2021's Chernobylite was a survival-stealth FPS set in the Zone of Alienation, only a version of the Zone where the laws of physics had been broken and a whole lot of people with guns moved in. The obvious similarities to STALKER ended at the concept, and Chernobylite was actually about putting together a heist crew, recruiting companions and reinforcing your base of operations between missions around the Zone. It was thoroughly decent—not great, not terrible—exactly the kind of game a sequel could improve on in interesting ways.
Which is why it's good news that a Kickstarter for Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone has already passed its funding target. It's raised enough in the opening days of its crowdfunding campaign to pay for a couple of stretch goals, namely the option to switch between third-person and first-person in play, and all the guns from the original game being carried over into the sequel.
Chernobylite 2 promises to be more of an open world RPG than the original, one letting you build your reputation with three competing factions (scientists, mercs, and mutants), and also build your character's, er, build. There are six classes to choose from and six attributes to improve, as well as a bunch of skills, meaning you can be a sharpshooting recon specialist or a crystal-powered techwizard if that's your thing.
You can respec on the fly, which is explained in-universe by the busted physics of the Zone. In the first game when you died you had the option to spend chernobylite crystals to alter the timeline when you returned, in the sequel the twisted nature of timey-wimey stuff will let you "planewalk" to switch between character builds if you suddenly need to, for instance, become a master of melee combat.
On that subject, Chernobylite 2 promises to have a new melee combat system. Other new features include online co-op missions "embedded" in the otherwise singleplayer campaign, and companions who act as teachers rather than just basebuilding labor, and can help improve your skills.
With more than three weeks left to go, there's plenty of time for the Kickstarter to unlock more stretch goals. Next on the list is first-person weapon customization at €125,000, which is currently €10,000, or $US10,285 away.
