The open world of Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl is vast, filled with horrors, treasure, and more than a few mysteries. There's also a main story arc you can follow, uncovering a plot that extends across the Zone. How you approach both sides of the game is up to you, but is there value in going off the beaten path, or should you follow the narrative thread the game lays out?
The Stalker 2 story is fairly interesting as post-apocalypses go, but there's a lot to discover in the open world that's entirely optional. Which you choose will determine a lot.
Don't worry, this guide is completely spoiler free!
One of the main disadvantages to sticking closely to Stalker 2's main story quest is how it slows down how much of the Zone you uncover and, therefore, how much more loot you can potentially collect. Sticking only to the Lesser Zone, essentially the tutorial area, will limit you to only a small selection of weapons, armor, and ammunition types.
The world beyond Lesser Zone is a vastly more dangerous place, with more numerous — and better equipped — enemies, different types of mutants and anomalies, and additional hazards not found in the safe harbor of the starting area.
There's also actually a bit of roleplaying you can do because, initially, the Lesser Zone is locked down by the Wardens. There is a hole in their cordon in the southeast of the area, though, giving you a chance to skip the entire opening story and get one over on a group of tightwad trying to instill order on a chaotic landscape.
Bear in mind that setting out into the unknown unprepared will only end in your death, so even if you don't want to dive into the main story quest, you should still see most of what the Lesser Zone has to offer to build up a stock of weapons, ammo, healing items, and other supplies.
Whenever you leave the Lesser Zone to see the wider world, know that the farther afield you go and the more risks you take, the greater your rewards are likely to be. Enemy weaponry is better, and hidden loot is at a higher power level, but the people, creatures, and things guarding that better gear are equally powerful.
From an aesthetics standpoint, the world beyond the starting Lesser Zone is also more varied and more beautiful, with wider vistas, different environments, and stranger sights to see. If you're only in the open-world genre for cool screenshots, you're bound to find many more of them by exploring the world than by following a slower, guided tour of the place.
You might even stumble on some side quests you're wholly unprepared for, and you will undoubtedly find some main story locations untethered by their narrative shackles.
Perhaps the best argument for exploring the world of Stalker 2 before doing the main story is how much easier that story will be with potentially endgame-level gear. Sure, having the best weapons and armor in the game diminishes the challenge, but you can instead enjoy the story on its own merits rather than be hamstrung by difficult fights or other gear checks you'd otherwise face.
You might also be a player who sees finishing the story as the end of the experience, regardless of how many or how few hours you've put into the game. If you're of that mindset, focusing on exploration is an invaluable way to extend the Stalker 2 experience without putting yourself at risk of losing a reason to play.
Exploration is great and all, but a playthrough of Stalker 2 can quickly go off the rails if you're underequipped. Your first encounter with a Bloodsucker, for instance, is bound to be harrowing with limited weaponry. If you keep to the critical path, you shouldn't run into many such horrors. Human enemies will be equipped similarly to you, keeping the difficulty curve relatively flat.
Progression on the main quest is fairly steady, as well. You won't be using high-tech, military-grade hardware at any significant speed, but you'll at least be able to loot a few more advanced guns before too long. Fights will also be better tuned to your current gear set, with tough encounters actually testing you without being too easy or too difficult.
Screenshot hunters should enjoy the main story almost as much as explorers, with the game putting you in some of the most cinematic and beautiful locations by default, saving you from needing to search for the perfect shot.
There is also story-gated content you simply can't access without progressing. Getting out of the Lesser Zone is one thing. Reaching some of the most secure locations in the main Zone is quite another, as there are other characters who've spent much longer defending their charges than you have seeking them out.
Following the main story provides a more curated and consistent sense of discovery, as where you go and what you do depends on the needs of the narrative, not some desire to skirt the story. It can be a slower method of seeing the world, sure, but you can see it across a more consistent thread than if you were simply following the wind.
Like most open-world games, a lot of Stalker 2's runtime is caught up in its open world and exploration, so if you don't have 40 hours to spend but still want to experience what the developers poured more than 15 years of their lives into, more strictly following the main story will let you do that.
Keeping to the story also avoids much of the content that some might consider fluff or padding, and there is some of that in Stalker 2. The generic bandit/soldier camps, random houses with random loot, and so on — you keep all of it at bay if you stick to the critical path, though you can be found wanting for specific items if you don't explore at all.
How you play Stalker 2 is ultimately up to you, and there is no universal best way. If you mix a good amount of story and a heftier amount of exploration, you'll likely get the most out of the experience without pushing for burnout or being gear-checked.
If you're a story-hound who loves watching a yarn unfold, we recommend seeking out the unknown every once in a while. For fans of unbridled exploration, we'd say the story in Stalker 2 is more than worth experiencing.
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