STALKER 2 Guide | Beginner Tips and Tricks

Our STALKER 2 Guide will explain the HUD, teach you the basics of the game, and give you a walkthrough for the first hour of the game.

STALKER 2 is the long-awaited sequel to the late-2000s STALKER franchise of first-person shooter survival games. There's a lot to learn if you want to survive in the Zone, find artifacts, and explore the map. Read on to learn about the HUD; after that, we'll dive into a walkthrough for the early game!

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STALKER 2 HUD Explanation

1. Mission Objectives: If you have an active mission, the objectives for that mission will pop up here when you accept a mission or complete an objective. Otherwise, this area is blank.
2. Compass: The compass shows the direction you're facing, along with some other information. Centering the crosshair over most icons will show you the distance to that icon in meters. You can also see the following information on the Compass:
   • Objective Markers: Any mission objective you've highlighted on the map will show an icon pointing you toward it. Main missions are yellow and side missions are blue.
   • Location Markers: Similarly, you can click on any objective or stash on the map and highlight it on your compass.
   • Threat Indicator: If you are currently in combat, the bottom of the compass will glow red.
   • Mission Area Indicator: Some missions require you to search an area; when you're in the area, the bottom of the compass will glow yellow or blue to indicate that you are within the area that you need to search.
   • Enemy Indicators: If potentially hostile enemies are near you, they will be represented with a yellow skull. If the enemies are aggroed and fighting you, they will be represented by a downwards-facing red triangle.
   • Dead Body Indicators: Any dead bodies that still have loot on them will be marked with a grey X. Once you loot a body, you should drop any excess items on the ground to remove these icons.
3. Quick Access: This bar shows four consumable slots that you can activate without going into your inventory. You can put most consumable items here, but I recommend equipping Medkits, Bandages, anti-radiation items, and stamina-restoring items here.
4. Radiation Indicator: This meter shows whether or not you are currently being exposed to radiation and how much radiation you've absorbed. If the radiation symbol in the center of the circle is pulsing, you're being irradiated. The meter around this circle shows how much radiation you've absorbed. If the radiation meter gets full, you'll die.
5. Buffs and Debuffs: Any buffs or debuffs currently affecting you will appear above the health bar. These can include:
   • Hunger: If you're hungry, a chicken leg will appear on the screen. It will start as light grey to indicate mild hunger and change color to a brighter white to show that you are very hungry. Hunger reduces your overall effectiveness, so you should eat some food right away.
   • Weight: If you are carrying too much stuff (represented by the yellow bar in your inventory), the weight symbol will appear. You'll move slower and your stamina will drain faster. If the symbol is read, you are carrying so much junk that you are unable to move, and you'll have to drop some items on the ground.
   • Bleeding: Getting wounded has a chance to cause bleeding which is represented by a red blood drop symbol. If you're bleeding, you'll slowly lose health over time until you use a bandage to stop the bleeding. If you don't stop the bleeding, you'll eventually lose all of your health and die.
   • Drowsiness: If you haven't slept in a while, a crescent moon symbol will appear to show that you're tired. You'll need to head to a town and sleep in a bed to remove this effect. Drowsiness makes you weaker overall, so try to take a nap every time you visit a town.
6. Health: The standard health bar. If this reaches 0, you die. Medkits restore the most health, but you can also restore smaller amounts of health by eating food or by using bandages. Don't waste a Medkit if you've only taken a little damage.
7. Stamina: Stamina is used for running, jumping, and melee attacks. Your stamina will drain faster if you're hungry, tired, or carrying too much stuff.
8. Interaction Indicators: People and objects that you can interact with in the world are represented by a white dot on the screen. This can include switches, NPCs, and dead bodies.
9. Fire Mode: Many guns have different firing modes. You can see the available fire modes of your currently-equipped gun along with which mode is currently active.
10. Ammo Count: This box shows you how much ammo you have in your current magazine and how much ammo you have in your inventory.
11. Ammo Type: This box shows the current type of ammo you have equipped. Nearly every gun has multiple types of ammo available; naturally, some ammo types are better but also rarer and more expensive.

STALKER 2 Guide | Starter Guide Walkthrough

Now that we've explained the HUD, it's time to get started with the walkthrough part of our STALKER 2 Guide. We'll help you get through the first hour or so of the game and point you toward some useful loot and guns that will help you survive your first few days in the Zone.

Choosing Your Difficulty

The first choice you'll have to make in STALKER 2 is selecting your difficulty. You have three options:

• Rookie: Suitable for beginners and players who are more interested in the story.
• Stalker: Suitable for players looking for a balance between story and combat.
• Veteran: Suitable for players who crave intense, challenging battles.

STALKER 2 can be a difficult, unforgiving game — especially if you fail to prepare for a situation. You should select Stalker difficulty only if you have a good amount of experience with shooters or survival games.

Once you've chosen your difficulty, you'll be treated to a cutscene and you'll enter the game.

Learning the Basics

Your first mission is essentially a tutorial — you'll breach the Zone and you'll use a special device to scan points of interest. The tutorial does a good job of guiding you and holding your hand, so I'm not going to waste your time by repeating its instructions here.

At the end of the tutorial, you will be captured and knocked out. You'll then wake up in the same place you were left unconscious, and that's where the real game begins.

Escaping the Anomalies

You awaken in a field surrounded by anomalies. You're wounded, and these anomalies can hurt you. Fortunately, you have a way out with the almighty bolt.

Edge up close to one of the anomalies, then throw a bolt and run through it. The type of anomaly surrounding you can be temporarily disabled by throwing a bolt into it. However, some anomalies cannot be disabled and throwing a bolt will simply reveal their location.

After you escape, Richter — the man who helped you — will walk a short distance away. Go up to him and talk to him.

A Long Road to Zalissya

Finish your short conversation with Richter and you'll hear some gunshots in the distance. STALKER 2 is a game of choices, and this is your very first one — you can either go straight to the nearby town of Zalissya or you can follow Richter and find out what just happened. You should follow Richter; he'll take you to a location called "Cabin."

STALKER 2 has a lot of missions that you can find in towns, but you can also encounter random events and smaller missions simply by visiting certain locations on the map. Start by investigating the corpses near Richter, then explore the other buildings; you'll find a blue safe in the back room of the garage.

Equip any Medkits or Bandages that you've found on your Quick Access bar; you'll want to be able to use them quickly if you get hurt in combat.

Next, head to this destination down the road:

This is the Post Office.

As you get closer, you'll see three bandits shooting at the building. Equip your pistol, reload it, and carefully take them out. A man inside will thank you for the help. Loot the bandits, then go inside and talk to him.

The Dangerous Visitors Mission

The man you just saved is named Zhorik. He's quite thankful for the help, and he has another problem that he'd like your help with.

One of Zhorik's friends is trapped in a building down the road. Accept the mission, and he'll tell you the location of his personal stash along the way. Head over to the stash.

Zhorik's Stash is located in a downed helicopter buried in some water. Do your best to avoid going into the water; you cannot swim in STALKER 2. Water will often irradiate you, and you'll drown if you go into water that's too deep.

When you get to the stash, you'll hear a barking sound — this is likely your first encounter with the wild dogs of the zone. Grab the stash's contents and retreat back to the road, then bring up your pistol and get ready to shoot the dog.

This encounter was pretty easy; in the future, you can expect to encounter 4 or more dogs at any time. Always keep your eyes and ears open when you're walking through the Zone.

Getting Armed

I recommend equipping the Viper-5 to your main weapon slot and equipping a Boomstick to your secondary weapon slot. Change the Viper-5's firing mode to single shot to conserve ammo.

You'll eventually come across a wide variety of guns in the Lesser Zone, the starting region of STALKER 2's map. However, you should pay special attention to the availability of ammo — some guns will be difficult to keep supplied.

For example, you may occasionally come across an AR-style rifle that uses 5.56 ammo. Unfortunately, you won't be able to find very much 5.56 ammo in the Lesser Zone, so you'll eventually run out of bullets if you try to use it now.

It's best to stick with an AK-style gun for your main weapon and an SMG (such as the Viper-5) as your secondary weapon for the first zone. You'll get access to a wider variety of weapon options (and ammo types) as you head deeper into the Zone.

Saving Gloomy

Your next stop is the Boiler House down the road. There is a total of five bandits in here. You can approach this situation with stealth, or you can go in guns blazing. Either way, you'll need to kill all of the bandits. There are three bandits on the ground level and two bandits upstairs.

You'll want to loot the area before you talk to Gloomy. Pick up everything off of the bandits, then search the area for supplies; you can find a blue footlocker on the upper deck that has some decent items in it.

I'm sure that you'll want to sell the excess guns you've picked up. Unfortunately, merchants won't buy any gun in poor condition (which is indicated by a red icon). Select each gun and select "unload" to take out its ammo, then drop all of the weapons with the red symbol on the ground.

Getting Rewarded

Speak with Gloomy and he'll give you three choices for a reward:

• Echo Detector: This is an anomaly detector. You already have one, so this is only a good option if you want to sell it for some Coupons.
• "I have a detector" or "Got anything else?": Gloomy will give you the location of his personal stash nearby.

I recommend selecting either two of the last options. You'll also get 1,147 Coupons.

Fortunately, Gloomy's Stash is nearby. Grab it, loot the nearby area, and get ready to move again.

How to Get to Zalissya

Unfortunately, the main road to Zalissya has been blocked by a large trench in the ground. You'll have to go around by heading through an old barn to the north of the Boiler House and then heading east along a side road.

Here's the route that you'll need to take:

Make sure you search the barn that you pass through; you'll find a dead Stalker in the attic with some loot nearby.

Once you're through the barn, head east and you'll be at Zalissya.

Arriving at Zalissya

Zalissya is the first town that you'll encounter in STALKER 2 and it is the only truly safe haven with the Lesser Zone. There are quite a few services available here:

• Medic (Mykolayich): The Medic sells medical supplies and can heal you if you're injured or irradiated. Medics in some other places will charge you money, but Mykolayich will treat you for free in Zalissya.
• Guide (Uncle Lyonya): Guides will take you from one town to another town for a fee. Unfortunately, you're stuck in the Lesser Zone until you complete some more main story missions, so you won't be able to use his services until you get out of the Lesser Zone and discover the next town.
• Trader (Hamster): Hamster is the local trader. He'll buy any loot in good condition, and he also sells various guns, ammo, equipment, and weapon attachments.
• Bed and Private Box: The bed is where you can sleep and recover. The Private Box is your stash; all Private Boxes are linked, so you can safely store your goods here and access them in another town later in the game.
• Technician (Lens): The Technician is where you can upgrade guns and repair them.
• Trader (Warlock): Warlock is another Trader at the bar; unlike Hamster, Warlock mainly sells food and drink.

Most towns (though not all) will have all of these services available. You can also trade with friendly Stalkers that you meet in the wilderness, although they will have a limited amount of Coupons and they'll only buy certain items from you.

As you might expect, towns are also a hub of potential missions. In fact, we're going to put the main story on hold at the moment and take on one of these side missions right away.

The Warlock's Debtor Side Mission

Stash any excess guns and equipment in your Private Box behind Hamster the Trader's shop. Remember, everything in STALKER 2 has weight, including ammo, food, and medical supplies. Ammo isn't all that heavy, but you certainly won't need to carry more than 100 or 200 rounds for most guns.

Next, go to the bar and speak with Warlock behind the bar. He'll tell you about a man named Valik Lummox who owes him some money. Valik is at a Water Tower not too far away from town.

Head to the Water Tower and you'll find four bandits standing outside of a building shouting at someone inside. It seems that Valik Lummox owes more than one person money.

If you want, you can walk up to the bandit leader and talk to him. He'll essentially give you two options:

• Got It: Talk to Valik Lummox about the money he owes people.
• [Threaten] Don't tell me what to do: All four bandits will attack you.

If you select "Got It," you'll have to talk to Valik Lummox and he'll tell you about his stash at the nearby Water Tower. If you select the "[Threaten]" option, the bandits will immediately attack you.

Unfortunately, many (though not all) of the choices in STALKER 2 appear to be false choices. No matter what route you take here, the bandits will eventually get pissed at you and try to kill you.

This is what you should do:

1. Ambush the bandits and kill them with headshots before they can talk to you.
2. Talk to Valik Lummox and tell him to pay off his debts.
3. Get rewarded and complete the mission.

Once this is done, you'll want to head up the Water Tower. Note that there are several electrical anomalies along the way:

Unlike the previous anomalies you've encountered, electrical anomalies cannot be disabled by throwing a bolt at them. You'll have to go around.

Climb up the Water Tower and you'll find Valik Lummox's AK-74S in a stash, an excellent AK-74S that has a 4x scope weapon attachment permanently affixed to it.

Valik Lummox's AK-74S always spawns here as far as we can tell. The attached optics are a huge boon — you won't be able to buy these for quite some time, and attaching optics to a gun is expensive. This is a quality gun that you will be able to use for the next 20 hours of gameplay at least (and probably longer).

I recommend using Valik Lummox's AK-74S as your main weapon and a Viper-5 as your secondary weapon; you'll be able to find plenty of ammo for both of these guns as you explore the Lesser Zone. Loot the bandits and the building that Valik was staying in. Then, return to Zalissya.

Preparing to Explore the Zone

Now that you have a good gun, it's time to get settled in and get ready to explore the Lesser Zone. There are a lot of missions you can take on at Zalissya (such as The Poppy Field side mission), but we'll want to be adequately prepared.

Again, I want to emphasize that everything has weight in STALKER 2. Carrying too much stuff is going to limit your ability to bring back loot to sell, and some items are surprisingly heavy.

Here's what I recommend that you carry on you at all times:

• 5 Sausage
• 5 Water
• 10 Medkit
• 10 Bandage
• 5 Cossacks Vodka or 5 Anti-Radiation Meds
• 5 RGD-5 Grenade
• 200 5.45x39MM PS ammo for the AK-74S
• 200 9x19mm FMJ ammo for the Viper 5
• 100 9x18mm PST ammo for Skif's Pistol

This should be enough to allow you to explore several points of interest or complete any one mission without running out of supplies. You can and should sell any excess junk that you don't really need to keep; if you have 100 Bread in your Private Box, it's probably time to let some of it go.

Selling loot is very, very important in STALKER 2. Repairing your equipment and weapons can be very expensive; a high-quality gun can cost 5,000 Coupons, 10,000 Coupons, or more to repair it back to full quality, especially after it's been upgraded. Armor is even more expensive to repair.

You probably don't have enough ammo for the AK-74S just yet. As long as you conserve ammo by using the single-shot mode, you'll probably slowly build up ammo over time as you kill enemies. You should only buy ammo as a last resort; it's pretty expensive.

You can now choose to take on one of the main missions or try to complete any of the side missions in Zalissya. You have a good gun, some supplies, and a lot of potential — have fun exploring the Zone! In the meantime, don't forget to check out some of our other guides below!

Is STALKER 2 Multiplayer?

No, STALKER 2 is not a multiplayer game.

Where is the STALKER 2 Save File Located?

The STALKER 2 save file is located in the following folder:

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Stalker2\Saved\STEAM\SaveGames

where "USERNAME" is your Windows username.

Based on our testing, it does not appear possible to transfer your STALKER 2 save file to another person. However, a third party will probably figure out a solution for transferring save files in the future.

What Happens When You Die in STALKER 2?

If you die in STALKER 2, you'll have to load a save game and your death counter will increment by one. You will lose all of the progress that you made up until the point of your last save.

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Thanks for checking out our STALKER 2 Guide. There's plenty more to learn about this great game — check out our other guides below!