They looked back at the trilogy and identified what people loved about it, but also at how developing a game evolved since then, digital distribution etc.
Old X-Ray hasn’t been updated since 2011 when Stalker 2’s development was halted
They’ve been working on a new engine, X-Ray 3.1 for a year
The engine can handle advanced photorealistic graphics, a unique lighting system but also older technologies without affecting the game’s look (I think he means it has ray tracing but also traditional lighting)
The engine is multiplatform and they want to finish developing it by the end of this console generation. They hope Nintendo will have a stronger console out by 2020
A-Life was difficult to work with. In an era when many gamers did not have Internet, they wanted to make a singleplayer game that felt like an online game, where stalkers have personalities and animals follow their instincts and a food chain
Stalker 2 will be an online game, no singleplayer – „why create a simulation, when we can have real people in the game now? Why write NPC behaviour systems, when you can have real people doing what they want. They will fill the game world with their real life, not an artificial one. We just have to give them the right tools”
The timeline is not locked, they might even soft-reboot it
Players won’t be split into factions from the start. All players have the same common quest. When a players reaches the goal, a blowout will redistribute the Zone’s balance of resources. They hope this mechanic will create dynamic clan systems, with players creating their own alliances and fights. Some will want to maintain the state of the Zone, others will want to update it as it would be better for their alliance. This is based on the Clear Sky faction system.
You can be a loner and don’t join any alliance
BUT! They still have an AI system, jokingly named „O-Consciousness”. This constantly updates the game world – from the state of the resources, to moving anomalies and controlling mutants.
They considered a battle royale mode but they think it may not even be popular anymore by the time the game launches. Faction war has always been popular in the Stalker community, however. Players will have the freedom to create arenas and battle royale modes if they want (I think he means in-game, not through modding)
They want to keep the game on for a long time, so they’re aware of the need for constant updates. They need it to bring a steady strem of money, but they don’t want it to be pay-to-win and they won’t split the community through DLCs
They will have cosmetic transactions: a lot clothes, player and weapon skins, music for the fireside guitar. There may be a mod workshop.
In-game money can be bought with real money. There will be a „contraband store” where players can buy equipment for in-game money, but hunting artifacts will be more profitable
The game has perma-death. After you lose three characters, you’ll have to buy new ones with in-game currency. Yes, this means you may have to pay real money. Joining an alliance and making friends will thus be beneficial.
They don’t want to reveal the anomalies, mutants and artifacts because they’re still designing them. They claim some anomalies wouldn’t work in a singleplayer game and they want to make surprising new mutants.
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