Despite its buggy launch fans are very happy with the way Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl has turned out. It stays true to the formula of the previous games, and with GSC Game World committing to fix all the issues, it looks like it could become one of the best games in the series. However, this installment may be a lot of players’ first trip to The Zone, so they may not be used to some of the series’ tropes.
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Please Don’t Go Into Stalker 2 Expecting A New Fallout Game
Both games are first person shooters filled with radiation, and that’s where the comparisons stop.
While game mechanics and other phenomena are explained well enough in the game, newer players may not know that Stalker series does not usually let you go back and explore the map after you’ve finished the main story missions, and the same is true for Heart of Chornobyl.
Make Sure You Save At Pripyat If You Want To Continue Playing Stalker 2
People have different playstyles for open-world games. Some dash through the story and then explore the side stuff, while others make sure every marker on the map is cleared before finishing the story. If you’re the former, then you might be in for a surprise when you rush through the story of Stalker 2 and realise you can’t go back to The Zone to explore.
As pointed out by Dr-Stanny on Reddit, Stalker 2 does not have an endgame feature that lets you stay on the map after you finish the main missions. Once it’s over, it’s over. You’ll need to go back to a previous save in order to check out the rest of The Zone and complete any side missions you may have missed.
It seems there is a ‘point of no return’ pop-up that flashes when you’re about to start the final mission, but it’s apparently very missable. OP missed it, saying, “if there was, it was no way as noticeable as it should have been.”
If you want to finish the main story first, and come back for the side stuff later, it’s advisable that you create a save file once you reach Pripyat, as that’s where the final events of the story kick off. Perhaps the ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ pop-up is also on the list of fixes for the devs.
Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is the long-awaited follow-up to the apocalyptic first-person shooter. As a Stalker, you must venture into the deadly Exclusion Zone, contending with mutants and warring factions alike, in search of valuable artifacts.