S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl is set to release in the first half of 2022, be it good or not the upcoming sequel will feature non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a part of the newly announced “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Metaverse,” according to The Verge.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 developer, GSC Game World says the metaverse aspect of the game will “use blockchain technology to let the community own a piece of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.” It goes a little beyond that as the developer revealed it’s looking give an individual in its community the opportunity to become the “first-ever metahuman.”
It sounds like another way of saying a Non-Playable Character (NPC) that’s rendered in higher detail. A spokesperson for the developer adds that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s approach to adding ‘metahumans’ into the game won’t be through Epic Games’ MetaHuman Creator tool. The developer is apparently partnering up with the NFT platform DMarket to create new items. Below is a development diary on how GSC Game World scans people into the game.
An auction to bid on NFT to become a “metahuman” player will take place sometime in January 2022. Players who successfully bid on the NFT will be able to able to buy or sell it up until a specific claim date after the initial auction. GSC Game World’s CEO detailed the process of becoming a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 NPC in an emailed statement.
“The idea of the related NFTs is to give the right to recreate its owner’s identity within the game through one of the NPCs. The person will need to come to our studio for a detailed scanning procedure and after that, we will have everything to make this person appear in the game world as one of the characters,” GSC Game World CEO, Evgeniy Grygorovych said in an emailed statement.
GSC Game World says it’s is looking to release more NFTs and not just metahuman ones but the developer didn’t entail what specific NFTs will be added to the game. The developer added ina press release that NFTs themselves will not “influence the gameplay itself or give in-game advantages over other players.”
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl is set to release on PC and Xbox Series X|S on April 28th, 2022 through Xbox Game Pass, which is being built in Unreal Engine 5.
