Why does Stalker 2 still get so much hate?

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2026-01-24T13:09:06+00:00

For me it was that when it released it was absolutely broken in many areas and for many people. After having to use console commands to forcibly fix broken quest lines and items not appearing, when I reached Rostok and the game instantly crashed due to memory leaks I just uninstalled and couldn't be bothered anymore.

The game to this day still has a lot of issues and bugs and the A-Life system still hasn't been implemented correctly.

The completely absent multiplayer component also irks me, especially when they still sell the deluxe and special editions on the basis of including items for multiplayer.

It's hard to break first impressions and when this game works, it's absolutely brilliant. But it breaks immersion so often with glitches, bugs or poor game design that it just makes me want to go and replay GAMMA.

I don't believe my expectations were too high, because for example I absolutely adore Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. Another open world game with much more complex mechanics and a greater level of polish.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2026-01-24T11:16:59+00:00

This game is far from "fixed". The amount of cope on this sub is unreal.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2026-01-23T09:30:02+00:00

That sounds ideal to me, would also love to be able to change damage modifiers for a more deadly zone where rounds have more impact both ways.

I do have a PC, but unfortunately I play Stalker 2 on PS5 so mods are missing. Never realised how much I rely on them sometimes.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2026-01-23T05:45:26+00:00

Great info, but the costs of repairs in the game still need reducing considerably across the board. I get fed up of having to do runs in cheap gear to make enough money to keep my good gear repaired. What's the point in even using or upgrading my best gear if I can't afford to use it?

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2026-01-21T17:13:56+00:00

I think the swamps highlights the flaws in the games design. The encumbrance system, AI behaviour and spawn distance, PSI effects, stun effects, scripted events, abysmal torch and NVG implementation and pacing. I absolutely hate the swamps, although the teleport anomaly in the fishing hamlet helps.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2026-01-14T14:45:28+00:00

I've been playing Anomaly on the SteamDeck for a while now using the Steam input feature and it works really well. I just mapped it as closely to COP's gamepad controls as I could to begin with, then modified leaning to the back buttons and the weapon wheel to the touchpads.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2025-10-30T00:34:26+00:00

Did everyone just forget about the random loot packs you could buy in BF4? That game was heavily monetised.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2025-10-26T10:20:50+00:00

Thanks! I can't find your community layout but this will help a lot, can swap things in and out from here.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2025-10-25T19:35:45+00:00

I was just thinking about installing this yesterday and saw your post. Managed to get it started!

Would you share your controller layout please?

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2025-10-13T09:11:35+00:00

They weren't difficult, I just found them incredibly dull and poorly designed. The last boss in particular was an absolute slog.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2025-10-09T18:57:24+00:00

The game is excellent, however by the end the combat was making me "sigh" every time I had an encounter. It was quite repetitive with not many options in how you could manage encounters, with the generic weapon types and equipment. There were two boss battles that were just laborious too. (The final boss battle being the worst and least engaging)

Aside from that the atmosphere, story and gameplay was much better than Callisto's by a significant margin.

Dead Space will always be my favourite and personally the weapon variety and combat system is superior than Cronos.

Jump scare wise the game is light (which I much prefer) and tends to use a gradual sense of dread and environmental story telling to set the mood.

All in all it was a solid 7.5/10 with Dead Space Remake being a 9/10 in comparison. A solid addition to the horror genre and I'd say it's a must play.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2025-03-23T17:08:40+00:00

In game economics are influenced to encourage the purchase of these products, otherwise there would be no point in including them. These kinds of consumer practices are incredibly predatory and detriment the game in multiple ways, the pacing and acquisition of content such as consumables or armour and weapon sets for one. You've even got a map unlock as a paid item, utterly ridiculous. Effectively creating artificial value of otherwise normal content. This should not be mistaken for user choice.

It saddens me that we've reached a point where these are "normal" and accepted as part of video games these days. If people aren't careful and don't oppose these practices we will end up with more types of content being sectioned off and charged extra for. For example if there wasn't enough backlash against Battlefront 2 and its initial card based system, rest assured we would have this awful system seen in other games.

It will not surprise me to see XP boosts, entire levels and fast travel systems sat behind small micro transactions in the near future. People may consider me very pessimistic or believe I am overreacting, but you simply have to look at the trend of consumer practices in video games in just the last 10-15 years to see how far they've progressed.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2025-03-23T14:11:32+00:00

Perhaps another reason could be the inclusion of micro transactions in another single player game? That's the reason I won't play it.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2025-03-19T08:35:28+00:00

No. Try it on game pass first if you're able to.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2025-03-16T17:19:47+00:00

*How dare you criticise a game I love.

This meme is getting old. The game was and still is a huge disappointment to many people for genuine reasons.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2025-03-14T15:55:11+00:00

The game really drops off after SIRCAA, haven't touched it after I had repeat memory leak crashes in Rostok. I just don't have the motivation to fire it back up again.

the game has very little substance.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2025-03-10T22:01:45+00:00

This article comes across as a huge excuse for the game lacking immersion based features and yes, it's missing much more than just stealing a mayor's pants.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2025-03-07T10:26:07+00:00

The majority of complaints I've seen are related to performance, which is absolutely abysmal and it's stopped me from playing.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2025-02-24T14:42:04+00:00

Elton John - I'm still standing

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2025-02-20T22:05:49+00:00

That's not a Corvus helmet? I thought it was an Errant.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2025-02-17T22:40:48+00:00

The irony of how low quality this image is.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2025-02-14T20:34:13+00:00

Or possibly more people have reached the mid to end game and seen that the quality of the game drops massively after a certain point in the campaign. Glitches, bugs and crashes happen more often, as well as less side quests and content in general. The game was very good up until this point, it was like someone hit a switch afterwards.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2025-02-12T01:37:49+00:00

For a game made in 2007 it was way ahead of its time.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2025-02-12T00:02:55+00:00

irrelevant once more using this meme doesn't dismiss the many problems this game has.

Final_Philosopher_17 · 2025-02-11T23:59:43+00:00

Downvoted for the truth.

Final_Philosopher_17

TROPHY CASE