We Discuss The System Requirements For Stalker 2 And Which PC Builds To Play It On
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Stalker 2 (or S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart Of Chernobyl to give it its proper title) is scheduled for an exclusive release on 28th April 2022 for Xbox Series X & S, and Windows PC, with the PlayStation release to follow 3 months later. The publisher has provided us with some official minimum and recommended system requirements, which show Stalker 2 to be quite a demanding game. Additionally, we typically advise consumers to always assume slightly more power is needed for good FPS performance than suggested by the official requirements, as publishers have a tendency to understate things somewhat to sell more units.
If you don’t know the specifications of your current PC to compare them against the requirements listed, we recommend that you have a read of our guide on how to look up your PC specs. If it transpires that your current machine won’t be sufficient, we suggest that you have a look at the bottom of this page where we have listed some PC builds which will comfortably play the game at different settings.
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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 looks to be an improved version of the earlier Stalker games, with drastically improved graphics and a seamless 64 km² area of dark and brooding post-apocalyptic Pripyat to explore (no loading screens this time!). Gameplay-wise we’ve not yet seen anything different from the earlier games (shooting bandits, dodging anomalies, hunting for artifacts, fighting horrible mutants that can turn invisible in destroyed labs), though as more details of the game are released we hope the developers surprise us with some new features.
Stalker 2 on the lower settings at 1080p resolution will likely need something like a $1,000 self-build PC to get decent FPS. If you’re turning the graphical presets up to the max then a $2,000 self-build would be more suitable, or a $3,000 self-build PC if you’re planning on playing at 4K resolution.
If you won’t want to put together your own computer then a pre-built gaming PC for under $1,000 should work for playing the game low settings at 1080p. Once again though if you’re looking to push things towards the higher graphical presets then you’ll need a 2,000 pre-build for 1080p gameplay and something more powerful than this for 4K gaming.
