STALKER 2 is finally here after more than a decade of on-and-off development, and it’s turning heads worldwide. In my review, I rated STALKER 2 with a 9 out of 10 score, and many other publications have echoed that sentiment. Others, not so much – STALKER 2 is proving to be an extremely divisive game within the wider community.
On social, streaming, and gaming platforms, the entire STALKER franchise is undergoing a boost in popularity thanks to the launch of STALKER 2, which has been met with mixed opinions.
They’re Not Bugs, They’re Anomalies
One of the most common pieces of feedback being levelled against STALKER 2 is that it’s riddled with bugs and performance issues. That’s not untrue, but it’s not as bad as people are making out. As someone who put 30 hours into a pre-release version of the game, I’ll say quite transparently that users have no idea the number of issues that GSC Game World patched out ahead of launch.
STALKER 2 will get better with time, and when modders step in to help GSC, the timescale for those improvements will be dramatically shortened.
On Twitch, STALKER 2 saw massive growth at launch, hitting a peak viewer count of 415,708 users. By comparison, Bethesda Game Studios’ Starfield, which before it was released was one of the most anticipated games in many years, hit a peak viewer count of 552,000 little more than a year ago.
On Steam, every STALKER game has seen a player gain in the last 30 days.
For instance, STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl has racked up a 40% growth in players, while Call of Pripyat has soared by 37%.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl managed to pull in a peak player count of 113,587 on Steam alone, but it’s widely expected that the figure will be doubled or tripled on Xbox and PC (Game Pass). STALKER 2 is free on the popular subscription-based platform, and that’s where the bulk of the game’s players will likely come from.
Despite the mixed opinions on social media, STALKER 2 really isn’t doing so badly.
It has 80.5% positive reviews on Steam, and on Metacritic, it has secured a score of 74 overall. That’s below the predictions, but it’s not at all representative of what one critic wrote: ‘Sadly, Stalker 2 is, by far, the most unstable game we have reviewed in a long time.’
GSC Game World has already emerged on social media promising that the repair work to patch up the game as much as possible will be ongoing in earnest to smooth out the rough edges of the release version.
Have you played STALKER 2? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming forum.
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Microsoft poorly promoted this the same way they poorly promoted other games like Darktide in the past. Aaron Greenberg needs to be fired. Whoever is in charge of games at Xbox needs to be fired too they keep making awful decisions. Let’s not forget Ark 2 where’s that Vin Diesel game did it ever come out not that I want to play it? Xbox needs a purge honestly that Washington area is what’s hurting the brand gaming is not in Washington or California. Go to another state like NY.