Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyltakes you back to the unforgiving Zone, where you play as Skif, a lone Stalker navigating the radioactive wasteland to make his mark. Between deadly mutants, hostile factions, and the harsh world, survival hinges not just on firepower but also on managing dangerous status conditions.

There aren’t manystatus effectsto monitor, but they are also no mere setbacks, as each can swiftly make a bad situation worse in its own way. The last thing you’d need in a firefight is to be weighed down by encumbrance or distracted by hunger, after all.

Every Status Effect And How To Cure It

Bleeding,Hunger,Encumbered,Radiation, Psi-Radiation, andAlcoholare the status effects you’ll need to keep an eye on while exploring the Zone. Some hit you hard duringskirmishes with mutants or enemy NPCs, while others areself-inflicted by your actions or poor planning.

Item cures are the usual remedy, but many havedouble-edge effectswhere they willfix one ailment but will nudge you closer to getting another. However, alcohol, which fades with time, and the encumbered condition, solved by managing your inventory, are exceptions.

Thestatus effects can stack up, and if left untreated,their negative effects will amplify.

Cure(s)

Bleeding

Caused by beingstruck by bullets or mutants, as well ascontact with barbed wiresorglass shards anomalies.

Displayed by ared blood droplet iconabove your health bar.

It results inhealth loss over time, whichworsens if the icon turns bright red.

Hunger

Accumulates if youneglect eatingorwake upafter sleeping. Drinkingenergy drinksandalcoholcan also trigger and worsen the condition with repeated use.

Encumbered

Stacks up when youexceed the yellow or red carry weight thresholds.

Aweight icon above your health barindicates encumbrance.

Thishampers mobility,reduces stamina recovery,andincreases stamina consumptionfor actions likejumpingorsprinting.Exceeding your overall capacityalso renders Skif immobile.

Reduce carry weight bystashing, dropping, or selling itemsfrom your inventory to the green zone.Certain artifacts or armors canincrease carry weight capacity, and theHercules drugoffers a5-minute 20kg boost.

Radiation

Exposure to irradiated areasorwearing radioactive artifactscauses the radiation meter to fill.

Noisy film grainon the screen and acrackling soundsignals you’re irradiated.

Caused by theController mutantandpsi-beaconsthat release psi-emissions.

Inducesstrange voicesandghostly hallucinations that wear down health.

As for the Controller,we had to kill itto eliminate the effect, whereaspsi-beacons can simply be deactivated. Armor suits such asSEVA-IandPsi-Blocks(+10 Psi Protection for one minute) mitigate the effects of psi-emissions.

Causesblurry visionandwobbly camera effects, which worsen with repeated use.

Wait for the effect to naturally wear off.

If you find yourself unable to sleep, it’s either you are hungry, bleeding, or irradiated. The fix is as simple as getting rid of these effects using any of the detailed cures.