TheSTALKERseries has a long, complicated, and extremely storied history of development. From the earliest days ofOblivion Lostall the way to the release of theopen-source port of GSC Game World’s X-Ray engine, it’s quite fascinating. How likely, though, is it thatSTALKER 2tops all that?
Here’s the thing aboutSTALKER 2:the odds of it truly substituting and improving upon every single aspect of its predecessors are remarkably slim. I’ve said before that, following the latest developer deep dive, I’mwaymore keen on the state of the game than ever before. The developer, GSC Game World, is obviously doing its best to replicate the immaculate vibes of the oldSTALKERtitles in every possible way, but I just don’t see it happening across the board, and modding is one of the reasons why I feel this way.
Now,obviously, this article may well prove to be incorrect within a couple of years:STALKER 2may well be the title that will kickstart full-fledged Unreal Engine 5 modding in an unprecedented way. You’re going to want to keep a pinch of salt at hand as you read, is what I’m getting at. Yet, having been at the ground zero of each and every one ofSTALKER‘s PC releases, I can’t help but be skeptical of UE’s ability to host this franchise’s burgeoning modding community. Down below, I’ll explain why that’s the case.
STALKER 2 replaces X-Ray with Unreal Engine 5, but is it for the better?
Obviously, this header is a bit of a stinker when you think about it, because goodgriefwas X-Ray an absolute mess in itsShadow of Chernobylbuild. Yet, as years went by and OpenXRay came into its own, the community ended up fixing and improving upon every single aspect of the old, originalSTALKERtitles while developing a new standalone experience along the way.
This materialized in the form ofCall of Chernobyl– a free single-player mod that unifiesallthe content fromShadow of Chernobyl,Clear Sky, andCall of Pripyatinto one A-Life simulating super-sandbox. It isphenomenal, and if you haven’t yet given it a chance, I highly recommend doing so. Avoid the usual assortment of Anomaly and GAMMA modpacks that players often recommend, too: just giveSTALKERa chance for its ecology to start popping off. Now, hadSTALKERalways relied on third-party engines, this wouldn’t have been possible, and I firmly believe that, in turn, we wouldn’t be so vigorously discussing the merits of a full-featuredSTALKER 2to begin with.
Don’t get me wrong: Unreal Engine 5 is obviously going to be a huge improvement to the core stability and feature-set ofSTALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl. Its tech-stack is so massive that GSC Game World didn’t have to spend time producing their own custom engine that would, inevitably, come apart at the seams if X-Ray is anything to go by. Yet, in moving over to a mainstream third-party solution, GSC Game World is without a doubt losing something that’s been absolutely crucial toSTALKER: modding capacity.
The STALKER modding community is almost guaranteed to suffer
Certainly, therearemoddable Unreal Engine 5 games. The engine lends itself to third-party customization way better than its immediate predecessor, but it’s still not even close to the flexibility of Unreal Engine 3. UE3, in turn, was a pale shadow of some other game engines when it comes to modding, and X-Ray is one of them.
It’s crucial to understand thatSTALKERgames have had prolific modding communities basically from day one onwards. True, we didn’t get to enjoy the golden age ofCall of Chernobyluntil after the release of OpenXRay in 2020, but that’s beside the point: deep modding is a crucial implement for aSTALKERgame. It’s a pillar of the franchise’s community, and I sadly do not think this will continue withSTALKER 2:Heart of Chornobyl.
Here’s the jig: it all has to do with Unreal Engine 5 and how moddable it is or is not. Now, obviously,allof this depends entirely on the developer, a game’s community, and whether or not they end up releasing the mod-kit/SDK for a game in the end.SomeUE5 games are moddable, to an extent. TakeReady or Not, for example, which hasmap mods, gun mods, AI mods, and a variety of other thingamabobsplayers can install through the integrated modding UI.
Thing is, though, that virtually everyone recommendsmanually installing modsregardless, because the in-game UI is simply unreliable and doesn’t work properly half the time. I can vouch for this, too: the modswill notreliably load inReady or Notif you don’t put in some elbow grease.
Technically, the possibility of modding is on the table forSTALKER 2and, certainly, GSC Game World has promised to support it,as per the official website. Given UE5’s track record, though, I just don’t think the game’s modding community will ever reach the ridiculous heights of its predecessors. Predecessors which, note, didnotcome with SDKs of any sort, only for modders themselves to reverse-engineer them into being.
STALKER 2 will continue the franchise’s legacy, but jankiness and free-form modding may be a thing of the past
I fear that this article’s tone may suggest that I’m somehow skeptical ofSTALKER 2in general. Not at all, though: not afterthe latest batch of gameplay trailers and showpieces. Heck, I was absolutelythrilledwhen Scar ofClear Skyfame made a triumphant (and surprisingly jolly) appearance inhis own dedicated trailer.
No, I genuinely believe thatSTALKER 2: Heart of Chornobylwill deliver a trueSTALKERgaming experience that meaningfully riffs on what came before it. I just don’t think the game’s new tech-stack is going to allow the modding community to spread its wingsquiteas much as it did withCall of Chernobyl.
Gun skins, armors, and perhaps even some new content? I’m sure it’ll drop in, sooner or later. Something resembling a full-scale retrofit such as GAMMA, though? No shot. At least not from what we’ve seen of Unreal Engine 5 so far. And, really, it’s hard to argue that this hypothetical scenario wouldn’t be a marked loss for theSTALKERcommunity.
For the time being, let’s wait and see what comes of all this. Even ifSTALKER 2does manage to find its footing as a proper modding platform, it’ll take years before we know how far modders can take it. In the interim, we just gotta hope that GSC Game World can deliver the base gameplay experience we’re all hoping to see.
