Some sequels offer more of the same, and that’s absolutely fine – in fact, it’s probably what most want. Then you have other sequels, like the newly-announced Chernobylite 2 Exclusion Zone which isn’t content to do things the safe way. In fact, this might be one of the biggest deviations I’ve ever seen in a sequel, with developer The Farm 51 not just throwing away the rulebook – it’s setting fire to it and salting the earth beneath.
The first Chernobylite game released a few years ago and did very well for itself. The big selling point for it is the realism – set around the Chornobyl exclusion zone, it combines a real-world map with a quest to find your missing wife lost in the power plant itself. This is all wrapped in with a roguelite, survival game structure that saw you venture out repeatedly to gather gear and resources, facing down terrifying mutated threats.
The sequel, however, is something completely different. Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone is still concerned with survival but nearly everything else is taking a different direction. For a start the action has gone third-person, and the developer is taking its cue from souls games to determine how the combat will play out. Base building is a big part of what to expect, with a little serving of tower defense thrown into the mix too.
Even away from gameplay, the game’s themes are taking a dramatically different turn from the first game. Less focused on realism this time around, instead a crystalline energy source known as Chernobytlite has taken over the entire zone, bringing with it strange, near-supernatural abilities. For example, your character is a planeswalker and you’re able to hop through different dimensions – which manifests itself in-game as an ability to swap yourself out for a different version of you, complete with alternative skill sets.
If fans were looking simply for more Chernobylite from Chernobylite 2 then they may be a little disappointed by this reveal, but it’s great to see a developer take a real risk when it comes to making a sequel. There’s no release date for Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone yet other than 2025, but you can head over to Steam today to add it to your wishlist.
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