Players who like to pack a trusty SMG at their side in STALKER 2 should know what each one brings to the table.

Heart of Chornobyl didn’t get off on the best foot with many. A whole host of bugs have marred what should otherwise be one of the biggest game launches of the year. And that experience was already much-improved versus what reviewers were presented with pre-launch.

Not that a lot of post-apocalyptic first-person shooters are, but STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is especially not for the faint of heart. It’s built to generate the kind of friction that goes a long way in creating a challenging and punishing game that’s also captivating.

Ahead of its release, Digital Trends received a PC copy of Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl that was plagued with more technical issues than we typically see in a review build this close to launch. I personally hopped into the Xbox build once our critic started raising red flags and was instantly met with bugs within my first 20 minutes.

Heart of Chornobyl is a dark game. Here's how to use your flashlight for both controller and mouse and keyboard.

Forged in adversity, this Ukrainian-developed shooter delivers a beautiful open-world survival-shooter like no other.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl has a story with lots of twists and turns. Players will progress through the story in order to get Dead Frequency, a mission that sees them trying to recover their scanner. This takes them to the location known as Camp Icarus — a complex under the control of one of the STALKER 2’s many factions, The Ward.

Specifically, you'll be going to the Clear Sky Base at the deepest part of the Swamps, which is not a journey you want to make twice, so getting the RPG during the story quest is