When I first played the demo of Chernobylite way back in 2019, I thought that it might be a cheap imitation of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series. My skepticism was eroded when I finally got to play the complete game in 2021, the review of which you can find here. So naturally, when S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 was released, a thought kicked in my brain, “where is Chernobylite 2?”. Yeah, I had grown that fond of the game.
Well, good thing I didn’t have to wait long to get my wishes fulfilled. The bad thing, I had my hopes a bit too high (sigh). Why is it so? Let’s find out below.
Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone is an open-world action RPG set in a post-apocalyptic world. Developed and published by The Farm 51, Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone was released in Early Access in March 2025.
Back to the Zone!
The game takes place in Kyiv in an alternate reality where the city has been transformed into an ultra-futuristic megalopolis by harnessing the limitless potential of Chernobylite. Basically, like how the Wakandians used vibranium. Unlike Igor in the first game, who was a squishy science nerd, the protagonist of Chernobylite 2 is Cole Grey, a hardened veteran who has no qualms about gunning down mutants and scavengers like it’s Tuesday! The game begins with Cole traveling through a wormhole teleporter that connects to his apartment, and very soon, we realize that his life is in shambles.
The thing is, the technological advancements offered by the anomalous Chernobylite have created a top-down societal control, creating mass unemployment for the bottom feeders. Finding himself with little opportunity and no purpose, Cole wonders if life in the Chernobylite age is worth living, something which caught me off guard as I felt it mirrors the real world, where you replace Chernobylite with AI.
This is where the NEF comes in—a paramilitary organization that employs ‘planewalkers’ as its tools to establish a fascist empire across the multiverse. You see, in the first game, it was established that Chernobylite is a living mineral and has a hive mind spreading across the multiverse. Which means multiple realities of Pripyat exist, where the Chernobylite is in abundance. This is where planewalkers come in—inter-dimensional mercenaries like Cole who travel the multiverse securing Chernobylite deposits. The Russian organization NEF travels from reality to reality on their floating harvesters to compel each version of…. Ukraine to surrender its mineral rights! That’s right, folks, Ukraine isn’t safe from Russia even in alternate realities!
Now, to address the elephant in the room, the actual plot of Chernobylite 2 is subpar at best, with a hell lot of lore expositions thrown at your face at breakneck speed. What started as a life intro of Cole, within seconds shifts to a new narrative focal point where we are thrown into the zone and have to do missions. Past events flee in moments, not enough for the character buildup of Cole Grey. The game treats us like children as most situations are explained at face value, even as they are happening. Mature games use the ‘show-don’t-tell’ factor; Chernobylite 2 is far from it. It almost feels as if the devs were so passionate about their project that the world-building expanded beyond the scope of their original interest, and so they felt they needed to explain everything in detail, leaving very little incentive to explore the world and discover the lore yourself.
The Gameplay
One of our first major choices is deciding what kind of Planewalker we want to be, whether it’s the traditional role of a rifle-toting soldier, but consider the fact that ammo in the multiverse is sparse and enemies are plentiful! Or you might like to pay as a sword-wielding barbarian, or maybe a wizard-scientist hybrid who uses radiation to fuel elemental attacks, Rick ‘n’ Morty style!
Now you might be wondering, if the class system was not there in the first game, why now? Because Chernobylite 2 is more of an RPG looter shooter with bullet-sponge enemies compared to the first game, which was an atmospheric, sci-fi survival horror. Don’t get me wrong, the desolate atmosphere is still there, but the wonky Fallout-style combat gets in the way. In the first game, Igor, being just an average scientist, the combat was brutal. Exploration had to be planned tactically to avoid being seen by enemy patrols or mutants. Now its a complete run ‘n’ gun loot-fest where you just kill stuff, spam Loot All, and have the inventory filled with random items. Gone are the days when you had to use the handheld scanner to find the items you needed.
Base building and building relationships with the NPCs feel more like an afterthought. Stealth is no longer the central focus. The brain-dead enemy AI just spams their attacks instead of dodging or taking cover, while we can block or dodge endlessly. In fact, even at max difficulty, the game is pretty easy because we can just spam the dodge button to avoid getting hit. I-frames basically—we won’t get hit during the dodge animation even if the bullet goes straight through us! Also, remember when you played Assassin’s Creed: Origins for the first time and the air assassination, which should have instantly killed the enemy, did only minimal damage? Same scenario here—head shots that should instantly kill the enemies or at least incur a huge damage on armored enemies, barely scratch their flesh. All in all, Chernobylite 2 feels like a mediocre RPG instead of the cool sci-fi/horror story that its predecessor had established.
Visuals, Sound and Performance
Chernobylite 2 has some of the most gorgeous-looking environments, just like its predecessor. The volumetric lightning enhances the atmospheric depth and realism. But when it comes to character animation, they are so stiff that they look like aliens wearing human skin. The fact that character models are all blurry, looking like melted dolls, will remind you of Fallout 3 and not in a good way. Well, at least the mutant character designs are interesting.
The ambient tracks are…serviceable at best. It’s only noticeable during the quiet moments. However, the biggest downgrade from the first game has to be the voice acting. As mentioned on the Steam store page, the character representing AI in the game features a voice generated through text-to-speech technology; one moment, Cole would be speaking like a normal human, then in the next moment, you can immediately notice the AI-generated voice!
Chernobylite 2 is still in Early Access, but that’s no excuse for its terrible performance! Even at the lowest setting on a 3070 Ti, the game has terrible fps drops, and it takes forever to compile the shaders. When you start the game, you see the Unreal logo, and very soon, you realize that Chernobylite 2 is one of those unoptimized UE5 games on Steam where your hardware will exceed the recommended requirements, but the game will struggle to maintain 30fps.
Initial Impression
Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone is nowhere near Chernobylite, and I can’t wrap my head around why Farm 51 would replace the dark and gritty gameplay of its predecessor with a generic action RPG with AI-generated voice lines and subpar optimization. They are clearly passionate developers, but I think the scope of Chernobylite 2 became too bloated for their own good. This game has a long way to go before I would openly recommend it, and it’s a good thing that it’s still in Early Access. At least the developers have a cushion to fully absorb the feedback from players and refine the game before official release.
