Broadcasting earlier today, the Xbox Games Showcase offered a significant first look at a number of new projects in the works over at Microsoft, with the company announcing early on that every title shown would be available on Game Pass. Halo Infinite, State of Decay 3, and a fourth Fable game all made a huge splash during the event, however, a number of third-party games also got the spotlight as well.
One of the biggest of these titles was Stalker 2, the sequel to GSC Game World’s cult-classic survival horror franchise. Not only did the game get a stunning cinematic trailer, filled with several dark, eerie landscapes and foreboding scenery, but the title will allegedly make its way to Xbox Series X and Game Pass when it debuts at an as of yet unspecified date.
The trailer itself takes viewers through a number of creepy environments within the Zone: the main setting of the Stalker series which falls in an alternate history version of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The footage highlights a number of haunting military bases, desolate ghost towns, dark bunkers, and, creepiest of all, horror-infested laboratories cultivating some twisted, mutant monsters. It’s all par for the course for fans of the series, who will seemingly be getting a much more advanced look into the iconic franchise’s world on both PC and Xbox Series X.
For those who have never had the chance to play a Stalker game, the story revolves around the aforementioned Zone; an area filled with mutated horrors and strange supernatural anomalies. Within this fenced off area, mercenaries and guides known as Stalkers look for paranormal treasure and artifacts for financial gain, with many seeking to find the legendary secrets that lie at the Zone’s center. The last game in the series, Stalker: Call of Pripyat, released in 2009, with the series going quiet until Stalker 2 was announced back in 2018. With many noting that the original trilogy’s mechanics are fairly dated, it’ll be fantastic to see what modern technology can do with such an iconic series.
Of course, the Xbox Showcase didn’t just show off the next entry in the Stalker franchise. It also highlighted a number of other huge third-party titles, including Warhammer 40,000 Darktide, Bloober Team’s The Medium, and Exomecha. Microsoft is clearly looking to bring the big guns next generation, with all of these being console launch exclusives on the Xbox Series X.
Stalker 2 will be coming to PC and Xbox Series X.
