Things to do first in Stalker 2 – STALKER 2 Guide

On By Littum

Complete the needle in a Haystack Quest

Get back on track of the main mission by performing Needle in a Haystack Quest. You get this task talking to either Gaffer or Captain Zotov about Squint. The choice of which faction to side with and the fate of Squint is up to you. Regardless of who you decide to give the ward sensors to, or what you decide to do with Squint, you will still be able to go to your hideout in the Hamster’s shop after completing this quest. On that note, make sure to visit your cache and take a USB drive left inside. Once you get the USB drive, you can find Journalist Stashes marked on your map around the zone.

Find the journalist caches in the small zone

Collecting the drive in your stash after completing the Needle in a Haystack mission will start up Search and you will find the searchwhich places a whole bunch of markers on your map noting where you can find a valuable stash of equipment called Journalist Stashes. Three of these can be found right where you are in the Lesser Zone, and you should search for them as soon as you can.

The first can be found just north of Zalissya. Go around to the back of the two houses near the marker and look for a truck. You have to jump on the truck’s bumper in this very specific spot to land on it, which will let you jump on the hood, then to the top of the truck, then to the roof of the building on the right. Drop down to the platform on the right, warp through the crawl space and you’ll find the stashes at the end containing a better jacket, a better gun and ammo.

The next one can be found further north of Zalissya at the Northern Checkpoint. Look around this spot on the map for a ladder that takes you to the roof of the tallest building, then head over to the corner where you’ll see a flock of crows. Take the ladder down and you’ll be able to grab the cache, which contains a Viper Monolith gun and a lot of ammo.