It's been a long and winding road to get here.
Stalker 2 has released, the long-awaited sequel to a PC classic that our own Joshua Wolens found “is still Stalker, down to its bones.” The most pleasing element for fellow Zone-fanciers is that, after all this time, the game largely sticks to the design sensibilities of the originals, and as our review says “hasn’t sacrificed the things that made it so special all those years ago.”
Well it looks like there might just be a market for it. “No wonder it feels a bit crowded in the Zone,” reads a new post from GSC Game World. “A million copies were sold, and much more stalkers joined the artifact hunt with Game Pass.
“This is just the start of our unforgettable adventure. The Heart of Chornobyl emanates stronger with each of us. Thank You, stalkers!”
First of all, it’s nice to have a developer that draws the distinction between sales and Game Pass players, and secondly that is a huge result for the sequel to something of a cult classic. The last Stalker game before this was Call of Pripyat way back in 2010, but clearly memories of the Zone have lingered long.
The fact that Stalker 2 is here is something of an achievement in itself. The game’s development was knocked off course by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which saw GSC Game World forced to relocate while many of its staff left to serve in the Ukrainian army: At least one, Volodymyr Yezhov, died in action. On top of this a new office in Prague suffered a major fire shortly after opening, and in 2023 Russian hackers leaked early test builds of the game.
In that context it’s a minor miracle the game was released at all, never mind it’s as good as it is. GSC says that completing the game was a way to say to the world: “We are here.” So it’s heartening to see that, after everything it took for Stalker 2 to get here, over a million are here for it too.
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