There are many reasons why an endeavour as complex as creating a huge open-world video game sometimes doesn't pan out the way it should or could; absolutely millions of things that can and will go wrong at the best of times, no matter how much hard work goes in.
Add in the stress of being at war during the development of your project - and a whole bunch of other issues to boot - and it's not hard to fathom why S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, as much as we can see the love and hard work on-screen at all times, has turned out to be one of the worst experiences we've had this console generation. It's obviously been a ton of work for the dev team to get to the point they're at right now, and we are willing them to come good in the end, but boy-oh-boy does this long-awaited sequel need an absolute ton of work to get it anywhere near decent.
And that's hard to say, it brings us zero joy as huge fans of the original; as fans who love the slow-moving difficulty, weirdness and Euro-janky goofiness of this series. We wanted this to be a nice big surprise at the end of our 2024, an irradiated dream to dig into over the festive period but, alas, what we've got is an almost overwhelming mess.
From the get-go, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 feels like something that has no idea what it's meant to, or even wants to be. We've got a huge, and oftentimes beautiful, chunk of the Chernobyl wasteland. It's very fancy to look at, and very precise in its real-world details. None of this is in doubt, it's one of the most impressive open worlds we've roamed - aesthetically. It's dramatic and dark, brooding in all the right ways, and when a storm rolls in...man...it sure does look incredible at times. However, this is also a wasteland that's got almost nothing of worth to offer even the most fervent of Stalker fans, really.
In sitting down to play the thing, in attempting to settle into a rhythm or get into its various systems, we're met with nothing but badly executed ideas, dire AI, awful dungeon design, a bemusing "artifact" system, bland guns, rubbish anomalies, cheap and annoying mutant attacks, disappointing loot stashes, atrocious voice-acting (in English), bargain bin writing, and a core narrative that is almost incomprehensibly terrible. That's only for starters, by the way.
The much-vaunted A-Life system, this clever mechanic whereby NPCs live out their own routines, get into inter-faction gunfights and all that good stuff - the stuff that generates endless fun in a world like this - is absolutely 100% missing in action. It's nowhere to be seen. OK, maybe you'll run into a bunch of guys fighting with each other, sure, but that's it. A messy gunfight, usually involving a bunch of enemies who simply materialise out of thin air in front of you, with no real feeling that there's any intelligence at play. Even in run-of-the-mill combat, the many enemies you face here rarely get anywhere near clever.
So, the issues go much deeper than stuff that can maybe added in or fixed later. The 'artifact' system - whereby you find artifacts in anomalies and then slot them into your gear to add buffs and debuffs - is another good example of this. We expected to be collecting tons of these, using the game's (currently useless) scanner to scoop them all up, and then writing you lot tasty big guides on how to find them all. But we've got about six in our possession, none of them do anything interesting, and we pretty much found them all by accident. They're in the game, we've no doubt, but after 40+ hours of playing we've given up on being interested in them. They feel pointless and we don't care at this stage. This goes for most of your gear, though, as when an invisible spark of magic radiation energy can zap you to death in one hit without any notice, rhyme or reason in this all-new zone, there's not much point in prepping for anything.
This is also a zone that seems at odds with what we thought it would, or should, be. A world that, far from making things tough for you, is crammed to bursting point with guns, ammo, medicine, bandages...enough gear to outfit a platoon of Stalkers. We've been dropping mountains of gear (and bullets for crying out loud!) just to stay underneath the over-encumbrance point. It never feels like you're struggling for food or guns. In fact, if anything, you're struggling to find things to shoot with them. Struggling to find anywhere to sell them, even, because finding a vendor will likely take you hours of dying, bugging out, glitching into things, fighting invisible enemies and getting lost in bland underground bases.
Now, to be positive for a moment, what's here still has some promise - amazingly. There's still magic in moments where you creep your way slowly into some enemy encampment and use stealth attacks to brutalise everyone. Sometimes the bugs and annoyances, the cheap deaths and never-ending nothingness of the main missions give way to a perfect storm of atmosphere and danger, and then you're briefly in the zone as you expected it might be this time around. These moments are so fleeting, though, and they get more rare as the game goes on.
We can't see how it will meaningfully improve anytime soon, either. There's just so much wrong at the moment. The gear is bland and monotonous, the guns feel OK, sure, but they are nothing to get excited about. There's depth to the attachments and upgrades, yep , but even tens of hours in, we had very few of these things in our possession. The game also felt extremely slow to us, because of bugs and performance issues, and the fact we seemed to be ground to a halt most of the time due to some unforeseen issue that messed up a mission or had us restarting and reloading old saves.
Even on Series X, this one is a mess of bugs. From framerate hitches that manage to persist with VRR switched on, to missing NPC models and egregious loading times upon EVERY. SINGLE. DEATH. We've had entire groups of enemies blink into existence in front of us, for crying out loud, and rival factions materialising into a scene and turning on us en-masse before we can prep a defense. This is A-Life? We've also died countless times from radiation that didn't show up on our little radiation meter. Although - the compass barely works on the UI here, often forgetting to show the distance to your next objective, so that's not really a surprise.
Speaking of the UI, and the menus and inventories in general, it's all fairly appalling. Managing your gear feels designed for PC circa 2004, and is incredibly overly-fussy and slow. The on-screen UI, in particular the managing of quick-access spots, is farcical, too. You have four slots, two left and two right on the D-Pad, and you'll need to long-press a key to access two of these. As you use items, the slot contents are moved around, so sometimes you long-press to heal and the first aid has moved, so you die. Seriously, though.
There are .dll file names hovering over dead enemies and items, one of our outfits is a loaf of bread (this one seems fairly common), floating bodies are commonplace...there's no real point continuing. The fact that A-Life doesn't work properly, and the fact that your enemies and other threats will spawn in behind you, killing you from a spot you'd already meticulously checked and cleared...this stuff is game-breaking at the end of the day. For a Stalker game to mess these things up, it's very hard to see where you're meant to enjoy as a player. There's nothing worth fighting, nothing worth exploring for, no way to dig in and play the role in a satisfying way.
We know there's always a bit of to-and-fro over this sort of janky, tough game. The hardcore fans will tell you that you just can't deal with the brutality of the zone, that your deaths are skill issues and so on. But we've served our time with Stalker, and plenty of adventures that have walked the same ultra-tough path before it. This isn't about skill problems or a lack of ability. It's a poorly made product, an experience that fails to provide fun for your hard-earned money, and something that you would never - not in a million years, we reckon - recommend any newcomer or gamer who isn't knowledgeable about the franchise. That says a whole lot.
If you want to give us a big, hard game world to survive and stalk in, if you want us to engage and indulge in tough and time-consuming stuff like this, you're going to need to ensure that every death is fair. Here, almost every single death is the exact opposite. And that's unforgiveable. We've also found the wasteland to be almost entirely devoid of life, upon further investigation. Strike out across its map to uncover new regions, walk away from where the narrative is taking you, and you'll likely find yourself running across very pretty, but totally empty, scenery. It's mind-boggling, in fact, just how little there is to see - beyond the promise of the real-world tourist attractions of the area - or get interested in. A big, empty, boring world with a smattering of messy camps and enemy-infested areas. No matter how good it looks, there's no getting away from the reality that it's almost impossible to have fun here. There's nothing to get hooked into. Unless you like roleplaying an accident-prone wally of a Stalker.
There's tons more to rake over; the enemies have no tactical nous, and mutants - which should always be a highlight to fight - are the worst kind of invisible, cheating, cheap, bullet-sponge annoyances to deal with. The story is appalling for the first 20 hours, before some things (boring things) start to happen. We won't ruin any of that here, of course, except to say there are a few nods to the original game for fans that manage to stomach the task of getting that far.
Main missions are often very hard to follow, with nonsensical conversations doing little to help, and in running from one to the next we often found ourselves completely unaware of what the hell we were meant to be doing. There are choice-driven moments crammed in, but really these seem a bit much, a bridge too far, especially when even the basic stuff is barely holding together. None of these woes are helped by an early-game plot about scanners which is beyond boring as a way to introduce the game's janky-ass factions.
Side activities are underwhelming - this is a big scary zone, so you don't get the usual glut of open-world fun and distractions (we are all for this strict adherence to a vibe, if it's done well) - and most side stuff takes the form of NPC missions that cover fetch quests and turgid camp invasions; all only serving to further lay bare the mess that is this game's combat.
It's been one of the biggest disappointments we can remember in quite some time, this. It's such a shame, especially when you catch the odd whiff of OG-Stalker magic here and there. But, our experience has been a Anthem/Cyberpunk 2077-level mess, really. There's no other way to dice how hard it fumbles what should be a fascinating experience. Thank goodness we can all try it on Game Pass in the meantime, and keep our fingers crossed that the incoming hotfixes and larger patches can get it where it needs to be in the future.
Conclusion
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is a pretty big mess. In its current state, this is a badly-judged game in almost every way. The new zone is incredible to behold at times, for sure, but it's a world at odds with itself; full of gear and guns, but with precious little in the way of enemies that challenge you to use them. The story is terrible, the A-Life system is AWOL, and the acting and writing is atrocious. Stalker 2 is cheap in how it kills without warning, is packed full of bugs and performance issues on Series X, and is devoid of mostly anything that makes it feel worth playing for very long.
Comments 169
Wow! That is brutal!!! Absolutely brutal. So another rubbish Xbox release. Just when I thought Xbox couldn’t get any worse right now…. It does.
Guess, won't touch for a year or two in this case, until most of the performance issues and bugs are fixed. Thanks for the review!
@MjJmediablogger
Yep
On the plus side, Indy releases in a few weeks, then we have Avowed in Feb....And according to latest previews, they're tip top 🙂
That’s a shame I think everyone was rooting for this to be a success. I haven’t tried it myself yet. I was planning on diving in over Christmas after a few patches and some backlog clearing. If Stalker is a 4 I wonder what Microsoft Loading Screen Simulator 2024 will get 😬
Another gamepass banger 😔
Kinda sad we're getting fewer games and they can't even be somewhat decent.
And yet it has sold over 1 M copies in 48 hours.
Nope,game runs fine on my x,game is also good
Its a slow game,like fallout...
If you rush it you miss the point
And xbox haters please go away,its an xbox site...
Sad to see the reviews being this low, especially considering the development of the game was hindered by catastrophic situations in that part of the world. From a gaming perspective however, I really must ask if Phil Spencer has any gaming clue at all.. he was whittling on about this being a ‘game of the year condendor’. Excuse me? If it’s getting panned like this, what the hell is Phil smoking?
Ouch.
The original remains a classic, but I'm definitely holding off on my GoG purchase until some time in the new year.
Avowed will be my next purchase, via Steam.
The reviews for this vary wildly. From excellent to dross.
One wonders if the reviewers are actually playing the same game.
I still don't understand why they didn't release this as an early-access title. They knew the state of the game yet they still released it, knowing how broken it is. Sigh... Meanwhile, polished AA games such as Banishers underperform because gamers would rather throw their money at broken products like this!
@Simplejohn
So Pure Xbox and pretty much every other gaming outlet are lying, is that what you're saying?
There might be a good game in there, and I say that as a fan of the original STALKER in 2007, but there is no question that STALKER 2 has left the gate in a terrible state. It clearly wasn't ready. End of story.
@Simplejohn Gatekeeper of Pure Xbox here.
@cburg Good for the devs then. Don't know how that's relevant to a review.
@cburg
Sales do not, or ever have, equated to quality.
@MjJmediablogger Fair, but this isn't a first party release is it? correct me if I'm wrong anybody, but these guys are their own independent studio. My understanding was that, yes, MS supported/assisted with some parts of the developement via ID@Xbox program and you name it, but I'm interpreting your message as treating it as a first party. I've actually seen other people in other sites say it directly and I don't quite understand it.
Don't get me wrong, I think there's enough to critisise about Xbox releases in the last whatever time, but let's allocate blame where it belongs. I personally, don't feel it's reasonable to say this one is Xbox's "fault", as fashionable as that seems to be nowadays.
Jesus tell me what you really think will you!
I only played about 2 hours so far I'm liking it 🤷 could be better and could be worse!
@Stamnoso
Perhaps, but Microsoft should have employed a little more quality control and not allowed the game to be released just to get it out for Christmas in an obvious bid to generate Xbox interest.
@Dalamar73 try it ,its on gamepass
Lovely exploration survival game
@Stamnoso Fair point actually. Just feel so deflated with Xbox now
@Dalamar73 Even with Indy there is no interest with Xbox anymore , not as a console sadly. I’ve been arguing on the positives but they are diminishing daily right now.
@MjJmediablogger
Sure it's disappointing, but there's no need to be deflated by Xbox/Microsoft gaming. Yes Microsoft are pulling the brand in a new direction, yes it hasn't been a great year for killer AAA exclusives, (comparatively speaking), but as a PC and Xbox gamer I'm still swamped by a whole bunch of great games, new and old, as are we all.
Normally I’d trash something this flawed with gusto. This is approaching Bethesda levels of broken, janky, unplayable mess. But with everything these guys had to work with going on in the background, I’m willing to cut them some slack. As long as it eventually gets to a playable state, that’s good enough. The core is good, let’s just refine it to a level of polish it deserves.
@Simplejohn
I'm not currently subscribed to GP. I've too many games as it is so I've paused my sub for the time being.
I have the original on PC, (including the boxed copy I bought back in 2007) and am fully aware of what's on offer with the sequel.
Should hopefully be sorted when it launches on playstation 🤞
@Dalamar73 when you have a chance try it and ignore the haters
It a fallout style game
Cant say i have had the same experience as the reviewer its almost seems like we are playing different games.
I am not going to try & change anyones mind so all I will say is I am having fun even in its current state (20 hours in & 2 crashes but nothing really lost as i save often.) Its not perfect far from it but fun can still be had.
If you have access via gamepass give it a try & see if it works for you.
Sold a million copies in 2 days mind
@Simplejohn
I'll say again. I have the original on PC, (including the boxed copy I bought back in 2007) and am fully aware of what's type of game it is. You don't have to sell it to me.
I will buy it via GoG in 2025, as I keep saying, but not until then and when it's in a more playable state.
@RiverGenie You'll be playing on the day one patch too. Which i only finished the game on. Good to hear it's improving already.
@MjJmediablogger
Which is good for the dev, but not the end user because it, once again, tells the industry that we're willing to cough up for broken products.
Game is easily an 8/10
15 hours in switching between Series X anc PC and not a single glitch and it has a great story and gameplay
4/10 is a completely asinine score to give not based in reality at all
Wow! Didn’t see that review coming….I know it has issues but after playing an hour was going to wait for some quick patches to fix….will uninstall and give them a year!
Great honest review 🙏🏻
@PurvisP Make your own website and give it an 8/10 then.
@PurvisP
And yet many others are stating the complete opposite.
I'm all for supporting developers where it counts, but I'm not going to be swayed by people "fanboying" for any developer/company.
It's on my GoG wish list and that is where it will remain until I feel it's ready to earn my cash.
@PJOReilly Day one patch seems better than many videos I have seen but it also doesn’t work miracles. The frame rate is still choppy even with a VRR capable display (Alex at Digital Foundry confirmed it in his video specifically using the Day 1 patch.)
I also had audio not syncing with the visuals, items floating in the air and a few other bugs all in the first half hour. I feel there might be a good game under there, but it’s way too rough for my taste right now.
Completely agree on the PC like UI too.
4/10 is pretty brutal, would give it a higher score myself but yeah, the game is far from perfect. The hours I´ve played have been fun but I can see myself run out of steam to keep playing as it feels like I´ve seen all there is pretty soon and then it´ll be just doing the same things over and over.
Removed - flaming/arguing
@themightyant
Sounds like a Bethesda game. I can foresee an unofficial patch or two surfacing on Nexus in due course.
@MeanBeanEgg
Don't need to most other places have given it the review score it deserves ...8/10 average 😎
@Dalamar73 sadly yes.
It's ok we've got nine sols coming 😎
I've put about 5 hours in and when it works it's fun but I'll probably wait for 6 months before going back to it. But according to some people on here yesterday it was entitled of me to expect the game to run better and i was just being negative for the sake of it.
@PurvisP good for you. Complete mess for me. Crashing constantly. Stick drifts randomly. I made an anomaly never show up at the begin in the tunnel during the tutorial part by reloading because I used an energy drink by mistake. It’s like CP77. Some people have massive issues. Some don’t. But that game is not an 8 in its current form. 6/10. Maybe an 8 once it’s fixed.
@PurvisP
"most other places have given it the review score it deserves"
I just checked Metacritic, (PC - 58 reviews. Xbox - 18). Outside of a handful of obscure sites no one has heard of and who are fanboying hard for the game, ignoring any and all issues in their overall breakdown, no, no they haven't.
Oof. A lot of reviewers will say you either hate it or love it. I played it on my 85 inch TV with VRR and the framerate is no longer an issue. And other reviewers have said the story, gameplay, and writing are too notch, so... Just look at the metacritic scores. Some are saying it's a masterpiece.
Hmmm, this reviewer gave Starfield and Dragon age the Veil Guard 9s out of 10. It doesn't seem like this game was designed with them in mind given their tastes. Having played all three, stalker 2 ( 20 hours for stalker ) has by far the best open world and exploration, the core stalker experience is very much intact from the first 3, gunplay is great, the audio is excellent and graphics feel like next gen finally realized. The story does start of slow, but in comparison to Starfield it is infinitely more interesting and grounded.
That said there are definitely rough edges, series x performance is passable ( think Elden ring at launch) and image quality in performance mode is a little messy during movement particularly in dense foliage. The graphics mode needs fully implemented motion blur as it feels choppy but does look exceptionally crisp and 4k like. I would say that adjustments to the spawn rate in A life 2.0 of dynamic encounters need to be made as they happen slightly too frequently, Bloodsuckers in particular require far too much ammo.
I'm sure in the coming months, patches will iron out performance, bugs and graphical inconsistency to create a much more polished experience as a whole. If you were looking forward to this knowing the Stalker franchise you will certainly not be disappointed
@themightyant I agree, and I do think they'll come good. I'll defo be keeping it on my Xbox and checking in as it gets better.
80 on metacritic for the Xbox version. How is there such a difference? Stalker has always been an obscure game. Slow and tactical.
I uninstalled this. I mostly just wanted to see how it ran on my PC. It ran pretty good (almost always above 75fps) barring the instant dip in performance in cities.
I didn't encounter any bugs (but I only played for an hour). I do agree that the invisible enemies are a giant pain in the butt. Not only are they hard to hit, but they are also bullet sponges.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games just aren't for me, though. It's a pretty hardcore style game that I don't have the patience to play.
I had the original way back when via a service that no longer exists (Direct2Drive) and my account is long gone - so I don't have access to it anymore. It didn't click with me then, either, so I don't even bother rebuying it.
I do hope that it can button up the rough edges, though, as I know there is an audience out there for it - I'm just not that audience.
Oh!?!? 😒 Shame that, wasn't expecting it to be that low. Back to MS Flight Sim then... oh wait! I still can't play that either yet. Oh well! Back to Black Ops it is then.
Curious if anyone else shares this opinion?
I just want to say, if swap out the word and number, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 and replace it with Starfield. It seems I've basically read this review before.
Very, very disappointed. Not in the review. Just in how this seems to becoming more normal for majority of hyped games today.
But I have enjoyed Starfield very, very, much, since launch. So there is at least that to say.
@GeeForce Xbox hasn’t figured out how to get universal praise for their games, but they clearly nailing the “you LOVE it or you HATE it” situation 🤣
So the 2 outlets that waited for reviews (PX and EG) give it a 4 and 6 respectively.
So clearly there are still issues the dev has even said so themselves and commenting on Reddit too so engaging with players. I really hope the devs can fix it up. They deserve it and I’m glad people have supported them.
But Phil said this was a GoTY contender yet it’s sitting not especially high.
I’m looking forward to jumping in after a few patches,
I can't help but feel that people's view of the game, and willingness to ignore its many glaring issues, has been skewed by the fact that Game Pass has made it a very affordable way to play the game.
I wonder if these same people would be singing its praises, while purposely ignoring all the glitches, bugs and poor performance, had they coughed up £60-70 for it...I very much doubt it.
Of course that is just a theory on my part, but I see it happening more and more regularly with big releases in the wake of subscription models.
Wow, I started skim reading in the end to find some some plus points but they never really came. What a shame for everyone. Another Xbox exclusive sinks below the waves.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner
EG work on a 5 star system not a 10. They scored it a 3/5. I suppose you could argue that's a 6, but also a 7. It all depends on how you look at it.
My point being is I've never felt the 5 star system works. Eurogamer's written word rarely matches up with the score given. The site was far better when they dropped scores altogether.
I'm going to give it a whirl this weekend regardless. People do also forget it's a relatively niche title. I'm a big Metro series fan who missed the original Stalker game. I think the punishing survival style of this one might be an issue but trying it on Gamepass makes it less of a conundrum. People often have strong emotive responses to other people's reviews and opinions without putting significant time into a game themselves. I'm trying not to fall into that trap.
Removed - discussing moderation
@Deljo
Got the same hope for when Wukong releases on Xbox.
@Dalamar73
"just checked Metacritic, (PC - 58 reviews. Xbox - 18). Outside of a handful of obscure sites no one has heard of and who are fanboying hard for the game, ignoring any and all issues in their overall breakdown, no, no they haven't."
Metacritic score 74% for PC
Metacritic score 80% for Xbox
Metacritic User Score 77%
Steam 9/10
PC Gamer 83%
Game Spot 7/10
Games Radar 7/10
IGN Germany 8/10
Gamerant 9/10
The Guardian 8/10
VG247 8/10
So yes, yes they have
@PurvisP I couldn’t even hear the first cutscene because the audio was going nuts with static and buzzing. Then I get going and when you aim the gun just says everywhere. To me it was not even playable. I know not everyone will have the same bugs but it’s not great.
@Dalamar73 It could also be a 5 then. 🤔
@PurvisP
Yes, well known, established bastions of video game sites such as Twinfinite, Sector.Sk, JeuxActu, Gameliner, Gaming Blot, Hobby Consolas - et al. All gushing reviews and no mention of poor performance and bugs that more established sites like Pure Xbox and Eurogamer have highlighted.
Once again - Outside of a handful of obscure sites no one has heard of and who are fanboying hard for the game, ignoring any and all issues in their overall breakdown, no, no they haven't.
And it's common knowledge that absolutely no one with a modicum of sense should pay attention to user reviews on Metacritic,
@Dalamar73 6/7 doesn’t really make a huge difference.
It was more to point out that the reviews that waited for a day 1 patch were still scoring it around the ballpark of others.
Meaning that the day 1 patches hadn’t fixed it.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner
Of course.
Yea, based on what I've seen online/videos, I'd have to agree with this review. Not even worried about the bugs or glitches, it's the core gameplay and how broken it is that led me to uninstall it. It's hard to justify a pre-order these days, unless it's a well known nintendo title imo. Aside from their sports titles, they usually deliver on day 1. Such a shame.
Edit: honestly, it makes me just rather play Fallout
@Dalamar73 i paid for the game and i am enjoying it.
Oh not ignoring any issues its just I haven't come across any that stopped me playing or having fun. My biggest gripe so far is my settings don't save between session so i have to redo them every time I load in.
All the other stuff folks mention hasn't stopped from enjoying the experience. If it does for other folks i hope they give it another go after a few patches as there is a good game hidden in there worth experiencing.
I'm just gonna write what I always say:
Reviews are simply someone's opinions in written form or otherwise.
If you are able to, you should ALWAYS try a game for themselves(or watch gameplay if there is any and think of if the game is something that might be for you) and form their own opinion instead of blindly following reviews and take them as fact.
I have followed this principle for over 10 years now and it has never failed me.
@RiverGenie
And if you're enjoying it then that's what really counts. I will be buying the game, as already stated, at a later date, but not I've no desire to put down £60 in its current state.
@Fishysensei
I just wanted to say I absolutely love your avatar. Speed 2 is a terrible film, but Dafoe always delivers!
@Dalamar73
PC Gamer (83) and Gamespot (8/10) are quite well established.
@GeeForce
True, but both sites are a little gushing at times, particularly Gamespot.
But regardless, the fact remains that STALKER 2 being released in its current state cannot be denied. I'm certainly not going to get on board with people claiming its a masterpiece with zero issues, because that is an outright lie. It clearly needed more time in the oven and as such I'm happy to wait a little longer before jumping in.
@Dalamar73 Fair, I feel there is a valid argument there and also, like I think you suggest, around "should Xbox have positioned themselves as close to it as they seemed to have done? for image, MK purposes etc." (e.g. saying these things about "game of the year" and then getting these sort of reviews projects a bad image on Xbox by association).
That said, my core point is, these guys are their own studio (dev. + pub), my view is that QC/QA and delivering within reasonable expectations is their responsibility first and before anybody elses.
Now, as said above, has Xbox still "dropped the ball" from an image point of view etc.? Yes, I agree, but I also think this is a very different case to, let's say Redfall in terms of the "finger pointing"
Honestly, I was going to play this yesterday, but the long downloads prevented that. Being a Series S owner is quite frustrating for large games. My console is full on storage with Black Ops, Flight Sim, and Stalker, but Black Ops filled up the storage so much that it blocked Stalker from fully installing. 😑 I had set three hours aside to play it and… the game was not ready by that time. Huge bummer. I’ve read a lot of contrasting thoughts about this one. At the very least, it’s sounding like it isn’t like Redfall where the seed is rotten, but more that the seed hasn’t quite rooted yet for some. I hope I like it… but if it flops, I mean I need storage space for Nine Sols and Indy. Seems like I’ll be able to figure out if Stalker’s worth the space pretty quick, based on PJ’s review.
@GeeForce absolutely, timed exclusives work both ways 👍
Absolutely, the blame doesn't fall entirely at the doorstep of Microsoft as was arguably the case with Redfall, but I think MS should have perhaps monitored things a little closer given the onus they put on STALKER 2 as an 'end of year Xbox saviour' after a year of AAA calamities.
What Microsoft shouldn't now do is come out and start waxing lyrical about STALKER 2 player numbers, its success etc in light of the state it's been released in. It'll just make them look like jerks that don't care about quality, only the bottom line - which yes I know is commonplace for mega-corps, but still...
@Stamnoso Phil Spencer’s GotY comment is definitely going to haunt him. We keep getting statements from him that make his barometer for quality titles seem sort of suspect. He thought Starfield could be GotY tier too, and Xbox thought Redfall would land in the low 80s on Metacritic based on their market research on it.
@Dalamar73
"Yes, well known, established bastions of video game sites such as Twinfinite, Sector.Sk, JeuxActu, Gameliner, Gaming Blot, Hobby Consolas - et al. All gushing reviews and no mention of poor performance and bugs"
Metacritic score 74% for PC
Metacritic score 80% for Xbox
Metacritic User Score 77%
Steam 9/10
PC Gamer 83%
Game Spot 7/10
Games Radar 7/10
IGN Germany 8/10
Gamerant 9/10
The Guardian 8/10
VG247 8/10
Many of which acknowledge the Pre Release bugs
It's certainly a strange release. The review scores range from low to high and even gamer comments range from it being non-playable to barely having any issues. 🤷♂️
Can't make head or tail of the wildly varying review scores. Doesn't really give me a good idea if it's worth the investment of time and money.
Would you recommend the original (dated jank and all) over this?
@IGN_Commenter Could be fun to play the OG while you wait!
@Fishysensei i agree
Try it yourself...
Most of the haters state an opinion without touching the game anyway...
(they also dont use xbox and lurk at xbox sites😜)
Holy ... didn't see this coming but it's an subjective opinion (doesn't mean he's a hater!). If you experience a lot of bugs, that can take away a lot of the fun to be had otherwise. Mixed opinions overall so there is some work to be done for sure.
I'm still waiting. The amount of GB's already been downloaded for the game is pretty high so the devs are very busy at the moment.
Let's hope that the Indiana Jones game will be in perfect state to play at launch, I don't understand why they keep launching games in unplayable state like this.
Really shocked by this review. I’ve been playing it with really no issues other than some framerate drops here and there. Otherwise it runs great and have experienced very few bugs. Having an absolute blast with the game on my Series X. Easy 8/10 at this point.
@Simplejohn
"they also dont use xbox and lurk at xbox sites"
Who's that then? From what I can see most here commenting have Xbox as well as other platforms.
@awp69 ...and then I read a post like this 😊 I'm just going to try it for myself now. Let's see what my experience is like.
The comments about the game being "perfectly fine", "no bugs at all" are always hilarious to see. Literally every, single , review complains about performance and bugs. Everyone that doesn't have green tinted glasses stuck on their face are talking about bugs and performance and lack of A Life 2.0 but you must have gotten a completely different version of the game than everyone else, right? 🤣🤣
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@somnambulance Yeah...could very easily be the kind of thing that becomes the "standard meme" to use everytime a new mixed reviewed game releases U-.-
To be honest, I don't know what to make of this guy. Cause I respect the fact that an individual gamer can love a game that is generally seen as bad (and oh boy I've been there before xD) But I feel that when you're in a position such as Phil's, you should be a bit more careful about voicing this sort of opinions and the wording of it. Reason being a lot of people will hear him and take that as the opinion of Xbox (which arguably is, to a certain extent in like "operational" and "image" kinda ways) instead of his opinion as an individual gamer. I don't know, but yeah, I agree this sort of things could definitely com back to haunt you xD.
@oopsiezz Or the reviewers reviewed the game before two major day one patches perhaps? I can only tell you what I’m experiencing with no rose tinted glasses. Maybe until you play the game your self you can stop judging others opinions.
Game has 80% positive on Steam as well and PC has those “problems” as well.
So all 80% of those folks are also playing an imaginary version in your own mind.
Heck the game has 77% on OpenCritic.’It wouldn’t be that high if it was completely broken.
@oopsiezz cant speak for anyone else but i know folks are having issue and all i can say is those same issues haven't stopped me enjoying the experience.
A game being janky doesn't preclude a fun experience for everyone. I mean I have played games jankier than Stalker 2, the previous 3 stalker games at launch for example, yet still found fun.
Its just different folks have different tolerances to certain things is all. Plus a lot of the pc specific issues i just haven't been bothered by on series x (quality mode for reference.)
Always take P's reviews with a pinch of salt. Average score of the game is 80/100, twice as much the score he granted.
@oopsiezz it doesn’t even matter that the devs have put out statements about issues etc. or the fact some of the review was with the day 1 patch also.
But of course it’s 100% big free.
I’m confident they will fix some of them quickly, they seem to be engaging with players.
Bugs aside, STALKER 2 isn't going to be to everyone's liking. I'm not sure what to make of it from my own play time. I reckon it's likely I'll get frustrated and bored in a few more hours at most. The dialogue and storytelling isn't up to much, and the game mechanics are not what I would normally enjoy. I want to like it but don't think I will.
This is impressive. I'm some dozen hours in the game and have not experienced anything like this at all.
The worst thing so far is some slow down in towns from the otherwise 60fps.
Only bug I've ran in to was I when I dropped a gun while a box was open and it got sent to the moon lol. Thankfully it was broken
@InterceptorAlpha
"Only bug I've ran in to was I when I dropped a gun while a box was open and it got sent to the moon lol."
Some bugs and glitches can often be funny. One time playing Skyrim I loaded a save only to find my character on their horse, miles up in the sky, plummeting to their death. Funnier still, the horse survived. 😅
@Stamnoso I liked Forspoken and put it in my top 10 list last year and Sonic Frontiers and Pokemon ScarVi were in the year before. I get jank, don’t mind it, and I’m open minded, but there’s a wide gap between subjectively liking something and thinking it’s GotY worthy. I didn’t like Baldur’s Gate 3, but I tried it and knew it was a GotY tier title immediately, even if it didn’t have gameplay to my taste.
Phil and Xbox in general sort of seem tone deaf at times and I sort of think they need some new voices AND ears, so they can get to a better understanding of how people are responding to them. I will give the team credit for Black Ops 6, which is the best CoD in ages, but I do question Phil’s taste outside multiplayer shooters and emotive indies, the two genres that seem closest to his heart, and honestly two genres where his opinion seems to be on point. Oddly enough, his GotY comment would’ve raised more eyebrows for Black Ops if he said it, but he would’ve been more on point. I actually think TGA waited for Stalker 2 to be playable before saying the nominees too. Jeez, do I hope Indy delivers at this point though.
@Dalamar73 Reading that I could instantly see the horse ragdoll ing and hitting the ground hitting. Then suddenly ragdoll disabling and it just kinda unnaturally pulling itself together and standing up. Good times, Skyrim.
@Dalamar73 no way they game on Xbox,on twitter maybe
Bold of you to give such a low score to this game! But also very honest of you to do so despite it being unpopular to do so.
I'd think it must be absolutely unbelievably horrendous if Dragon Age got a 9 🤣
@InterceptorAlpha
I went back to the place of my skydiving stunt and yep, my horse was still there, waiting patiently. 😅
@Simplejohn
Again, who in here is not gaming on Xbox, or engaging in Microsoft Gamings output via the Xbox/Microsoft app? I know some of you like to believe there's some kind of conspiracy going on, but that's all it is. A conspiracy.
@RiverGenie I feel the same way friend. I've played about 23 hours and I'm loving it. There is definitely some issues. But I really like the shooting mechanics. There is alot for them to work on. But I'll be finishing the story.
@Dalamar73 no conspiracy here only lonely people for the hate/trolling/engangment
Worth the 7 year wait then, huh?
Gaming is a dying medium.
@dreadful
"Gaming is a dying medium"
A little hyperbolic don't you think?
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And the tail of Microsoft’s mismanagement of studios and game development continues. I’m still interested in the title but I’m waiting a bit to download it on gamepass until I hear most of the bugs are ironed out.
This really feels like the “Wii U” era for XBOX. A complete lack of direction for the system and games, uncertainty of the future, and a really mixed quality of games with a lot of big franchises just taking forever to show up.
All that is to say I still enjoyed my Wii U, and I enjoy my Series X. But I’d be lying if I said the Series X hasn’t underwhelmed compared to the Switch and PS5.
Man what a poo show. From what I’ve watched and read there’s a good game here somewhere, but much like this review points out the game is an absolute mess.
This isn’t a title that’ll sell Xbox’s let’s be honest, it was never going to, much like Hellblade 2.
@Wizzle08 Eurogamer are a joke, they review games based on their backwards ideology and not gameplay. Stopped taking them seriously a long time ago.
@somnambulance Yeah you're quite right actually there is a difference indeed. Also, I think some new voices are desperately needed too. Anyway, like you said I guess we'll see how the upcoming releases do. I've heard good things on Avowed so far.
Maybe I will get this on PC if they have a good modding community other then that it's a hard pass for me.
@Tasuki for what its worth modding support is planned for all platforms consoles included. PC will always have more mods just because of Nexus but hopefully we see some decent ones make it over to xbox eventually.
Would love to see a longer day / night cycle mod. It just feels a bit to quick as it is now
@RiverGenie
PC also allows script extender for more complex and larger mods. Some of the best mods use script extender. It's great that Microsoft are supporting mods on Xbox, far better than PlayStation, but there's so many great ones across a bevy of games that will sadly never make their way over.
Well.....I'm enjoying it.
Ouch...nice, thorough review. Glad I didn't pull the trigger on this one.
@pjoreilly Imo: you could have chosen to not rate the game considering the horrible times the developers have gone through, even losing colleagues to the war.
Now the number will go into metacritic and it will affect sales forever. Even if the devs fix every issue you have with the game.
Therefore, this rating just feels too brutal to me.
Ha! Only played a couple hours. From that limited sampling only thing I'd disagree with are visuals. Ugly imo.
“Let’s set the deadzone at 0 and then not include a slider in settings” yea great idea (one Stalker 2 dev says to another)
I'm really liking it. I loved the first 3 and was afraid they might screw this one up but they didn't. I'm playing on quality mode and haven't encountered any crashes or game effecting bug.
@Friendly but then that’s not keeping integrity up. What about the next company that has an issue?
If the game wasn’t ready the devs could have delayed further.
But the devs are getting plenty of support and goodwill so I believe they will fix most of it.
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@Altaria_97 Microsoft didn’t manage this studio. They’re independent so this isn’t a “tale of mismanagement” by MS.
If you want a great review then wait until your game is ready before giving out to reviewers- easy peasy… I blame Microsoft as they should have a quality review team that green lights every game that goes onto Gamepass… I still have not played Redfall or Lamplighters league as the reviews were bad with day 1 bugs… every game that gets poorly reviewed gets a horrible death … sure Cyberpunk and No man’s Sky pulled themselves out of a death spiral but those games would be GOTY material in the year it released if bug free
@awp69 EDIT: This entire time I thought Microsoft published the game. My b, I’ll look up what the deal is about the exclusivity then.
I will start it tomorrow...just been finishing metro awakening.... opinions seem very split...seen people saying if you have a good TV ...they dont seem to have hardly any bugs ...which is polar opposite to what alot of people are saying.... hopefully having a 4k 120fps capable vrr TV will give me the former
@Stamnoso I quite enjoyed my session with Flight Sim today, so Xbox can do a quality game. Honestly, Stalker played alright when I finally got to play it too, though that GotY talk seemed even more baffling after playing a half hour of it. It’s just very apparent that it’s an extremely niche AAA game from the get go. It’s unique for sure, but you can tell it’s in a different category than say… Astro Bot or Rebirth. Similar realm to Black Myth Wukong, for what it’s worth though.
I don’t like the color palette for Avowed, but I very much liked reading that the game has soul. Avowed, South by Midnight, I suspect these types of games will be what redeems the Xbox brand for me next year while I’m cautiously anticipating bigger games like Fable. I’m just hoping Indy is solid though. That release date is so weird and isolating.
@AlwaysPlaying "I still have not played Redfall."
Hey! I started Redfall days before Stalker 2 launched. I know Redfall was panned, but looks like a story mode of Fortnite with State of Decay on top, which is not bad at all. Performance is perfect 60fps on Series X (performance mode). The world, story, weapons and UI are all fine. Maybe it gets repetitive, we'll see, but I'm liking it so far. On the other hand, I didn't like Deathloop (10/10 according to PJ).
@Altaria_97 It’s only like 3 months of exclusivity. But this team has been through so much and has work to do on this version so I’m betting it will be longer than 3 months before PS5 gets it.
117,928 24 hour peak players on Steam
Over a million copies sold while also being on Game Pass
Congratulations GSC Gameworld
That's the lowest score I've seen so far. Mind you, I've never played any Stalker games as I don't play games on PC - console only.
I was going to try this via Xbox Gamepass, but given the bugs and that A-Life system not being in the game (as advertised), I'll wait until sometime next year to give this a go.
On the other hand, given the problems the developer had over the development time the state of the game could be forgiven for the most part - unlike other studios such as Bethesda and CDPR.
@awp69 Thanks for the info!
@gravelmonkey exactly my thoughts. Fallout it ain't. It's just a bit of a grind and pretty miserable. Not for me.
I'm 50 lol my eyes are still good this game looks like a X360 game lol
@cburg doesn’t make it a good game though
What's a good or bad game, though? That's completely subjective, like reviews are, unless we are talking about E.T. (Atari) or Superman (N64). There are many critically acclaimed games that I don't like, but I don't consider that they are objectively bad because of that. I write about them, but I'm aware that I'm writing my opinion. If the game is niche or the studio endangered, I try to be more careful with my words and score. We gamers have an acquired taste and we all process stimuli differently.
That aside, some reviewers don't like the genre, pace or style that they're reviewing and that doesn't make sense because reviews are meant for gamers that like that genre, pace or style. Although some reviews are meant to be controversial and get more clicks, I believe that in this case is the former.
Congrats on being my least favorite reviewer this year!
@PurvisP Good for them. I hope they keep releasing patches like they have been doing these last days.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner a war is more than ‘an issue’
Those don’t happen very often fortunately, so i think it’s possible to keep integrity up
@Banjo- I grabbed a copy for 20 a couple weeks ago. I had a blast, it's in a much much much better place and it ran great.
Definitely recommend playing on a high difficulty, makes it a lot more tense
Edit: Deathloop was such a bizarre divide between reviews and players
Never played it
@CallMeDuraSouka I usually beat the games I start, but I didn't finished Anthem, The Outer Worlds and Deathloop because I was not enjoying them. I almost didn't try Redfall in spite of being subscribed to Game Pass, but I'm also having a blast.
I think part of the problem is that reviewers have also started largely ignoring bugs in a lot of reviews on the basis that it will get fixed at some point, so when you get a review that removes marks for bugs people get more irate over the score.
Bethesda games always have the usual bethesda janky bugs but reviewers ignore them because its bethesda. Personally I think thats just as bad because it creates a standard where bugs become the norm and accepted. So personally I prefer reviews that do knock marks off for rough performance, because that should be the point of the review.
@Ilyn I rarely agree with you, but you make a good point. I always say that I want the technical details to be acknowledged in the reviews. I also say that it would be convenient if reviews were updated. Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2 have nothing to do with what they were, or like @Neither_scene said, Cyberpunk and No Man’s Sky.
The problem is the lack of consistence in the industry and even by the same reviewers when tackling different games. Generally, video games tend to be overrated compared to films for instance, so a 4 almost equals a 1. A 4/10 game is supposed to be a complete mess, almost at the level of Superman (N64) and E.T. (Atari), considering how video games are rated these days.
There are also reviewers that give Tears of the Kingdom and Spider-Man 2 10s, forgiving the recycled content and gameplay, awkward controls, lack of innovation, performance or whatever reasons that are employed and that in other occasions are considered fatal, punishing other games harshly for exactly the same flaws. So, although I consider all reviews to be inevitably subjective, there is lack of consistence at best, professionalism and ethics at worst, not only regarding technical performance or glitches.
Steam numbers now 118,872 peak players 👍 getting busier in the zone
@Friendly Developed in Prague Europe since the start of the war.
I have huge sympathy for what any Ukrainian is going through, but the vast bulk of the company were in safe environment in the Czech Republic while developing this and the game doesn't deserve a free pass for any reason.
I hope it becomes the game they intended it to be, but it seems like it was released a little too soon and could have done with another 3 or 4 months of dev time at least.
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@Simplejohn Once again: It's not the Xbox's fault but the crappy game...
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If you want a game that’s immersive makes you feel on edge, where it leaves you to figure things out for yourself and no hand holding then this game is great for it, I’m really loving it and had pulled me in straight away. A suggestion I would give is to change the audio from English to Ukrainian, it’s so much better.
And yes it is rough at the minute and the A life is broke and it will be fixed, but it’s amazing this came out at all through what the developers have gone through.
I think (in my opinion, so don’t come at me) that this review is very harsh, I have seen a lot more positive reviews for this despite the bugs than bad.
Try it out for yourself it’s a game for a very specific audience, and most of the Xbox games so far have been like that which I’ve liked, PlayStation use to be the platform that would be adventurous in the ps2 days but now Xbox is allowing developers it seems to make the games they want to try.
Clearly I'm playing a different game because I've not had any technical issues to speak of on either series x or PC. There some control stick weirdness on my elite 2 pad on Xbox but once I read a reddit post about using a third party controller (that I admittedly was lucky enough to already own) it went away. And yeah, I hate the inventory system, but honestly it's a solid game for me otherwise. 8 or 9. I'm not sure what you're playing.
@swedetrap needing to use a third party controller to play an Xbox exclusive game? ‘That’s an Xbox.’ 😂
@x3King84 fits their new ad campaign pretty well, no?
It's basically 'use a hall effect controller' which sadly MS doesn't make. Absolutely NOT ideal by any means but does solve this admittedly annoying controller dead zone issue for now.
@swedetrap
It's so weird that some people are having controller issues and some aren't, I am using the Elite 2 on my Series X and Standard Series controller on my PC with no issue with drift on either
20+ hours in and come across my very first bug, during a conversation with an npc the voice changed to another for a single sentence such a difference in experience for people
@PurvisP I wish I had a second MS controller to test with but unfortunately I don't. My elite is getting old but feels fine in every other game. Possible I just slowly got used to it in other games but after reading so many comments elsewhere about control issues I'm not sure
@swedetrap That reminds me of the leaked Xbox Sebile controller that I think it's being reworked for the next generation. It should finally have hall effect technology. It's not expensive, so I wonder what reasons did Microsoft have to not use it in the expensive Elite controllers.
@PurvisP I'm on Elite 2 and have had the drift, so it's random! I didn't even mention drift or the fine aiming issues it's got, because they will get fixed no doubt, and are the least of the game's issues, unfortunately.
@swedetrap what’s the game like though?
@x3King84 a lot of fun. Spooky as hell and pretty difficult.
So i guess MS paid for Xbox players to beta test the game for PS5 players next year 😕 Yeah look i get the Devs have and are going through hell and its a miracle the game exists but its still a full price release and they could have delayed it. I was tempted to download the SS version but i might as well wait now till the PS5 version as the game is clearly very unfinished.
@Banjo- I tend to use youtube for follow up review in those scenarios because I can understand why outlets such as PX, PS, IGN don't have the time to go back and re-review a game based on patches.
I also agree that games being rated higher is an issues because we are now at the point where unless a game is 8, 9 or 10 then its basically dead on arrival to most people. 7 is mid, 6 is poor and anything lower is just garbage. Its essentially means all games are marked out of 5 because most reviewers are reluctant to use the bottom end of the scale. There are games on all platforms that suffer from being given 9s or 10s when they should really be 8s, and it feels like its to get them into the "good score range".
I have not played SM2 yet so can't comment on that but I imagine I would be more forgiving or reused content as Spiderman is one of my all time favourite Marvel characters, so personal bias will come in. For Zelda I have not played BotW or TotK as they lost me on the new games, I watched a mate play them and they just felt like they had lost the soul of the older Zelda games that i grew up with.
@Ilyn I agree about the The Legend of Zelda, too! BotW and TotK disappointed me and have nothing to do with the masterpieces I grew up with.
Another very important thing regarding reviews, it's exactly what we are saying. On Metacritic's main page, Gladiator II film appears with a green "Generally favorable" tag, with 63/100 points, next to Stalker 2, that has the yellow tag "Mixed or average" with 74/100. That's the PC version, you have to click on it and choose the Xbox version to see the green tag and 78/100, in spite of PJ's review, that is the only negative review.
What does it mean? That the entertainment industry is encouraging different metrics for video games. A film gets the "generally favorable" green tag with just 63 points, but a video game gets the yellow tag with 74 points, a yellow warning saying that 74 is not good enough for a video game.
What happened to all the people online saying this was a guaranteed GOTY level game and all thanks being fully funded by Xbox (a 3 month timed deal fully funded this???)?
Seriously, where did you all go?
@Titntin even if you’re safe, doesn’t mean all your relatives, friends or others in your direct surroundings are also safe.
Which means there’s ton you will still take with you every day during the war. Not even counting the memories of the war you might have already endured before fleeing to Prague.
@Friendly Never said otherwise mate, I truly feel for them.
But an unfinished game is an unfinished game and should not be launched to people at full price for any reason.
In this case the representation of them working in a war zone is far from the truth, but I don't doubt it would take a toll on your MH to have friends family and colleagues in such a desperate situation and my heart truly sympathises and wishes to support them in their plight.
But that doesn't excuse launching a game so broken. That would have been good reason to take more time and deliver what can no doubt be a brilliant game in a good state where everyone can admire their achievement despite adversity.
@swedetrap
I 💯 agree with you.
I’ve played nearly 20lbs on my series X and haven’t come across one bug yet.
Not to say there won’t be any but I can only give me experience.
Is the game perfect. Absolutely not but a 4/10 is a joke of a score.
I’d give this 8/10 and if they fix some of the issues in the game then it’ll go higher.
4/10? lol. Crazy
@Titntin well, you can’t keep on postponing, the developer also needs money.
So I don’t agree with you, I think the game released in this state because of the war and the toll it took, and therefore should be viewed as such when reviewing. (Or as I suggested, don’t give it a number but give that number later on - there’s no way you can compare this development process with other development processes).
But that’s my opinion, of course.
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