game’s narrative, we discover that Spark and Scar aim to reveal the Shining Zone, a hidden part of the Zone they believe is brighter, more vibrant, and less harmful compared to the familiar Zone, which is often described as dark, radioactive, toxic, and deadly – although ‘loved’ might not be the right term for it.

In this finale, Scar enters the pod, then Skif exits into a breathtaking, lively setting – the long-awaited Shining Zone. However, as Scar had desired, it turns out that the Shining Zone is merely a vivid illusion created by the game. In the end, Scar shares a meaningful farewell chat with his acquaintances around a campfire, but at the last second, the game cruelly unveils that the Shining Zone is Skif’s hallucination, while he is still trapped in the real, lifeless Zone.

In this third scenario, Skif teams up with a paramilitary group supported by the Ukrainian government called The Ward. Here, Colonel Korshunov enters the pod, leading to significant transformations. The Zone and all its unusual phenomena are annihilated, leaving SIRCAA in charge of everything that’s left behind. Skif is offered any reward he desires (likely a new home given his circumstances), but as the game comes to an end, it appears that SIRCAA holds immense power, seemingly employing the methods of C-Consciousness to monitor large populations and possibly exert control over individuals forcefully. The long-term implications for the world are uncertain, but they can’t be positive.

Ultimately, the fourth ending of Stalker 2 presents a scenario where Skif teams up with Dr. Kaymanov. At a crucial juncture in the game, Skif must decide whether to obey Strelok’s command and eliminate the Doctor or not. Choosing not to leads to the Doctor’s ending, which discloses that it was Kaymanov who triggered the second Chernobyl disaster in 2006 and created the Zone. In this conclusion, after the Doctor meets his demise in an Emission, Skif climbs into the pod himself. Subsequently, he decides to hand over control to the Zone. This results in a global spread of the Zone, causing additional anomalous zones to appear worldwide. Furthermore, it is unveiled that the Doctor was actually former Stalker Faust – whom Skif had thought he had killed earlier – in disguise. The exact moment when Faust assumed the Doctor’s identity remains unknown.

In simpler terms, the game Stalker 2 is planned to have two expansions, and it’s likely that the creators, GSC Game World, may develop more Stalker games in the future. The question is which of the game’s four endings these expansions will be based on, provided they occur after the ending events (rather than serving as add-ons to the main story). Among the possible candidates, the Strelok and Kaymanov endings seem most likely, with the Kaymanov ending being particularly intriguing because it could potentially lead the series into unexplored anomalous zones beyond the Chernobyl area, which has been the focus of four previous games.

Without a shadow of a doubt, it’s clear that the Stalker series has numerous paths for development as it moves ahead from this juncture. Within Stalker 2 alone, there are many story arcs and plotlines waiting to be expanded upon and clarified further. Additionally, the various endings can lead to fresh questions and mysteries, opening up new avenues for exploration in the series’ future.

2024-12-03 22:41

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