Which is better, Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl or Stalker: Shadow Of Chornobyl?

Summary

  • Shadow of Chornobyl outperforms Heart of Chornobyl with fewer bugs and better stability.

  • Heart of Chornobyl wins in immersion, offering detailed visuals and realistic gameplay elements.

  • Heart of Chornobyl excels in graphics, using Unreal Engine 5 for stunning visuals, leaving behind the older Shadow of Chornobyl.

Before 2024's Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl rocked the gaming year with a million copies sold in 48 hours, fans endured a long wait. It took a decade and a half for the beloved series to get a new entry: the previous game, Call of Pripyat, came out in 2009.

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There's a 17-year gap between the original game and Heart of Chornobyl, so with nearly two decades of technological progress on its side, Heart of Chornobyl has the upper hand. But is it really better than 2007's Shadow of Chornobyl? Is the classic still the best? Let's find out.

8

Performance

Winner – Shadow Of Chornobyl

A Bloodsucker attacks in Stalker: Shadow of Chornobyl.
Screenshots via Karakas on YouTube.

In a perfect world, it would be inconceivable that an older title would perform better than a newer one. But this is not a perfect world. Shadow of Chornobyl was a pretty crazy game in its own right, running on the X-Ray Engine and a prayer. It is often cited as an example of “Slavjank” in the FPS community. But it works these days.

Despite being a much flashier title, Heart of Chornobyl suffers from game-breaking bugs up the wazoo. You can lose progress just because a side character decided to wander into a pile of irradiated slag and die.

Heart of Chornobyl also suffers from numerous issues with its early game shader compilation and drops frames in cities. A game that looks this good shouldn't feel this buggy. Shadow of Chornobyl, for all its flaws, performs better and has fewer bugs to spoil your enjoyment.

7

Immersion

Winner – Heart Of Chornobyl

Stalker 2 Heart Of Chornobyl AKM-74S ground gun.

The clear winner when it comes to immersion is Heart of Chornobyl. Not only is it the most detailed game in the Stalker series, but it's one of the most addictive first-person shooters on the market as a whole.

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This is a game that wants you to know how much has been deposited. Weapon models are made with love. Reload animations are amazingly accurate. The open world is seamless. There's an animation for almost every action and countless lines of NPC dialogue. Shadow of Chornobyl, 17 years behind in technology, just can't compete.

6

Graphics

Winner – Heart Of Chornobyl

A skull on a stick, seen through a scope in Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl.

Shadow of Chornobyl began development in the early 2000s, used an in-house engine, and had a relatively small, unknown development team. Heart of Chornobyl runs on Unreal Engine 5 and ranks very well among its 2024 contemporaries in terms of visual fidelity.

This isn't a fair contest, but we'll give Shadow of Chornobyl its credit: it looked great for its time, and it still holds up today. Objectively, Heart of Chornobyl takes it out of the zone on the graphics.

5

Sound

Winner – Heart Of Chornobyl

Picking up the guitar in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl.

Just like the visuals, the sound design in Heart of Chornobyl is top notch. The game audio is well mixed, the Ukrainian dub is excellent and the English dub is decent – although for some strange reason everyone speaks with a British accent.

The music is equal parts soulful and intriguing, with area bar radios blasting local tunes. Subtitles also make the game more accessible for hearing-impaired players. Shadow of Chornobyl did very well for its time, but once again, this is a case of the march of time turning against it.

4

Story

Winner – Shadow Of Chornobyl

The main character faces his granted wish in Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl.

In a surprising twist of fate, Shadow of Chornobyl easily surpasses Heart of Chornobyl in terms of story. For all its scope, the plot of Heart of Chornobyl feels unfocused. The factions feel undefined, and there's a constant sense that the plot is secondary to the series' trademark gameplay.

The new protagonist, Skif, is simply an experience of his predecessors Strelok, Scar and Strider. All three characters also make appearances, for reasons that feel more fanservice-oriented than appropriate for the story. Shadow of Chornobyl had a much more focused plot with Wish Granter giving shocking endings.

3

gameplay

Winner – Shadow Of Chornobyl

An attacking controller in Stalker: Shadow of Chornobyl.
Screenshot via SmallSoulSD on YouTube.

Shadow of Chornobyl is a survival game that knows it's just a passable FPS. It plays to its strength by focusing on the immersive sim aspects and not much combat until the final section, because it's not Call of Duty and it never tried to be.

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Heart of Chornobyl can't quite decide what it wants to be: is it a horror game? Mutants feel far too insignificant for that. Is it a survival game? It's definitely a very clunky one, where the problem isn't having enough bandages, but going through the animation to apply them each time. Is it a first person shooter? About. It's a very nice game, but the gameplay is average at best.

2

MODES

Winner – Shadow Of Chornobyl

A female stalker in a modified version of Stalker: Shadow Of Chornobyl.
Image via Nexus Mods.

Here's a way the passage of time matched the older game. Shadow of Chornobyl was such a beloved game that it collected a lot of mods.

It's actually a bit emotional to visit Nexus Mods and see how much love the game's audience has for it: there are countless mods to enhance the game visually, game mods so you can play the game the way you think it should be played and just downright funny conversion mods (the image above is from the Girly SoC, which makes everyone in the Zone female).

Heart of Chornobyl also has a modding scene. One that is largely dedicated to fixing the game's myriad bugs. It'll no doubt collect its own notable mods over time – it's an Unreal Engine game – but for now, Shadow of Chornobyl is where it's at.

1

Verdict

Winner – Shadow of Chornobyl

Shadow of Chernobyl Easter Egg in Stalker 2.

It's a miracle that Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl was made. It's a miracle that in the midst of harsh real-life circumstances, GSC Game World managed to make such a massive game that can compete with any other triple-A title in 2024. After all the delays and hardships endured by the team, the success of the game it is well deserved.

But there may be only one game that will forever be a classic, and that game is Shadow of Chornobyl. Neither Clear Skies nor Call of Pripyat could top it, and Heart of Chornobyl also fell short. Fortunately, the game is now available on modern consoles as well as PC, so you can come and see why the fanbase of this game holds it so dear.

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