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Exploring the Exclusion Zone inS.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobylwill be a challenge for most players. The world is filled with enemies and unnatural elements that can make exploration difficult, but also a variety of side quests in each zone. When theLesser Zoneyou first start out in opens up after the prologue of the story, you’ll encounter several of these quests available right away. Here you’re able to run into a man by the name ofNightingalewho will have a two-step questline for you to complete.
Review: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Welcome (back) to The Zone, Stalker.
Dogfight Side Quest Step
This portion of the quest will be the start of a series of events for Nightingale.
Nightingale will be waiting by a fence near the center of the starting town,Zalissya Bar. When speaking with him, he will offer you a wager on who can kill the mostblind dogsin a job he has taken on. If you kill more than him, he will give you money from the job. You can ask him some more questions about the job, but after accepting the quest, you’ll briefly follow Nightingale further west. This is when the “Dogfight” side quest will start. He will take you to some abandoned cowsheds that have been overrun by this pack of blind dogs. Once you are on this land you’ll be attacked by 5–6 dogs right away, so ensure you are ready for a fight.
This won’t be particularly difficult to take on, and once all the dogs have been taken down, you’ll need to take a collar off of one of them to give to Nightingale. The dog in question will have a blue aura around it. This might not show up immediately and only after the rest of the dogs have been killed as well. Deliver the collar to Nightingale, and he will send you off to another destination to get another collar for more payment.
Helping with Nightingale’s Hunt
After being given the “Nightingale’s Hunt” portion of the quest, you’ll now head west of Zalissya Bar. This time you will have to find the next collar on a mutant near Bulba and you also have the optional objective option to take out a nearby pack of blind dogs as well. If you do go for the optional portion of the quest, there is also a chance that a nearby anomaly will have killed them when you arrive, but if they die too close, you have to be careful.
This anomaly will pull anything nearby closer to it and kill it fairly quickly. If you get caught you’ll need to try and position yourself among the wreckage nearby to avoid being dragged to your death. Thankfully, it does this in increments, so you can gather the collar quickly if this does happen and get to safety before it does end up dragging you into it.
Making Your Way Back to Nightingale
Nightingale is in some trouble, and you’ll need to meet up and help him at a new location.
Once the collar has been collected you’ll get a comm message from Nightingale, and you’ll need to headsouthto help him out. The job he has accepted involves more than packs of blind dogs, and you’ll need to reach his location. When you make your way south you’ll need to be careful as there are some minor threats scattered around the area on your way to Nightingale, but you will want to make sure you have plenty of ammo and healing items for when you reach his location. Nightingale can be found in a small abandoned house that is just off of one of the main roads that you can travel on by foot.
Once you arrive at the house, you’re able to see Nightingale in the house and see that he had met his fate while you were on the way to help. You can take theAKM-74Srifle off of his body, but if you do, you’ll need to do it quickly as aBloodsuckerenemy will be waiting for you right after you find Nightingale. These enemies are aggressive and use hit-and-run tactics while also causing you to bleed with their attacks. Bloodsuckers, if you aren’t familiar with them from prior games, will charge you while invisible and retreat after hitting you a few times. This process will repeat until it has been killed, and you cannot take the higher ground as it will hide until you’ve come down from safety. Just make sure you have plenty of bandages and med kits so you can survive the onslaught of attacks and you’ll be fine.
After the fight with the Bloodsucker is done, and you are in the clear, you are now free to return to Zalissya Bar and speak with Hamster. you may turn in the collars to receive the reward that Nightingale had been working towards.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a sequel to the award-winning game franchise developed by GSC Game World. Experience one-of-a-kind gameplay, featuring the elements of a first-person shooter, immersive sim, and horror. The Chornobyl Exclusion Zone is a unique, dangerous and ever-changing environment. It promises a lot — the artifacts of unbelievable value can be yours if you dare to claim them. The price you may pay, on the other hand, is no less than your own life. One of the biggest open-worlds to date, filled with radiation, mutants and anomalies, is yours to explore. All the choices across the way not only define your own epic story, but influence the future itself. Be mindful about what you see, do and plan, as you will have to find your way through the Zone or be forever lost to it.
