Stalker 2 : Heart of Chornobyl arrived yesterday after a turbulent launch road that began in 2010. This included the death and resurrection of a studio, numerous delays and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It warms my cold decrepit heart that players embrace this uncompromising, janky freako.
Josh wrote in his Stalker 2 review that "just like in the past, performance issues and bug don't stop Stalker from shining through its mad, wonderful heart". Stalker 2, despite its flaws, is a brilliant game. While bugs and performance issues often cause a less-than-favourable response on Steam's reviews, Stalker's brand jank hasn't seemed to hurt the game's reception at all. After 10,000 user reviews it is comfortably rated "Very Positive".
One short and sweet review reads: "That's what I wanted from a Stalker" Another reviewer said, "Damn this is Stalker right there." The general consensus is that Stalker 2 is indeed more Stalker and that's a great thing.
At the time of this writing, 81% of reviews were positive. It is currently Steam's number one seller and ranked 11 on its most played list. It's a niche singleplayer game, but it reached its peak of 114,000 concurrent users last night. Nearly 70,000 people are currently coping with the Zone's temperamental nature. On a Thursday morning.
Overall, it's an impressive result for a title that loves its rough edges and old school design sensibilities. We PC gamers would love it. Stalker may be a multiplatform game, but at its core, it's a pure computer game: complex, systematic and risky.
It's not that there haven't been complaints about bugs or performance issues. That's totally understandable. It's a lot of money to spend on a game that doesn't always work as intended. Not everyone will be as tolerant of jank like the veteran stalkers waiting 14 years to return to the Zone.
I'm a big fan of interesting but flawed games, but I also think that polished but unadventurous games are worse. So I'm pretty happy with what GSC managed to produce, especially given the extremely difficult circumstances.
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