For veteran fans of the franchise,STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobylhas been a long time coming. While theSTALKERfranchise remains somewhat niche, there is an air of excitement surroundingSTALKER 2as GSC can finally introduce another mainline entry to a gaming market that is substantially bigger than in 2007 when it debuted its first title. There is a real opportunity to makeSTALKER 2: Heart of Chornobylthe next big thing in the single-player shooter space; however, GSC can’t hold back on one of the things that madeSTALKERa cult classic on PC in the first place:Skyrim-level mod support.
From 2007 through 2009, theSTALKERseries became a flagship PC franchise that modding enthusiasts loved to tinker with before the series went dormant for over a decade. In its absence, Bethesda took up the mantle as one of the most mod-friendly developers in the business, eventuallymakingSkyrimandFallout 4the standard for mod supporton PC and even consoles. IfSTALKER 2wants to make a big return and honor the legacy of previous games, especially on consoles, it should look at what Bethesda has done with the modding scene over the past 14 years.
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Mods Defined the Original STALKER Experience on PC
The originalSTALKERtrilogy is PC gaming royalty due in part to its love for the PC space and robust support for mods. While PC and consoles are practically siblings these days, theoriginalSTALKERtrilogycame from a time when the differences between the two platforms were quite drastic. Perhaps one of the biggest differences of that time was PC’s support for community-generated content. The Xbox 360 generation of consoles was part of a now antiquated philosophy where the hardware involved in making these consoles was entirely proprietary and, in many cases, complex to develop for and walled off for anyone who wasn’t a traditional game developer. The very curated approach to content on consoles meant that fans could only go to PC for video game modding.
PC-only franchises likeSTALKER,where fans had access to all parts of the game, harbored thriving communities due to mod support. From simple community bug patches to giant projects likeSTALKER: Call of Chernobylthat combined all three maps from the original trilogy into one, there was practically an endless fountain of free content readily available forSTALKERfans on PC. Even ten years later, the originalSTALKERgames are still regularly being played thanks to mods, with roughly 1,000 players logging in across the three games daily. However, as time passed,Bethesda’sFalloutandElder Scrollsfranchiseswere the ones that ran away with community-generated content.
Skyrim’s Level of Mod Support Would Take STALKER 2 to the Next Level
In 2016, Bethesda launchedSkyrim: Special Edition,a light overhaul of the originalSkyrimfeaturing better lighting, bug fixes, and mod support on consoles. While the originalSkyrimalready had great Steam Workshop support on PC, bringing that great experience to the console space in a convenient package was a first for bothSkyrimand console gaming as a whole. What’s best aboutSkyrim: Special Edition’s mod supportwas how quick and easy it was to download mods and change how the game is played. Gamers simply choose what they want, download it, and most of the time, the game will work just fine. Few games on consoles right now support modding at this level; however, bothSkyrimandFallout 4have found a lasting community on consoles partially because of it.
GSC has stated thatmods will be supported bySTALKER 2on PCfrom day one, but modding for the console ports is still in question when it really shouldn’t be.SkyrimandFalloutare juggernauts on Xbox Series X because of the wealth of content that mods provide, andSTALKER 2should follow the precedent that Bethesda has set on consoles. History has proven that nothing gives an open-world game legs like a community that is willing to fill that space with new content.STALKER 2could foster an enthusiastic community of fans and live up to the legacy of the originalSTALKERtrilogy if it just supports mods on consoles.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobylreleases in 2023 for PC and Xbox Series X|S.
