While can genuinely boast an engaging atmosphere and unique immersion, people are looking for something similar. But thankfully, there are more than a handful of games that share a bit of the STALKER 2 magic, albeit with a twist. Some go with the same gameplay, while others retain the same themes but try to introduce something new.
STALKER 2 is not for everyone’s taste, but there are many enjoyable amusements to be had while still immersing oneself in the different dimensions of exciting games. One such game platform is GGBET with its amazing full array of slot machines and games in various themes, where you can find one that bears semblance to that atmospheric world of STALKER 2.
Zona Alfa From The Same Source Material As STALKER 2
The same book has inspired both.
STALKER 2 – and the entire STALKER series – was originally inspired by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s novel Roadside Picnic. The novel’s eerie Visitation Zones have inspired several games and other works of fiction, such as Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation. Another game inspired by Roadside Picnic is the tabletop miniatures game Zona Alfa.
Zona Alfa is a fast-paced skirmish miniatures game that puts survival in a post-apocalyptic future where factions fight over Exclusion Zones at the center. Like STALKER 2, the game doesn’t base its action on combat alone. It adds scavenging for supplies, exploration, and survival thrown in. Unlike all other minis games like Warhammer 40,000, Zona Alfa has no dedicated line of miniatures. By this means, the game stands as just a set of rules allowing players to use their miniatures or even just representative tokens to play with. This, again, makes the game a little more accessible than some others.
Metro 2033
In 2013, the world experienced a great apocalypse. Most of humanity was destroyed, and the earth’s surface was transformed into a poisonous wasteland. A few survivors holed themselves deep inside the dungeons of Moscow’s underground and began a new Dark Age for human civilization.
The year is 2033. An entire generation was born and raised underground, fighting each other and the external horror of mutants that exist. You are Artyom, the last person born before the flames started but having lived all your life underground. Nonetheless, a fortuitous incident sends you on a desperate expedition right into the heart of the Metro system and, eventually, into the sight of the dwindled remaining humans. This would take you from the forgotten catacombs beneath the subway to the wastelands outside, all the way as you decide the fate of humanity. But what if the true threat comes from within?
Survive a similar plight-stalking, along with animals with Metro 2033: jokers that many have heralded among the best. STALKER 2 will likely have some grievance about the fact that it is a linear experience and not open-world, but what little STALKER fans have in common with the game probably means they should enjoy this, too. The latest iteration, Metro Exodus, features minuscule sections of the world that are truly open, but otherwise, it is fairly linearly structured.
The Final Station
The Final Station puts one in the nascent state of a post-apocalyptic world and makes it about to collapse on one’s head. With a huge, powerful train, one is to ride through a dying world while fleeing hordes of the infected. The story happens around five chapters, with a climax in each chapter ending in a big populated station. Here, the choices and strategies for survival come to blows.
Supply saving is clearly put at every stop, where one has to resourcefully scavenge things to keep the train and make essential items. However, one cannot just fight through hordes of the infected as bullets are too precious to waste on every encounter.
Survival thus is not just fighting off infected but also mingling with other human beings met along the way. You will come upon one or more survivors who would want to hitch a ride to safety. Help or abandon them? Either option might bring unexpected benefits or burdens later on. As you collect loot along the way, you can now sell it in stations to upgrade your weapons, giving you that much-needed tactical advantage. Juggling a small amount of resources, dangerous encounters, and moral dilemmas is exactly what The Final Station is going for. It’s a very tense and cerebral adventure through what is almost certainly the end of the world.