S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is dead, new shooter will focus on ecological catastrophe

A new shooter by the developers of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. will examine the tenuous relationship between humanity and nature.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is finally, officially dead, but the people who made that original post-apocalyptic Russian shooter and the ideas that inspired the game's creation will live on with Vostok Games and their upcoming title.

Survarium will pit mankind against nature in a shooter that takes place following a global ecological uprising that overwhelms humanity and its technology.

The game will focus on a "mass-scale ecological catastrophe," according to the official site. "Impassable woods advance onto cities from every side, maddened animals and birds attack industrial complexes, military structures, warehouses and power plants. Strange plants and mushrooms grow through concrete and steel. Scientists all over the world haplessly try to cope with the anomaly sprawling across the Earth with terrifying speed. Countries collapse, anarchy spreads throughout the world. Now force dictates who to survive."

Survarium is under development on the proprietary Vostok Engine and is due out on the PC next year.

The game bubbled up in the aftermath of the collapse of developer GSC Game World and the cancellation of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.

That game's final moments remain a bit confused. GSC Game World spent the tail end of last year denying, sort of confirming and then denying once more that the sequel had been canceled.

Today a flurry of official Tweets and a video confirm that the game was killed. They also confirmed that Ukrainian game studio GSC Game World was shut down due to a lack of funding. But from the ashes of that developer arose Vostok Games, a new studio formed by S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2's developers.

That new studio appears to be working on another post-apocalyptic shooter, one that sheds the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. name and moves to online. The game will also be free to play to "allow as many players as possible to play it and make a decision for themselves whether this game is worth investing money into or not," according to a video released by the freshly minted studio.

The game will also expand its setting beyond S.T.A.L.K.E.R. to create a more international game, according to the video. Where S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was an examination of a possible aftermath triggered by Chernobyl, this new game will take a look at what happens when the earth hits back.

With the new game comes a promise from the studio that they will be much more open with fans and the broader gaming community during development. That will extend to asking for fan opinion on certain elements of the game.