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You do not need to play the original game before playing Stalker 2, but the game is better enjoyed in the original game’s context.
After years of delays and waiting, Stalker 2 is right around the corner, and players couldn’t be more excited to jump back into the post-apocalyptic Zone once again. The game is looking to throw players into the deep end in a world riddled with monsters and humans, with nothing to differentiate between the two. As the game’s hype reaches its apex, it has left spectators from the outside wondering: Do you need to play the original game before playing Stalker 2? The answer is no, as the two games are fairly standalone.
Stalker Story and Lore
Calling the world of Stalker post-apocalyptic is underselling what it truly has to offer. The world is bending in on itself and is an amalgamation of warping realities. Stalker is set in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, simply called the Zone, six years after a second nuclear catastrophe hit the site in 2006. The nuclear disaster and radiation have rendered these lands into a nightmare. New alien-like horrific lifeforms roam these lands, killing indiscriminately. Whirlwinds, too, hit these lands in a manner that defies the laws of nature itself.
While the land has spawned abnormalities and monsters, it has also spawned treasures and trinkets. These treasures, in turn, have given rise to stalkers. Stalkers are people who trespass and stalk these lands in search of treasures and trinkets to sell. These stalkers either work independently or under organized factions. They fight through these horrific lands with just one mission: retrieving the artifact. As factions compete for artifacts, it turns human against human, leading you to question who you should really fear in these ruined lands.
The Story of the Original Game
The original game puts you in the shoes of the Marked One, an amnesiac stalker roaming the Zone and tasked with killing another stalker, the Shooter Srelok. You begin the game pulled out of a wreckage in the Zone. With no memories of the past, you only have a message on your arm to go off of: Kill Strelok.
The story spans the entirety of the zone, bringing you face to face with the horrors created by the nuclear disaster. As your search for Strelok deepens, you unravel the truth of the Zone and the story behind its creation.
Stalker 2 is set 20 years after the Chornobyl nuclear disaster. The game brings in familiar faces and factions, rewarding long-time fans of the original game. While the latest game can be enjoyed as a standalone experience, we believe that knowing the Zone and the truth behind its horrors adds valuable context.
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