I have come into possession of Stalker 2, a game people keep telling me I would like. I’ve actually never played a Stalker, but I do like the idea of the series a lot. The problem I have now is that I have no idea where to put it on my PC.
Let’s get this out of the way: I’m not the most PC-savvy guy out there. Since first building (or, being party to the building of) my PC in 2014, I’ve upgraded it in little bits. One part I’ve largely neglected is my drives: at some point, my most competent friend added an SSD to boot from, while I keep all my games on a much bigger hard drive. This has served me pretty well, even if my PC-building role model Kirk Hamilton thinks it’s outdated, and even as more and more games claim they require an SSD.
But here comes Stalker 2, requiring a whopping 160 GB and demanding an SSD. At first glance, neither of my drives had the space for it, which was honestly a bit perplexing. What the fuck is on here? And which drive should I prioritize clearing–does it really need an SSD, or is this just the intimidating kind of thing games tell you more and more these days? Comparison videos on YouTube haven’t been entirely helpful–I’m willing to sit through long load times, but there are so many other system variables that it’s hard to get a clear sense of how the game would run on my HDD. Meanwhile, people in the forums are engaged in heated debates about the SSD requirement, with some saying the game ran fine on their HDDs, and others calling people idiots for even asking.
I took a trip through both my drives, trying to understand why they’re so full. It’s like the world’s worst guessing game: Is Cyberpunk still on here, hidden away in wherever the hell the GOG launcher is? How many times have I installed and uninstalled Red Dead Redemption II, and what could my Rockstar launcher password be? Is Overwatch in here somewhere? Apex Legends? Are they on Steam or Epic or in their own launchers? Can I live without The Witcher 3 on my computer? Should I just finish that Dishonored 2 stealth run instead of all this, which would explain why the game is still installed?
Other discoveries were just baffling. How did 2020’s Tell Me Why get on my SSD? Why do I still have the Mirror’s Edge Catalyst beta from 2016? When did I own a flight stick, such that I have flight stick software? Is Xsplit even still around? When was I so into pixel art that I have three different programs for it? What the fuck is a virtual cable, and why do I have so many?
This is the problem with having owned the same drives for so long: all that digital detritus piles up, until it’s an unfathomable tangle of things I have no idea how to go about cleaning out, especially with my shaky PC knowledge. Some of these mysterious programs are probably badly-named but foundational, while others are just junk. How do I even start figuring this out? And is all of this even worth it for a game I might not like?
I’ve managed to clear just enough space on my SSD, and much more space on my HDD, which has now led me back to the first question of where I should put Stalker 2. Is it exactly 160, or does it need some headroom, meaning my HDD would be the better choice? Is this question itself a fundamental misunderstanding of disk space? My gut is to just put it on my HHD and see how I get along, because I’ve always considered the SSD the sacred space where the most important workaday stuff goes (a category I guess Tell Me Why fell into?), and also because now I want to know for sure how essential an SSD truly is. But also, I only have so much time in my day, and on this planet. I am also, despite being an anarchist, a stickler for the rules; if the game demands an SSD, is it folly to fight it?
The obvious solution here is to join the current decade, get my PC-building friend to take me to Microcenter, buy an SSD which are now cheap and plentiful, and solve this problem once and for all. But they’re currently out of town, and the thought of shopping on Black Friday is a bit chilling. Damn you, Stalker 2. You’d better be worth it.
