Published , by Aidan O'Brien
Published , by Aidan O'Brien
The poppy field anomaly in Stalker 2 can be a little scary when you first arrive. This entire area is essentially one giant anomaly and will constantly be trying to put you to sleep. A nearby NPC will tell you that he picks the corpses of the dead clean for a living, so you know this place is pretty gnarly. This is how to survive it and finish your quest.
You get sent to the poppy field on a quest for Mityay, who you meet in Zalissya. You can find him in the main building that houses your bed and stash box. Chat with him, and he will ask you to collect a religious icon in a nearby root cellar.
Head to the northwest of Zalissya, and on the curve of the river, past the factory ruins, you will find the poppy field. Don’t venture in just yet. Instead, you get a call from an NPC called Pomor. Go and talk to him in a nearby house, and he will explain the dangers of the field to you.
The poppy field will cause drowsiness that puts you to sleep and will eventually kill you. Explain to him that you are hunting for a religious icon but don’t know where the root cellar is, and he’ll give you three options.
He also offers to buy the icon from you later and is willing to give you a pretty nice rifle in return for them, called the Unknown Stalker’s AR416, so keep that in mind.
Accept the job to help him loot the bodies, and their positions will all be added to your PDA. To make it through the poppies, the trick is to use energy drinks. Chugging one down will keep you awake. You can find them in all the houses, and some of the bodies even have them in their bags.
The important thing to do is make sure you are not close to being encumbered. The five bodies all have some gear on them, and you don’t want to get slowed down. I think the best rotation to get to the bodies is the one I have shown on the map above. It gives you a good route to grab the cans of the energy drink you need and also gives you a chance to take breaks in houses and clear patches should you get drowsy.
When you have all the bodies looted, head back to Pomor in his house and give him the goods. Decide if you want to give him the icon or bring it to Mityay. Remember, Mityay will give you some coupons, or Pomor will give you a weapon that costs a lot to repair but is very strong.
A less honorable Stalker may be tempted to give the icon to Pomor, take his money, then kill him and loot his body, but we must all make our own decisions in the Zone. For more helpful guides, be sure to check out our Stalker 2 page.