S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 Gameplay Teaser

 They pretend to tease us and we pretend to be excited

"Is he really doing this?" You might ask. "An entire blog on a teaser?" And though I would usually be the kind of person to say; "you know what; nah?" Recently I've found myself feeling in a peculiar mood. I've been thirsting for a proper high budget RPG experience that doesn't stem out of the usual suspects. Something that has the potential to invite new perspectives to the worn RPG formula, something that really shakes things up in terms or roleplaying and makes me see new perspectives. I've had this ever since I played Tyranny and realised what an amazing turn of the formula it is, my only gripe being that it was just a isometric RPG and we never see anything that imaginative and fully realised in a  3D adventure game space. Perhaps a month ago I would expected something of that sort to come out of a certain high profile release, but the ended up being oddly safe in most of the Role Playing categories that I was honestly most excited for. 

But this blog isn't about those other games, it's about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. And how this sequel is finally going to bring the game's to this series to the modern age. Now, as I said before I've had something of an appreciation of the original game, even if it isn't an RPG in the most traditional senses. In fact, S.T.A.L.K.E.R could be much more accurately defined as a hardcore and unforgiving shooter that makes the player work overtime for every single fight, there's not even the window dressing of stat sheets or levelling up. That being said, even the provision of inventory management, branching narratives and heavy immersion provides the exact same draw that any half-decent RPG does for me. It's an invitation to live within the walls of this harsh environment and try to survive, so I'll call S.T.A.L.K.E.R an RPG and it's sequel one of my most anticipated upcoming games.

Unfortunately, details are still exceedingly sparse for the game, to the point where I can't help but wonder if it was announced a little early and we're currently looking at Pre-Alpha mock ups rather than actual teaser gameplay. God knows it wouldn't at all be the first time that the magic of marketing has pulled their little magicians show in order to slip a few white lies past us. But giving everyone the benefit of the doubt and looking through this subtle teaser like a genuine look at the engine which will be running the final game, I will say that there certainly does appear to be influence taken from the right places. Whilst that may sound a little backhanded, it is still a compliment. S.T.A.L.K.E.R has in it's very nature a different world to many of the shooters and RPGs of today, so if it's visuals begin to resemble some of the best of it's peers, I won't call that a dark premonition just yet.

So yes, S.T.A.L.K.E.R in it's current state does look exceedingly similar to the Metro games, but this is not a bad thing. Even in it's originals, S.T.A.L.K.E.R seemed to have a good relationship with the dark and how to utilise it in order to create an off-putting environment, without drowning you in darkness so the effect wears thin. Dark tunnels would be offset by bright hillsides, and you'd feel the shift from each location to the next. Metro, on the otherhand, dealt mostly in the dark of the underground Russian Metro stations, with even the brief stints to the outside being purposefully crafted to be grey, cold and unfriendly. S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2's teaser appears to have more in common with the latter approach than the former, and honestly I think it might fit better. But perhaps I'm just saying that because I'm a big fan of Metro too, who's to say.

But just the comparison alone does make me wonder and worry about how these games might find themselves unfairly pit against each other due to their similarities. They're both set in Russia, have a post-apocalyptic flare to their world, (Although that motif is obviously much stronger in one of the series') are very grounded FPS shooters, and dabble with hints of the supernatural along side the human scavengers. In fact, at a glance I might even see these games as competitors to one another, but judging from the games I've played I think the distinction between them is actually rather important and obvious; S.T.A.L.K.E.R is much slower than Metro. That is to say, in gameplay S.T.A.L.K.E.R has always seemed to me like a game that forces tactical planning and thought-out encounters whilst Metro is more of a cinematic, yet still grounded, adventure.

Circling back to the trailer itself, I think it's fair to say that the engine on show certainly looks impressive in what it can do. Though it was perhaps just a trailer gimmick, I did make note of the way in which we actually got to see a tree fall from the wind in a manner that just wasn't possible in the year of the first game. An optimist might say this is indicative of more dynamic set-pieces from the game, but I still remember how Anthem did something very similar in its reveal gameplay, and that wasn't even a teaser, so I'll just conclude that it looks pretty for now. What is a lot easier to judge right now is the fire that we see from the trailer and this... I'll be honest it didn't blow me away. I mean the fire itself looks great, by all accounts, but the light it displayed was obviously static. None of the shadows shifted with the movement of the fire and given how much this generation of hardware should be capable of that does actually seem like a wasted opportunity. (Buy hey, early days yet.)

The in-engine gameplay teaser ends with a lot of the static objects floating into the air, a situation which should be instantly recognisable to anyone who played the original, and I'm already imagining how much more epic and terrifying those encounters will be in this new age. (Having a chair thrown in your face will easily end up the least of your worries.) So yes, it's obvious that this teaser was almost criminally sparse, with perhaps one of the most important textures of all completely omitted. (Human skin, anyone? Getting that right is one of the hardest asks of all) But given that this is literally the second tease I can't really start throwing tantrums about what we didn't see. (I just think that if the team wanted to impress everyone, that might have made a memorable final shot.)

To say that GSC Game World are playing this close to the chest is an understatement. They're treating these little reveals like an indie studio would, and part of me does love the thrill of the chase. (Whilst another part simply yearns for more content) Heck, some have claimed that S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 was only announced so that the dev team could find a publisher for the project, and if that's true then I suppose this drip feeding of teaser footage makes a little more sense. Still, I hope that the gears start turning for this franchise once more as a sprinkle of variety in the gaming community pot never does harm to whole. Maybe it'll even serve to remind Battlefield what real necessary tactical gameplay looks like. (One can hope at least.)