Sorulo. That was the little teaser that the official S.T.A.L.K.E.R. account gave for NVGs being introduced into the Zone. In honesty, one could say: It was about time. The tweet was cryptic, something along the lines of “I am blind, but it is you who…will soon be able to use NVGs in the Zone.” Along with it, the tweet displayed some authentic-looking thermal night vision aesthetics.
Still, the replies were something else. Some players are going to the skies with excitement while one dude goes full caps-honestly, I was feeling the same vibes-“HOLY FUCK BIG W.” Then others kept on complaining, “Should’ve been there since release,” and “Better late than never, I guess. Shame no one plays anymore…” Ouch.
The few simple facts: GSC Game World is actually adding NVGs to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, which sounds very basic for any survival horror FPS set within an ominous radioactive zone but hey, there was none on launch, right? The teaser does show the green monocular view with that classic circular border that really makes you feel like you’re wearing the gear—a nice immersive touch.
And then it gets juicy-interesting: the devs went back and confirmed in some comments that “This is just the BASIC kind of NVGs.” So, a bunch of other types will be available, with different overlays, and I assume colors too. One guy threw in a cheeky question about quad nods, which are those 4-tube night vision setups that special forces use. The devs never gave an outright answer to that question, though. Instead, they let it slip that there will be “more advanced with different angles.” So, I suppose what he’s actually pointing to is a progression where you’re starting out with this very basic monocular, and then you work your way up to something more advanced.”
Is it really still about the realism? Choose your side, gentlemen, because some players want this dark circular border of theirs removed from the UI simply because it limits vision; others say to keep it there just because it’s realistic and that anyone who doesn’t like it can just mod it themselves. That is a typical STALKER community answer. The devs themselves even seem to lean into that direction of immersion and realism-first. Quite fitting for the franchise, actually.
Man, the bitterness is just dripping in those replies! One player went on an angry rant about how the game was released in a broken state and that early adopters have yet to be compensated in any meaningful way. Then one straight-up called the devs a failure and started listing complaints ranging from NPC rendering distance to AI. Yikes.
Regardless of the critique, hype is building. “When the hell is this dropping?” is asked, with someone saying, “Around the 21st of this month,” but nobody on the dev team has gone any farther to confirm it yet. The official account answered shortly with: “Soon” and “Working on it,” followed by those creepy eye emojis, of course. That’s totally something they would do.
Naturally, the demand continued to rise. One pleaded for FN F2000; another asked if they’d get DLC or map expansions; a third yelled, “NOW BINOCS AND PROPER STEALTH AND WE’RE GOLDEN,” all fair comments given the stage the game is already at. With the game out for quite a while now, the players are desperate for more content other than just night vision.
The whole episode just reflects that love-hate thing the players face with the franchise. The world and atmosphere are loved by everyone, while some almost unbearably labor-intensive launch and painfully slow updates verge on frustration. So far, that’s a good step forward, but it feels lately more like catching-up on features that HAD to be there from day one.
Suffice to say, this new gear is going to be welcomed by all the hardcore stalkers that still poke around the Zone. I mean, nighttime exploration just became a whole lot more fun to manage, and with the promise of various types of NVGs, there is a nice kind of pay-off to trail through. Let’s just hope the drop happens sooner rather than later, or else it all becomes irrelevant.
At the end of the day, well, night vision is finally coming to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. Late to the party but better late than never. While it remains to be seen if this will be enough to figure a comeback for the player base, at least we’ll be able to see in the dark now. Cheeki breeki.
