STALKER 2has had a successful launch week, but is it being held back? Raphael Colantonio, founder of developer Arkane and co-creative director of the Dishonored series, thinks so, and he says Metacritic is to blame.
“The Metacritic ecosystem encourages devs to make safe boring games,” Colantonio said on his X, formerly known as Twitter, feed this morning. “As long as a game is polished at launch, you’re guaranteed a 80%, no matter how boring the game might be. Meanwhile Stalker2 [sic] gets a 73 because it’s a bit rough on the edges at launch.” At the time of writing,STALKER 2has a Metascore of 74, with a user score of 7.7.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Documentary Reveals Ukraine War’s Impact On Development
A new documentary by GSC Game World displays the massive hurdles and struggles their people went through during the current Ukraine war.
Metacritic scores can be a hot-button topic in the video game industry. Some developers, such as Suda51,think there’s too muchfocus on them. Metacritic also allows users to score games alongside critics, but user scores have become an issue of their own. Metacritic and its parent company, Fandom,are cracking down on the practice of review bombingto ensure user reviews have more merit.
An “Average” Metascore Hasn’t Slowed Down The Popularity of STALKER 2
Despite its “less than appealing” Metascore (if you ask me, a 74 is still a solid score),STALKER 2has been selling like hotcakes,breaking the one million units sold mark after just three days. In ourreview, we said that despite how much fun the game is, performance issues and inconsistencies hold it back until updates from developer GSC Game World arrive. GSC has stated that thoseupdates are coming, particularly when addressing issues with controller support and the A-Life 2.0 system.
No matter how many updates GSC provides forSTALKER 2, in the eyes of some, it won’t escape the stigma of its Metascore. “A bad game with no bug has better score than a great game with bugs. Makes sense to you?” Colantionio adds. “It means the essence of the game is not taken into consideration, it means that 3 months later, when the great game is patched, it still has a [bad] score. Makes sense to you? [Fallout: New] Vegas is a great example of one of the best game [sic] ever made with a metacritic that doesn’t match the reality. A fantastic buggy game can get patched, a boring game will stay boring.
STALKER 2 Director Discusses AI Mechanics and Wartime Development
Based on what creative director and producer Slava Lukyanenka says, not even that could stop STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl from coming out.
Colantonio is on the money when talking aboutFallout: New Vegas. It’s considered one of the greatest RPGs ever made, and there’s no denying that, upon release, it was one of the biggest games ever launched. Thanks to developer updates, the experience has become much smoother over time.
Time will tell if GSC can stabilizeSTALKER 2’sperformance and fix the game’s bugs. As for now, they’re saying all the right things, and fans are excited to see if they can deliver on their promises.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
WHERE TO PLAY
