Stalker 2 devs insist complex AI simulation of enemy patrols is in the game - it’s just brokenGet A-life
Get A-life
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / GSC Game World
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / GSC Game World
“Often, the game world exists only in the player’s field of view,” say the developers when asked to define the feature in anofficial FAQ. “A-Life 2.0 is a simulation system for life in the Zone. Factions and mutants are fighting for living space, migrating, capturing new places, or retreating to safer areas. A-Life is what makes Zone truly alive and unpredictable.”
Enemies do fight one another when they come into contact as well, but this more often happens after a group of bandidos or pack of blind dogs blinks into existence near an enemy camp simply because you’re there. I have come across roaming groups of Stalkers, but again their appearance is sudden, and they’re more likely to walk straight into toxic waste and die due to braindead pathing than to get into emergent scrapes with the wildlife. I definitely haven’t seen any (non-scripted) instances of factions “capturing new places” or “retreating to safer areas” as the developer’s definition suggests.
After some playerscomplained about the A-life systembeing absent (and pointed out that a mention of the feature wasedited out of the Steam page) the developers have responded on Discord and Reddit to say that the system is really there, but that bugs are preventing it from acting as intended.
“The Combat AI and A-Life 2.0 are different things,” one of the developers notes ina reply to a Reddit complaint. “One is actually a ‘brain’ for combat scenarios, while the other is an overall and more complicated system that is trying to manage life in the Zone.”
In the meantime, the first patch for the shooter is coming soon, say GSC, who recently posteddetails about the fixesthey’re planning. A lot of these will address crashes, softlocks, balance adjustments, and other high-priority stuff, they say. But at the bottom of the list is “A-Life system bugfixes”, which further suggests the studio considers it significant enough to sort out soon.
