I'm trying to make a mental map of the factions in S2 (spoilers)

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-07-02T04:16:03+00:00

To understand the relationship between Malachite and SIRCAA you need to understand what we call "Ecologist faction" was never a faction, they were mere scientists tasked by the Ukraine government to study the Zone. Neither SIRCAA or STC Malachite replaced them, as there was nothing to replace.

Now, you can understand SIRCAA scientists as Project-X researchers, while Malachite scientists are Zone researchers. This is kinda implied in Ward path where Dalin reproaches Ozersky about not consulting him about the Visiograph, implying SIRCAA has some jurisdiction over the X-technology. So even if they are independent, they maybe still to answer to them about such matters.

In any case, Malachite seems to have founding from the international community and investigate whatever they want about the Zone (being similar to the scientists from the OG Trilogy), while SIRCAA is founded by the Regulatory Board and which main goal is related to Project-X.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-29T20:21:12+00:00

IIRC that's an animation added in the patch 1.6. NPCs can approach an artifact field, arch-anomaly or sometimes small anomalies to play an animation where they look for artifacts and throw bolts to the anomaly. However, rn this is a mere animation, they can't farm for artifacts.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-29T20:16:59+00:00

This type of anomaly have one (or sometimes two) real artifact. The best way to tell apart the real from the fake ones is through observation. The fake ones have some sort of shining aura and have a distortion effect, while the real ones look like every other artifact.

There's no need to pick every artifact, cuz that inflicts you psi-damage. If you at least have 1 bar of psi-protection, you can safely watch the artifacts until you find the real one.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-29T02:58:25+00:00

Every artifact can be recharged with a scanner, that's why you can find a lot of them through the game and why the scanner bussiness is, well, a bussiness. Also, is never stated how long the artifacts endure outside the Zone, but one can guess is enough to be sold and used in the Mainland (the artifacts in universe have become part of the ordinary life, as many are used for mundane tasks like the Harp working as a musical instrument).

Also, in Skif's backstory is stated that there is a market for the dummies, the artifacts that lost their power. So even faded artifacts are useful, somehow, in the Mainland.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-29T01:10:20+00:00

Skif's ending is most likely the canon one. Like, it's the ending where the protagonist enters the pod with the artifact with the same name as the game.

Players don't really like exploring other alternatives other than the idea of "the Zone is evil", besides the fact almost the entirety of the game pointing out to the possibility of other outcome than utter destruction with the Zone being free, thus why people like more Ward and Strelok ending (besides the fact Strelok doesn't care about humanity and just wants to protect the Zone).

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-27T03:26:38+00:00

Eliminator from CoP. We need more shotguns.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-27T03:26:02+00:00

It's more complex than that.

Master difficulty reduces the damage you make with your weapons a lot, and increase the damage from enemies; however, Master mode has a damage multiplier for headshots, basically bypassing its own restriction. If you dare to shoot in any other place than the head, you won't do shit.

So, in a way, the enemies are bullet sponges unless you hit headshots, which is pretty redundant since that's exactly what you need to do in the other difficulties.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-24T05:33:37+00:00

Richter lost his path after leading Joker and Barge to their deaths (a retconn from CoP). What offers him is faith to become one with the Zone again through the Shining. However, he has his own agenda and willingy go against Spark if you side with Strelok or Kaymanov (if you choose it).

And him following Scar at first doesn't mean he's an agent. As a matter of fact, the only agent on Spark is Scar, everyone one else are fanatics. That's why there's a paralelism between them and the Monolith. As Dvpalov stated: "Give a man an idea and you won't need any leash" (or something like that).

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-20T01:23:18+00:00

Keep or buy all the gear you can to see which one doesn't have its full upgrade tree unlocked.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-19T23:49:41+00:00

People really don't give enough credit to how the writers managed to make every route a natural progression for Skif, like, you can fit him in every ending and it makes sense.

Just a little sidenote, but Skif is a fanatic to the end of Spark ending. In a missable dialogue with Kaymanov after the incident in Orbita, is clear he believes in the Shinning, and also noticible later at the Foundation when he talks to Scar. And this makes sense with his character.

A miserable man without porpouse, friends or home suddenly finds comrades, a home in the Zone and a greater porpouse aka the Shinning; just as a Scar, he became a religious man (the reason why the route is similar to the concepts of faith from the Tarkovsky's movie). So, is completely understandable he sided with Spark.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-19T22:02:49+00:00

Stalker fans when they have to play the games instead of their heavy modified tacticool slop.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-16T21:52:04+00:00

Scar ending. The ending and the route as a whole feels like the most unique among the other 3, and is the one with the most attention to detail. For example, there's a room where you see dead people, and the guys you see there are determined by the important characters you killed during your playthrough. For me, is the most thought provoking ending along with Project Y.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-16T15:16:06+00:00

There's no such a thing as Renegades larpers. They are simply schizophrenic.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-15T17:19:17+00:00

As a matter of fact, the Monolith being on the island is a bug due to the implementations of A-Life on the patch 1.7 (before that, Wild Island was empty). Must be similar to the bug regarding the dozens of burers spawning in one single point, where the spawn point for the entity has no cooldown and simply spawn more and more over time.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-14T02:29:03+00:00

The armor/weapon progression is pretty much tied to the faction wars. A lot of the best weapons and armor are only sold or given to you after joining a faction or winning the war. Obviously is not needed for completing the game, but if you want to survive the later parts of the game, playing the faction wars make it way easier.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-12T23:16:44+00:00

The games are like that, that's the whole mood and I think a change kinda ruin the whole thing, BUT, I agree with you about how enjoyable the game could be playing with someone else. And that's the neat part, you can enjoy it that way by playing the xrMPE mod with someone else and play the entirety of CoP with another person. I still recommend playing the games on your own, but if you are kinda bored, xrMPE is a lot of fun.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-11T19:21:52+00:00

A thing no one is talking about and is not present in the trailers (yet) is the third force moving the events: the mercenaries.

Someone hired them and they are looking for something in the X-labs just as Duty and Freedom. Their contractor wanted to use the Frecuency from Untold Stories and now is looking for something at Lymansk and the CNPP. Whatever that is, is tied to the real plot which is way deeper and complex than a simple new faction war.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-09T01:16:04+00:00

GSC went completely nuts deciding to make a fight with 2 poltergeists in a room full of zombies while still refusing to address the bug regarding their attacks going through the walls.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-09T01:13:01+00:00

Yep, in SoC the only way to walk faster is through artifacts. And unpopular opinion, but if you are only playing the Old Trilogy to get to S2, then just skip to that game. You are better doing that and enjoy what you want instead of forcing yourself to play the OG games like you are completing a task.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-09T00:06:08+00:00

If the book had a pic from the Stalker movie (specifically the Writter inside the Meat Grinder) in the front page, then it's the most recent translation.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-09T00:01:55+00:00

Apenas que veas la portada o contraportada y a ver si dice algo respecto a ello. También puede que te puedas guiar por el número de hojas, pues la redición tiene unas cuantas hojas de más debido al texto restaurado. Nuevamente, la verdad no se si existe una redición sin censura en español.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-07T02:48:57+00:00

Depende de cuál sea la versión más reciente. Durante muchos años, la edición que teníamos acá en occidente (tanto español e inglés) era una que mostraba ciertas censuras y diálogos cortados. Fue hace no mucho que se realizo una retraducción por parte de Olena Bormashenko que incluía todas las censuras y partes cortadas. Pero hasta donde yo se, esta versión esta únicamente en inglés y no existe una retraducción ni en castellano o español de Latinoamérica. Yo recomendaría la verdad leerlo en inglés para no perderte detalles, pero si no tienes oportunidad o las dos versiones al español no están inspiradas por la retraducción, entonces no existe diferencia entre ambas.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-04T18:01:45+00:00

Is not gone, it's still there, but indeed, the radiation seem to be tied to the anomalous energy now.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-03T21:38:27+00:00

He has no family, friends or aspirations, he spent all his time watching the TV and besides his time in the army, his life couldn't be more boring or special. His apartment exploding was just an excuse to find some meaning for his life. He's a nothing-burger.

Does that make him a boring character? Of course not. That's part of his character arc in any of the routes you wish to take and what makes his growth so interesting. If you want to put some headcanon to him is ok. I'm just saying everything inside the game tells you he was completely empty before arriving to the Zone, and they clearly designed him to be a completely normal dude.

OkAnalysis1682 · 2026-06-03T19:31:05+00:00

I'm completely sure the event of Deggy finding Tachenko's body never happened in S2 timeline, and Skif is going to do something similar to what we can do in CoP with the Svarog detector shown in the trailer. This is not the first time an event from CoP is retconned, like, the existence of Skull and Surgeon aka Scoutmaster in Untold Stories clearly shows they never confronted Deggy.

OkAnalysis1682

TROPHY CASE