STALKER 2 review: The Zone captivates me like no other open world can


14 years after its original announcement in 2010, six after the news of its revival in 2018, and two after its original 2022 release date, STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is finally arriving on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and Xbox Game Pass. This review has gone live just a few hours before the game’s official launch, at which time droves of players will pour into the open-world single player shooter and begin their journey through its take on the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone (referred to simply as “The Zone” in-game).

Playing over 40 hours of this title in the past week and writing this review feels surreal, given that STALKER 2 itself has been cancelled, brought back to life, and then subsequently delayed multiple times as a result of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Developer GSC Game World has toiled away at the project resiliently under conditions a comfy work from home writer like myself can hardly fathom, with many of its employees volunteering for frontline service, working to aid their local communities, or evacuating to the studio’s new Prague headquarters with their families.



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