Eyes open. Our character, lying on the ground, is awakened in the worst possible way: A mutant dog is attacking his leg. He aims his pistol, but it jams. The beast then jumps at the poor man's throat. This is the first extract from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, which was unveiled to the public at Gamescom, the video game fair held from August 23 to 27 in Cologne (North Rhine-Westphalia).

The Ukrainian studio GSC Game World's motto is clear: preserve the fundamentals of previous editions of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., three shooting games released between 2007 and 2009. "This is a direct sequel. You can expect new locations and new [game] mechanics, but above all we've improved on the old ones," Maksym Yanchyi, head of development for the Xbox version, told Le Monde.

The aim is also to bring a new, wider audience into "The Zone," an unforgettable videogame space – loosely inspired by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's novel Stalker: Roadside Picnic (1972) and Andrei Tarkovsky's film Stalker (1979) – set on the outskirts of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant at Chernobyl. With anomalies, radiation, colorful characters, strange missions and mutants, each step leads to a new surprise.

But for more than 18 months, Russia's war in Ukraine has plunged the teams into a reality far more unstable and oppressive than that depicted in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.

Departure from Kyiv

The conflict "has left scars on every member of the team," said Yanchyi, who, like many of his colleagues, has taken refuge in Prague, in the Czech Republic, 1,000 kilometers from the Kyiv headquarters. The distance from his native country is a deep wound for the young man.

The evacuation of employees was not improvised. At the end of 2021, just as Russia began to mobilize its troops on Ukraine's eastern border, GSC Game World's executives were already planning for the worst. They parked two buses close to their premises and stored 2,000 liters of gasoline and essential supplies in their offices.

Even before the Russian invasion began, they decided to transport those who wished to travel to Uzhhorod, in the west of the country. Two hundred employees and their families, 500 people in all (not counting pets), boarded the coaches. Only one suitcase was allowed per person.

When the invasion began, the coaches set off again, this time for Budapest, and a month after their departure, with Ukraine plunged into war, the employees finally settled in Prague. But the team was split up. Almost 130 people remained on Ukrainian soil, either for personal reasons or to fight.

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