“It’s somewhat unrefined at launch.”
It is now no longer accurate to state that Stalker 2‘s feedback have been quite diverse thus far – we assigned a low score of 4/10 owing to numerous bugs, system flaws, and game-breaking problems encountered during our review process. However, many other critics have rated it higher. This discrepancy has resulted in a somewhat mediocre Metacritic score for the game – prompting Arkane Studios’ founder Raphael Colantonio to voice his concerns.
In a recent post on social media, the former Arkane developer argues that “safe, conventional games” tend to receive higher ratings simply for being “polished at launch.” This trend, according to him, discourages game studios from taking creative risks. Colantonio cites Stalker 2 as an example of a game that seemingly received a lower score compared to those ‘safe’ titles merely because it is “somewhat unpolished at launch.”