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(Image credit: GSC Game World)
Finders keepers
(Image credit: GSC Game World)
Here and now
(Image credit: GSC Game World)
Another Ukrainian developer got there first. In 2005, Deep Shadows put out Boiling Point: Road to Hell, which plonked the player down in a South American valley and asked them to find their missing daughter. There were no predefined enemies in Boiling Point – yet information didn’t come for free, and buying it often meant breaking into the base of one faction at the behest of another. Unfortunately, Boiling Point’s early arrival was to its detriment. One of the most notoriously buggy releases of all time, it boasted flying jaguars and pedestrians who glued themselves to your car if you left it parked in town – instantly dying when you set off, and damaging your local reputation.
Stalker, meanwhile, had entered development hell. GSC’s grand plans were butting up against the hard reality of implementation. The game’s publisher, THQ, sent a Californian fixer named Dean Sharpe to wrangle Stalker towards release. The team scrapped vehicles, ditched zombies, and simplified the AI it had been publicly showing off for years. For his efforts, Sharpe received death threats from the game’s nascent community – but evidently wasn’t put off Ukraine for good. Today, he’s CEO of Metro developer 4A Games.
It’s testament to how far Stalker was ahead of its time that, even after four years of delay and heavy compromise, it still played a little like the future. “Despite the epic wait and despite the amount of scissoring that’s obviously gone on,”Will Porter wrote in GamesRadar+’s review, “we’ve still ended up with an excellent shooter.”
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“It was at its best when you made a plan, and your plan went horribly wrong,” said Far Cry 4 director Alex Hutchinson in the cover feature of this month’s Edge. “You would be throwing a molotov at an enemy and accidentally hit a bear instead, and then a burning bear would kill your friend.” It’s a philosophy he’s now applying to his new game, Revenge of the Savage Planet. “The joy of the game is making a plan, the plan failing, but you not dying and getting through. It’s gonna be funny and chaotic.”
Tried and true
(Image credit: GSC Game World)
In other words, the high concepts promised in Stalker’s previews have now been disseminated and finessed to the point where they’re no longer remarkable. To the point where a game likeFar Cry 6, which would have blown the radiation-soaked socks off Stalker disciples and Boiling Point apologists in the mid noughties, could be dismissed in some quarters as rote and expected. Although its unscripted magic still wowed GamesRadar+’s Rachel Weber.
In truth, Far Cry 6 dialed back the chaos from previous entries, allowing you to sheathe your weapons and walk unnoticed past enemy patrols as your guerilla blended among civilians. And perhaps that slight shift towards quiet unease indicates there’sstill a place for Stalker 2 in the open-world shooter ecosystem. In perfecting the precise cadence required to keep players giggling with flaming bears, Ubisoft has in fact made emergence predictable. In 2024, it takes a more uneven game to really surprise the spoiled masses. And ifStalker 2is bound to be anything, it’s uneven.
In retrospect, one of the defining traits of Stalker is its friction. Now that Ubisoft has long since smoothed out the jamming guns and malaria outbreaks that characterized early Far Cry, there’s plenty of room for a genremate that grates and punishes in just the right ways. If Fallout can keep selling us Americana, andAtomfalltaps into British folk horror, then the world ought to get to play in the Ukrainian post-apocalypse too. Even if those mutated dogs are no longer quite as disruptive as they once sounded.
Stalker 2 has some of the best FPS action I’ve played in 2024, thanks to its “old-school” formula that treats players as “highly expendable”
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GAME REVIEWSMOVIE REVIEWSTV REVIEWS1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension"2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package"3Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure"4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years"5Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths"1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show"2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie"3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action"4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien"5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite"1Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat"2Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses"3Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist"4Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands"5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”
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GAME REVIEWSMOVIE REVIEWSTV REVIEWS1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension"2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package"3Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure"4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years"5Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths"1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show"2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie"3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action"4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien"5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite"1Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat"2Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses"3Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist"4Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands"5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”
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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1
Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
2
Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
3Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure”
3Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure”
3
Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure”
4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years”
4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years”
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Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years”
5Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths”
5Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths”
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Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths”
1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”
1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”
1
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”
2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie”
2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie”
2
Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie”
3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”
3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”
3
Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”
4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
4
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite”
5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite”
5
Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite”
1Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat”
1Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat”
1
Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat”
2Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses”
2Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses”
2
Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses”
3Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist”
3Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist”
3
Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist”
4Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”
4Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”
4
Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”
5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”
5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”
5
Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”