What you need to know
- While STALKER 2 developer GSC Game World has managed to fix most of the big issues with the open-world shooter, its dynamic AI simulation system A-Life 2.0 still isn’t working.
- This system controls how NPC stalkers and mutants spawn and move around The Zone, and is supposed to ensure it promotes emergent gameplay by being unpredictable and feeling alive. However, several aspects of it are broken.
- In a new interview with IGN, the studio explained that the reason why is because aggressive optimization of the game led to major reductions in the system’s sphere of influence and also introduced numerous bugs.
- GSC has pledged to get A-Life working again, and notes that all mention of it being controversially removed from STALKER 2’s Steam page recently was because of a miscommunication with the studio’s marketing team. A screenshot of a message exchange was shown to IGN to prove this.
As a long-time fan of the STALKER series, I’ve been eagerly waiting for STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl since its announcement years ago. The game finally released a few weeks back, and while it’s been a rollercoaster ride with numerous issues, GSC Game World has been quick to address most of them. However, there’s still one major problem that needs fixing – the dynamic AI simulation system A-Life 2.0.
Despite just recently launching Stalker 2, the game world developed by GSC Game World, they’ve swiftly tackled numerous major issues that surfaced at launch. Last week saw the debut of a post-launch patch incorporating over 650 fixes, followed by a quick hotfix and another larger Patch 1.0.3 addressing a critical saving glitch and enhancing aiming on PC. However, one significant issue persists: the dynamic AI simulation system A-Life 2.0 is currently malfunctioning.
In a nutshell, A-Life is a system designed to manage NPC stalkers and mutants in The Zone, making the open world feel spontaneous and active. However, despite its functionality even in its current glitched state, there’s a noticeable absence of long-term consistency. Many NPCs seem to disappear often, not lasting in The Zone if you move too far from them. Moreover, most stalkers and mutants don’t appear unless they’re near your location, which reduces the liveliness of the map compared to what’s intended.
Currently, STALKER 2 is facing a significant challenge, one that developer GSC had previously pledged to resolve. Lately, there has been a stir among the game’s fanbase due to the omission of A-Life from its Steam page listing. Some players speculated that this was an attempt by the developer to hide the fact that A-Life was advertised as a key feature in the sequel. However, GSC has recently clarified the situation in a new IGN interview. In this discussion, they explained why A-Life 2.0 isn’t functioning as planned, justified its removal from the Steam page, and reassured fans that they are committed to resolving the issue.
During the interview, CEO Ievgen Grygorovych of GSC outlined that A-Life’s current condition is a result of rigorous optimization aimed at making the game run as flawlessly as possible on Windows PC, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S platforms. This optimization required shrinking the scope in which A-Life affects the world, leading to several bugs simultaneously emerging.
Ievgen mentioned that for this system to function efficiently, it needs a significantly larger space for generating NPCs and a substantial increase in memory resources. He explained they’ve been working on optimization: “To make the game run smoothly, you need to allocate many resources for various aspects, and then trim parts from different angles to strike an optimal balance.
Initially, we needed to adjust certain aspects to get it functioning properly, and currently, it doesn’t always perform as intended. Furthermore, we accidentally introduced some bugs before launch. Given these issues, the system may appear severely flawed or non-functional. However, we’re diligently working on optimizations to improve resource allocation for the A-Life system, thereby expanding the areas where A-Life can be observed visually.
According to creative director Maria Grygorovych, who spoke with IGN, the removal of A-Life details from STALKER 2’s Steam page was done by someone on the developer’s marketing team without first consulting the executive team. A screenshot from Maria’s phone, provided to IGN, supports this claim.
She disclosed that he informed her about numerous novice players unfamiliar with A-Life. Recognizing their need for clarity, she decided to simplify the description to make it more accessible. Interestingly, he carried out this modification without any consultation or approval from others. This revelation was made because he hadn’t asked questions like “Are there any issues with A-Life, perhaps?” despite our awareness of existing problems within the system. The surprising part was that he had already made these changes before the release, and she became aware of it through Reddit. To be honest, it took her by surprise as we had prepared the Steam page in 2021.
I observed as Maria articulated that GSC won’t reinstate A-Life 2.0 in STALKER 2’s marketplace listing until it’s fully functional, and both the Grygorovychs assured that it indeed will be fixed. Ievgen shared that “for now, we have pledged to our players to ensure its functionality, which can be achieved through optimization, allocation of additional resources to A-Life, bug fixing, proper functioning, and then advancing it further.” Maria also clarified that “we value our relationship with our players and they desired to see progress. We must deliver on their expectations.
In the end, I’m pleased that GSC was able to elaborate on the issues faced with A-Life 2.0 and clarify why information about it was taken off STALKER 2’s Steam page. Despite the system not being fully operational yet, STALKER 2 is still an exceptional game, serving as a testament to the resilience of a Ukrainian studio that has endured significant hardships due to Russia’s military conflict in Ukraine.
The long-awaited game “STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl” is now available on Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC. This year, it’s been hailed as one of the top Xbox games and PC games. It retails for $59.99, but currently, you can find a discount on CDKeys. You can also enjoy playing it through Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
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2024-12-04 01:09