I admit it: I was scared. The shiny trailers, the Microsoft showcases, the Unreal Engine 5: Stalker 2’s marketing didn’t resemble a Stalker I knew and loved. Had GSC traded in all the series’ beloved clutter to pursue streamlined console success? Had it made Metro under a different name?

Never trust a trailer. It may be shinier and may have gamepad support, but Stalker 2 is still Stalker to its core, that unique and unreplicable blend of FPS, survival horror and immersive sim. Whether it’s X-Ray or UE5, the game’s ambition is still at the seams of the engine. It’s still filled with systems: factions, artifacts, anomalies, a world full of people going about their business and the staccato thuk-thuk of the weapons from the Eastern Bloc – sometimes pushing the whole thing to the breaking point and even beyond.