“Deadly anomalies, dangerous mutants, anarchists and bandits…” Based on what creative director and producer Slava Lukyanenka says, not even that could stopSTALKER 2: Heart of Chornobylfrom coming out.
Lukyanenka gavea lengthy interview to FEED4GAMERSthat touches onthe hardships of developing a major release during a war, new mechanics, and how the story ofSTALKER 2ties inwith the previous games.
War and Peace
STALKER 2 had gone through dev hellbefore 2022, butnone of the previous hardships compare to what hit the team after the Russian invasion of Ukrainebegan.
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Lukyanenka highlighted the difficult mix of moving to a displaced team, split primarily between Prague and Kyiv, and the human factors involved.
The EU group has to deal with immigration challenges like adaptation and bureaucracy; the Ukraine situation meant dealing withthe constant danger of missile and drone attacks.
Management had to adapt over the years, with the original team of 20 people eventually growing to 430.
According to Lukyanenka,developing STALKER 2 is “a coping strategy"and a place to insert wartime experiences amidst the turmoil.
Shadow of STALKER
Heart of Chornobyltakes place 15 years after the events ofCall of Pripyat. Lukyanenka emphasized howSTALKER 2showsthe passage of time in the Exclusion Zone, with surviving structures maintained (and by definition altered) by local factions. Chornobyl of Theseus, if you will.
STALKER 2mainly focuses on new characters, butZone veteranslike Monolith renegade Strider andClear Skyprotagonist Scar will also play a major role.
The occupants of the Zone in STALKER 2 are no longer the carefree adventurers or the idealistic defendersintroduced inShadow of Chernobyl. Rolling in radioactive mud for over a decade has changed them, even if the Zone looks the same on the surface.
Closed Zone, Open World
According to Lukyanenka, the team experimented with different open-world mechanics before returning to the ones that made the originalSTALKERtrilogy unique.
Stories will play out independently for the player to stumble upon, which builds on the system debuted inCall of Pripyat. In the third installment of theSTALKERseries, Major Degatyarev could talk to wandering stalkers and temporarily join them across the northern end of the Zone.
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Key to this dynamic storytelling isthe A-Life system. The 2024 version of theSTALKERAI game master isa major evolutionof theShadow of Chernobyl.
An example Lukyanenka gives is the player diving into a dangerous anomalous field in search of loot and coming across mutants and other stalkers.
The player can cooperate with the stalkers, fight them, or use them as mutant bait.Cooperation results in sharing the spoils but higher survivability, which a greedier player might feel is not worth it.
These interactions are morereminiscent of aDayZencounter between playersthan a brush between you and the AI, butSTALKER 2wants to give the feeling thatyours is just another life playing out in the Zone.
STALKER is about the expedition. It’s about being one-on-one with the Zone where every move matters.
-Slava Lukyanenka
STALKER Tomorrow
After pushing out STALKER 2, Lukyanenka says the plan is to release a mix of free and paid DLCs that expand the experience in the Zone.At least two of the paid add-ons will be story expansions.
STALKER 2’sNovember release date isin a market full of games heavily inspired by its prequels, such asMetro: ExodusandEscape From Tarkov.The anticipation has players buzzing louder than an electro anomalyin Pripyat.
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