STALKER 2 Fans Should Keep An Eye Out For This Exciting 2025 Release

After years of delays, STALKER 2 finally gave fans the definitive triple-A experience they’ve waited for years to play. It is also a great gateway for new players to the series. While it will take most players under 60 hours to experience the main story and additional side content, STALKER 2 boasts over a hundred hours of replayability with its branching storylines and quests. Even with the massive amount of content offered by the latest entry in the STALKER franchise, players wanting even more have some exciting options to look out for in the new year.

Even with the excitement of STALKER 2‘s launch beginning to die down, the future of the iconic post-apocalyptic survival franchise is far from over. The developers have already announced that multiple DLC expansions and a multiplayer mode are planned to arrive in the coming years, and while details are still somewhat hazy, there’s still plenty to look forward to. While waiting for the eventual updates to STALKER 2, a similar game could do more than simply tide players over in the meantime.

The Chernobylite Franchise Is A Unique Take On The STALKER Experience

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Released in 2021, Chernobylite provided players with a short but surprisingly high level of polish and fidelity for such a new indie studio, causing plenty of excitement among STALKER fans. While Chernobylite didn’t revolutionize the genre by any means, it provided a familiar atmosphere combined with a unique mix of gameplay mechanics like base building and team management, making for an incredibly memorable experience. Taking place in the same Chernobyl exclusion zone as STALKER 2, players can visit familiar locations that each share a supernatural twist unique to this new franchise.

Rather than being thrust into the zone as a typical Stalker, players take on the role of the fully voiced Igor in their mission to find the ultimate fate of his late wife Tatyana. Throughout the game, players will utilize stealth and specialized weaponry to survive both supernatural threats and enemy forces.

They will scavenge as many resources as they can before being tracked down by a supernatural hunter. This fluctuating time limit provides a sense of looming dread during certain missions, encouraging players to think ahead before venturing too far into certain areas.

Adding RPG Elements To Stand Apart From The Crowd

Offering A Wholly New Gameplay Experience From The Original

On top of the many positively received features from the original, Chernobylite 2 plans to introduce a plethora of brand-new mechanics into the series when it releases in 2025. Rather than leaning more into the traditional STALKER experience, Chernoblyite 2 is attempting to break apart from the STALKER mold while still paying respect to the survival horror formula that made both games so enjoyable with new features.

One of these features players can look forward to experiencing is the drastically expanded melee combat system, which will become a more prominent part of Chernobylite‘s gameplay loop as players conserve ammo or take on slow-moving bosses.

One of the biggest ways Chernobylite 2 visually sets itself apart from the competition is by introducing a third-person mode for players to experience, giving players more control of the newly diverse combat encounters. Thankfully, Chernobylite 2 still retains an optional first-person mode to allow for precise aiming in stealth, or immersive exploration in the hauntingly dilapidated yet stunning environments.

This perspective will come in especially handy during the massively scaled boss battles, as players fight a mix of supernaturally corrupted entities and monsters that range from standard zombies to hulking creatures made of leftover construction equipment.

Chernobylite 2 Aims To Rival The Iconic Post-Apocalyptic Franchise

Taking An Exciting New Direction For The Series

Rather than simply venturing out on missions to set areas across the game world, Chernobylite 2 is taking advantage of its greater development resources to introduce an entirely open-world experience to the franchise. The map players will explore in the sequel is claimed to be 20-30 times bigger than the original, with a length of 2–3 times that of Chernobylite‘s story, likely taking players roughly 45 hours to complete on average.

While a greater scale is always an exciting prospect for upcoming games, Chernobbylite 2 aims to correct the weaker areas from the original, like the lack of facial animations or the limited number of characters, while greatly expanding on its unique mechanics, progression systems, and especially powerful gear for players to craft in their journey through the zone. By far one of the most exciting prospects for Chernobylite 2 is its introduction of co-op gameplay, which is something STALKER fans have wanted for so long they’ve resorted to modding it themselves.

Despite all the exciting features coming to Chernobylite 2, its RPG-like elements seem to be leaning into more game-like territory that might not be a hit with the same player base as the original game or the STALKER franchise. The developers themselves have even shared this worry, but claim that playtesters of the original much prefer the new perspective and combat systems instead, saying it “simply works better”, according to an interview with wccftech.

While there are plenty of games that offer a similar experience to STALKER, only a rare few, like Chernobylite and its upcoming sequel, have been able to fully capitalize on the unique atmosphere fans have come to love. Anyone finishing STALKER 2 will want to keep an eye out for it.

Source: HowLongtToBeat, wccftech

Survival Horror

Adventure

Action

Systems

Released

July 28, 2021

Developer(s)

The Farm 51

Publisher(s)

All In! Games

Engine

Unreal Engine 4

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol, Violence

How Long To Beat

15 Hours

PC Release Date

July 28, 2021

Xbox Series X|S Release Date

April 21, 2022

PS5 Release Date

April 21, 2022

Nintendo Switch Release Date

December 13, 2024

Metascore

78

PS Plus Availability

Extra & Premium

How Long To Beat (Completionist Runs)

25 Hours

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

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