As a gamer who grew up with the original Stalker games, I can confidently say that Stalker 2 has truly transported me back to my roots. The game is a beautiful blend of nostalgia and innovation, capturing all the systemic quirks and design choices that made the originals so special while polishing them for modern times.
This year, Stalker 2 embodied the spirit of PC gaming – its energy, creativity (and indeed, sometimes rough edges). To discover more award-winning games, check out our Game of the Year 2024 hub.
Joshua Wolens, News Writer: Here’s something unusual: what I admire most about Stalker 2 is how authentic it feels – it maintains, even in its polished 2024 version, the systemic quirkiness and seemingly odd design choices that made the original games exceptional. Despite reports of the A-Life system malfunctioning, the world appears alive and teeming with possibilities for absolute madness to me – encounters with bosses can abruptly end if the terrifying creature trips into an anomaly, groups of dogs might attack your enemies before you’ve even drawn your weapon, and so on.
Instead of simply categorizing characters you meet in the game as ‘Bandit’ or ‘Duty Patrolman,’ Stalker 2 opts to assign unique names like ‘Vanya Badass’ and ‘Gena Sleepy.’ This seemingly insignificant decision adds a sense of humanity not only to your adversaries but also to the game itself, mirroring the Morrowind-style approach of making every character part of a larger world through even the slightest personalization.
It appears to me that the core of Stalker 2 is breathtakingly beautiful, and when functioning smoothly, it offers a smoother experience than its predecessors (though still comparatively rough around the edges compared to more modern games). However, at its foundation, Stalker 2 seems like an ancient caveman reawakened from a glacier: a dying flame representing an antiquated, cold-hearted philosophy of game design that GSC has been preserving throughout their 14 years of development.
Fraser Brown, Editor Online: Just like Josh, I’m really captivated by how Stalker 2 feels like a trip down memory lane to the year 2007. It’s stunningly beautiful, but it retains that unique, quirky charm that keeps me constantly amazed.
Back in my early twenties, I would have been the type to seize opportunities like that, often spending hours perusing the shelves of GameStation, a physical store that was eventually overshadowed by digital distribution. As the night manager at Blockbuster Video, which owned GameStation, I also enjoyed employee discounts there. Seems like I’m showing my age now.
Each expedition into that area presents its own unique, strange scenario. Will I encounter aggressive dogs? Will there be altercations that end unexpectedly due to someone stumbling onto an anomaly and being squashed? Might I find myself in a situation where I run out of ammunition at the most inconvenient moment, forcing me to return to base on foot while taking radiation pills, drinking vodka, and wrapping myself up like a post-apocalyptic bandaged mummy? Yes, it’s likely that all of these scenarios will occur.
Robert Jones, Print Editor: Stalker 2 crashed onto PC in rough shape and with tons of the series’ trademark jank on display, including some uncool progress-halting misery and, for me at least, a weird as hell bug where a swarm of rats would follow me around wherever I went. Seriously, for a time I became the rat Pied Piper! But despite the myriad of bugs, patches and, at times, deep frustrations, Stalker 2 still delivers an incredibly unique, immersive, and gripping gaming experience that recaptures the bleak and bizarre beauty of the original game perfectly.
In Stalker 2, you often find yourself battling not only the harshness of its digital realm but also the unpredictable twists and turns the game may throw at you, which can sometimes seem like an amusingly unfair cosmic joke. Yet, despite this, you press forward, braving the darkness without guidance or a safety net. When everything is functioning correctly, Stalker 2 offers one of the most mature, stunning, complex, and difficult gaming experiences available today. It encapsulates much of what PC gaming represents and, in my opinion, deservedly won this year’s Spirit of PC award.
Read More
- HBAR PREDICTION. HBAR cryptocurrency
- ZIG PREDICTION. ZIG cryptocurrency
- IMX PREDICTION. IMX cryptocurrency
- LDO PREDICTION. LDO cryptocurrency
- 15 Games Everyone Wants Sequels For
- POL PREDICTION. POL cryptocurrency
- FXS PREDICTION. FXS cryptocurrency
- XAUT PREDICTION. XAUT cryptocurrency
- TNSR PREDICTION. TNSR cryptocurrency
- STEEM PREDICTION. STEEM cryptocurrency
2024-12-25 19:02