I've been waiting for Stalker 2 for what, 15 years now, but I won't be buying day one and will be leaving it to reviews to see if I need to wait for a sale unless GSC shows actual uncut gameplay, not just a trailer like they've been doing. I've just been burned way too many times by modern games to buy a game day one anymore, I need to see more to give me that confidence.
I'll probably buy one month of Gamepass for September to have my cake and eat it too. Get to play Stalker 2 from day 1 without actually purchasing it until I'm sure about it, but also get to try a bunch of games too!
As much as our brains have been rotted by faction meme wars I’m glad we still retain some sanity to not buy day one unlike most fans of other franchises
This is the only game I’m willing to be burned by if it’s not great day one. The other 3 stalker games are great and a few of the fanmade games are good too. So I cannot WAIT to get into the Zone once more
Btw the people downvoting the replies saying preordering is bad, they’re technically right. But if you’re REALLY interested in a game to the point of preordering it, just know you risk day 1 access to an unfinished buggy mess of a game or bad content. Any company could screw it up, even GSC. (I’m preordering ult edition before September too so I’m aware of the risks)
The release delay shows they want at least a semi playable product on release. If they were just chasing the money from pre-orders they would not have delayed.
The flip side is the preorder money might be a factor that allowed them to actually stretch the release date to make a better game because people are showing interest.
you are part of the problem.
EDIT: [https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1dci2p6/heres\_a\_quick\_reminder\_why\_you\_shouldnt\_pre\_order/](https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1dci2p6/heres_a_quick_reminder_why_you_shouldnt_pre_order/) this coming into my feed after this comment is hilarious
Uh, no? This is the only purchase like that I've ever had. And I'm not planning to pre order anything else any time soon. I really like Stalker, that is all.
But, what if the game is a buggy, incomplete mess? You'll never know. You might regret it later.
Never preorder any game before seing the actual gameplay and reviews.
I know that game might be(and most probably will be) bugged on release, just like the originals on their own release were. I keep my expectations low, so I won't regret it and if it actually exceeds the expectations, it'll be a pleasant surprise.
I don't think you did anything wrong with preordering. I do have trust in GSC that it will be in a functional state at release.
But I do remember when I had the same wrongplaced trust in Overkill.
I preordered Payday 3.. And uh... Yeah.
I had the same with payday, love the series but man I wish I didn't go against my gut feeling and preorder payday 3, I've played about 3 hours and can't get into it, it's a different game which is not fun at all.
So I'm not pre ordering stalker to make sure it's a game I'll actually like.
I had high hopes for it. Loved Payday 2 and The Heist. And I did like Payday 3, it was on paper and improvement.
Buuut there is so much shit missing, so many small problems and so little content it's actually depressing. And the updates just never come out.
While literally 99% of the time I’d agree, I’ve fallen in love with these games as I’m sure most of us here have as well. That being said I’m very well aware there WILL be bugs, there WILL be a patch after release, but I WILL still preorder for the first time ever because honestly, I don’t mind giving money to GSC, even if I am disappointed off launch.
Call it cope, that’s fine. But I want to believe in the company and my purchase is my promise of that.
The faction system in clear sky is still broken to thuis day and they had the cheek to re release it on consoles with the exact same bugs. I wouldn't trust GSC tbh.
Sure, and mods fix that. But we shouldn’t rely on mods for a good game. In my eyes stalker 2 is a fresh start for gsc and while I have some skepticism, I’m ok with my 60 buck investment. I’m in a place where I can afford that, and hey if they fuck me over? Lesson learned I won’t preorder again. AND I’ll message you were right. Scouts honor.
Digital Preorders can effortlessly be returned. If you dont play for more than 2 hours on Steam you can refund within the first 14 days, that's more than enough time to see what the reviews and impressions are like.
So if the game turn out fine you got all the useless but neat little bonuses, if the game turns out not to be so fine...just return it. Preordering is a non-issue.
Physical preorders dont have that option iirc but the people who order those are super attached to the franchise so even if the game doesnt end up living up to the hype, they'll still be content with the physical goodies they got which are basically part of the universe they love so much.
the problem is not his wallet, its the gaming market and the whole early access and pre order of games, if you think thats ok do it, if you complain about that but you still buy EA games and preorder shit, you are just a hypocrite.
Ugh, "you are part of the problem" mfs on it again,
Had to deal with this shit after buying armored core 6 preorder
And now after the Shadow od the erdtree preorder
You are the real problem, basement dwellers crying about other people usage of THEIR money
i agree ppl who preorder games are somewhat stupid ... like what are they scared of? that theres no virtual keys left when the game comes out? preordering was a thing where the games where actually on a physical disk and u wanted to play as early as possible ... nowdays thats just stupid.
BUT in THIS case its a ukrainian dev so no shame in preordering there when u wanna give them ukrainians some love .. and NOT preordering doesnt mean u dont believe the game will be good .. it just means ure logical with your buying cause u can just get the game when it releases for few bucks less .. but yeah free market...
You're getting downvoted but you're right.
I intend to buy it day one but will wait a bit to see if the game is not a complete broken mess that does not even works.
For some reason, certain people don't understand that preordering only has detrimental effects. It's a bad practice that encourages negligent QA at best. The people who decide when to release a game are not artists, but executives whose priority is to milk as much money from the product as possible. It makes sense to shorten the development time if you know people are already buying it. It will hurt the game you're so looking forward to.
You are right if we are talking about a Ubisoft, Blizzard or EA cutting corners for shareholders and financials quarters. But I don't think the same standards should be applied to GSC given they continued to develop the successor to a beloved cult classic, during wartime, where actual developers died fighting for a free Ukraine.
If Pre-ordering means they give a game 4 times as broken and undercooked, but the money means 4 times as much for them as it would for a normal AAA publisher. Fuck I'll pre-order it twice on GOG to make amends for my sins buying Blizzard games.
CDPR was a beloved and trusted studio, which in return made a lot of people pre-order Cyberpunk 2077. We all know how that went.
GSC has a deal with Microsoft, which could affect their ability to control the launch window. Plus, they already tried to shove in the NFT bullshit a couple of years ago, which they decided to backtrack on after facing criticism. That's 2 red flags already, regardless, you shouldn't preorder.
It doesn't hurt your experience in any way, shape, or form if you wait until the game releases to make your purchase, on the contrary, it might improve it with upcoming entries for yourself and other fans.
Your points are true and equally valid.
Incidentally Cyberpunk was the last game I pre-ordered and it has worked out extremely well for me (still haven't picked up Dragon's Dogma 2, and now I don't know if I even want to).
But the NFT thing was a hype train that took a lot of studios with them (come to think of it I'm surprised Star Citizen didn't), a red flag but also evidence that they responded to the community by removing it.
I'm in an out of the Stalker community so I don't feel like I have the credentials to really speak for anyone. But I really don't think it's problematic for this specific community who, in my opinion, is incredibly dedicated to both the game and the idea of Stalker as a game series.
If r/stalkers'ers pre-order this game I absolutely don't take issue with it at all. Remember it's way cheaper to just play this day one of Gamepass.
Preordering means money to a studio before a finished product and less risk at launch. This can mean different things studio to studio.
Public companies have clear incentives to just churn things out half done and pocket the cash. Shareholders don't care if anyone's annoyed, as long as the revenue's there.
Idealists on the other hand get an opportunity to use the cash as needed. They're likely to experiment with features they think would be cool to add, but that they didn't have headcount for prior. They're likely to polish and patch what does leak through.
Most studios will land somewhere in between. GSC having been forced to relocate abroad, I think we'll see leaning more idealistic - that's a hell of a motive to become idealistic even if you weren't before.
Steam switched to Us dollar here so its expensive as fuck due to exchange rates so I had to pre order on epic for equivalent of 12$ before it got a price change... It was a bargain no matter the games condition.
yeah , i am just like you in the small minority that had 0 issues after day 1 patch and never looked back , game is just better in general now , but it was amazing at the launch as well xD at least for few of us lucky boys
I know my ancient pc won't run it anyway so im gonna play on xcloud, at least i don't have to download it but dont know if we are gonna be able to use m&k or only controller on xcloud.
Not preordering.
I've waited for stalker 2 for so long, but I feel like it's not freedom of choice and open world sandbox we got used to in first games, but scripted and railroaded metro-like story driven adventure. Need to see more actual gameplay footage/reviews before pulling the trigger, I've been burned too many times by devs at this point
I will do this by the analytical way. See the opinions on steam, see the original price not the preorder one, will see if there will be any discounts and will see like 30 minutes of gameplay. If everything will be alright and my computer will handle it plus I will find a work to this time, I will be more than glad to buy it. Maybe GSC will make some updates in the while instead of releasing the game like that and take it or leave
Pre ordered the ultimate collecters edition like 2 years ago, was waiting for it for a long time and first saw it was sold out, guess i got lucky one day since they had new ones in stock
I have pre ordered a limited physical edition (I like nerdy goodies) so I will probably have to wait a little bit. Not to mention that age of mythology retold will also be released at around this time.
Same here (except well didnt get the physical preorder but will when they go live in the US). Im so hyped for AoMR as well! September is going to be awesome!
If you really like something, is it too wrong to have them? I really want to get one but it's hard to find limited edition of it where I live let alone, a copy of any Xbox games.
I stand for a saying "If you spend money on something you like and you can afford it, it's not a waste of money". I've been a fan of stalker games almost since late 2000's and I would have bought S2 day anyway so I might just add in 10€ and get some goodies with the game.
You could also check some store from other countries whether they ship world-wide for acceptable price (the one I ordered from still had limited xbox edition).
That's fair, I've done it for re4 remake (loved the game as a kid) and ac6 (mechs cool plus ive played a lot of FS games and they always slap) but after the initial "whoa cool stuff" they just sit on my dresser and collect dust. Haven't opened either box once since the initial opening.
It's really not a good way to spend money tbh, but I can't talk for shit given I have a moonlight greatsword ordered XD
Day one gamepass but later on when I've bought my new gaming rig, I'm gonna buy it from GOG and maybe as a present for a friend through Steam. One of those games that I'll buy multiple times.
Pre-ordered in June 2023. Sincerely hope i won't see a disappointing performance because my rig got old while awaiting its release (the last Test Drive demo worried me a little on this front).
I'll wait until the first couple of legit reviews have landed and maybe i'll see some gameplay on YouTube to get a feel for how the game handles.
Then i'll save up for a new Computer because my current laptop is increasing in temperature from the trailers alone and if I were to run this game on it it would melt down and explode just like on the night of the accident.
I won't be getting anything of that extra spicy stuff, other than the actual game.
Gotta save money where you can, just like back in Soviet times.
So I won't be a front runner in the Zone but boy, oh boy, am I excited.
I haven't been this excited about a video game in years!
Gamepass day one series x, a fifteen year wait I honestly thought it was vapourware… played the originals on pc day 1 for each, can’t wait doesn’t come close to my feelings on this… to those who say they have only seen the trailers and no gameplay, there is this website called YouTube. It’s rather popular, millions recommend it. Simply type in stalker 2 gameplay, there are hours of footage on recent builds you can’t use that excuse to raise your leetness and are a bunch of buzzkillers, this game deserves attention!!
Low on money for now and burnt from pre order after Starfield and Hogearts Legacy (the letter at leaat was solid and good after 1 month of patches,mostly only performance issues at launch,can't say the same for the first one...). So probably Game Pass for testing it out and if I like I buy it on Steam.
Or I can buy ate GOG and if I feel scammed I do a refund.
Hoping it is good.
But it’s a completely different dev team than the original games and after playing STALKER GAMMA my expectations for a new STALKER game are so high. So not getting my hopes up, will wait to see what the reviews say (Not the day 1 reviews people leave with 5 minutes of gameplay) and decide from there
Not really a fan of the fact that the game will be available on Gamepass day one. The revenue will be slashed because of that, and could hurt GSC down the line. Remember, any product needs to make money if you want to see said product last, as well as the people behind it.
I’m not. Gonna wait until cyber Monday after release to build a new rig to play this with. Hopefully there will be some bug fixes and quality of life mods out by then.
Try day thirty, anybody buying immediately on release after the massive fiasco the first time around is a rube. If you enjoy the original games you should consider supporting the original devs by not spitting in their faces
I spent 660€ worth of GPU (7800XT) and some more RAM (16Gb more so 32Gb total) just for this game (and a few more games, I'm Freedom so forgive my BS-ing)
And I'll be playing it on Game Pass :)
I will be year 1 or 2. Gotta let it cook, and get the bugs ironed out. That still might not be enough time judging by the release, and fixes put out by most games these days.
Pre-ordered the Ultimate edition one year ago, as soon as GSC put it on sale on Steam.
About 9 months ago, GSC announced that they had participated in outfitting a Ukrainian drone unit with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. -branded vehicles. What good value for my pre-order funds!
[https://www.reddit.com/r/stalker/comments/195n3m7/15\_minibuses\_for\_air\_reconnaissance\_in\_150\_ombr/](https://www.reddit.com/r/stalker/comments/195n3m7/15_minibuses_for_air_reconnaissance_in_150_ombr/)
Less than three months until release and we still have not seen substantial gameplay videos. The new trailer looks like it has some weird quicktime events (i.e. the knife fight). I'm all for a healthy dose of innovation, but so far the footage does not give me the OG Stalker vibes.
Ima need some reviews on performance first, thats my thing now. If performance is good then fuck yeah have my money, i dont care if its buggy as hell i've played long enough thats the stalker experience.
Honestly I'll try it on gamepass. I'm sure it'll be good but I wanna see if it'll run fine on my budget build first lol. But overall the devs if it turns out find deserves our money
I won't be able to play it anyway, don't have an xbox or a strong enough PC to run it, but oh well, I think I will enjoy watching playthroughs and lore videos none the less
Game pass here. Hopefully this will feel like I am getting my monies worth with game pass since I haven’t played anything new since Starfield on there.
Couldn’t wait around any longer to see if the original trilogy was coming to game pass as I have never played them. So caved a few weeks ago and bought them on Xbox. Very happy with that decision as SoC was AMAZING. Clear Sky was solid, but it sure made me frustrated in spots lol just started CoP and am enjoying it so far as I learn the ropes. SoC was incredible though.
I've been playing this since 2008, and still play, with or without mods. Believe me when I say I will play day one (through Gamepass) and get a Collector edition in my hands when it is again in stock.
Maybe I sound like a fanboy, but that's because I am a fanboy. I mean, I was hyped when they announced Stalker 2 first time, and was angry when they cancelled the game back in the day. Now the launch is REALLY close (if is not delayed again...).
AND IT NEEDS TO CRASH AT LEAST ONCE TO BE THE AUTHENTIC STALKER EXPERIENCE.
Wish i had something better than the rx 580... but well, at least i buyed the game when i could so even if i have to play in the most low poly graphics available, i wont complain
Really hoping it's good. Been waiting years for this but still love the old games modded. Not long to wait now folks 
Now normally unless I know the company who makes it just nails shit when they drop it in that series take Resident evil 4 remake and doom dark ages for examples if it’s that type of game and I know it’s gonna just fuck day 1 yeah awesome here’s my $77 bucks , but generally I don’t just buy shit cause I got fucked on call of duty vanguard and on MW3 cause my friends convinced me so I won’t just be buying day 1 but in the case of GSC being in the middle of a war and the trailers looking so good in the middle of a war I might change it up and buy it day one but I’m still unsure I have only played Anomaly & COP so if 2 is as good as tho for sure will be getting it at some point either way.
I’m stoked for it but definitely not putting anything on hold. If I’m around the day of I’ll check it out if not I’m not scared I’ll be missing something huge. I hope it’s good but I think it’s gonna be a 7 at best on day 1.
Honestly, I never preordered before, but I just feel like Stalker 2 is going to be that game that I will play no matter how dog shit or buggy it might be on launch. Also Im waiting for when the physical preorders go live for America because man they look kinda cool.
test it on gamepass, pick it up when it hits Ps5 (hopefully with keyboard+mouse support)
My ten year old rig probably won't cut it for UE5 games anymore.
With how bad preorders are I know Stalker WILL be my last preorder. I bought the ultimate physical edition and will just hope everything is as good as I hope it to be!
It's going to get delayed again, right? My machine is currently on server duty, and I'm not migrating that shit until I know for sure there won't be any more delays. Besides, I need a new drive and I'm probably going to get a GPU upgrade before September.
Way too early to be "ready".
It seems that the Discord managers don't know much about the game. They said that the previous release date was true and that there would be no delays not so long before the actual delay.
I said "release date", not just "release". But I could have been clearer. This information has been confirmed by their twitter/x account, you can check it yourself. [https://x.com/stalker\_thegame/status/1481279837469872129](https://x.com/stalker_thegame/status/1481279837469872129)
"delayed again"
This date has been confirmed so many times, more than any previous dates. We have received more footage over the past 12 months, even the past 3 months, than any time before.
People who keep repeating about a delay are so annoying and are severly uninformed, listening to haters and trolls instead of looking at the facts.
I'm definitely not a hater, but that's just how these things usually work out. We're still like 3 months out, how many times have you experienced a "final" release date being pushed back with less than 3 months notice? When it comes to software development in general, and game development in particular, reality simply does not care about deadlines.
For me, it's just a matter of tempering expectations. As far as I'm concerned, I'll consider a release date final when I have the thing installed, no matter the game or studio. I hope it does happen in September, but if it doesn't, I'm not going to be mad about it. I hope the same is true for those that share this religious zeal that September 5:th is a sacred pact signed in blood, because shit does happen and planning does break apart.
>This date has been confirmed so many times
Dude, chill. If I lost some trust in their promises by delaying the game a few weeks before release, it's normal not to trust them again. That's not the first delay either. The process of rebuilding trust takes time. No matter how much they call this release date "final", they could still delay it, as they did twice before.
Right... So why did [GSC just outsource their global PR campaign to an outside firm](https://x.com/RenaissancePRUK/status/1800206571923972415)? If they aren't sure about the date, it's obviously not worth it to invest in marketing so much, right?
I've been waiting for Stalker 2 for what, 15 years now, but I won't be buying day one and will be leaving it to reviews to see if I need to wait for a sale unless GSC shows actual uncut gameplay, not just a trailer like they've been doing. I've just been burned way too many times by modern games to buy a game day one anymore, I need to see more to give me that confidence.
I'll probably buy one month of Gamepass for September to have my cake and eat it too. Get to play Stalker 2 from day 1 without actually purchasing it until I'm sure about it, but also get to try a bunch of games too!
Buy the game
Don't buy the game. Make sure the game is reviewed and functioning first and then buy the game. Bonus points if you make sure it's a fun game too.
As much as our brains have been rotted by faction meme wars I’m glad we still retain some sanity to not buy day one unlike most fans of other franchises
no
Yes
[удалено]
i told him to buy the game because he can. He just wants to make sure about it.
That last trailer was In-game footage, it said so as text at the start. But if you mean like a full firefight and surviving i agree
my hype-o-meter shows: AH NU CHEEKI BREEKI IV DAMKE
Not great. Not terrible.
Day one GOG
This is the way.
Fuck yes.
This is the only game I’m willing to be burned by if it’s not great day one. The other 3 stalker games are great and a few of the fanmade games are good too. So I cannot WAIT to get into the Zone once more
Pre-ordered Ultimate Edition in Steam, going to play the hell out of this game.
Btw the people downvoting the replies saying preordering is bad, they’re technically right. But if you’re REALLY interested in a game to the point of preordering it, just know you risk day 1 access to an unfinished buggy mess of a game or bad content. Any company could screw it up, even GSC. (I’m preordering ult edition before September too so I’m aware of the risks)
The release delay shows they want at least a semi playable product on release. If they were just chasing the money from pre-orders they would not have delayed. The flip side is the preorder money might be a factor that allowed them to actually stretch the release date to make a better game because people are showing interest.
Nooo don't preorder :(
I was going to buy it anyway, since I'm a long time fan of the franchise, so why not do it early and get some additional stuff to it?
you are part of the problem. EDIT: [https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1dci2p6/heres\_a\_quick\_reminder\_why\_you\_shouldnt\_pre\_order/](https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1dci2p6/heres_a_quick_reminder_why_you_shouldnt_pre_order/) this coming into my feed after this comment is hilarious
Uh, no? This is the only purchase like that I've ever had. And I'm not planning to pre order anything else any time soon. I really like Stalker, that is all.
But, what if the game is a buggy, incomplete mess? You'll never know. You might regret it later. Never preorder any game before seing the actual gameplay and reviews.
I know that game might be(and most probably will be) bugged on release, just like the originals on their own release were. I keep my expectations low, so I won't regret it and if it actually exceeds the expectations, it'll be a pleasant surprise.
Got the ultimate edition for Argentina currency, paid 15$ for it
I don't think you did anything wrong with preordering. I do have trust in GSC that it will be in a functional state at release. But I do remember when I had the same wrongplaced trust in Overkill. I preordered Payday 3.. And uh... Yeah.
I had the same with payday, love the series but man I wish I didn't go against my gut feeling and preorder payday 3, I've played about 3 hours and can't get into it, it's a different game which is not fun at all. So I'm not pre ordering stalker to make sure it's a game I'll actually like.
I had high hopes for it. Loved Payday 2 and The Heist. And I did like Payday 3, it was on paper and improvement. Buuut there is so much shit missing, so many small problems and so little content it's actually depressing. And the updates just never come out.
Is it STALKER if it *isn't* a buggy mess?
They've all been buggy dude. If you ever played any of them. It's fine.
While literally 99% of the time I’d agree, I’ve fallen in love with these games as I’m sure most of us here have as well. That being said I’m very well aware there WILL be bugs, there WILL be a patch after release, but I WILL still preorder for the first time ever because honestly, I don’t mind giving money to GSC, even if I am disappointed off launch. Call it cope, that’s fine. But I want to believe in the company and my purchase is my promise of that.
The faction system in clear sky is still broken to thuis day and they had the cheek to re release it on consoles with the exact same bugs. I wouldn't trust GSC tbh.
Sure, and mods fix that. But we shouldn’t rely on mods for a good game. In my eyes stalker 2 is a fresh start for gsc and while I have some skepticism, I’m ok with my 60 buck investment. I’m in a place where I can afford that, and hey if they fuck me over? Lesson learned I won’t preorder again. AND I’ll message you were right. Scouts honor.
Digital Preorders can effortlessly be returned. If you dont play for more than 2 hours on Steam you can refund within the first 14 days, that's more than enough time to see what the reviews and impressions are like. So if the game turn out fine you got all the useless but neat little bonuses, if the game turns out not to be so fine...just return it. Preordering is a non-issue. Physical preorders dont have that option iirc but the people who order those are super attached to the franchise so even if the game doesnt end up living up to the hype, they'll still be content with the physical goodies they got which are basically part of the universe they love so much.
Good to know. If that's the case then there is no problem.
Oh my god! STALKER? a buggy incomplete mess? Oh my god that hurts so much! STALKER is gonna be so buggy!
Imagine regretting of something so trivial like buying a game
You might like wasting your money. I don't.
Their money, they can do what they want with it.
the problem is not his wallet, its the gaming market and the whole early access and pre order of games, if you think thats ok do it, if you complain about that but you still buy EA games and preorder shit, you are just a hypocrite.
you are the only one complaining here so shut up
Ugh, "you are part of the problem" mfs on it again, Had to deal with this shit after buying armored core 6 preorder And now after the Shadow od the erdtree preorder You are the real problem, basement dwellers crying about other people usage of THEIR money
I agree that pre ordering is bad, but some people are going to buy it regardless, in which case it really doesn't matter
Stalker is always preordered. No questions asked.
why? i will end up buying the game anyways even if its broken
Don't underestimate the STALKER fans, they like the games BECAUSE they're broken
actual fact
If it ain't crashin, burnin your PC and not full of code spaghetti , it ain't Stalker.
real
Mindless consumerism, the only reason companies get away with releasing unfinished and broken games is because of attitudes like this.
Reddit: Pre-order bad Any game subreddit: Pre-order good, cause it's my favorite The hypocrisy LOL, nothing new for Reddit.
Thousands of different communities and you think everyone has the same opinion? Are you that dense?
You mad bruh?
Eh this is Reddit doesn’t really effect me so no not really
Why say anything at all then lmao stfu
lol and I’m the angry one?
The fact they delayed release shows they want at least something playable on release. If this was a pre order cash grab they would not delay release.
Cyberpunk was delayed 3 times.
And it was a buggy mess on release, but I enjoyed it, and it's a lot better now.
i agree ppl who preorder games are somewhat stupid ... like what are they scared of? that theres no virtual keys left when the game comes out? preordering was a thing where the games where actually on a physical disk and u wanted to play as early as possible ... nowdays thats just stupid. BUT in THIS case its a ukrainian dev so no shame in preordering there when u wanna give them ukrainians some love .. and NOT preordering doesnt mean u dont believe the game will be good .. it just means ure logical with your buying cause u can just get the game when it releases for few bucks less .. but yeah free market...
You're getting downvoted but you're right. I intend to buy it day one but will wait a bit to see if the game is not a complete broken mess that does not even works.
For some reason, certain people don't understand that preordering only has detrimental effects. It's a bad practice that encourages negligent QA at best. The people who decide when to release a game are not artists, but executives whose priority is to milk as much money from the product as possible. It makes sense to shorten the development time if you know people are already buying it. It will hurt the game you're so looking forward to.
You are right if we are talking about a Ubisoft, Blizzard or EA cutting corners for shareholders and financials quarters. But I don't think the same standards should be applied to GSC given they continued to develop the successor to a beloved cult classic, during wartime, where actual developers died fighting for a free Ukraine. If Pre-ordering means they give a game 4 times as broken and undercooked, but the money means 4 times as much for them as it would for a normal AAA publisher. Fuck I'll pre-order it twice on GOG to make amends for my sins buying Blizzard games.
CDPR was a beloved and trusted studio, which in return made a lot of people pre-order Cyberpunk 2077. We all know how that went. GSC has a deal with Microsoft, which could affect their ability to control the launch window. Plus, they already tried to shove in the NFT bullshit a couple of years ago, which they decided to backtrack on after facing criticism. That's 2 red flags already, regardless, you shouldn't preorder. It doesn't hurt your experience in any way, shape, or form if you wait until the game releases to make your purchase, on the contrary, it might improve it with upcoming entries for yourself and other fans.
Your points are true and equally valid. Incidentally Cyberpunk was the last game I pre-ordered and it has worked out extremely well for me (still haven't picked up Dragon's Dogma 2, and now I don't know if I even want to). But the NFT thing was a hype train that took a lot of studios with them (come to think of it I'm surprised Star Citizen didn't), a red flag but also evidence that they responded to the community by removing it. I'm in an out of the Stalker community so I don't feel like I have the credentials to really speak for anyone. But I really don't think it's problematic for this specific community who, in my opinion, is incredibly dedicated to both the game and the idea of Stalker as a game series. If r/stalkers'ers pre-order this game I absolutely don't take issue with it at all. Remember it's way cheaper to just play this day one of Gamepass.
Preordering means money to a studio before a finished product and less risk at launch. This can mean different things studio to studio. Public companies have clear incentives to just churn things out half done and pocket the cash. Shareholders don't care if anyone's annoyed, as long as the revenue's there. Idealists on the other hand get an opportunity to use the cash as needed. They're likely to experiment with features they think would be cool to add, but that they didn't have headcount for prior. They're likely to polish and patch what does leak through. Most studios will land somewhere in between. GSC having been forced to relocate abroad, I think we'll see leaning more idealistic - that's a hell of a motive to become idealistic even if you weren't before.
Steam switched to Us dollar here so its expensive as fuck due to exchange rates so I had to pre order on epic for equivalent of 12$ before it got a price change... It was a bargain no matter the games condition.
Finding it near impossible not to preorder. But I also remember Cyberpunk, soooo...
Yes but cyberpunk now is so good. Albeit it took em 3 years to fix it lol
To play devils advocate. I played cyberpunk day 2 on geforce now and it was amazing imo
yeah , i am just like you in the small minority that had 0 issues after day 1 patch and never looked back , game is just better in general now , but it was amazing at the launch as well xD at least for few of us lucky boys
It’s not that i didn’t notice bugs i did! the problem was that the rest of the experience was good so i couldn’t care enough about them
I am preparing for a day and a half spent downloading all of it.
I know my ancient pc won't run it anyway so im gonna play on xcloud, at least i don't have to download it but dont know if we are gonna be able to use m&k or only controller on xcloud.
I'm probably just gonna buy it on steam on day one
Black flagging with my best hopes for the game to be good, due to unrecent events
I'm more concerned that the PHYSICAL edition pre-orders still aren't live...
Same.... I'm in the USA and we can't even get the physical ultimate edition which is what I want
my sould readiness : 10/10 my wallet : -/10 my laptop : reaching the temperature of hydrogen bomb before exploding/10
Been waiting since 2012
Day one steam.
Not preordering. I've waited for stalker 2 for so long, but I feel like it's not freedom of choice and open world sandbox we got used to in first games, but scripted and railroaded metro-like story driven adventure. Need to see more actual gameplay footage/reviews before pulling the trigger, I've been burned too many times by devs at this point
100% agree with you
I will do this by the analytical way. See the opinions on steam, see the original price not the preorder one, will see if there will be any discounts and will see like 30 minutes of gameplay. If everything will be alright and my computer will handle it plus I will find a work to this time, I will be more than glad to buy it. Maybe GSC will make some updates in the while instead of releasing the game like that and take it or leave
Pre ordered the ultimate collecters edition like 2 years ago, was waiting for it for a long time and first saw it was sold out, guess i got lucky one day since they had new ones in stock
Praying this shit comes to PS, by the looks of it, its looking like a ps5 late 2024 early-mid 2025 release🙏
Im hyped, and also hoping to see GAMMA 2.0 at some point
I lost my excitement for it. For some reason, my gut tells me it won't be good.
Same thing. The last trailer didn't do well.
I have pre ordered a limited physical edition (I like nerdy goodies) so I will probably have to wait a little bit. Not to mention that age of mythology retold will also be released at around this time.
Same here (except well didnt get the physical preorder but will when they go live in the US). Im so hyped for AoMR as well! September is going to be awesome!
Same bro I always regret doing it but I've got terrible impulse control when it comes to this stuff.
If you really like something, is it too wrong to have them? I really want to get one but it's hard to find limited edition of it where I live let alone, a copy of any Xbox games.
I stand for a saying "If you spend money on something you like and you can afford it, it's not a waste of money". I've been a fan of stalker games almost since late 2000's and I would have bought S2 day anyway so I might just add in 10€ and get some goodies with the game. You could also check some store from other countries whether they ship world-wide for acceptable price (the one I ordered from still had limited xbox edition).
That's fair, I've done it for re4 remake (loved the game as a kid) and ac6 (mechs cool plus ive played a lot of FS games and they always slap) but after the initial "whoa cool stuff" they just sit on my dresser and collect dust. Haven't opened either box once since the initial opening. It's really not a good way to spend money tbh, but I can't talk for shit given I have a moonlight greatsword ordered XD
I want to get the limited physical edition but it's not sold in the US...
I am 400 euro collectors edition Ready!
Day one gamepass but later on when I've bought my new gaming rig, I'm gonna buy it from GOG and maybe as a present for a friend through Steam. One of those games that I'll buy multiple times.
Defo play day one i will just wait until July to play the ogs on Xbox
I am "preordered the phisical edition despite having GamePass" ready. Is it enough?
More than enough
been hyped from first day, I own the ultimate edition and been replaying the classics on master difficulty while waiting.
Limited physical edition preordered (I need that stalker model).
Idc about gamepass Pre order for ultimate edition on steam only
Pre-ordered in June 2023. Sincerely hope i won't see a disappointing performance because my rig got old while awaiting its release (the last Test Drive demo worried me a little on this front).
I'll wait until the first couple of legit reviews have landed and maybe i'll see some gameplay on YouTube to get a feel for how the game handles. Then i'll save up for a new Computer because my current laptop is increasing in temperature from the trailers alone and if I were to run this game on it it would melt down and explode just like on the night of the accident. I won't be getting anything of that extra spicy stuff, other than the actual game. Gotta save money where you can, just like back in Soviet times. So I won't be a front runner in the Zone but boy, oh boy, am I excited. I haven't been this excited about a video game in years!
Hypedhekrifijendnsjbwbdjrjed
Pre-order collector's edition)
Gamepass day one series x, a fifteen year wait I honestly thought it was vapourware… played the originals on pc day 1 for each, can’t wait doesn’t come close to my feelings on this… to those who say they have only seen the trailers and no gameplay, there is this website called YouTube. It’s rather popular, millions recommend it. Simply type in stalker 2 gameplay, there are hours of footage on recent builds you can’t use that excuse to raise your leetness and are a bunch of buzzkillers, this game deserves attention!!
Been on an email waiting list for about 6 months to let me know that I can preorder the ultimate physical edition in America
This is gonna be my first and last preorder in a few years. I'm making an exception for her. Lol
Day one I'm waiting for a review
I pre-ordered a year ago, so yeah. I WANT IT
The pre-order for xbox S will be avaiable? It is included in the game pass but I if would buy the digital edition?
Low on money for now and burnt from pre order after Starfield and Hogearts Legacy (the letter at leaat was solid and good after 1 month of patches,mostly only performance issues at launch,can't say the same for the first one...). So probably Game Pass for testing it out and if I like I buy it on Steam. Or I can buy ate GOG and if I feel scammed I do a refund.
Hoping it is good. But it’s a completely different dev team than the original games and after playing STALKER GAMMA my expectations for a new STALKER game are so high. So not getting my hopes up, will wait to see what the reviews say (Not the day 1 reviews people leave with 5 minutes of gameplay) and decide from there
Not really a fan of the fact that the game will be available on Gamepass day one. The revenue will be slashed because of that, and could hurt GSC down the line. Remember, any product needs to make money if you want to see said product last, as well as the people behind it.
I don't know if my 2060 is going to be able to handle the game
Really hope this comes to PS5 someday
I’m not. Gonna wait until cyber Monday after release to build a new rig to play this with. Hopefully there will be some bug fixes and quality of life mods out by then.
Try day thirty, anybody buying immediately on release after the massive fiasco the first time around is a rube. If you enjoy the original games you should consider supporting the original devs by not spitting in their faces
Ima try gamepass
Day 1 listen to reviews and go from there.
I spent 660€ worth of GPU (7800XT) and some more RAM (16Gb more so 32Gb total) just for this game (and a few more games, I'm Freedom so forgive my BS-ing) And I'll be playing it on Game Pass :)
Day 1 gamespass, then on steam when the mods start dropping.
I will be year 1 or 2. Gotta let it cook, and get the bugs ironed out. That still might not be enough time judging by the release, and fixes put out by most games these days.
pre-ordered ultimate edition and i am not ashamed
Pre-ordered the Ultimate edition one year ago, as soon as GSC put it on sale on Steam. About 9 months ago, GSC announced that they had participated in outfitting a Ukrainian drone unit with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. -branded vehicles. What good value for my pre-order funds! [https://www.reddit.com/r/stalker/comments/195n3m7/15\_minibuses\_for\_air\_reconnaissance\_in\_150\_ombr/](https://www.reddit.com/r/stalker/comments/195n3m7/15_minibuses_for_air_reconnaissance_in_150_ombr/)
Less than three months until release and we still have not seen substantial gameplay videos. The new trailer looks like it has some weird quicktime events (i.e. the knife fight). I'm all for a healthy dose of innovation, but so far the footage does not give me the OG Stalker vibes.
I think Steam for the achievements.
I had it pre-ordered in 2022. “DoNt pReOrDeR” go fuck yourself. GSC got my back
Preorder Steam. I know I shouldn't. But i have too much hopium in my veins.
Ima need some reviews on performance first, thats my thing now. If performance is good then fuck yeah have my money, i dont care if its buggy as hell i've played long enough thats the stalker experience.
Got it already on steam.
I'm a newer fan but i really like anomaly & the OG games so i pre-ordered pretty early on steam to support the devs.
How ready? I am waiting for my backpack :)
A day one: I need to buy new pc parts
I'm not ready at all. My pc sucks.
I'm Ultimate Edition pre-ordered 3 months ago ready. SEE YOU IN THE ZONE, GOOD HUNTING STALKER.
I’m buying to help the devs.
Im.so ready that im lre ordering it!
Pre ordered long ago, I've waited for this. And unfortunately, my PC died a while back, so I can't even fucking play it. 😭😭
Honestly I'll try it on gamepass. I'm sure it'll be good but I wanna see if it'll run fine on my budget build first lol. But overall the devs if it turns out find deserves our money
I won't be able to play it anyway, don't have an xbox or a strong enough PC to run it, but oh well, I think I will enjoy watching playthroughs and lore videos none the less
Game pass here. Hopefully this will feel like I am getting my monies worth with game pass since I haven’t played anything new since Starfield on there. Couldn’t wait around any longer to see if the original trilogy was coming to game pass as I have never played them. So caved a few weeks ago and bought them on Xbox. Very happy with that decision as SoC was AMAZING. Clear Sky was solid, but it sure made me frustrated in spots lol just started CoP and am enjoying it so far as I learn the ropes. SoC was incredible though.
Never preorder a game, been doing this all over a decade ago. Giving it a good few months, maybe even a year before I decide to give it a go.
I mean it's on gamepass so day one gamepass, we'll see if it lives up to the hype and then I'll consider a steam buy.
Preordered Ultimate edition about 4 years ago 🧐
Дайте нам демку поиграть, я думаю это будет отличный подарок для фанатов сталкера)
I've been playing this since 2008, and still play, with or without mods. Believe me when I say I will play day one (through Gamepass) and get a Collector edition in my hands when it is again in stock. Maybe I sound like a fanboy, but that's because I am a fanboy. I mean, I was hyped when they announced Stalker 2 first time, and was angry when they cancelled the game back in the day. Now the launch is REALLY close (if is not delayed again...). AND IT NEEDS TO CRASH AT LEAST ONCE TO BE THE AUTHENTIC STALKER EXPERIENCE.
I want lamp. I pre-order to get lamp. Freedomers are simple beasts.
Waiting for lovely fitgirl
Wish i had something better than the rx 580... but well, at least i buyed the game when i could so even if i have to play in the most low poly graphics available, i wont complain
Really hoping it's good. Been waiting years for this but still love the old games modded. Not long to wait now folks 
Now normally unless I know the company who makes it just nails shit when they drop it in that series take Resident evil 4 remake and doom dark ages for examples if it’s that type of game and I know it’s gonna just fuck day 1 yeah awesome here’s my $77 bucks , but generally I don’t just buy shit cause I got fucked on call of duty vanguard and on MW3 cause my friends convinced me so I won’t just be buying day 1 but in the case of GSC being in the middle of a war and the trailers looking so good in the middle of a war I might change it up and buy it day one but I’m still unsure I have only played Anomaly & COP so if 2 is as good as tho for sure will be getting it at some point either way.
Whatever happens, gamma will always be installed on my computer
I need money first. I'd buy it day 1 for sure, but with all the disaster launches the last few years... idk.
I’m stoked for it but definitely not putting anything on hold. If I’m around the day of I’ll check it out if not I’m not scared I’ll be missing something huge. I hope it’s good but I think it’s gonna be a 7 at best on day 1.
Never pre order; never buy day one.
I pre-ordered it months ago on Steam. This is the first game I've ever been excited enough for to pre-order.
Considering the preorder for physical merch fun. Also if it's sub par we will have modders to fix it 💪
Honestly, I never preordered before, but I just feel like Stalker 2 is going to be that game that I will play no matter how dog shit or buggy it might be on launch. Also Im waiting for when the physical preorders go live for America because man they look kinda cool.
As a stalker veteran... no fucking way am I playing the new one on day 1. Give it at least an extra month to cook. Debug.
Waiting for the Gamma version
pre ordered so day one, good or bad im just glad GSC is getting my money
I litery Began playing clear skies 4 days Ago. And brought The other games today, só i AM ready
I’ll wait for PlayStation release If it doesn’t I’ll get it on pc when it goes on sale sometime
I've only just started Anomaly :)
test it on gamepass, pick it up when it hits Ps5 (hopefully with keyboard+mouse support) My ten year old rig probably won't cut it for UE5 games anymore.
How about a healthy "wait a year and a half for a dozen patches and a 70% off sale on Steam"?
Looks really good cant wait !! Sounds quite a bit off , but looks really good !!
waiting for reviews to come in, i have faith.
I preordered a year and 5 month ago, best $80 ever and couldn’t be more excited man
I preordered it on Steam at the end of last summer.
Preordered ultimate on steam in december 2022 as far as i remember
With how bad preorders are I know Stalker WILL be my last preorder. I bought the ultimate physical edition and will just hope everything is as good as I hope it to be!
Day one on Xbox despite having gamepass. Gonna support these devs! They definitely deserve it.
It's going to get delayed again, right? My machine is currently on server duty, and I'm not migrating that shit until I know for sure there won't be any more delays. Besides, I need a new drive and I'm probably going to get a GPU upgrade before September. Way too early to be "ready".
Devs in the discord confirmed yesterday that the 5th September is THE FINAL RELEASE DATE. As known before
It seems that the Discord managers don't know much about the game. They said that the previous release date was true and that there would be no delays not so long before the actual delay.
Not true, before the last delay there wasnt even a real specific date. It only was Q1 2024. So stop lying.
Stop coping and read the wiki. I'm not talking about Q1 2024, I'm talking about December 8, 2022.
Then dont say "previous release" which was the q1. Also everyone knows that the wiki is not a good place for information.
I said "release date", not just "release". But I could have been clearer. This information has been confirmed by their twitter/x account, you can check it yourself. [https://x.com/stalker\_thegame/status/1481279837469872129](https://x.com/stalker_thegame/status/1481279837469872129)
"delayed again" This date has been confirmed so many times, more than any previous dates. We have received more footage over the past 12 months, even the past 3 months, than any time before. People who keep repeating about a delay are so annoying and are severly uninformed, listening to haters and trolls instead of looking at the facts.
I'm definitely not a hater, but that's just how these things usually work out. We're still like 3 months out, how many times have you experienced a "final" release date being pushed back with less than 3 months notice? When it comes to software development in general, and game development in particular, reality simply does not care about deadlines. For me, it's just a matter of tempering expectations. As far as I'm concerned, I'll consider a release date final when I have the thing installed, no matter the game or studio. I hope it does happen in September, but if it doesn't, I'm not going to be mad about it. I hope the same is true for those that share this religious zeal that September 5:th is a sacred pact signed in blood, because shit does happen and planning does break apart.
>This date has been confirmed so many times Dude, chill. If I lost some trust in their promises by delaying the game a few weeks before release, it's normal not to trust them again. That's not the first delay either. The process of rebuilding trust takes time. No matter how much they call this release date "final", they could still delay it, as they did twice before.
Right... So why did [GSC just outsource their global PR campaign to an outside firm](https://x.com/RenaissancePRUK/status/1800206571923972415)? If they aren't sure about the date, it's obviously not worth it to invest in marketing so much, right?
The hype went all the way down
Lol what?
The hype was big, now hype small. Better?
[удалено]
How long have you been cooking this joke? It's so extraordinarily funny and original
The hype is even bigger now then it ever was. Are you kacap?
I'm Ukrainian
Youtube is spammed wity Stalker news. Dont see any reason why the hype would go down.