In the late 2000s, GSC Game World’s Stalker trilogy of survival horror games became a cult hit for its atmosphere and difficulty. However, it would be another 15 years before the games resumed. The game’s Heart of Chornobyl reboot was recently released on PC and consoles. Despite the series’ lengthy absence, it made a strong comeback. The game reached a huge sales milestone only a few days after its release. Here is a breakdown of Stalker 2’s milestones and why gamers should consider this new title.
Stalker 2’s Player Count
According to SI, GSC Game World’s revival of their old series, Stalker 2 (stylized as S.T.A.L.K.E.R.), has swiftly achieved a monumental player count after release. Merely two days after launch, the game reached one million players. Furthermore, GSC announced that the game had reached 100,000 concurrent players on Steam. In the same post, the developers said this was not the end of the game’s story and that they were grateful for all the players who bought and enjoyed it.
The game likely sold well due to its good reviews from early players and critics. Many believed the game combined a dark atmosphere with a vast open world, especially with modern graphics and fidelity. Despite this, many critics highlighted the numerous bugs in the game, though GSC will likely fix them with upcoming patches. Part of the reason this game’s success is such a triumph is the lengthy development cycle it went through. The game was trapped in development hell for several years, which was confounded by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a terrible real-world atrocity that took priority. Eventually, development resumed, and the current game was released.
The Original Series
Despite what Stalker 2’s title suggests, it is the fourth in the series. Much like Bethesda’s Fallout series, the games occur in an alternate timeline where nuclear disasters ravaged the world. However, whereas Fallout was a power fantasy satirizing American Exceptionalism, the Stalker series is a survival horror franchise from a Ukrainian perspective, providing a more grim look into the fear of nuclear dangers.
As one can guess from the game’s setting, the games have players facing off against a horde of mutants in Chornobyl while evading irradiated wastes. However, instead of playing as a mighty hero, players were survivors who had to scour the wasteland and barter with criminals to make it by. Additionally, the games were infamous for their brutal difficulty. The game was popular enough to earn two more sequels, Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat. These sequels added numerous gameplay features, such as factions, realistic bleeding damage, and random psychic disasters affecting the entire map. Despite the series’ annual releases, GSC Game World temporarily dissolved afterward.
A Proper Revival
As a reboot of a long-dead series, Stalker 2 had high expectations. Nowadays, many gamers and other consumers have grown tired of the sheer number of revivals, reboots, and remakes that fill the media landscape. However, video games, in particular, have fared somewhat better. Games like 2018’s God of War and 2016’s Doom stuck to the original vision of their franchises while bringing something new to the table. This has proven to be especially effective with horror video games. One example was Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, which returned the increasingly over-the-top games to their more grounded roots. The success of Stalker 2 will hopefully lead to even more games from the series that expand its world and tell new stories.
Conclusion
Despite the long hiatus, Stalker 2 brought its franchise back in full force. The game brought back everything players loved about the original while using modern technology to enhance the game’s horrific atmosphere. While the game had its critics upon release, GSC has repeatedly proven its resilience to these hurdles. For the past year, various beloved game studios have been hit with massive layoffs, while others have been shuttered entirely, throwing many ongoing series into question. The fact that GSC Game World could make such a strong comeback after closure should inspire others to continue.
