STALKER 2 Is Falling Victim to Russian Review Bombing

STALKER 2 Is Falling Victim to Russian Review Bombing

As a seasoned gamer with over two decades of gaming under my belt, I have seen it all – from groundbreaking masterpieces to disappointing flops. But STALKER 2 falls into the former category for me. Despite some initial bugs and optimization issues, which are inevitable in any game’s launch, the game’s potential is undeniable.


It seems that STALKER 2 has garnered both commercial and critical acclaim, yet it’s not universally appreciated – particularly among the Russian community.

Reports on social media suggest that there are messages circulating on Telegram, which appear to be from Russians, offering payments for negative reviews about Steam or TikTok games such as STALKER 2. These posts emphasize the need to highlight bugs and optimization issues, which are concerns currently being addressed in updates for these games. While fans have generally overlooked these problems and recognized the potential of STALKER 2, these messages seem designed to capitalize on one of the game’s vulnerabilities.

Currently, the game maintains a largely positive rating on Steam, based on more than 35,000 reviews. Some of the negative feedback appears to be justified, particularly for accounts with over 50 hours of gameplay. However, there are also brief and straightforward comments that simply state, “The game doesn’t function properly; I wouldn’t recommend it.

Here’s a way to rephrase the given text: The message you see below gives an illustration where templates can be found, either on Steam or TikTok, for individuals to utilize.

The Russian Invasion of Ukraine Has Affected STALKER 2’s Development

STALKER 2 Is Falling Victim to Russian Review Bombing

GSC Game World, the creators behind STALKER 2, have faced a challenging journey in bringing their game to life. Originally planned for release in 2022, the developer based in Kyriv, Ukraine had to relocate to Prague, Czech Republic due to the outbreak of the Russian-Ukraine war. The subtitle of the game, “Heart of Chornobyl,” was altered to the native Ukrainian spelling instead of the original Russian one, which was “Heart of Chernobyl.

Although it has some problems, the game has achieved remarkable success, selling over one million copies within the first three days. This rapid sales figure has caught the attention of other game developers, including Raphael Colantonio, co-founder of Arkane Studios. He criticized Metacritic for potentially damaging the popularity of STALKER 2. According to Colantonio, the current Metacritic system tends to reward safe, unoriginal games that are likely to receive favorable reviews, while unique, perhaps less polished games like STALKER 2, may suffer as a result.

It’s fortunate that the rough spots haven’t impeded the success of STALKER 2, as evidenced by its record-breaking player count on SteamDB, which surpasses 120,000 at peak times.

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2024-11-27 18:38