STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl will put the player into the muddy boots of the Stalker Skif, whose actions and choices will shape the future of the Zone, with the factions he chooses to support potentially altering the course of the game's story. But at the start of a Stalker's career they enter the field with no one to rely on but themselves, a Loner short on connections, full of potential, and always on the alert for their hated rivals, the Bandits.

Loners and Bandits are important factions in all of GSC Game World's STALKER titles, with Loners making up the majority of neutral NPCs in most starting areas and Bandits serving as the first human enemies the player will encounter. Any penetration into the Exclusion Zone, from STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl to the upcoming STALKER 2, will make the player cross paths with both factions sooner rather than later.

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The Loner Faction

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The exact affiliation of the Loners is more complicated than the more clearly defined allegiances of Stalker factions like Duty and Freedom. Loners, also called Free Stalkers, were among the very first to enter the Zone after the second Chornobyl disaster of 2006. Despite having a general camaraderie with their fellows, the faction is rarely unified under central leadership. Loner is less of a clan label than it is a catch-all term for neutral Stalkers more interested in scoring loot than Zone politics. This neutrality allows them to take on jobs with Duty, Freedom, and the Ecologists as free agents.

Despite the name, Loners can be surprisingly tight-knit, with newcomers to the Zone helped along by more experienced Stalkers. Small squads are often seen working together, choosing strength in numbers over a bigger share of the loot.

The gameplay trailer for STALKER 2 is even framed around a group of Loners swapping stories over a campfire. However, many choose to go it alone, and their corpses are common sources of loot. The player, a solo Stalker carving their own path, is advised to take on allies whenever possible to avoid a similar fate. Because Loners range from short-lived rookies to the most legendary experts in the Zone, their equipment runs the full spectrum from ratty leather jackets and weak pistols to exoskeletons and Spetsnaz weapons. Their wide presence throughout the Zone means that an allied player can usually count on them to help out in a fight if they happen to be nearby. If the player is in a rival faction, they can prove a constant threat.

The Bandit Faction

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Preying on other factions and especially Loners through extortion, murder, and even slavery, Bandits are the scum of the Zone. Many criminals came to the zone to escape the law, finding a fresh start in STALKER's bizarre world of mutants and anomalies, but others stick to their lawless roots to swell the ranks of the Bandits. Bandits care nothing for the wonders of the zone apart from how much money they can make from stolen artifacts, seeing no reason to risk their skins in anomalies when it's so much easier to gun down a Loner who has already retrieved the loot.

Despite most Bandits being associated with a gang, they are even more fractured than the Loners, who at least will not attack each other on sight. Bandits rarely consolidate into a group for long due to chronic backstabbing, though some rare leaders have managed to organize the lowlifes into a properly organized crime ring running rackets and coordinated assassination. Even in these seldom seen instances, such regimented Bandit gangs stick to a single area, with the lack of transportation or even reliable roads preventing a true network from being established without fear of an underling scheming from a distance.

Bandits are easily the worst-equipped faction of the Zone. Their trademark trench coats are worn more for intimidation than protection, and they almost never push deep enough to get their hands on the best guns found in the Zone. Because their victims are Stalkers with minimal equipment, Bandits usually have no reason to get anything better. Players who throw in with the Bandits (usually after already being robbed by them) will generally have an even more difficult time in the Zone than usual, as most other factions will attack on sight and Bandit "allies" are usually no match for anything stronger than low level rookies.

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The Importance of Loners and Bandits

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STALKER is defined by its Loners, who represent not only the average Stalker in the Zone, but the average human trying to comprehend the unknown. Loners are the franchise's everyman, running the full spectrum of motivations, temperaments, and morals. Encompassing foolish youths looking for adventure, greedy artifact hunters hungry for profit, philosophers believing the Zone is humanity's solution to suffering, and world-weary cynics with nowhere else to go, the Loners are the purest example of a Stalker.

Bandits play a very different role for the series, one that extends beyond merely being an early game challenge. The robberies at checkpoints and the unprovoked attacks while the player is traversing the map all have a sense of pettiness against the deadly grandeur of the Zone. When later segments of the games dive into post-Soviet Union themes of self-destructive humanity, the player doesn't need to have it spelled out for them; they've already experienced the grossness of mankind through the gameplay.

Bandits also serve a second purpose which has proven vital to the series' success: humor. Much of the games' fanbase were first drawn in by memes and in-jokes spawned from interactions with the Bandits, most famously with the voice line "A nu, cheeki breeki i v damke!" After the early game, Bandits become almost laughably easy to deal with, somehow thinking they can take down a rising Zone legend with nothing but tracksuits and broken AKs. The famously catchy in-world music of Bandit Radio alone has brought countless new players to the STALKER series. Players can only hope that GSC Game World will continue these hallmarks of Zone life in STALKER 2.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S.

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