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As expected, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl has many branching paths and decision-making that can drastically change your route through the game’s main story. These allow you to side with specific factions and fight against others, making your playthrough feel unique and responsive to your choices.
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And these choices come fast and loose right from the jump, allowing you to get started down the route you want to, so be prepared to make tough choices early on, as you will want to make the most out of each encounter if you want a specific outcome or want to join a particular faction.
How To Start Needle In A Haystack In Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl
Needle in a Haystack is a main mission in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, which has you find Squint to retrieve the Trackers he stole from the Ward. This mission will be substantially easier if you complete the Invisible Nets side mission, as that will give you the exact location of where Squint is hiding after activating an ARMS Antenna.
If you didn’t tackle this side quest, you will have to find his location through other means, but it shouldn’t be too complex overall. Once you pinpoint Squint’s location, you will discover he’s holed up inside a Windmill just east of Zalissya. So make your way there when you’re ready.
Finding Squint
With Squint’s location discovered, follow the orange waypoint until you see a windmill in the distance, then make your way to it. Once outside of the windmill, walk around it until you see the staircase that leads inside, and follow them into the booby-trapped interior.
Crouch and begin slowly creeping your way up the winding staircase inside the windmill, looking for tripwires and shotguns to disarm. There will also be cans on some of the stairs that are nearly impossible to avoid without making noise, so deal with them however you see fit. Once arriving at the top, Squint will greet you with a shotgun pointed at your face.
Talk To Squint
Encountering Squint won’t give you the best first impression, but you can handle this situation in several ways. If you’re just after the Ward’s Sensors, you can instantly attack him and kill him on the spot, allowing you to loot his body and retrieve the Sensors. If you’d like to help him out, however, you must make specific choices.
Picking “Easy, I’m a friend” will have him lower his guard and give you information on wanting to leave the Lesser Zone. From here, selecting “What’s your escape plan?” will have him mention needing a specific Artifact in order to do so, ultimately allowing you to offer to get it for him.
Throughout the conversation, you will have an opportunity to attack him, so if you decide you don’t want to help him out, you can choose that option if you wish. If you’re going to help him, you will unlock the side mission ‘Piece of Cake,’ which you can learn how to complete below.
How To Complete A Piece Of Cake In Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl
Exit the windmill, follow the blue waypoint on your compass into the house to the right, and look for the large hole in the ground. Jump down into the hole to discover an entrance to a cave and follow it further inside. Don’t push in too far just yet, as a body will be on the ground near the entrance.
Search the body to acquire some ammunition, food, and medical supplies, then ensure you’re ready for battle, as you’re going to need to be prepared for the next part.
Defeat The Mutant
Pushing up just beyond the body will have a Mutant let out a screech in the distance before having it charge toward you in the blink of an eye. You must be ready for this, as it can deal substantial damage if you aren’t prepared. It will be invisible until it attacks, so keep an eye out for a subtle shimmer as it approaches.
For this encounter, we strongly suggest backing up to the cave entrance and watching in front of you, leaving no room for the Mutant to get around you or attack from your sides. The moment you see its shimmer sprinting toward you, begin unloading onto it.
It will take several swipes at you, run away, and then repeat this loop until either it dies or you do. Again, the moment you see its outline approach you, begin firing at it, and it will eventually die. When it runs away, be sure to heal up if it hits you, as it will only take a few slashes from it to end you.
Pushing Further In The Cave
Now that the Mutant is taken care of continue pushing forward through the cave and stick to the left-hand side. You will eventually see a long tunnel leading into a new cave area. Once here, look to the right to find a stashed bag tucked into the cave wall and loot it to receive some ammo, healing items, and food.
Continue down the left path after looting the bag to stumble upon a room filled with Gas Anomalies. This section of the cave is where you will obtain the Artifact for Squint, so pull out your Scanner and begin looking for it while avoiding the toxic gases with your Screw.
Obtaining The Artifact
Your Scanner will beep progressively faster and louder the closer you are to the Artifact, allowing you to toss your Screw at the Anomalies to walk through them, making the Artifact appear. The first time you stumble upon it, the Artifact will jump out of the Anomaly and directly into another one nearby.
Repeat the process until you find the Artifact again; this time, it will remain stationary, allowing you to pick it up. From here, you can safely exit the cave by following the tunnel in front of you, then head back to Squint inside of the windmill.
Give The Mold Artifact To Squint
Return to Squint with the Mold Artifact in your possession and speak with him, giving you one more chance to attack him if you change your mind. Giving him the Artifact will have him give you the Ward’s Sensors as he doesn’t have anything else to give you, allowing you to then give it to Richter or Captain Zotov back in Zalissya.
Choosing to attack Squint here will allow you to keep the Mold Artifact and loot the Ward’s Sensors from his body, but it can potentially impact future quests down the road that we’re not aware of just yet. Nonetheless, this is the final opportunity you have to make that call, so choose wisely!
Who Should You Give The Sensors To In Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl?
Make your way back to Zalissya and give the Ward Sensors back to Captain Zotov or Richter. This is essentially the turning point of the main story in the game, substantially changing future missions. Giving the Sensors back to the Ward via Captain Zotov will have you begin following the Ward’s Route, whereas giving them to Richter will have you follow the path of the Free Stalkers Route.
We strongly recommend making a save here, making it easier for you to follow the opposite path if you want to see what that’s like. This won’t impact the Behind Seven Seals questline, but it will alter many things that follow it, changing your trajectory quite a bit going forward!
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