Is the heart of Chornobyl worth the price?

Greetings Stalkers, welcome back to the area. Things have changed a lot in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl and the wasteland surrounding the reactor has never been so unstable before. New monsters and mercenaries patrol the irradiated border, not to mention the dangerous anomalies that make their home in various isolated places.

A long-awaited sequel to a series that established a huge fan base and became a cult favorite for many. Stalker 2 took everything that made the first game great and expanded it to bring in more people. If you're still stuck on the fence and can't decide whether or not to go into this wilderness, then check out our various reasons why you should or shouldn't pick up Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobly.

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl Review

To begin, let's take a look at how Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl was received by the world after years of waiting.

Overall, it seems to be a pretty positive one for this post-apocalyptic survival game. The general public rating for the game is around three point nine out of 794 ratings, while IGN (yeah, we know) gave it an eight out of 10. On Metacritic, Stalker 2 sits at a respectable 73 percent approval rating among 76 criticisms. While the general public Metacritic gave it a score of seven point eight out of ten from around 2000 users.

There have been complaints among the Stalker community about the stability of games on Unreal Engine. But overall it was well received.

At TheGamer, we had Branden Lizardi review it, and he came away feeling very mixed about the whole experience. For example, while Branden was mostly positive about Stalker 2, mainly praising the setting, unique NPCs, and map size. There were a few insects worth highlighting.

The experience is comparable to Fallout 3 or New Vegas.

Firstly, the combat was unsatisfying, with one comment that most enemies are either bullet sponges, overpowered and lacking in variety. There were also issues with exploration.

While Branden praised the breadth and density of the side activities, he recommended that the rewards for exploring certain areas be improved, as he felt they lacked quality compared to the effort put into obtaining them. But overall it came out with a three and a half out of five for Stalker 2 with a recommendation to give it a try for fans of the franchise.

How long does it take to beat Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl

Stalker games are notorious for being big time wasters, and for good reason. The maps are pretty massive and there's something to do almost everywhere. Whether it's taking out bandits, hunting down anomalies, or just completing various missions for other survivors, you're sure to be kept busy.

In the Heart of Chornobyl, the Zone is just as bustling with activity. So you get quite a lot to do for what you pay. According to our friends at How Long To Beat, if you're just focused on the main story, you'll breeze through the game in a respectable 34 hours and 20 minutes.

For those who take in the sights and do some side quests, you'll be able to enjoy a luxuriously long game time of between 54 and 70 hours. And finally, those who go for a complete full run will be able to find everything in about 96 to 100 hours. So there's tons to do.

How much does it cost?

So normally when it comes to pricing, we can be a bit hesitant when it comes to advising someone to pay full price for something. Unless a game is so good that you need to play it on day one, we usually say wait until it goes on sale.

In the case of Stalker 2, you'll want to pay full price. The developers are Ukrainian and much of the development, and the developers themselves, were affected by Russia's illegal war, with one of them dying in the conflict. The team created a great game under terrible circumstances, so this is a case where you should support a development team.

So sending everything you can to a studio in a bad situation will help them tremendously. For those looking to buy Stalker 2, here are the prices:

However, if you don't want to pay full price, you can still find Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl on sale for as low as twenty to thirty pounds or dollars, depending on where you look. But again, if you're a fan and want to support the developers, then we'd recommend just buying it on Steam or another major store.

What the players are saying

Now that we've thrown all the essential facts and reviews out on the table, it's worth checking with those who have played Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl at TheGamer.

Here's what we gathered from our collective team of people.

It's about exploring the area – Branden Lizardi

Stalker 2 does a fantastic job of following up on the original. The world is engaging, the narrative is complex, and the gameplay is… Well, it's better than the first game. If you enjoy experiencing anomalous worlds and engaging in slow survival, it's a great choice.

However, if you're more interested in a fair and satisfying game, you might find Heart of Chornobyl frustrating. And with such a large world and literally days of content, you MUST be able to enjoy the main gameplay loop if you want to make it to the end.

So the general consensus is that if you enjoyed the Stalker series, you'll find the second game to be more of the same. If you're new to everything, it can be a little rough, but it's worth persevering.