Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl has a brutal autosave system which is quite literally killing me

Loading an RPG as a mutant charges the player in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl
(Image credit: GSC Game World)

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl doesn't care if you live or die. One of the more extraordinary qualities about this long-awaited sequel from developer GSC Game World is how actively hostile it is, a truly desperate crawl through a desolate, irradiated wasteland. Oftentimes it's a quiet, quite solitary affair where your only company is the low whir of a Geiger counter and the steady pulse of a beating Anomaly scanner. It can also be violently loud as winds roar under a fractured sky, carrying mutant howls and gunfire across open, abandoned plains – a world where every point of interaction wants you dead.

It's thrilling and intimidating in equal measure, which is partly why the brutal autosave system is slowly killing me – death by a thousand reloads. It isn't uncommon to succumb to the Zone multiple times in an hour, your deaths cataloged and communicated freely within the respawn menu. It isn't uncommon to find yourself trapped in a cycle of death either, the experience of reloading into the exact moment you fell to one of the many dangers which stalk the darkness a repeatable, predictable frustration. The load time – anywhere from 20 to 60 seconds on Xbox Series X – doesn't help here either.

I'm conflicted by my frustration. The fact that Stalker 2 is triggering an autosave at the most inopportune moments is actually an extension of something I really love about the game. Combat is exceptionally challenging, and I'm yet to survive an enemy encounter by anything but the skin of my teeth. Health reserves are decimated by incoming melee and ballistic damage, bleed effects are brutal, and med-kits are in as short a supply as ammunition. You can strafe, weave, and duck behind cover all you want – bullets and claws rip through flesh, and everything from a poorly-timed reload to a weapon jam to a misplaced step will kill you dead. Stalker 2 tries to reward every small, defiant act of survival with an autosave as a result – it is, perhaps, something of a patronizing pat on the back which comes far too frequently.

Saving grace?

Stalker 2 screenshot

(Image credit: GSC Game World)
The Wish Granter?

An abandoned Ferris wheel in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl

(Image credit: GSC Game World)

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl review: "The best but most broken game I've played all year"

Video games have always played clever tricks to make you feel more powerful or capable than you actually are. Developers rarely talk about this publicly, but oftentimes steps are implemented to imperceptibly alter the state of play. Maybe the last 5% of your health bar is actually comparable to the 15% that preceded it, perhaps a parry window extends the longer an encounter wears on – all designed to give you the sensation that you fought to overcome impossible odds. I'm pretty sure that Stalker 2 isn't engaged in such subtle ego inflation. Instead it seems to take real joy in knocking you down and pressing on as you scramble to react, the autosave functionality triggering the split-second you achieve literally anything is reflective of this.

It's this sharp edge that can make Stalker 2 so thrilling. Gunfights are breathless affairs, where the final enemy to be toppled is typically followed by frantic bandaging to prevent further blood loss. Circumventing anomalous activities is equally enthralling, where a few thrown bolts allow you to carve a path through hell and get your hands on mysterious artifacts. Such thrills have frustration as a natural byproduct. With gunfights always fought on a razor's edge it isn't uncommon for you and your aggressor to discharge their weapons at the same time, the autosave kicking in after impact but before the bodies hit the floor; same goes for the times you extend your arm to grab an anomalous prize, the autosave activating the second you are hit off-screen by some returning fracture in reality.

A player in Stalker 2 using a scoped rifle to aim at a human enemy from a distance

(Image credit: GSC Game World)

The trick is to not reach for the 'load last checkpoint' button as soon as you die, something I continue to do instinctively while blinded by frustration that I succumbed to the Zone once again. Practice some patience and the 'load save' option will let you rewind the clock in almost minute-by-minute increments, allowing you the chance to step back, breathe, and try again. You can also disable the autosave functionality in the menu entirely, but it's then incumbent on you to manually save frequently – and for such a vibes based open-world, you don't want to live within the web of menus.

Perhaps there is no answer here. I love that success, any success, in Stalker 2 makes me feel like king shit of the irradiated mountain. And I hate that I'm seemingly forced to relive any failure time-and-time again because the autosave functionality is intent on trapping me within death loops. It's quirks like this which make me weirdly, fondly nostalgic for the original Stalker trilogy – just as ruthless, although times have certainly changed since 2007. I suspect that an experience so outwardly hostile is going to feel like an aberration for many modern shooter fans, particularly those coming to it via Xbox Game Pass on a whim. Still, despite my frustrations, I'm coming back to the Zone for more – there is, for better or worse, nothing else quite like it around right now.


Looking for a more relaxing shooter? Here are the best FPS games you can play alongside Stalker 2

Josh West
Editor-in-Chief, 12DOVE

Josh West is the Editor-in-Chief of 12DOVE. He has over 15 years experience in online and print journalism, and holds a BA (Hons) in Journalism and Feature Writing. Prior to starting his current position, Josh has served as GR+'s Features Editor and Deputy Editor of games™ magazine, and has freelanced for numerous publications including 3D Artist, Edge magazine, iCreate, Metal Hammer, Play, Retro Gamer, and SFX. Additionally, he has appeared on the BBC and ITV to provide expert comment, written for Scholastic books, edited a book for Hachette, and worked as the Assistant Producer of the Future Games Show. In his spare time, Josh likes to play bass guitar and video games. Years ago, he was in a few movies and TV shows that you've definitely seen but will never be able to spot him in.

Read more
Atomfall screenshot
Playing Atomfall for 90 minutes booted me out of my comfort zone more than any other survival action game, and that's a very good thing
Sniper Elite: Resistance
I'm sure Sniper Elite Resistance is great for stealth stars, but I turned it into a Nazi-blasting horde shooter and have zero regrets
Henry and pal in a stockade in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
I hated my first few hours with Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, but now you couldn't take it away from me
Clashing swords against a warrior in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 dev weighs in on why it's getting harder to survive in RPGs – "If a game is 150 hours and all of your sessions are the same, you're gonna get bored"
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has a survival horror surprise that echoes Cyberpunk: Phantom Liberty's – and I loved every second
Two nobles getting married in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Getting too drunk in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 led to one of the most stressful quests I've ever played in an RPG
Latest in FPS
Doom: The Dark Ages screenshot
Doom director claims The Dark Ages can be beaten without using a gun, but "the game's not necessarily built to do that"
Battlefield Bad Company 2
Battlefield dev reveals more of his Bad Company 3 script and confirms the plot would revolve around the squad getting kicked out of the military and brought back for a final suicide mission
A Titan readies for combat in an animated trailer for Apex Legends Season 19
Yet another Respawn shooter has reportedly been canceled, following the studio's Star Wars FPS and rumored Titanfall Legends game to the grave
A cropped screenshot from the pre-alpha gameplay footage shown in the 'Introducing Battlefield Labs' video.
Battlefield 6's first teaser takes me back to the days of Modern Warfare 2 lobbies and 24/7 Metro matches, proving we all crave a return to shooters' simpler times
Doom
Doom: The Dark Ages' new cutscenes exist because of fans' unlikely obsession with the series' lore: "A Doom game that doesn’t have a story is just an arcade game”
Battlefield Bad Company 2
"I am freaked out by how much might actually have been accurate": Battlefield Bad Company 3 writer unearths forgotten script
Latest in Features
The Witcher 3 screenshot of Geralt
Avowed and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 tap into the same thing that makes The Witcher 3 so compelling – and it's something I'm always looking for in RPGs
Marvel Rivals Spider-Man
Spider-Man has become every Marvel Rivals player's worst nightmare
The Punisher holding two machine guns in the rain
Daredevil: Born Again - Learn the bullet-riddled comic book history of the Punisher before he officially joins the MCU
A woman in a underwater machine waving during the cinematic teaser for Subnautica 2.
Subnautica 2: Everything we know about the new underwater survival game
Daredevil: Born Again
Who killed [SPOILER] in Daredevil: Born Again episode 3?
The AMD Ryzen 7 8700G being held above a motherboard by a reviewer
AMD's pro-consumer 9070 strategies are exactly why it's primed to dominate the CPU market in 2025