AS FPS players, we’ve gotten used to the luxury of battlegrounds full of chest-high walls you can dip behind to regenerate health.
Series like Call of Duty boast realism, but it’s hardly similar to war when you can recover from a bullet wound by having a little sit-down.
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There are limits to how much realism gamers are willing to accept. No one wants a game over when they are shot a single time.
Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl feels like it’s the closest game to reality without frustrating its player base.
You can be taken out before you know what is happening if you go in like you would with a regular FPS.
Instead of healing over time, you’ll need to have the medical supply relevant to your current injury.
You are not only more vulnerable, but so are your weapons. They have durability, and can jam or stop working mid-battle.
Preparation is just as necessary as your skill in battle, as preparation will drastically reduce your chances of failure.
Ammo isn’t plentiful, and you won’t find munitions crates littered all over the map.
Instead, you will collect it from guns left by those defeated in battle. But it’s not only those shooting at you that you have to worry about.
There are anomalies and irradiated masses of land you will have to traverse in order to grab supplies, and they present their own challenges.
You have to be aware of the invisible threats around you at all times, and sprinting ahead is not recommended.
If you do need to retry a mission, you won’t be able to use your knowledge of enemy positions from your first try in your second attempt.
Their positions will shift, meaning that it is just as difficult as it was the first time you tried.
It emphasises a slow pace and forces the approach the developers want you to have to it. It’s oppressive but pulling it off is satisfying.
Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a fascinating open-world shooter, and presents a real-world challenge rather than a power fantasy.
If you want to read more about upcoming games, check out our Life is Strange: Double Exposure preview.
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