In creating S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, the main goal is to provide players with this feeling of freedom. With the understanding that the only barrier that stands between you and your destination is the danger, and it’s only up to you to overcome it.
Land
During its decades of existence, the Zone’s ecosystem has formed in phenomenal and malformed ways. Once a plain forest-steppe, the land changed dramatically after the Second Catastrophe, diversifying in landscape and regions — each resonating with its own echoes of past and present.
“S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is a huge, seamless open world, consisting of twenty regions, and each region has its own residents, architecture, anomalies and even nature, and many of them could well be a fully separate game” — Dzmitry Anoshka, Level Art Team Lead
Starting with the pastoral countryside full of abandoned villages, that once were hosting generations of memories…
Chornobyl village and the city of Prypiat are only a few of the settlements that were forsaken after the Catastrophe. Now, these remains are a shelter for scavengers, mutants, and hell knows what else.
…Through anomaly-warped nature and industrial mazes, saturated with hazardous beauty…
Here, a path from point A to point B is never a cakewalk — even without foes in sight. Anomalous fields and Archanomalies are the final stop for countless voyagers.
…Beneath the ground, in the darkest places where the most sinister secrets and dangers lurk…
(Un)natural caves, catacombs, and notorious X-labs are spread throughout the Zone, attracting diggers and the most daring ones in search of treasures and priceless intel.
…To desolate industrial and urban jungles, hosting shadows of the grim past of these lands.
The ghost city of Prypiat is perhaps the most infamous of all the Zone’s sightseeing places. In the perilous desolation of these lands, the city can break down even the seasoned stalkers.
We have a chance to create the Zone in such a way only because it’s a place you can visit in the real world. With only an hour’s ride from Kyiv, its impact on history and people's lives is hard to underestimate. While transferring this place to an alternate digital incarnation, a vast number of genuine references became crucial. From indigenous plants to peeling paint on the walls — via the photogrammetry method, some elements of the Zone come right from her real counterpart.
The river Prypiat was conquered and ripped. Its flow is stripped into artificial ponds to be gathered and cooled to feed the cores. So-called Gradyrni, or Cooling Towers, were almost built to ensure constant work of the new 5th and 6th ChNPP reactors… Now it will never be finished. Photo by: Project Chornobyl Zone - Radioactive Team
Those who have experience roaming the Zone may find some nostalgic moments in visiting familiar places. Over the years, some of them stayed frozen in time like many things here, while others have completely changed in different ways.
The Brainscorcher, once an irresistible barrier before the heartlands of the Zone, now stands as a grim reminder of the most turbulent times.
Locals
At the very dawn of this land, there were only pioneer explorers searching for artifacts, and military guards trying to stop them. However, as word spread about the land's treasures and lawlessness, it became increasingly crowded.
As for the moment of your upcoming arrival, the Zone will be filled with individuals who may either help or obstruct your goals. In some cases, no chance for negotiations will be provided — but sometimes, the role you play in some other stalker’s life journeys will be entirely up to you.
Loners, or neutral stalkers, is a general term for any non-affiliated trespassers. Whether it’s a struggle for riches, a way of downshifting, or the search for new meanings — hundreds of newcomers find a reason to come and stay in the Zone.
As more people and weapons filled these lands, the need to organize into groups and address diverse issues grew. Over the decades, local factions emerged, representing a formed, though always volatile, political system — each with its own ideology, lifestyle, and gear preferences.
While neutrals keep their nomadic habits even while camping in their Zalissya and Kordon hubs, Freedomers prefer to live high and bright. And their newly-acquired Rostok base is helping a lot!
“Depending on your choices, you’ll get a little different story, little different quests. encounter something new. If you walk through again, you will find yourself on the other side of the barricade, so to say, and look at it in a different way.” — Mariia Grygorovych, Creative Director
You here — a stalker. With your own unique reason to come here, perhaps, but you're one among many others like you. Be it thugs, explorers, scavengers, mercs, or paramilitaries… The Zone is merciless to all equally.
The Hazard
What are the dangers here? Well, let’s try to count: radiation, anomalies of all kinds, a dozen and a half mutant species, trigger-happy lowlifes and skilled killers… Don’t mind devastating Emissions and Psy-stuff that will turn you into an aggressive husk in case of exposure without proper gear or specialized meds.
“Don’t forget to keep an eye on Skif’s condition. He may be hungry, he may want to sleep like a real person. Every such issue reduces his efficiency, so you always should keep an eye out.” - Ingvar Dovgoteles, Cinematic Team Lead
Besides that, keep in mind that you are only a human. Any foray into the unknown besides mental preparation requires decent supply management. Otherwise, you are risking not even getting to the destination.
Stalker’s field ration is scarce, but crucial. Grab some snacks and don’t ignore meds when it really hurts.
Some specific issues may require additional doping. While vodka remains a universal rad-cleaner and presumably inner sanitizer, more sophisticated substances like Hercules or Vinca can pull you out at the right moment.
PsyBlocker, for example, provides your neurons a chance not to be deep-fried in rendezvous with a controller or near intense ψ-radiation source.
“One of the core drivers of the player’s progression and power is searching the area and finding new equipment, weapons, weapon attachments, upgrades. Most of these items can be achieved not through the storyline, but through player’s curiosity from exploration of the world.” — Ievgen Grygorovych, Game Director
Besides improvements in skill and gumption, the path requires more equipment as you dwell deeper. Protective armor, respirator, detector, and most of all, weapons — the stuff that will help you to even the odds against the growing resistance of the Zone.
The more gear and supplies you carry into the foray — the less you’ll be able to scavenge and carry out. A pack has volume limits, and your back is not made of steel!
Another side of the try-to-survive dice is a fine-tuning of your tools. Some models may seem fine, but sometimes pushing to the limit is a key. Local tinkerers would love to help you, for the right price.
Along with direct upgrades, keep an eye out for different attachments and try them out on the go.
On top of that, it’s better not to neglect the treasures that the Zone provides. These things tarnish and become nearly useless on the Mainland, but inside the Perimeter… Artifacts are able to alter the mere physiology of a human being and with a smart approach, make a stalker as tenacious as some of the local mutants.
Diverse, mysterious, and sometimes extremely precious. Artifacts made the Zone so populated at the time, and what keeps the economy running to this day.
To complete the path, decisions have to be made. Your choices will shape the journey and define who will stand by your side, and who’s worth a bullet. It’s about the freedom to decide: where to go and for what, how not to become another one lost to the Zone, and why you are really here… But it’s better to see once than overhear a dozen times!
