Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone Early Access Preview: Tough to recommend

I've tried many Early Access games over the years and the experiences have been very mixed, just as expected. Some games feel almost finished, where you barely realise they're still in development. Others are so unfinished that they should never have been made available in the first place. But with Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone, we've reached a whole new standard for how early a game can be released. It's so embarrassing that I refuse to put a final score on it.

I played the first Chernobylite, and while it wasn't perfect, I was pretty happy with it. It was a unique mix of survival horror, base-building, and RPG elements, spiced up with an intriguing sci-fi story about a physicist who returns to the Chernobyl zone to find his missing fiancée. So I was curious when I heard about a sequel, which wasn't announced in the traditional way, but rather as a Kickstarter project where the developers sought financial support to get the game made.

But the question now is whether Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone is worth playing in its current, unfinished form, or is it one of those Early Access games you should stay far away from until it is more finalised? Let's dive into the game and find out.

Chernobylite 2 picks up where the sequel left off and brings us back to the so-called "zone", the radioactive area around the Chernobyl reactor. But something is different this time. The area is now surrounded by a mysterious barrier called "The Dome" that makes it impossible to leave the zone. At the same time, the green radioactive crystal Chernobylite has spread even further, mutating into an even more dangerous substance that is not only harmful to humans, but also distorts reality. The zone has become an even more relentless and claustrophobic hell where survival is not guaranteed.

You play as Cole, a character who crashes into the zone from a space station after a disaster, a drastic change from the first game where you played as a physicist in search of the truth about his past. After the crash, Cole discovers he has the ability to travel between parallel realities through portals, making him a Realm Walker.

This may sound exciting on paper, but in practice the story quickly becomes cluttered and unfocussed. The game throws you into a world where you are given almost no information, and what is explained is done in a half-baked way. Before long, you are captured by a mysterious man wearing a gas mask who lectures you that you are the "chosen one" to save the zone. It hasn't been seen before... From there, you're tasked with creating alliances with different factions by making decisions that will affect how they view you.

You end up taking up residence in an abandoned warehouse, which also serves as your base. Here you can build machines, make improvements, and recruit allies. Every day you are sent out into the zone to complete missions, either to get resources, recruit people, or drive the story forward. In addition, you can also send your allies out on missions, just like in the first game, and it still works pretty well.

The dialogue is chaotic to say the least. Some NPCs have voice acting, others suddenly switch to AI-read text-to-speech, which makes them sound like a bad GPS. In the middle of a conversation, a character can have one voice, only to have a completely different one in the next sentence. This completely ruined my immersion in the game as it became impossible to take the dialogue seriously. I know this is Early Access, but I would expect the content that is available to be recorded voice acting - the rest is simply not good enough.

And then there are the options, which on the surface should have a big impact on the game. But in practice, they are woeful. A typical example: You are asked to find ten machine parts in the zone around the mission giver. When you return, you can choose to hand them over to the original NPC or to a random person who suddenly appears and claims that he needs them more and that he will gladly pay double the price. This choice affects your relationship with the different factions, but most of the consequences are so vague that it never feels important.

Although Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone is sold as an Early Access game, it's hard to defend how unfinished it is. The graphics are a mess. On my RTX 4090, the game should run smoothly, but instead I experienced constant frame-rate fluctuations, flickering textures, and areas where the light changed randomly. Frame Generation only made matters worse, resulting in shadows and objects constantly popping in and out of existence, making it almost impossible to focus on the game's atmosphere. Additionally, it felt like the characters' textures had to stabilise before each conversation, which is a shame as they actually look pretty decent.

The camera is also plagued by issues. During conversations with NPCs, switching between camera angles could result in one character being shown at 40fps while the other would suddenly jump up to 60fps - as if the game was constantly struggling to hold itself together.
I understand that Early Access games often have technical issues, but this feels simply unfinished, like it was released out of necessity.

Despite the game's many problems, there are a few things that actually work. The base management system is still interesting. Gathering allies and building upgrades adds some depth to the gameplay and I can see potential if this aspect is further developed. The zone also has a good atmosphere when it's not ruined by graphical glitches. When everything works, the area feels both menacing and mysterious, very reminiscent of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series.

Okay, so is Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone worth playing? No, is the answer! The game is simply too unfinished to be recommended at this point. Even if you're a big fan of the first game, you'll probably spend more time getting frustrated with technical issues than enjoying the game content. If the developers manage to fix the worst of the mess, Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone could potentially be a worthy sequel. But as it stands, it's one of the most unfinished Early Access experiences I've had.

So unless you have extreme patience or just want to support the developers financially, you should stay far away. Maybe, in six months or a year, it'll be worth giving it a shot. But right now? Forget about it.