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While the system was utterly broken on launch, Stalker 2 A-Life is slowly becoming more advanced through a long series of updates. After some major patches, Stalker 2’s mysterious Zone is alive once again, but the system was once much more advanced than the majority of the game’s players.
Even with the advancements made after release, many fans have expressed disappointment that the game’s AI is barely as smart as older games in the series. However, it turns out the A-Life system in the original game was also cut down from its original version as players were constantly outsmarted by the game’s enemies.
Stalker A-Life was extremely smart
In an interview with Eurogamer, original Stalker game designer Andrii Verpakhovskyi revealed that the original version of the game’s A-Life mechanic was extremely advanced. During development lead AI programmer Dmitry Yasenev created NPCs so advanced that players were struggling to win against them.
“He was absolutely thriving building AI agents that were smarter than an average human,” the designer told the outlet. So much so that their intelligence ultimately had to be tuned down. Relying on the same sensory tools as the player, computer-controlled characters were consistently coming out on top – not only in combat, but when it came to solving quests too.”
“People had a really hard time persuading Dmitry that while the AI was absolutely beautiful, we should carve out some space for the player to have fun too.”
While the Stalker A-Life system would eventually be cut down to the version players know and love, it was a hard cut to make. During development, Yasenev didn’t want to remove the enemies’ intelligence, but it made the game less fun for players.
“People had a really hard time persuading Dmitry that while the AI was absolutely beautiful, we should carve out some space for the player to have fun too,” the designer explained. “The paradigm of Stalker at the time was that we don’t really care about the player. We have this living world. It would be doing just fine without them.”
Despite the game’s cut down AI intelligence, players still fell in love with Stalker’s A-Life mechanics, and the game’s sequel still has a while to go. The intelligence of enemies is central to the feeling of the series, and always will be.
About the Author
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow Of Chernobyl
- Platform(s): PC
- Genre(s): Action, First Person, Shooter
