S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl’s journey to release has been nothing short of miraculous. Announced 14 years ago, shelved after developer GSC Game World closed its doors, and reignited in 2018, the game faced another hurdle with the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Despite these immense challenges, the game has arrived. However, this long and tumultuous development cycle has impacted the PC version’s performance, particularly at launch. While playable and enjoyable, especially for fans of classic survival shooters, expect some technical bumps in the road.
System requirements for Stalker 2.S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s official system requirements. Note the significant CPU jump between High and Epic presets.
Decoding the System Requirements
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s system requirements demand close scrutiny, especially regarding CPU choices. Typically, recommended specs target 1080p at 60 fps. However, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s recommended CPU jumps significantly between the High and Epic presets, indicating a heightened CPU dependency. This sensitivity to older CPU architectures means that even eight-core processors on older platforms, particularly those with DDR4 RAM, will struggle at resolutions above 1080p. While graphically demanding, the game’s performance relies heavily on CPU power, unlike GPU-bound titles like Black Myth: Wukong.
A powerful graphics card is still essential. The listed GPU requirements appear skewed, particularly at lower presets. An RTX 4060 significantly outperforms an RX 5700 XT, and the Intel Arc A750 shouldn’t be compared to the RX 580 or GTX 1060. It’s advisable to prioritize the Nvidia recommendations and find comparable AMD or Intel alternatives. Notably absent from the system requirements is any mention of upscaling or frame generation. Testing suggests the recommendations assume upscaling is enabled, with frame generation optional. Even a high-end system with an RTX 4090 and Ryzen 7 7800X3D struggled to maintain a consistent 60 fps at native 4K.
The CPU Bottleneck
Stalker 2 gameplayS.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s demanding open world puts a heavy load on the CPU.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is incredibly CPU-intensive. Even a high-end Ryzen 9 9950X with 16 cores showed peak utilization at 88% and averaged 59% over a 15-minute test at 4K with maxed settings. This is unusually high. In most graphically demanding games at 4K, CPU utilization on a 16-core processor should be closer to 20-30%. Neglecting CPU performance can lead to significant issues.
For example, a test system with an RTX 3080, 32GB of RAM, and the Ryzen 9 9950X achieved an average of 86 fps at the Epic preset with DLSS Balanced, but experienced some stuttering. Conversely, a system with the same GPU and RAM but a Core i9-10900K suffered dips into the 20s, frequent stuttering, and inconsistent performance at 4K with the Medium preset and DLSS Performance.
Intel Core i9- 9900KOlder generation CPUs like the i9-10900K may struggle with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s demands.
While a CPU upgrade would improve performance, the key is understanding the CPU’s crucial role and how settings impact it. Lowering graphics settings with a weaker CPU can exacerbate CPU bottlenecks, especially at higher resolutions with a powerful GPU. Careful balancing between graphics settings and upscaling is essential.
Stuttering and Unreal Engine 5 Challenges
A frame time chart for Stalker 2.Frame time analysis reveals inconsistent performance and stuttering in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s open world.
Although not as severe as seen in Silent Hill 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 exhibits aggressive, albeit inconsistent, stuttering. Built on Unreal Engine 5, the game inherits the stuttering issues that plagued Unreal Engine 4. While shader compilation stutter is absent, traversal stutter occurs randomly. This could be attributed to the vast 60-square-kilometer open world and the A-Life system, which simulates interactions across the entire map, even outside the player’s view, contributing to the high CPU load.
A crashed helicopter in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.The detailed environments in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 contribute to its performance demands.
Like many UE5 titles, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 compiles shaders on every launch, regardless of changes, taking up to 15 minutes even on powerful CPUs. This repeated process is a significant inconvenience.
Frame Generation as a Performance Savior
The player stares at a blood-red sky caused by an Emission in Stalker 2.Despite performance challenges, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 offers a visually stunning and immersive experience.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 supports both DLSS Frame Generation and FSR 3.1 Frame Generation, offering significant performance gains. While the game also provides various upscaling options (DLSS, FSR, XeSS, TSR, and TAA), frame generation is crucial for improving performance, especially on CPU-bound systems.
A Challenging Development Journey
The pre-release build tested exhibited bugs, ranging from missing sound effects to more severe issues like object pop-in and UI problems. While subsequent builds addressed some of these, bugs are to be expected, especially in open-world games. It’s important to consider the challenging circumstances surrounding S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s development. GSC Game World’s relocation from Ukraine to Prague after the Russian invasion undoubtedly impacted the development process. The fact that the game was released at all is a testament to the team’s resilience. Patience and understanding are warranted as the developers continue to optimize and refine the game through patches.
