Details about STALKER 2 have been few and far between since the game was formally revived in early 2018. But, in the waning hours of 2020, developers GSC Game World released a new trailer highlighting the game’s first-person experience.
GSC said in a news release on Dec. 31 that the trailer represents “how the game actually feels: fast-paced change of scenery, ominous landscapes and the ever-present feeling of an inevitable danger accompanied by a barely-distinguishable guitar soundtrack.” According to the description on YouTube, the trailer is shot entirely in-engine and through the eyes of the player character, a stalker named Skif.
A previous trailer, showing multiple interior and exterior environments, was released in July during the Xbox Games Showcase. The final game is slated for Windows PC and Xbox Series X, where it will be a console launch exclusive. It will also be part of the Xbox Game Pass program.
The first game in the STALKER series, STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, was released in 2007, and remains one of the most well-regarded FPS games of all time. The critically acclaimed series, which includes STALKER: Clear Sky and STALKER: Call of Pripyat, is also the precursor of the modern open-world sandbox genre.
STALKER 2 was previously in production in 2011 when GSC Game World was dissolved suddenly and unexpectedly. That event lead to an exodus of creative talent that Polygon documented when we traveled to Ukraine in 2013. Among the studios that spun out of GSC are 4A Games, makers of the Metro series. That studio is now headquartered in Malta following a long period of unrest in Ukraine.
