Questions from a possible stalker recruit/newbie.

[Yoshino]

the trailers got me interested in this game, and i have a few questions.

1. is this a horror game? or is it more of an action/fps game and just happened that some monsters look scary?
2. is the game generous with bullets/weapons?
3. am i not gonna feel lost if i start with this game? i have all previous stalker games on my other steam account but havent played them yet.

[Major_Tom]

Fire up the old games. If you like em then you'll probably like this.

[StormhawkV]

1. No, not really. There may be some jumpscares however depending on what monster you face. Hard to tell because those can/will be part of the open world experience. Apart from that it's a pure action/FPS game.

2. The devs said equipment will become more rare when you turn up the difficulty. If it's anything like the old Stalker games you shouldn't have any issues playing on Normal.

3. The devs also said that they tried to make the game beginner friendly so that knowing the old games will never be necessary to understand the world/story.

[Gusλλλλλλ]

The original games are action FPSs with very slight RPG and survival horror elements. Most of the horror happens in the underground areas. There is more than enough weapons and ammo that you can loot from the bodies, buy from traders or find in numerous stashes.

[ImHelping]

You are made of flimsy tissue paper unless you are wearing proper body armor or a damned power suit (the exoframe over mundane body armor type). and most of the games start you with essentially jorts and a T-shirt. But most combat armor has terrible enviro/psychic resists unless it is top end super suits.

Call of pripyart however starts you with baby's first enviro suit. Which is always made of paper for combat but ramps up to be an amazing "sprint around looting from radioactive pits full of fire/lightning/acid/psychic traps" suit that doesn't cost as much to repair as the later suits. I love that thing so much, it lets me save cash to repair the good ♥♥♥♥ going into power armor cultist town later.

"zombies" are the "Brain blasted humans shambling around but can still shoot guns with no-scope accuracy" type.

While stalker is airquotes "more realistic gunplay", it has always followed the gamey trend of "Early guns have 45 degree firing cones and climb to the sky recoil even with -300% recoil reduction mods. Late guns that cost a lot to repair are EZ full auto headshot chains." Where an endgame tier upgrades AK clone is still harder to hit a stationary enemy with on semi-auto than a half broken later gun you found in a ditch on full auto.

Given how swingy game starts and pacing goes between the first game vs CoP. It is hard to say where Stalker 2 will land for onboarding new players.

You don't need to work out "How do I get to the next area without being annihilated by a military base?" in CoP, but it is considered one of the "classic" hurdles in the early games.

Will you start with a rusty pistol that can barely put a dent in a hoodie wearing bandit, let alone a rabid dog? Or will you start with a rusty snub nosed AK47 clone and a pocket full of magazines to let you make it to your first destinations more smoothly? Again, it could either way.

[Yoshino]

thanks for your input guys!

[Panther]

I think it is horror just not gore.
Love the vibes of horror games, but most will boom me out to much to enjoy, like Aliens.
In stalker the bloodsuckers and controllers used to freak me out, and put me off travelling around at night. Hated the blood sucker quests in CoP until was super familiar with the game.

Probably will be the part that freaks me out in 2, and might be the creature that feels horror and jump scary to you. Underground tunnel sections felt pretty horror, as well just the isolation and creepiness of dealing with everything alone like in The Long Dark where there are no monsters but it's still quite horror feeling and a bit terror inducing.

But it's single player and you can pause it so the jump scares aren't as bad compared to PvP games like Tark, where you finally think you are safe for a moment, and then get head shot from nowhere.

[Harris]

1. As my uncle told me when I was a kid "I can't be scared when a game hands me a machine gun". When I hear "horror game" I think Japanese schoolgirl with a flashlight who has to hide under the bed from a scary monster. And Stalker is definitely not that kind of game.

2. How do we know? Based on CoP though, which Stalker 2 appears to be a very faithful sequel to so far, you can buy as much ammo as you want so money is your only bottleneck. And the longer you play, the less of a factor money is going to be. So I think it's gonna have a bit tougher early game (CM says even AK-74 is considered a rare gun early on) but will even out afterwards.

3. Stalker is fairly simple, it's not like Factorio where you can get overwhelmed with lots of mechanics, possibilities and calculations. You grab your gun and supplies and go on adventures, be it a quest or just exploration. The worst that could happen to you is being sucked into anomaly and violently torn into pieces, but ehh... those things happen, you'll get used to it.

[ImHelping]

Originally posted by Harris:

1. As my uncle told me when I was a kid "I can't be scared when a game hands me a machine gun". When I hear "horror game" I think Japanese schoolgirl with a flashlight who has to hide under the bed from a scary monster. And Stalker is definitely not that kind of game.

Horror tone wise. Stalker is System shock/classic AvP instead of Alien isolation. I have the opposite mindset of your uncle.

"Sure, you CAN kill (and will have to kill) dozens of horrible monsters. But you still have the tension of knowing you can ♥♥♥♥ up and die any second. A machinegun does not make you immortal"

vs-

"Poor, poor xeno. Needs walking simulator training wheels against the mean scary human. Xeno's big brother lets them play on easy mode where flamethrowers can't hurt them." if the monster needs to be coddled, the fact it can kill you feels like pity, not terror.

Back to the system shock comparison. Keep in mind how many people swear up and down those are the scariest sci-fi horror games ever, but they have in universe respawn pods and the sequel gives you optional psychic murder powers. Both of these facts are true. But many fans want to deny the "you are a badass" part because that doesn't SOUND scary.

Also while a crowd of bloodsuckers can be a problem, it does not have the absolute moment of hubris horror other monsters can cause.

My favorite shotgun kill in all gaming was unloading drum fed buckshot so fast into a burer that was camping behind a door so hard, his corpse glitched into an upright standing position mid psychic shield cast animation.

My biggest punished for my hubris moment also game from them. "I know this room has more waiting for me. Eat RPG mother ♥♥♥♥♥♥-did they just catch the rocket with their mind-"
(I'm not sure if that was the burer, or a poltergeist pranking me)

[Yoshino]

thanks guys! im seriously getting more and more excited with your replies

[Serpiko82]

As other said, the "horror" part comes from being creepy, more than gory.

In the first game, the first time you gained access to an underground lab was arguably the scariest moment, because besides the already creepy environment you were greeted by a new kind of enemy, totally different by what you'd met so far, and you'd face an immediate and persistent threat without being immediately able to locate the source of the threat.

Those same enemies are confirmed to be in the new game, with extra steps.

[Panther]

Originally posted by Geek Ultima:

thanks guys! im seriously getting more and more excited with your replies

enjoy!

[Tomatokek]

1. its as much of a horror game as half life is.
2. early game no. later game yes.
3. not really sure as I havent played it yet. I am assuming this may be a sort of soft reboot.