STALKER 2 is best with Ukrainian voice acting (and English subtitles)

After my colleague Charlie Hall reviewed STALKER 2 for Polygon and wrote up a bunch of beginners’ tips, he gave me a bonus tip that I’d like to pass on here to all of you: Turn on the Ukrainian language voice acting with English subtitles. Yes, you’ll have to do some reading and therefore pay more attention while playing the game, but STALKER 2 is difficult, so you’re paying plenty of attention anyway. The change-up is absolutely worth it.

The English language voice actors sound just fine, of course, and if you didn’t ever change over to the Ukrainian voice actors, you could just enjoy the whole game with no idea what you’re missing out on. (My use of the word “enjoy” is leaving aside the game’s relatively unstable state at the time of this writing; I’ve been playing on Xbox Series S via Game Pass, a version that does have some issues, but I’ve had decent luck with it thus far.)

There are a lot of good reasons to switch the language over. One reason is plain old realism. STALKER 2 was designed by Ukrainian studio GSC Game World, with development continuing even after the Russian invasion in 2022. The STALKER series is post-apocalyptic science-fiction set in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine, and STALKER 2 continues that story, depicting characters local to that area dealing with both supernatural and real-life threats and finding community amongst one another despite the circumstances they’re all barely surviving each day. For all of those reasons, it just makes sense artistically and emotionally to hear Ukrainian spoken amongst the characters in this game.

But also, you’ll enjoy the performances. The voice actor for Skif, the main character in the game, is an excellent performance in particular and the true standout for me. Since it’s his voice that you’ll be hearing for the entire game, it’s even more worthwhile to switch over and truly step into his shoes as you enter the Zone.