The heart of Chernobyl, because the modding community is doing wonders with the game
It’s no secret that many people didn’t like STALKER 2: The Heart of Chernobyl. Not because it’s a bad video game in general terms, but because there are some aspects of it that feel awkward, disjointed, or outdated for the current times.
Xbox Series X/S users will have to learn to live with them, but things are different on PC. The modding community hasn’t wasted a second and we can already find quite a solid list of mods that change many of the aspects I mentioned. This post is really about me finding the perfect match to enhance my experience. Here’s a quick round.
Aimed at improving performance
Performance-enhancing mods are quite common in all video games. Yes, ok STALKER 2 This section isn’t a complete disaster, it needs a few updates to improve what it has. However, the three most popular mods at the moment are “Stalker Optimizer”, “Optimized Tweaks” and “STALKER 2 – Ultimate Engine Tweaks”. In fact, they are the first two in the “Popular (All Time)” category.
No more mutant tanks
This is one of the aspects that distracts me the most from this experience and bothers me on a personal level. Humans and animals have fairly reasonable lifespans compared to mutants. People die from one or two bullets in the head, but animals don’t need more.
As for the mutants, I clearly remember how, on the lowest difficulty, I threw up to 15-20 shotgun shells into the Bloodsucker’s chest and the same number of bullets into the Controller’s head. And one Burner managed to withstand 10 grenade explosions before flying into the air.
Grok’s Less Tanky Bloodsuckers, Poltergeists and Lower Mutant Health mods are on my wishlist. Significantly reduces the health of mutants in general, although the first specializes in Bloodsuckers and Poltergeists, and also has a third optional file that reduces the health of all enemies by 30%. One of these two is in a safe place on my computer.
Fix, fix, fix and mend
It makes sense that equipment (clothing and weapons) wears out with use. I don’t have a problem with this section, but I understand that this is something for those looking for a more light-hearted experience. Mods are also responsible for solving this little problem, either leveling it out or eliminating it completely.
I propose two options: Reasonable weapon degradation slows down the rapid deterioration of standard equipment. This doesn’t eliminate them completely, but they will certainly last a little longer. “Sounds…reasonable, doesn’t it?” – says its creator VAXIStaa in the description. On the other hand, Tacgnolsignol is not as limited by the loss of Unarmed durability (and possibly equipment), which completely removes weapon durability. It also offers an alternative to reduce equipment wear and tear by up to 50%.
Inventory problems?
Sooner or later you will have problems with the weight of your equipment, whether you like it or not. There is no way to escape. Mods have been solving this problem since time immemorial. In this case, the No Weight for Ammo, Medicine, and Food option reduces the weight of ammo, grenades, medicine, and food to zero, while keeping gear and other items you can carry in your inventory. This doesn’t eliminate the problem, but it does lighten the load significantly.
But if you want something more extreme, CE Scrip Unlimited Carry Weight (which currently only works on the Steam version) makes the weight limit infinite. The sky’s the limit. You can carry as many as you want, rendering the chest useless and becoming the most powerful snail in the universe.
Day, night, day, day, day, night…
I checked the title and it’s not bad. Do you love day more than night? STALKER 2? Great, here you have two mods that allow you to adjust the time of day and night. The Even Longer Days and Longer Days mods (no longer updated) allow you to lengthen and/or adjust the days and nights to tailor the game to your liking. I recommend reviewing the descriptions to see which one best suits your needs based on the configurations offered.
And that would be all! But before I finish, I think the Melee and Bash Range mod deserves a special mention. Makes a basic melee attack and a knife attack the same range. This is especially useful when quickly disassembling boxes. It won’t change your life, but it will certainly make it much more comfortable.
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