Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl review: gloriously gloomy use of Unreal Engine 5

Forged in adversity, this Ukrainian-developed shooter delivers a beautiful open-world survival-shooter like no other.

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl review; screens from a shooting game
(Image: © Future / GSC Game World)

For

  • A large, beautiful open world
  • Good use of Unreal Engine 5
  • Proper survival game design

Against

  • Bugs, bugs, bugs
  • Some patchy dialogue

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Stalker 2 details

Publisher GSC Game World / Microsoft

Developer GSC Game World

Format PC, Xbox Series X/S (reviewed)

Platform Unreal Engine 5

Release date Out now

I would argue that Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is more than a mere video game: it’s a full-blown cultural artefact. That’s certainly true for anyone who comes from developer GSC Game World’s homeland of Ukraine. 2007’s original Stalker game, a survival-shooter set in the Exclusion Zone around the Chornobyl nuclear reactor, became a touchstone of Ukrainian culture as the country forged an independent identity when the USSR collapsed shortly after the Chornobyl disaster.

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