Dev Question // Story & Lore

[Darius_ITR]

Hello explorers!
Many thanks to our previous post participants! Today we’re discussing…

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Story/Lore

• Currently, the game doesn’t have a story in the traditional sense, but we’ve implemented a lot of narrative details into the visual design and specific gameplay moments. We’d like to understand how effectively we’re conveying the messages and ideas we want to share with you, and how clearly you’re interpreting them. What lore or story information have you picked up or inferred from the game in its current state? What kind of story is starting to take shape in your mind? And how does it differ from what you saw or heard in ITR1?
  
  Please keep in mind these questions are to generate discussions and ideas. They aren’t a guarantee of anything to come or go, change or remain as is.

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Try to describe in detail your thoughts on this subject. Thank you, and have a beautiful day in the Radius :)

[pancakemix]

So far it seems like the Radius is like it was before. It's hard to know what differences are owed to improvements in fidelity, versus changes in stylistic choice, versus what indicates a deliberate change or extension of the story, versus what's only a temporary omission due to the early state of development.

For example, Facility 27 is a lot cleaner, more refined, professionally built, higher tech, and better funded looking than the makeshift converted rail yard that was Vanno. But is that indicative of a change in the story? Or is it just a product of more experienced level designers and modelers? Or is it just a difference in preference, and not reflective of a change in the UNPSC operations?

Likewise, mimics have more detailed models. But does that suggest an improvement/evolution in the Radius's capabilities? Or is it just a better model?

Touching the Ash Statues doesn't result in dialog like before, but presumably that's just a consequence of the game being in early development, not an intentional omission, right?

If I had to take a guess at any plot point based only on what's available right now, then it would be that the Radius is being more deliberate and intentional in its efforts to thwart incursion from UNPSC Explorers. There are functional military check points at key choke points, which are manned by a variety of specialized Mimics. And as the player completes missions, the whole Radius becomes increasingly hostile and dangerous, suggesting increased opposition.

It also seems like the Radius is trying harder to recreate human stuff. Containers containing loot are warped, having more lids and handles than they should and at odd angles. There are anomalous items that resemble objects humans have made, but just aren't right. Mimics are also more clearly defined, with outfits and weapons that are crude, warped mockeries of Human weapons and uniforms to suit certain roles. And anomalies aren't just abstract areas of danger, they have sources that also resemble human objects, like chairs, bells, and speakers.

[zenarcher2112]

Well said

[eyüp]

Hello, the game is really amazing.
I’d like to share a few suggestions.
I think these features would make the game even better.
Please try to add these features.

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rifle sling

There should be a sling for rifles, so when you let go of the rifle, it swings in front of you on the sling. This feature would prevent us from dropping the rifle during action sequences.

https://grommetsleathercraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/DSC_0517-scaled.jpg

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Mag Palming

It would be nice if it had a tactical magazine changing feature. Mag Palming,tactical reload
It should have the ability to change several magazines.

I added the YouTube link as an example.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaSaBQYVCJc&t=5s

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Changing the magazine by holding the charging handle like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgc2ZIZx-F4

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It would be great if you find tape while looting in the game and glue two magazines together with the tape you find.


https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F21jkn835wlg51.jpg

https://forum.escapefromtarkov.com/uploads/monthly_2019_03/caam16clamp.jpg.c219f41b8e5bc5a05a1b3b42788d4a2f.jpg

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It would be great if night vision goggles came to attach to the helmets.


I hope you work on these suggestions.
This way the game will be much better.

Good day, good luck

[bizon_and]

Is any chance the game will allow to create more then one character? Why do i need delete previous if I want to create new one?

[pan-oblomov]

What lore or story information have you picked up or inferred from the game in its current state? What kind of story is starting to take shape in your mind? And how does it differ from what you saw or heard in ITR1?

First, I'd like to thank you guys for developing such an amazing product. Imo this is the best VR title I've ever played so far.

Now, to the story.
In ITR2 as it is now there no story. In it's current state I see it as a survival stalker-like version of counterstrike with bots. Grab a gun and go kill some npcs in postapocalyptic world. Yeah, there are missions you can take, but all of them are just synthetic timekillers added only for the reason to give you the motive to discover certain location. No storytelling in any way or form.

In ITR1 it's a bit better. Player understands that he is in some eastern european country probably in late 80's. The world is messed up, he is stuck in the area a.k.a. The Radius, nothing goes in, nothing goes out, everyone is dead now except some hostile weird creatures of unclear origin who's existense is most likely the result of the event, and all this was caused by the huge anomaly he can see right in the sky.
He works for an organization responsible for handling the area affected by this event, he gets all the missions from them, and that's basically it!
You just get a mission, go into the radius, on the way read some notes left by random nameless people here in there, find some tapes, collect mission object, go back to the base and then repeat it again and again.
Player discovers the world, notes and tapes shed some light of what happened and how people were handling it, but there is no purpose in all of this.
Katya is not a big part of the story, just a supplementary NPC that adds some flavor, but not affects story development. In fact there is no story development at all.
Missions are not connected to each other, it's just random assignments sharing nothing in common. Go find some documents, collect a container, blow up wedding party, summon a ghost train, find some artifacts...

Don't get me wrong, the setting in general is amazing, I really enjoed the game and spend more than 100 hours playing it, but I'd like to see some real storyline.
Player's every accomplishment should open new opportunity, i.e. every story-critical mission should arise from previous missions, and this connection should be clear to the player. Maybe that intention existed at the beginning of game development, but as a player I definitely can't see it in the released product.
For example, it would be better if instead of having "go find %stuffname%" missions player would get's a mission to find out what happened to the other explorer, finds his remains, among all the valuable loot he finds a note, in a note he reads that the dead explorer was looking for some valuable stuff located at given coordinates, e.g. a unique artifact that makes it possible to leave the Radius, then player goes to find that artifact, etc, etc
Most of the missions must have reasonable explanation why player should do in, and that explanation must be a part of a big picture.

One more thing that may contribute to the immersion is one huge map like in was in ITR1v1. ITR1v2 and ITR2 locations feels like isolated areas sharing common postapocalyptic vibe, but nothing more. It's like maps in CS GO. In ITR1v2 you have a village, a factory, a farm, a castle, a train depot, but it doesn't feel like parts of one puzzle.

To summarize the above, here is what I'd be happy to see in ITR2:
1. More clear storytelling. When player discovers who is he and where is he, something should start happening to drive the game
2. Interconnected missions, not just isolated timekilling assignments
3. Instead of multiple small maps divided by loadscreens it would be nice to have one big ITR1v1-like map.

[Diiz Nütz]

Given the story in the first game, I am wondering if perhaps the Radius is influenced by the minds of the people of Pechorsk. It was never really clear what the true purpose of it was, though it was clearly alien/eldritch in origin. The way the anomalies have formed in ITR2 makes me think that maybe the Radius is being partly influenced by the mind(s) of a child/children. The shattered school chairs, the distorted building blocks, the voices used by the mimic enemies... feels all very school-age/childish to me.

Or perhaps the Radius itself is the childlike one? Still in its own infancy but learning...

[Queue]

I'm not sure what the story is, other than we are insignificant parasites carried along during the gestation of a superior mind, but I do know what it needs: motivation.

Currently, if I know what I know from the end of ITR1, why do I bother leaving the safety of the base? Any new 'Katias' I find I'll immediately assume are fake constructs to tempt me. If I explore to survive, why bother travelling more than a few hundred meters, when I know it will respawn all the basic food and equipment I'll ever need? If I know I'm immortal (ITR1 specifically has Katia tell me she knows I die and respawn), what am I risking other than my loot?

I'd like the story of ITR2 to do two things:

1) Give me a reason. Either someone in lore who matters to me, or tease me with a potential way out of the radius, or with a mission to try to destroy it. If all else fails, you have an actual wish-granter in your lore that can alter reality (in the end, it can create Katia's entire life and family outside the Radius...or claims to); what am I confronting it for?

2) Don't try to give players amnesia. By this I mean treat your players like they played the first game and are aware of the truths of the Radius; that it claims to be unkillable, that the protagonist had no part in its creation, and that everyone in it is a simulated entity for the learning/amusement of the Radius.

These two things are important, because knowing the reality of the radius could make anyone in it nihilistic (ie. why bother doing any of this if I'm not real and can never die permanently?) and cynical (ie. why chase 'trapped victims' or promises of salvation if the Radius is known to create fake people to experiment with?).

[siegethezar]

I love to hear that the story is in progress. I'm currently reading Roadside Picnic, watched the Stalker movie, and just got my hands on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 because I love these stories and the way "the zone" interacts with flawed characters in complex ways, but I have yet to play ITR1. In ITR2, what I've gathered is:

- I love the depth cigarettes bring to your character. Being in a modern setting where most people dont smoke, it really brings out the harsh and scary toll the zone has on you.
- The demand for artifacts and information about the zone is evident in how much funding the UPMSC has with its clean base, modern equipment, and technology. The technology also makes me think that the zone has been around for a while now, as people have had time to develop the equipment and map it. I also feel that maybe humanity is getting a little greedy with the increased industrialization of exploring from ITR1.
- It feels like there is a legacy of adventurers that came before me, as shown by their clever hideouts and stashes, the items they've left around the radius, their (newly added) used and abused weapons lying around, and even the stuffed ashtrays. Reminds me of the legacy or old school stalkers from Roadside Picnic like Burboige (awful spelling mb) or Porcupine from Stalker. There are multiple beds at hq but even though I know its mostly to make sense in co-op, it feels like there used to be more adventurers, and now I'm kind of alone.
- The name Facility 27 implies that other facilities exist, or maybe this was the 27th iteration.
- I like the fun detail of dents on the front door and minefield, signifying that monsters do sometimes venture out that far.
- The UPNSC, despite initial appearances, feels like is really struggling. Their supply trucks are strewn about the forest, and must have been there for ages. Maybe the target of organized mimics? i get the sense that they are rather organized with their roadblocks as pointed out by another user.
- The description of some anomalous items says that the Radius "reconstructed" them in some sort of imitation of the old Pechorsk, implying that that the Radius destroyed Pechorsk before creating it again, but that could be an extrapolation :P.
- I feel like the Radius making paintings eyes glow has some significance but idk what

[Eclectic Fence]

I got the impression that the UNPSC is using unwilling explorers. The text on the transition map of the facility being the explorers 'prision' and the multitude of cameras at the facility along with the watch towers suggests that the UNPSC are maybe not as noble as they'd want you to believe.

[死神]

Originally posted by Eclectic Fence:

I got the impression that the UNPSC is using unwilling explorers. The text on the transition map of the facility being the explorers 'prision' and the multitude of cameras at the facility along with the watch towers suggests that the UNPSC are maybe not as noble as they'd want you to believe.

I mean honestly with things the way they seem with the whole no in and no out of the radius and the mimics the people on the outside can't really trust that the people on the inside are on their side or even people can they?

[Uncle Soysauce]

I'll try to give some feedback and impressions on ITR2 as though I had no knowledge of the first game.

The game of course has no story or lore as it stands, It merely has a setting. So to make guesses based solely off of visual design from the zones and text from the quest systems there are several basic leaps of logic that are hard to deny. I am military or otherwise a government agent. I am alone (outside of multiplayer which I couldn't say if its considered canon to the plot) but I do have connections to either an automated system or limited central command. Its hard to imagine I can get texts and gear but no video or audio feeds which makes it feel more like an automated system so. However you can hear helicopters and dogs barking when your in your base so there is a sense that an outside world exists and is alive. The only other living thing I see is the ghost white soldier who lets me travel from one zone to another. All of this gives the surreal impression that I am in some form of dream, hallucination, or simulation which is not real.

Outside of the base this Idea is realized even more so with the enemies and architecture of the levels. There are several layers to the design of the world that feel mildly at conflict with each other. Mostly the contrast between anomaly design and how the world looks. The physics defying terrain with floating islands and trees combined with a grey washed out zones covered in ashen growths which calcify the landscape feel at odds with the bright red water, floating electric cubes, blue bouncing waves and giant red jello blobs. It makes the world feel like a combination of nightmarish limbo meets science fiction obstacle course.

All of the visual inconsistencies could be explained with the anomalies being the cause and the growths and destruction being derived from their influence. However there are no hints from their behavior that this is the case. Excepting the spikey chair anomalies none of them appear to effect the world and are merely static objects which reside within it. This is in contrast to enemies which all very much appear to be made from inanimate objects in simulacrum of life. Especially humanoid life which gives the impression of intelligent design and some form of purpose. Everything is hostile and dangerous specifically to you and no anomalies harm the native inhabitants which lends further credence to some kind of central will or hive like quality to the radius.

This is all a bit rambling but it gives me several branching paths of thought were I to use what I know to make guesses as to what is actually going on. So I will list a few possibilities.

1- Limbo. I am either in a dream, hallucination, or near death/afterlife experience. I like this one the least but it works to explain everything in the radius. It is not good at explaining my base of operations very well but for a videogame it could work. Nightmares don't have to make sense.

2- Simulation. I am somehow in a computer simulation that has either gone wrong, or is being used as a training exercise/ stress test for soldiers by putting them into an extreme and isolated situation for extended periods of time where I can never die. It would explain the base and the nightmare world. It would explain all my menial yet dangerous tasks, The anomalies, parkour, the isolation and why I can save scum and respawn infinitely.

3- inter dimensional alien. Somehow an alien life form with demigod like powers has gotten to earth and created a pocket of space where it can manipulate reality, with some limitation, and is slowly growing in power. Its my job to research it in the hopes that my organization can understand what is going on. This could explain everything going on, especially the hostile entities and strange anomalies. The only thing it doesn't explain well is why I have such limited communication with the base or why they charge me money for gear while never speaking to me directly.

4- Sentient AI infiltrates MS paint and merges with secret government super weapon that gives it power over time and space. Has obsession with clone function and arrays chairs everywhere.

[Константин]

As I and my coop child understood: This game is like Stalker game but different and VR. We played a bit time in ITR1, but there is no coop, so now we play ITR2 only. Game story looks like this. People lived their usual live in this place but something was happened. It's not clear from the game what exactly happens. Police and fire car's mean that government tried to prevent it but unsuccessfully. After that the place become Zone.
Marks on some glass flasks has date of 1961 year. It looks like government got artifacts and made some secret research with them. Some experiment was reason of apocalypse.
People still live there, but they became mutants. Police and firemen located in that area in cataclysm moment became mutants too. At the same time these mutants think that they are usual people and any external visitor (like the player) is mutant. So, they protect their homes with barricades and shoot all visitors.
It's unclear where are all women and children. Only reason is that shoot women and children is bad so game developers specially remove them from the game.
It's unclear why exactly the water become red. Also, there are some places with usual (not red) water or mud. Red water damage player. Usual water does not damage. It's expected that the red water is usual for local people, does not damage them, but usual water damages them.
Anomalies damage player but does not damage local people. It looks like there anomalies are made by cataclysm (not by local people) but they are not significant for local people.
Players are government special forces and send to the zone to investigate it. Player tasks are to take scanners and artifacts from the zone for scientists. So, there should be other squad which put these scanners into the zone. We saw some aircrafts and helicopters, some towers out of borders of the base. So, there should be other people. It looks like we can't interact with them because the game is not ready, but we expect to see some of them in the game release.
There are no distortion zones in the game start, but they appear later. There are two options: 1. They are growing and lead to new cataclysm if scientists do not stop it. 2. They have cyclic seasons and the game starts when they are low.
The zone has danger parts (the forest and Peninsula) and safe paths between them.
The conductor (white ghost) is some stalker/player from ITR1. The zone swallowed him but he safe his mind. So his soul become visible and helps other to travel between danger parts in the zone.
External part of the zone is safe enough for player but local people avoid it. It looks like local people take external part as danger zone for them so they avoid it. (we should be happy that they don't sent their stalkers to investigate our world).
That is out impressions of this great game (38 hours played by me).

[Vizth]

I only have one request. Please let us adjust the diameter of the chest rig. I have to punch myself in the gut to get to my mags, and reaching the side pocket is an exercise in frustration.

Are we part of an actual organization now? The new home base is so clean and sterile as is the equipment. How far in the future is this game set? Or is there maybe more than one radius?

[Queue]

A little bit late to return to this thread, but another thought popped up; if the Radius is actually an invincible god, then the confrontation with it should be the end of the first act of the story, not the ending. If you get there and the ending is "nothing you can do about it, reset", then the story was never about the journey of the protagonist, but rather just an experience that ends once the Radius is done with you.

But if you structure the story where getting in is only half the tale, whether that means navigating the exposed underlying reality of the Radius or having to escape its decomposition, you make the story about the player and how they manage to endure, survive, or succeed despite, literally, all of 'reality' against them.

I don't mind a bit of grimdark storytelling here and there, but not "the protagonist tried their best, but ultimately learned that a human with a 9mm really should have known better than to challenge a god to a fight".

[cecilnezuto]

Honestly, before diving into Radius 1, had played this one around 40ish hours first and my thought was originally and still kinda is to a point, that we're part of something similar to the SCP Foundation.

We're part of an organization sent in to destroy or collect any anomolous materials and objects we can find for study. They don't really like failure and upon failure send another unfortunate soul into the wild or it is just us, respawned again and again either by the Radius or the UNPSC.

If not that then we, ourselves, seem anomolous (not entirely sure I am a human or just a more 'evolved' mimic that has more sentience) and the UNPSC is more or less training/studying our actions to harness us as a force against the Radius.

We could possibly BE the Radius personified (most likely unknowingly) and the UNPSC is aware of this and either keeps us occupied, again for study or 'reasons' only higher ups are privvy to.

It could also be a case of fractured realities semi-merging as a result of the appearance of the Radius and 'the event' I've heard mentioned since starting the first game. It could be experiments that went horribly, horribly wrong and resulted in all this and our explorers were a couple of the unfortunate souls that were in the area and we forever keep doing the duties we were last doing (akin to a Limbo/Purgatory)

Hell, the whole UNPSC and facility in Vanno and 27 may just be fabricated by whatever is truly controlling the Radius or if it is the one doing all of this. Might be merely curious of other life/realities, maybe it's missing something from where/whenever it came from or it's actively attempting something only it currently can understand.

Or it could just be an Elder God.