It may have only been a tease of a trailer but as part of the Xbox Series X showcase we got our first look at Stalker 2. This is the very long-awaited sequel to one of the best, weirdest, most horrifying open world game ever made.
See what Stalker 2 looks like below:
The Stalker series is set in Pripyat, the region surrounding the Chernobyl power plant. That is, of course, the same nuclear power plant that suffered a reactor meltdown in the 80s. You may well have scene the recent, excellent HBO series about it.
In the Stalker games, you play a scavenger going into the exclusion zone searching for artifacts changed by the events of the meltdown. They're objects people outside of the zone are willing to pay a lot of money for, but mainly because the zone is such a dangerous place to explore. The military guards it well, different gangs and other scavengers scour the lands shooting on sight, and then there are the anomalies. These disturbing environmental threats can tear you apart if you stumble into them.
Then, of course, is the altered wildlife that will hunt and kill you if you give it the chance.
The Stalker license sat unused and tied up in legal limbo for a number of years, but that particular knot was untangled two years ago. Since then development has quietly continued and we've finally seen a glimpse of the game. It looks as dark as ever.
Of course, the hope is that the game is as systemic and weird as it was before. The original developers were masters at creating a detailed world, filling it with clever AI-directed enemies, and letting that create interesting and dangerous situations for you to navigate. Fingers crossed that's still the same in this sequel.
Featured Image Credit: GSC Game World