With the Early Access release of Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone earlier this month, we’ve been quite curious about how developer The Farm 51 will continue to work on the game. Marketing manager Barbara Szymanska was kind enough to answer some of our burning questions about various things, including the new game’s focus on RPG mechanics over its predecessor’s survival horror vibes, and even the development of the console versions down the line.
You seem to be placing a much greater emphasis on the open world action RPG aspect of the experience with Chernobylite 2 compared to its predecessor. What made the team want to pursue such an expanded scope?
The first game was always an RPG and we never attempted to create a shooter. In our vision Chernobylite 2 is an expansion of all the ideas behind Chernobylite 1 – we just gave more freedom and more ways of playing. The key aspect of the first game was to let you experience your Chornobyl adventure in any way you want, so in the second part you’re getting new tools and ways of playing. In Chernobylite 1 we did not have the resources to build a fully open world, but thanks to Unreal Engine 5, new tools and technologies as well as a great and experienced team we were able to face this challenge and create a massive open world and let you play freely in any way you want – without limits of specific missions and locations.
"The first game was always an RPG and we never attempted to create a shooter."
The original game was already noted for its non-linear choice and consequence driven storytelling. As you move forward with the more ambitious Chernobylite 2, is that another area where players can expect the game to double down on what the original did?
Non-linear storytelling and branching has always been our team’s DNA. We designed consequences to players’ choices both in Get Even and in Chernobylite so it’s natural that in Chernobylite 2 the story will be non-linear as well. The sequel will have multiple endings and a branching narrative just as complex.
Can you walk us through how the game’s progression and customization systems will work? How varied players can expect character builds to be in Chernobylite 2?
The player will be able to decide what is the path of developing his character, and we give many tools to do that. At top of it, there is Planewalking, the special feature of the game that allows you to have more than one character at your disposal.
The RPG mechanics in Chernobylite 1 were quite conservative because we were hesitant to venture too far into unfamiliar territory. Now, we’re no longer afraid. In Chernobylite 2, you’ll be able to spend experience points on unlocking one of 45 skills (which all will make a real difference in gameplay), and developing one of six character attributes (such as strength or intelligence), which will impact specific combat elements, unlock hidden dialogue options, grant access to previously unreachable areas, and improve proficiency with various equipment and weapons. So as you see, the player’s freedom to build their character is very significant.
Will pacifist/non-combat builds and options be viable in the game?
The players will have a lot of freedom on how they want to play. In most cases they will have a chance to resolve conflicts diplomatically, however, some missions require fighting so sometimes you will have to pick up your weapon. Still, builds focusing on persuasion and diplomatic approach to make sense.
"The RPG mechanics in Chernobylite 1 were quite conservative because we were hesitant to venture too far into unfamiliar territory. Now, we’re no longer afraid."
How will you be maintaining the horror elements and atmosphere of the original in a game where the player has a lot more options and choices available?
Chernobylite 1 was more of a survival horror RPG, but this time we decided to go deeper in the RPG aspect and design
With Chernobylite 2 being built on Unreal Engine 5, can you tell us what the engine will enable you to achieve with the game from a visuals and technical perspective?
We’re striving to make full use of all the engine’s features – world partition (a system for building an open world), PCG (a system for generating realistic foliage), Metahuman (the entire workflow for character creation and animation), and Lumen (a comprehensive lighting system). These systems allowed us to achieve very good quality and a large scale of the project despite the small size of our team.
Roughly how long is an average playthrough of the game?
A tough question, as everyone plays differently. 50 hours? Maybe more… We’re still in development and we’re going to work and expand the game during Early Access so these numbers may change.
Do you have any plans to bring Chernobylite 2 to the Nintendo Switch successor down the line?
For now on we’re focusing on PC release and later on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. It’s too soon to say more about other platforms but we cannot rule out anything. It just depends not on ‘if’, rather than ‘when’. We did eventually release Chernobylite 1 on Nintendo Switch. The same may happen to Chernobylite 2 one day but, again, we don’t have specific plans for that at the moment.
Given that you have experience working with all the current-gen consoles, I was hoping to pick your brain on some of the differences between them. For instance, where their GPUs are concerned, the PS5 clocks in at 10.28 teraflops, behind the Xbox Series X’s 12 teraflops. In real terms, however, how much of an impact does that difference have during development?
It is too soon to answer this and the following questions regarding consoles at this moment. Currently, we’re focusing on PC Early Access release and delivering the best game quality. A lot may change during this period so any specific answers about console edition technical aspects will be fortune telling.
We’ve proven to release Chernobylite 1 on various platforms regardless of their technical differences in the past, so we believe that we can do it again. We’re happy to discuss the details when it’s closer to console release.
"For now on we’re focusing on PC release and later on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S."
The Xbox Series S features lesser hardware compared to Xbox Series and Microsoft is pushing it as a 1440p/60 FPS console. Have you faced any problem while developing for it?
Chernobylite is working well on all platforms it’s been released. Today it’s too soon to share details regarding console editions for Chernobylite 2. First we have to focus on Early Access on PC.
