The Anomaly Mod is perhaps the best overhaul mod for classic STALKER. So, time now to find out whether a heavily modded version of STALKER can compete with STALKER 2. Let’s find out.
The original STALKER came out 17 years ago, and it’s powered by the X-Ray Engine. On the other hand, STALKER 2 uses Unreal Engine 5, and takes advantage of Nanite and Lumen.
Hilariously, enough, some players claimed that STALKER Anomaly looks as good – or even better – as STALKER 2. Well, as you will see, that’s not the case. STALKER 2 looks way, way better than STALKER modded.
The only downsides of STALKER 2 right now are two. The first one is that the flashlight does not cast shadows. The second is that there are some noticeable pop-in issues.
Thankfully, you can address both of these issues with mods. For the flashlight, you can use the mod I shared a couple of hours ago. As for the pop-in issues, you can use this mod that enables higher LOD values for vegetation, trees, and grass.
As I’ve said, STALKER 2 has major bugs. It also suffers from some traversal stutters. However, it has incredible graphics. This is one of the best-looking PC games of 2024. By fixing the aforementioned issues, the game becomes a graphical showcase. Moreover, this is one of the few games in which HDR can tremendously improve the visuals.
Speaking of STALKER 2, I also suggest taking a look at these other mods for it. Let’s start with the Draw Distance Mod. This mod will reduce the pop-ins of trees and vegetation. However, it comes with a pretty big performance hit. On my NVIDIA RTX 4090, I got a 10-20FPS performance hit. So, use it only if you have a high-end GPU.
Then we have this mod that attempts to restore most of the online A-Life functionality. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than the vanilla version. This is a must until GSC GameWorld fixes A-Life 2.0. Let’s also not forget this mod that adds a Parkour-like climbing system to the game. This is another must-have mod for all STALKER 2 players.
Finally, you can download a mod that will remove the inventory carry/weight limit. I’m not a fan of this last mod but hey, some of you may like it.
For what it’s worth, the devs have already released two patches. The first patch had over 650 fixes, whereas the second one focused on quest blockers. Sadly, these patches do not address any of the aforementioned issues. The good news here is that these mods are compatible with the game’s latest version. As such, you will be able to use them without experiencing any conflicts.
Have fun and stay tuned for more!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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