I was still getting my bearings inStalker 2 : spirit of Chornobylas I look for an abandon edifice in the dead of dark . Using my pitifully dull torch to scan the fade wall and floors , I hit a deadened end and sprain to construct my stride back outside and onto the critical path . That ’s when I experience something odd : A box was falling from nowhere in particular to the ground . I noted that the way was littered with box seat and other refuse upon entering , but they were all dot on the trading floor . attend one fall for apparently no reason galvanise me , but I calmed myself thinking it was a round-eyed purgative bug that crops up moderately often in giant open - world game such as this . Stalker 2already had areputation for being fruity , after all .
Not five minutes later my expectations flipped on their capitulum when I watched a can lift itself off a table , loom for just a moment as if to mock my previous assumption , and then hurtle itself at me and tap out a clump of my wellness . That was not a bug despite it appearing on the button like one I had encountered in many game prior . This was an invisible opposition known as a Poltergeist whose inconspicuous nature and method of attack mimicked what a typical microbe looked like . Suddenly , I had to question my instinct whenever I come across something unexplainable . I could n’t take anything for granted and that distrust in myself total a new layer of repugnance .
While it in all likelihood was n’t intentional on GSC Game World ’s part , Stalker 2‘s unstableness due to germ leads to some surprisingly effectual quaternary - wall - breaking horror . It ’s rare to see in polished New games , and even rare to see done well . Some ofStalker 2‘s more destitute bugs lend a uncommon variety of personality to the biz , adding a silver liner to a mussy experience .
Is it a bug or a feature?
Stalker 2is by design shivery in many ways . Poltergiest opposition are a stark good example , but horror always becomes dull the more contact you have with it . An invisible enemy is efficacious the first metre because we do n’t empathise the ambit of what ’s go on . After you ’ve receive — and killed — a few , the jounce wears off . Stalker 2’sbugs throw a wrench into thing , even if by chance , by impart an element of precariousness . When an irregular glitch can be obscure for something designed , and vice versa , it create an uneasiness that the player can never really excite off .
Situations like this popped up just often enough during my playday to keep me always second - reckon my own intuition . Was my accelerator jammed , or was the sound only neglect again ? Was that overlap audio of a bounder ululation just one dog ’s audio unexpectedly trigger off multiple times on top of itself , or was I about to be rushed by an total ingroup of feral K-9s ? I end up loving the fact that the answer could be different even under the same portion . Stalker 2never let me get comfortable or cocksure , even when I suppose I knew all thetips and tricks .
This is n’t a feeling I ’ve experienced sinceEternal Darkness : saneness ’s Requiemin 2002 . That GameCube cult classic splendidly utilized a sanity effect system in which rum things would set out to befall base on your quality ’s mental state . These outcome attempted to make the player question their own perceptual experience beyond the game . matter like your telly volume being lour or the game claiming to delete your save bring in the fear beyond the boundaries of the television silver screen . Stalker 2‘s bugs often deport a like experience , but not by choice . They giveStalker 2personality through its capriciousness .
Stalker 2bills itself principally as a horror immersive sim , and what is more immersive than things that neither the player nor developer could account for ? Some germ can pull us out of the experience , and there are some issues with this plot I wo n’t attempt to justify . The I I ’m speak about are the kinds that make a game feel less like a biz . They kept me from feeling too easy and intimate with The Zone , which is the exact reception the secret plan is test to evoke . I would ’ve still greatly bask my metre inStalker 2had it course without a stop , but those bump in the road made my playthrough feel truly my own .
As I meditate on this , Kintsugi comes to beware . This is a frame of Japanese graphics in which broken pottery is repaired using precious metals such as gold , silver grey , or platinum . The result is an expression that highlights and encompass the flaws in a work rather than being abashed or attempt to enshroud from them . The flaws become the most beautiful aspect . GSC Game World did n’t intend to make a secret plan with bugs ( and has already salute tosmooth as many of them out as potential ) but , set aside the uttermost single that impact functioning , cause crashes , or even progression blocker , I have find the dish in them .
Stalker 2 : Heart of Chornobylis available now on Xbox Series X / S and PC .
