Despite being one of the biggest Unreal Engine 5 games ever, Stalker 2's locations are almost entirely hand-crafted: 'It took a lot of time, took a lot of effort, but we're happy with the result'

Stalker 2 is set to be a big game: The official FAQ says the game map is more than 60 square kilometers in size, making it "one of the biggest open worlds in videogames to date." Despite that size, Stalker 2 technical producer Evgeniy Kulik told PC Gamer that the studio is not relying on procedural generation to bring it to life: Every location in the game is made "by hand."

GSC Game World is using Unreal Engine 5 to make Stalker 2, Kulik said, which presents its own unique challenges because as far as he knows...