Introduction

“S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl” arrives almost exactly 15 years after the previous game in the series, “S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat,” despite Stalker 2 being officially announced in August 2010. Many things have happened since then, including a full-blown war in Ukraine, where GSC Game World had been based before temporarily relocating to Prague. But GSC Game World have persevered and managed to deliver the next installment in the cult-classic series that is synonymous with Eurojank.

Stalkers, rejoice! We can finally explore the Zone again, unravel its mysteries, hunt for artifacts and mutants, and search for stashes while perpetually upgrading our weapons and equipment. GSC Game World created a seamless, massive Zone surrounding Chornobyl that invites a new generation of Stalkers to unearth its secrets.

Stalker 2 features the usual UE5 bells and whistles, including Lumen software ray tracing, full DX12 support, and massive hardware requirements. You also have access to a full range of upscaling technologies in the form of DLSS, FSR, XeSS, and TSR, along with DLSS and FSR frame generation, the latter of which you can use no matter your upscaler of choice.

While the game doesn’t support hardware ray tracing, it can hammer modern GPUs and CPUs pretty seriously, so how do the two most popular PC gaming handhelds, the Steam Deck and the ROG Ally, fare in the Zone? Keep reading and find out.