Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl | Developer Deep Dive
Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl is an open-world single-player first-person shooter developed by GSC Game World. Players will explore the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone to dispatch dangerous enemies, anomalies, and artifacts on a vast adventure. Make choices and choose a fate through the epic adventure through the Heart of Chornobyl. Check out the extensive developer deep-dive to explore the team's insights, the world and locations within the Zone, the cinematic direction process, and a first look at a story quest set in the Great Swamps. Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is launching on November 20 for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Game Pass, and PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, and GoG).
Transcript
00:00This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to anyone, living or dead, is coincidental and unintentional.
00:30This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to anyone, living or dead, is coincidental and unintentional.
00:35Atmosphere.
00:38Freedom.
00:41Loneliness.
00:44Doom.
00:46Fear.
00:57Scene 3, take 1.
00:58My name is Maria Kryvrovych. I am the creative director of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.
01:04Today we will introduce you to our world and our game a little more.
01:12We will show you one of the quests in the swamp region.
01:19We hope that at the end of this video you will understand what kind of world it is,
01:25how much soul and effort we put into it.
01:31My name is Yevhen Kryvrovych. At S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 I am the game director and the head of the studio.
01:38While working on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, we constantly had to look back at the success that the developers of the first part set,
01:48because we cannot do less than some new levels.
01:53Hello everyone. My name is Dmitry Onozhko. I am the lead level artist of GSC Game World.
02:00I am responsible for making S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 a big, beautiful and visually interesting world.
02:08S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 took a special place in my heart.
02:11The Chernobyl disaster is the story of my family and my childhood.
02:15The real zone surrounded me, frightened me, but at the same time inspired me.
02:22And it still inspires me with its dead carelessness and invisible, but deadly danger.
02:29And that's why there are still countless places where you can feel the spirit of that time.
02:35And in the ruins of this real world, we created our world, giving it a unique story.
02:40Hello. My name is Igor Dokoteles. I am the team leader of the Cinematics Department.
02:44And we work in the game on cutscenes.
02:46This world is very important to me, because I can say with confidence that I,
02:51as well as all the developers of this game, have spent the most time in it in recent years.
02:57It cannot be compared, put next to another game, because there is no other game like this.
03:02S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is a huge, seamless, open world, which consists of as many as 20 regions.
03:13And each region has its own peculiarities, architecture, inhabitants, anomalies, even nature.
03:20And many of them can be a completely separate game.
03:24Why such a big zone? Because it is about freedom.
03:27To give this feeling of freedom, to give this feeling of loneliness, to give this feeling of anxiety.
03:36In the game, there are almost no closed barriers that prevent the player from going anywhere.
03:44That is, in most cases, the player can visit any location.
03:50Most of our locations have real prototypes.
03:52Some of them we implemented precisely, some of them were slightly re-painted or reworked.
03:59We reviewed a lot of references, thoroughly studied all the real locations, the nature of the zone.
04:05This is an extremely unique combination of settings, which is based in the real world.
04:09And especially for me, these ideas and implementations seem very original.
04:14For me, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, in the first place, is a role-playing game.
04:19The player plays, he is in the body of a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. person.
04:27The game allows you to be a very different S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
04:32Go where you want, do what you want, feel what you want, make your decisions, you can do anything.
04:40And this freedom is the basis of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
04:49S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is the first to enter the swamp, a region once inhabited by people.
04:53There are no S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s here, but there are many other dangers.
04:58The essence of this quest is to use the device to gain access to the key location, the base of Clear Sky.
05:07S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is an ordinary person with a very difficult soul.
05:11He is not a superhero, but he has a complex character.
05:15He doesn't like to talk very much, but he is not afraid to act.
05:17He is on a diet.
05:48For one pass, you will not be able to see the entire content and get to know everyone.
05:57Depending on your choices, you will get a slightly different story, different quests, meet someone new.
06:07If you pass later, you will be on the other side of the barricades, so to speak,
06:13and look at it from a different perspective.
06:35In the original trilogy, the location was a burnt hut.
06:37It was surrounded by an anomaly called S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
06:40As you can see, they are still here.
06:42This is an anomaly called S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
06:44in which we find artifacts with the help of detectors.
06:49We did a lot of work to allow players to delve deeper into the main plot of the game.
06:54We wanted to visualize the events and characters with whom you will be able to get to know each other
06:59and whose goals and visions of the situation can be revealed to you.
07:03Finally, the path chosen by you will open a zone with a unique side.
07:07You will be able to explore the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
07:28The basis we laid in the design is that the game should give the experience of being a stalker,
07:37but without a plot.
07:39Probably one of the main elements of the player's progression,
07:45the player's strengths,
07:47is to be in the world of a new equipment,
07:52or weapons,
07:54or attachments, upgrades.
07:56And most of this comes not from the progression of the plot,
08:02but from the curiosity and research of the world.
08:07The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
08:09The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
08:11The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
08:13The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
08:15The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
08:17The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
08:19The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
08:21The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
08:23The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
08:25The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
08:27The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
08:28The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
08:30The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
08:32The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
08:34The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
08:36The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
08:38In this zone, blind dogs attack the player first,
08:41and then pseudo-dogs.
08:43Pseudo-dogs come to play with their phantoms.
08:46They are visually indistinguishable.
08:48To win, the player must find a real dog and kill it,
08:50killing it and all the phantoms.
08:52The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
08:54The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
08:56The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
08:58The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
09:00The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
09:02The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
09:04The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
09:06The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
09:08The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
09:10The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
09:12The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
09:14The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
09:16The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
09:17It is impossible to determine the exact date of our return at this time.
09:24In order to keep the base secure in the absence of scientific personnel, I have reconfigured five emission monitoring beacons.
09:32In addition to reading higher order Psi effects, their functionality has now been supplemented with the emission of Psi radiation into the surrounding environment.
09:43I hope that this will be enough to keep everything intact until our return.
10:13Therefore, this is more like a warning and additional understanding of how to deal with it.
10:43They are buried in such an empty place, there are carcasses here.
10:52In this case, it would be advisable to throw a grenade at them and then deal with the gun with the one who remained.
11:14Let's not forget to monitor the condition of Skif. He may be hungry, he may want to sleep, like a real person.
11:23Each such mini-problem reduces its effectiveness, so you should always monitor it.
11:43In the original trilogy, many locations were inaccessible to the player, and in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 we opened them.
11:59For example, this church hatch. It was not possible to visit it in the original trilogy.
12:04Inside, there is a hatch, as well as locked doors. You need to shoot a barrel through the gap in the wall, and then we enter the room where the reward awaits us.
12:34This is the room where the reward awaits us.
12:39The reward is hidden in this room.
12:44The reward is hidden in this room.
12:49The reward is hidden in this room.
12:54The reward is hidden in this room.
13:06Here we see the church. This is the central and most noticeable location of the swamp region.
13:11This is a cat-fighting league. It imitates the voices of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. players, who cry for help.
13:16The inexperienced S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 1 voice catches up with the mutant himself.
13:24The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 1 voice catches up with the mutant himself.
13:29One of the most important tasks to create this world and to feel its authenticity is artificial intelligence, which is divided into two categories.
13:44This is one direction of artificial intelligence. This is a peaceful behavior.
13:49The other direction is a behavior motivated by the presence of an enemy and a threat to oneself.
13:55We artificially do not indicate where the enemy is.
13:59That is, if he sees him, he knows.
14:02If the enemy is hidden, the intelligence begins to build hypotheses about where the enemy is.
14:09He does not know where he went, but he begins to make hypotheses about where he can be.
14:16Over time, he recalculates these hypotheses and begins to look for the player.
14:21The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 1 voice catches up with the mutant himself.
14:24The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 1 voice catches up with the mutant himself.
14:27The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 1 voice catches up with the mutant himself.
14:30The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 1 voice catches up with the mutant himself.
14:33For the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 1 voice, we have implemented quite a lot of variations in the weapon.
14:39In total, this is 35.
14:42The weapon has a great potential for diversity,
14:47because the same weapon with different upgrades or attachments begins to feel different.
14:59By activating the turret, we shoot at the malleus of the pillow.
15:02The thing is that not all malleuses are dangerous in the zone, some may even drown.
15:07The pillow can be used so as not to hold the damage when falling.
15:30Making a game that has so many aspects about freedom
15:36is very difficult technically, it is very difficult in general in terms of time,
15:43because freedom means that the number of options that we have played with,
15:53what it will do, it grows in a geometric progression.
15:58It's just an unconditional amount of everything.
16:00And what if it does this?
16:03And what if it does this?
16:05And what if it hits this?
16:07It takes tens of thousands of options.
16:11And in each of these options you have to try to cover and understand
16:16what experience you will give your player.
16:34In the next episode
16:47Someone on the tower has long left a sniper rifle.
16:50Maybe it was someone from the clear sky.
16:53Now that we have picked it up, we have the opportunity to go to the next location more effectively.
16:59It has a limit on the weight it can carry.
17:05When overloaded, the possibilities for very fast, dynamic movement are lost,
17:12and the player is forced to stop or make a decision,
17:16yes, I will leave it here and go on, or I will return to it later and go on.
17:58They are coming, these are zombies.
18:08It should be remembered that zombies will always rise, no matter how many you kill them.
18:12The best thing you can do is shoot in the head.
18:18We see a pump station on the horizon.
18:20Another familiar location from the previous series.
18:29And we see that the whole station is full of zombies.
18:33In this case, we are very lucky.
18:35Weapons with a good run.
18:38Oh, and there's a controller.
18:40So we need to get to the controller as soon as possible and finish him.
18:45And each of his attacks increases the level of all radiation and slowly kills us.
18:58The second group of stalkers can sometimes change their minds.
19:04Sometimes they can split up.
19:06Sometimes they can do something that will seem like a player,
19:10but this is not at all the answer to the question of how to play.
19:15It's not a game, it's a game.
19:17And the game is a game.
19:19And the game is a game.
19:21And the game is a game.
19:23Sometimes they can do something that will seem like a player,
19:26but this is not at all the answer to their ideology.
19:30As in real life, where people, even when they seem very close to each other ideologically,
19:38then it turns out that there are some moments when they are completely divided into new groups.
19:46In the original trilogy, there were very few people in the zone.
19:51We implemented this in the second part of the game.
19:54And now each of the groups is certain to be careful when arranging their permanent shelter.
19:59For example, free stalkers believe that it is better to stay alone or in small groups even in their permanent camps.
20:09The duty is also related to military discipline and advice.
20:13But the most brutal, perhaps, is once the population camp of monoliths.
20:19They look especially scary in places like kindergartens or schools.
20:25Here is the contrast of children's beds, toys and headless bodies next to each other.
20:32It looks extremely scary.
20:35You have the ability to learn the history of these people,
20:40interact as a real stalker would interact with them.
20:46I think we managed to convey this.
20:50This game will be interesting for both those who are interested in the plot
20:55and those who are interested in, for example, going to the second, third, fourth,
21:01ignoring the plot, just exploring this world.
21:15What have I done to deserve your silence?
21:19Why must I wander in the dark without my brothers?
21:24Without purpose?
21:26Answer me!
21:30Forgive me.
21:34I know I must not doubt.
21:37How can I know your will if I cannot hear you?
21:42Show me the way.
21:44Let me know I am not alone.
21:48And we see that this is a continuation of the same dialogue,
21:53which again tells us about Faust and his plea to the monolith, I think.
22:00Because we know that after the shutdown of all facilities,
22:06most of the monolithers woke up and stopped hearing the voice of the monolith.
22:15I am not alone.
22:20We did not want to make the game much simpler to make the player comfortable,
22:26because for us it kills the feeling of reality.
22:31If a player has a lot of chances for errors, he does not die,
22:36he has a regeneration of hit points.
22:40No, then it's not a stalker.
22:45This constant dynamics and unexpectedness,
22:48as for me, creates this interesting experience,
22:53which after the end of the battle, when some moment of silence begins,
22:59to survive and feel these high moments that were in you,
23:04and those decisions that you had to make quickly to survive this situation.
23:44Let's go.
23:46Let's go.
23:48Let's go.
24:12Oh, this is the flesh.
24:14Once upon a time there was a pig.
24:17All mutant zones have a prehistory.
24:19The flesh is a former domestic pig.
24:21Experiments were carried out on dogs.
24:23The controller was once a human,
24:25so he also tries to arrange his reason as a human.
24:44His name, Strider, is unknown to me.
24:48But he is one of ours.
24:51You are the one who sent him to me.
24:54I know it.
24:56He says our brothers are scattered all over the zone,
25:00lost to no memory of themselves.
25:04He, too, did not know who he was.
25:08But that doesn't matter anymore.
25:11Strider and I will find the others and help them remember.
25:15Whatever has forced you to remain silent,
25:18we shall find the reason and set things right together.
25:22This I swear.
25:3810, 15, 80, 100.
25:41You progress by getting to know this world better,
25:46reacting faster.
25:48For me, this is exactly what players expect from Stalkers.
25:54I think we managed to reach a balance
25:58when the game is both challenging
26:02and rewarding at the same time.
26:32There are situations when lightning strikes our enemies or us.
26:38It always helps or spoils the plan.
26:46We took on one of the most difficult missions in the game.
26:55At first, it was very ambitious.
26:59But over time, it became more ambitious,
27:04more difficult, and more interesting to do.
27:24Found with a stone around his neck.
27:28Burrow off a cliff.
27:31A bracelet on his hand.
27:35Torn apart by dogs.
27:38Killed.
27:40Missing.
27:42Clip yet.
27:44Killed.
27:45Dead.
27:47Wild Island.
27:55Working on the cutscenes for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2,
27:59our main goal was to expand the game experience
28:02and add more details in the key moments of the main story.
28:12In the process of working on the cutscenes,
28:15we went through all the key stages of development.
28:18Scenery, schemes, and animatics became an important tool
28:21for iteratively working on the scenario and preparing for shooting
28:24using motion capture technology.
28:30Thanks to the presence of our own motion capture studio,
28:33animators and directors could continuously improve the work,
28:37achieving good results.
28:39Decided to play soldier with me?
28:45But we can't quite seem to get all the pieces to fit.
28:48Maybe you can figure it out.
28:51Gradually, the world of the game came to life.
28:53It was filled with sounds, music, and the voices of the heroes,
28:56creating a feeling of real life.
29:08I can say with confidence that for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2,
29:11we developed up to three hours of cutscenes.
29:14That's more than 43 episodes.
29:17It's almost like a big movie inside a big game.
29:27Conceptual work on locations, devices, and characters
29:30helped us to understand the game environment
29:33and create original versions of locations in the early stages.
29:48We did a lot of work to allow players
29:50to dive deeper into the main plot of the game.
29:53We wanted to visualize the events and characters
29:56that you will be able to meet,
29:58and whose goals and visions of the situation
30:00can be revealed to you.
30:02Finally, the path chosen by you will open you to a zone with a unique side.
30:18One of the most important functions of cutscenes
30:20is the thorough development and detailing of the game characters.
30:23Through cutscenes, players gradually get to know the key characters,
30:27recognizing their motives and understanding how the past
30:30affects their actions today.
30:32This process greatly affects the perception of the world,
30:35the game, and the zone as a whole,
30:37forming their decisions and recognizing the consequences of their choices.
30:48The entire studio worked on these cutscenes,
30:51starting with the models,
30:53continuing with locations,
30:56the gameplay,
30:58the characters,
31:00how the characters sound,
31:02their voices in Ukrainian and English localization,
31:05how the music sounds,
31:07how the sound of each cutscene sounds,
31:10how the characters move,
31:12how their faces move,
31:14how everything works in general.
31:16This is the work of the entire team and the entire studio.
31:19And in all this,
31:21I think we spent almost three years of intensive work on it.
31:25That is, we are now at the point
31:28when all this will go into the open world,
31:31into open life,
31:33and I really want to see how people will accept it all.
31:45The biggest achievement for me in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
31:49is not the game itself,
31:52but the path that this development has taken,
31:57that this game has taken
31:59in order for it to come out.
32:01And the number of people who have invested a part of themselves,
32:06their creativity,
32:08in creating this game,
32:10in creating this world.
32:12I am fascinated by the fact that it does not cease to amaze me again and again,
32:16even after years of development.
32:18It is very similar to diving under water.
32:20The first meters are sunny and beautiful,
32:22not so scary and scary anymore.
32:24But the further we dive,
32:26the colder and darker it gets.
32:28We begin to hear how hard and loudly our hearts beat.
32:32This descent does not end.
32:34At some point we will understand that this is the end.
32:37At some point we will understand that there is no way back.
32:41We are too deep.
32:43The only thing that remains is to continue this dive into the cold and darkness,
32:46under incredible pressure.
32:48There are very few chances to survive.
32:50The only hope for a miracle is somewhere deep in the abyss.
32:54Even if none of this happened,
32:58it would still be a great achievement
33:02to start the project and implement it.
33:06With all these difficulties,
33:08I feel that we are superheroes.
33:12It is impossible to do something like this,
33:15like this world, this plot, this game,
33:18when you are alone,
33:20or when you are not enough, or you are not enough.
33:23Only teamwork and cooperation of real talents,
33:30specialists in their fields,
33:33only under such conditions,
33:36through a series of certain defeats and victories,
33:40it is possible to reach the moment
33:43when something new, so big,
33:46large and large-scale,
33:48is really created and begins its life.
33:51I really dare to be just a part of it.
33:55Stalker 2 will be for the players and for us,
34:00in any case, a unique game,
34:03because it is made by a Ukrainian company,
34:06and the story that we tell,
34:09both from the point of view of the plot,
34:13from the point of view of the way the story is told,
34:16and from the point of view of the design of the game process,
34:19it will be a completely different story,
34:22because it is told under a different angle.
34:26This is an opportunity to get more interested,
34:29to get to know, to interest people
34:32with everything that is native and Ukrainian for us.
34:39We dream that you fall in love with this world,
34:42that you can imagine yourself in it,
34:45that you can find yourself in it,
34:48that you get pleasure from the process,
34:51without thinking about the end result.
34:54And even if it's just a pleasure
34:58from a cool shooter from the first sight,
35:03we hope that you will remember it,
35:08because it is different, it is alive.
35:11Everything we do is for you to like it.
35:17We dream that it would be so.
35:20The project is to develop this game
35:23and work with these people, with this team.
35:27And this is the best journey in development in my life.