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S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2: Heart of Chernobyl

WilyKit said:
Whats the engine update supposed to do?
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UE 5.5.4 build from March 2025. Improved performance. STALKER 2 is using an early build. Apparently 5.8 brings larger performance increases and may finally help with shader stuttering, but that came out in June so I assume STALKER 2 will continue using the older build. Still better than 5.1 or whatever the game currently uses.
 
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The newer engine has improved lighting and shadows. I don't know if it will have hardware enabled lumen support but it might based on the v5.5.4 engine. It will have better optimization which could translate into larger draw distances and expanded online AI. I would assume they would have to have better draw distance and online AI in order for the binoculars to be useful. It looks like new vegetation models are being added to the game and I would assume performance is better than before based on the performance upgrades that other games have received from a similar engine upgrade.

This video goes over some of the upgrades.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e23CE0J33k
 
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finally the new engine patch!...(y)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl- Back to the Zone Showcase | Update 2.0

Crowning the evolution of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl since launch, Update 2.0 'Back to the Zone' and the new engine version bring the biggest overhaul to how the Zone looks, feels, and lives...in addition, 2.0 introduces AI improvements, three types of binoculars, new weapons, fog weather, in-game statistics, highly customizable difficulty settings, and numerous quality-of-life features...


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjbNiV-bbbs
 
polonyc2 said:
finally the new engine patch!...(y)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl- Back to the Zone Showcase | Update 2.0

Crowning the evolution of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl since launch, Update 2.0 'Back to the Zone' and the new engine version bring the biggest overhaul to how the Zone looks, feels, and lives...in addition, 2.0 introduces AI improvements, three types of binoculars, new weapons, fog weather, in-game statistics, highly customizable difficulty settings, and numerous quality-of-life features...


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjbNiV-bbbs
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New foliage is more flowery? *shruggs*

I don't see a huge difference with "lighting and exposure." What's that supposed to demonstrate? Tweaked global illumination? Things that would normally reflect light aren't nearly as dark now? You can see details on the tractor a bit better. The environment still doesn't light up due to a muzzle flash from any source.

I also couldn't tell what "mutant subspecies" brings. I guess it's a reskin or model variant. Bloodsucker still looks like a Bloodsucker. Flesh still looks like a Flesh.

The fog and light rain are welcome though.

The new weapons made me realize I didn't actually try using most of the weapons on my playthrough. I stuck to using just a handful. My next playthrough I'm going to address that.
 
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Absalom said:
New foliage is more flowery? *shruggs*

I don't see a huge difference with "lighting and exposure." What's that supposed to demonstrate? Tweaked global illumination? Things that would normally reflect light aren't nearly as dark now? You can see details on the tractor a bit better. The environment still doesn't light up due to a muzzle flash from any source.

I also couldn't tell what "mutant subspecies" brings. I guess it's a reskin or model variant. Bloodsucker still looks like a Bloodsucker. Flesh still looks like a Flesh.

The fog and light rain are welcome though.

The new weapons made me realize I didn't actually try using most of the weapons on my playthrough. I stuck to using just a handful. My next playthrough I'm going to address that.
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here are more details about what is included in the 2.0 update...

https://www.stalker2.com/news/back-to-the-zone-2-0-update
 
Absalom said:
The new weapons made me realize I didn't actually try using most of the weapons on my playthrough. I stuck to using just a handful. My next playthrough I'm going to address that.
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I used all of them. Problem is some guns are just pointless to use late game. Feels like a dated game mechanic to me, I recall the original was like that as well. But things like the AK-74 or M4 become more or less useless late game which is dumb. Especially if you spend time getting unique accessories. Once you get the Malyuk and Carmel the rest are useless. It is one of the many things that made the game a slog and make it feel very repetitive. I doubt they will change the AI much or spawns, because those things make the game feel like every encounter is the same but slightly randomized.
 
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Flogger23m said:
I used all of them. Problem is some guns are just pointless to use late game. Feels like a dated game mechanic to me, I recall the original was like that as well. But things like the AK-74 or M4 become more or less useless late game which is dumb. Especially if you spend time getting unique accessories. Once you get the Malyuk and Carmel the rest are useless. It is one of the many things that made the game a slog and make it feel very repetitive. I doubt they will change the AI much or spawns, because those things make the game feel like every encounter is the same but slightly randomized.
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I used the Clusterfuck for like 80-90% of the game. You can get it pretty early on too. Found it long before I got a lucky Saiga drop. Once I got the Saiga, then the problem of killing mutants efficiently was solved. Maybe a bit too early now thinking about it. Got them both before going to the Monolith base or Icarus for sure. I still had fun, but my playthrough would have been more challenging if such weapons weren't accessible early game. I didn't even try to glitch things like getting any early Diamond Exo suit (before they patched it). Money ended up being a non-issue for me. I was filthy rich even by mid-game.

The only fight that I struggled with was the Strelok fight. I didn't realize you could cheese him with the Gauss until after the fact.
 
Absalom said:
I used the Clusterfuck for like 80-90% of the game. You can get it pretty early on too. Found it long before I got a lucky Saiga drop. Once I got the Saiga, then the problem of killing mutants efficiently was solved. Maybe a bit too early now thinking about it. Got them both before going to the Monolith base or Icarus for sure. I still had fun, but my playthrough would have been more challenging if such weapons weren't accessible early game. I didn't even try to glitch things like getting any early Diamond Exo suit (before they patched it). Money ended up being a non-issue for me. I was filthy rich even by mid-game.

The only fight that I struggled with was the Strelok fight. I didn't realize you could cheese him with the Gauss until after the fact.
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I think I have that. I found around 2-3 unique HK416s. I have a lot of unique ones. I have a nice MP5 as well but if I recall it was still too weak to be useful late game. To me the biggest issue is 90% of the game just feels like you walk someone and they carelessly placed spawns for NPCs and each fight plays out very unbelievably. Just they were just standing and waiting for you for eternity. Only a few of the set ups, like the one where you can be a sniper in a tower and choose a factions side, felt like a unique or plausible scenario. Otherwise it just felt like walking into randomly spawned enemies. Game started off strong but as time went on the BS really got tired for me, and the shallow core gameplay became very apparent.

But the power plant itself is enough to renew interest for me.
 
The main problem is that the weapon stats are really not very helpful in determining what weapons are best. There is a lot dependant on ammo type as well, and those differences aren't really made clear anywhere.

You can kind of get away with using whatever in the late game if you use AP ammo and aim for the head.
 
polonyc2 said:
while the new engine and features are great news, no hardware ray tracing is very disappointing indeed
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Not really all that necessary for this type of game. Especially with the performance. This update should improve performance though, and that is the main advantage. Possibly a bit less stuttering but I will say STALKER 2 for me ran very smooth with very limited stuttering. Frame rates were a bit low for my preference, but with DLSS it ran decently.
 
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