The RPS Advent Calendar 2024, December 9thOpen the door to our Heart
Open the door to our Heart
Image credit:RPS
Image credit:RPS
There’s an awful lot behind this door, lemme tell ya. Hours of adventure, of tension, of action, of sci-fi strangeness. It’ll be great. Unfortunately the door itself is bugged out so you’ll need to reload a quicksave or something to get it open.
James:This is a game that probably shouldn’t exist. Over a decade of false dawns and scrapped builds. A modern FPS landscape that’s firmly multiplayer-first. Hacking attacks. Literal war. It’s a wonder that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 got made at all, and a minor miracle that it’s turned out as one of the most gripping shooters this year.
Even away from the action, there’s much to enjoy about simply wandering through the Zone, exploring ruins and prying artifacts from within its physics-breaking anomalies. There’s something oddly beautiful about this horrid old place, especially once its various regions become more isolating and its anomalies more dramatic. I blasted through the main questline in about 40 hours, and have since spent another 30 just poking around the Zone’s more well-hidden secrets.
It does have performance problems and a bugginess that matches that of the Eurojank-codifying original trilogy, but given the circumstances (see: war) I’m inclined to forgive anything that isn’t outright game-breaking. Also given the choice between another safe, clean corridor shooter or a big, bold epic that creaks and splinters under the weight of its own ambition… well, I know which one I find more interesting.
Edwin:These devs have absolutely been through the wringer. I’m happy they managed to reach the finishing line. I’m also delighted to return to the Zone. One of my fondest FPS memories, if that’s the right word, is of inching down the side of the power station in the original game. The sequel has the same corner-to-corner vibe and thankfully, hasn’t gone full survival game in the modern-day “build a wasteland condo” sense.
Headback to the advent calendarto open another door!
