Stalker 2 has been experiencing a largely mixed reaction since its launch, but it’s evident that the title has not yet reached its full potential. Among the primary grievances from players is that the A-Life 2.0 system which the developers hyped up prior to release doesn’t seem to function as intended, coupled with the fact that references to this feature vanished from the game’s Steam page, leading some players to speculate it was a case of false advertising. Nevertheless, the husband-and-wife duo at the helm of the development team, GSC Game World, assert that unfortunate bugs and misunderstandings are the culprits here.
A-Life 2.0 essentially refers to the game’s NPC AI. The new Steam page characterized it as a “life-simulating system” meant to make “the game world feel more alive than ever.” Unsurprisingly, the AI has turned out to be one of the weakest elements of Stalker 2, with players quickly growing weary of enemies appearing out of nowhere to pursue you relentlessly.
GSC Game World CEO Ievgen Grygorovych informs IGN that for A-Life 2.0 to function effectively, it needs a “much larger area” to spawn NPCs compared to what is currently available in the game. The spawn radius had to be reduced as the developers “were struggling with optimization,” particularly regarding memory management. “To implement it effectively we had to optimize various aspects, which unfortunately limited the A-Life functionality in many scenarios,” Ievgen elaborates.
“All these interconnected issues create the impression that it is significantly broken and non-functional,” Ievgen adds. “However, we are actively working on the optimization to allocate more resources to the A-Life system, thereby expanding the range within which A-Life is genuinely observable.”
Regarding the removal of any mentions of A-Life 2.0 from Stalker 2’s Steam page, creative director Maria Grygorovych reveals to IGN that this occurred due to a benign discussion with someone from the marketing team. “He mentioned that there would be many new players unfamiliar with A-Life. They needed clarity on what we were referencing in this description. So, I will attempt to revise it for better comprehension,” Maria clarifies.
“He made those changes without any dialogue or authorization,” Maria continues. “He didn’t inquire, ‘Do we have any issues with A-Life or something?’ Because we did. We were aware of it. It’s an incredibly complex system. When he did this right before the release, it took me by surprise, as I learned about it through Reddit. We had developed the Steam page in 2021. Honestly, I was quite shocked.”
Stalker 2’s current Steam page simply indicates that the game features “advanced artificial intelligence systems that will engage even the most seasoned players.” In our Stalker 2 review, Andy describes it as “the most impressive yet most flawed game” he has played all year, a sentiment that seems to resonate broadly with players.