With the PS5 DualSense in hand, I trudge into Zalissya, STALKER 2’s first settlement of sorts, a tumbledown crossroad of dimly lit hangouts and sleeping quarters. The guards warn me to lower my weapon, and I’m happy to oblige. After scraping through my first night in the Zone, I’m already a little rattled. I didn’t play STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl on Xbox or PC last year, but with its core remaining largely identical on PS5, albeit with PS5-specific features and Update 1.7’s sweeping overhauls, I thought I’d have a rough idea of what to expect.
Hours earlier, before landing in Zalissya’s relative sanctuary, I’d been scaling the crumbling walls at the Zone’s perimeter; Dr. Hermann’s TOPAZ Scanner hoisted over my shoulder like a clunking rucksack. My mission was straightforward: find a spot to recharge the strange artifact that torched my apartment. Yet, here, creeping into the ink-black night, I got my first taste of the PS5’s unsettling immersiveness: as crunching gravel rolled through my fingertips, static radio comms cut through the DualSense’s speaker. Hostiles unknown knew of my presence already, and the 3D sound pinpointed a pair of troopers in the dark. I still wasn’t prepared, bullets whistled sharply overhead as pops of gunfire splashed across the marshland, the soundscape articulating clearly just how exposed I was.
“Visually, everything renders well on the base PS5, some asset and texture pop-in aside.”
This is the moment when I realise STALKER 2 isn’t the same as it was on Xbox and PC. The PS5 version benefits from adaptive triggers, haptic feedback, gyro aiming, lightbar integration, touchpad gestures, and Tempest 3D Audio, and while this reads like a list, it’s also an embodiment of the Zone’s atmosphere redefined by hardware; GSC Game World are squeezing every ounce of sensory fidelity the PS5 can offer, and the result strikes a perfect match. STALKER 2, defined by immersion, on the PS5 that is built for it.
In Zalissya’s corden, time slows enough to absorb STALKER 2’s environmental texture, rusted steel, rotten wood, and weathered concrete characterise every structure while nature reclaims the rest, overgrowing pathways to abandoned out-buildings deemed too decrepit to inhabit. See, GSC Game World’s drive for authenticity goes beyond the Zone’s Soviet-era architecture to lifelike decay. Under the glow of dusk, Zalissya’s unhurried moments reveal the Zone’s odd and somber beauty, brutalist bus stops, monuments, and radio towers, once triumphant, are now emaciated by generations of radiation.
Visually, everything renders well on the base PS5, some asset and texture pop-in aside, while the PS5 Pro pushes fidelity further through denser shadow and reflection quality, volumetric fog, enhanced cloud rendering, and global illumination. If the Zone wasn’t so carnivorous, it’d be an ideal nature reserve.
“You must listen through suitable headphones, if you can. TV sound systems or the PlayStation Portal’s onboard speakers cannot do the game’s sonic ambience justice. “
Still, no matter the peril, I must hoof its wilds on foot. And, during expeditions I’m accompanied by Yaroslav Odrin’s ambient score, where longform tracks blend seamlessly with my Geiger counter’s crackle. Without melody or motif, Odrin’s music reflects the tension of my mood, its airy sounds feeling oppressive, wistful, or pensive, depending on the moment. It’s music that sounds like searching, apt for our protagonist Skif, who spends a good deal of time in the Zone looking for things.
Further: rustles, voices, growls, and more prick my ears from every direction, travelling across the breeze via the PS5’s Tempest 3D Audio. The forest’s audible ephemera demands near-consistent alertness. Despite brief moments of stillness, STALKER 2’s rich music and sound design never lets me settle. Instead, it’s a mechanism for emotional pacing.
Self-curation is an emblem of the open world experience, but never has sound gripped me in such a way as to dictate my pace. GSC advises the Zone is a landscape not to be rushed, but it’s the game’s audio which forces my stateliness. It’s like the more I tune into its frequency, the more it teaches me how to survive.
Bottom line: this is as immersive a soundscape as I’ve ever experienced. You must listen through suitable headphones, if you can. TV sound systems or the PlayStation Portal’s onboard speakers cannot do the game’s sonic ambience justice.
Also, I’d strongly recommend Ukrainian VO to support immersiveness, as English speakers with American accents feel misaligned with the setting. It’s a shame that Update 1.7’s new “Immersive Mode”, zero HUD combined with a wider FOV, lacks subtitles. It’s superb for wide-screen exploration otherwise, so it’d be welcome if GSC introduced the option for certain HUD elements and text to broaden its appeal.
“When searching a decrepit house, I hear commotion: a band of Stalkers are clashing with a pack of wild dogs outside.”
Update 1.7, a content drop coinciding with PS5’s release, brings a suite of improvements, from systematic AI expansions, to stamina changes and inventory overhauls. Even set to the lowest difficulty, STALKER 2 is a challenging game, but through 1.7’s more realistic enemy behaviour, fights can feel fairer while still producing unexpected moments.
See, opponents now maintain a distance most optimal with their weapon, but will flank if you’re stationary. Their vision now worsens through vegetation, while any aggressor, human or otherwise, retreats when they realise their survival chances are dwindling. Territories are more hotly contested, with factions constantly fighting to expand control. 1.7’s updates, its enhancements, deepen STALKER 2’s already excellent emergent gameplay.
When searching a decrepit house, I hear commotion: a band of Stalkers are clashing with a pack of wild dogs outside. Peering through a window, I see one being mauled to death. Outside, I move to help but the Stalkers have regrouped elsewhere, so I finish the mongrels off myself.
Shortly after, still looking for the same lost shipment, I’m ambushed by bandits. Racing for cover I’m confronted by a lone Stalker; whether he’s investigating gunshots or randomly stumbling into the crossfire, him muttering “I don’t like the sound of this” through his gas mask convinces me he’s friendly, and together we return fire. We push the bandits back, and their sole survivor retreats towards a pockmark of collapsing brickwork. “He’s hiding now”, my ally suggests. So, we snuff him out, I take one side, he goes the other. Executing on sight, my guy loots the bandit corpse before I have a chance. We exchange a few words, then go our separate ways.
“STALKER 2 on PS5 delivers the most immersive and reactive version of the Zone to date.”
These emergent moments demonstrate where the game’s latest updates transcend being a simple list of features and bug fixes. Much like the PS5-specific additions, my experience is of hardware and game code coalescing to organic, reactive, sometimes unforeseen experiences.
They work on the minutiae too, feeling a rifle’s weight shift across the DualSense as bullets feathered into its chamber are locked-in by bolt-action; discerning each firearm’s trigger resistance; seeing the controller’s light bar flash in sync with the artifact detector; tapping the touchpad to engage my PDA; fine-tuning crosshairs in close-quarters combat with gyro aiming, GSC isn’t chasing gimmicks on the PS5, but imbuing STALKER 2 with deliberate, tactile flair.
The game’s impressive immersivity makes it easier to forgive some of its drawbacks. NPC facial animations are strangely jarring, its story, whilst best taken at a measured pace, takes too long to get going, and missions, encompassing, in large part, fetching things, are largely outdated. However, the real dynamism doesn’t come from quest design; in STALKER 2, the world is the star, and PS5’s version together with Update 1.7 breathes new life into an already intoxicating experience. What’s more, Stalkers, by occupation, are scavengers; their existence is in pursuit of artefacts and intel. So, the game’s mission design, as unimaginative it may be, fits the fiction regardless.
STALKER 2 on PS5 delivers the most immersive and reactive version of the Zone to date. It feels alive more than ever before, both technically and atmospherically. Some open worlds are created as space to enjoy existing in, others are tailored to endure. Remarkably, STALKER 2’s Anomalous Exclusion Zone achieves both. And now, finally, on PS5, that strange balance sinks deeper with every step, where scraping through even a single night feels like a small miracle.
This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.
