STALKER 2 is a game fans have spent decades waiting for. At times, the wait for gameplay footage has felt much longer. No more.
The gameplay trailer debuted during the Xbox Bethesda E3 showcase early this morning. There’s a lot to break down here, from radioactive biomes to the little fiefdoms carved out among the survivors.
First things first, the game has a subtitle now. Officially titled STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl, this links it more cleanly to the original — STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl — which obviously had a subtitle of its own.
Every character in the trailer speaks in Russian with English subtitles, which is a great creative choice. It seems obvious to have Russian characters speak Russian in a game set in their homeland, but a lot of games would shy away from this.
The trailer is remarkable still and calm, allowing the moments where violence breaks out to hit that much harder. Gunplay itself looks punchy, and the weapons as hard-edged as any Russian made to live in such an environment would be.
And then there’s the monsters forged in the crucible of Chernobyl’s radioactive fallout. We won’t spoil it here, you’ll see in the trailer.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl arrives April 28, 2022 exclusively on Xbox Series X|S, and Windows PC.
