Should you give the Ward Sensors to Richter or Zotov in STALKER 2?
Nov. 20, 2024You must decide who to give the Ward Sensors to in STALKER 2 but is Richter or Zotov the best option?
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Deciding if you should you give the Ward Sensors to Richter or Zotov in STALKER 2 is one of the game’s first major choices, forcing you to pick between assisting the Stalker or militaristic Ward factions respectively. Whoever you choose to give the sensors to, you’re effectively pledging at least a brief allegiance. While it doesn’t have world-shaking consequences, it does cause a bit of a diversion in the main missions ofStalker 2that follow as you’re given different orders to infiltrate a base and reach a new region of the map.
This choiceis triggered after you decide whether tohelp or kill Squint in STALKER 2as, whatever you choose, you’ll end up with the Ward Sensors and then have to choose who to give them too. While results don’t wildly send the game off in different directions, there are some things that change that you might want to be aware of.
Give the Ward Sensors to Richter in STALKER 2
If you give the Ward Sensors to Richter in STALKER 2, he’ll explain that it would be bad if the Ward got them because they’d use it to incriminate the Stalkers. He’ll then explain that Solder is an IPSF tech and you need to get into the Sphere, a large domed building out in the Zone, to find him.
The crucial difference here isRichter will give you a code that gets you into the Sphere via a keypad locked door at the end of a tunnel dotted with acid spots. This initially seems like a better choice than Zotov’s option, which involves a side gate into a heavily guarded area but it looks like the two choices are really the same route reversed, as Zotov’s plan has youescapingvia the acid tunnel.
However, this decision plays a part later when it’s time to track down Nestor, the name you got from Solder.Richter will tell you to head to a Detention Center in the Garbage region of the Zoneto speak to some people, but you need to head via the Northern Checkpoint, which you’ll also get a key for. Zotov, on the other hand will send you to the Western Checkpoint to go into the Chemical Plant. You’ll then undertake some slightly different missions before joining up onto the main quest again.
Before you head out of the Lesser Zone, you might want to tidy up a few jobs and side missions first some of which have their own choices - if you’ve not yet had tochoose Dew or the Ninth in the STALKER 2 Lost Boys mission, we can show you the options there.
If you give the Ward Sensors to Zotov in STALKER 2 he, like Richter, knows about Solder being an IPSF tech working in the Sphere. The mission will unfold much as if you’d given them to Richter, as you infiltrate the Sphere base in the Zone to find Solder.
However,if you give Zotov the Sensors, he will have a ‘man on the inside’ that can get you in through a side gate. This is a slightly more exposed option at the start compared to Richter’s route, as you’ll have to sneak through the base rather than go under it, but you can use Richter’s option to escape instead. So the two plans are basically the same thing, but in different directions depending on which side you go with.
Once you’re out of the Sphere, you’ll have the name Nestor, andZotov will tell you to visit the Chemical Plant via the Pontoon Bridge Checkpointon the west side of the Lesser Zone to find Colonel Korshunov, who might be able to help you regarding Nestor. Richter, on the other hand, will get you through the Northern Checkpoint and into Garbage, but either choice eventually leads to the threads joining up again as you look for Nestor.
Ultimately, the decision gives you a special entrance option for getting into the Sphere and leads to another choice toshoot Solder or knock him out in STALKER 2when you eventually reach him. I’d argue that Richter is the better option here, as doing the acid tunnel first gives you a easier way in over stealthing the main base area.
However, you could also argue that handing the Ward Sensors to Zotov is better in the long run as you’ll be directed to the Chemical Plant region before eventually going to Garbage anyway, so this helps you see more of the map. Although, the overall differences aren’t that huge, so go with whoever you like the most.© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.
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I’m GamesRadar’s Managing Editor for guides, which means I runGamesRadar’s guides and tips content. I also write reviews, previews and features, largely about horror, action adventure, FPS and open world games. I previously worked on Kotaku, and the Official PlayStation Magazine and website.
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