From fleeing Kyiv bombings and supporting colleagues on the front, the game’s developers have endured the shadow of war

There, players will be sent to talk to Professor Lodoschka, who seems to be far too concerned about a Zombie problem. He will then send them to re-activate the Emission Antenna on the Rooftop of the Noon base and kill a dangerous zombie in the process.

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

Ahead of its release, Digital Trends received a PC copy of Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl that was plagued with more technical issues than we typically see in a review build this close to launch. I personally hopped into the Xbox build once our critic started raising red flags and was instantly met with bugs within my first 20 minutes.

GSC Game World outlined its plans for future update to fix the variety of bugs and issues in STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl.

Not that a lot of post-apocalyptic first-person shooters are, but STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is especially not for the faint of heart. It’s built to generate the kind of friction that goes a long way in creating a challenging and punishing game that’s also captivating.

Heart of Chornobyl, one of the most haunting survival horror games I have ever played and unlike anything else in the genre. The game’s chilling sound design, incredible storytelling, and demanding combat come together to deliver on that central premise.

The Stalker 2 Heart of Chornobyl Review Scores are in, and we're curious to see what critics think of the game.