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In STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl you can help or kill the character Blinker. In this guide we explain the consequences.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl forandis one of the games whose story is influenced by your decisions. It is often in your hands whether a character dies or survives, and which of the many factions benefits from your actions. This is also the case with the quest “A Needle in a Haystack”, in which you are given the decision whether to kill the character Blinker or let him live. In this guide, we'll tell you what happens with each option so that you can make the best decision.
Side quest “A Needle in a Haystack” – Where does it start?
This is the quest:The quest “A Needle in a Haystack” is the fourth story mission and you will encounter it very early in the game. To find Blinker, you can either complete the side mission “Invisible Nets” or follow the captain's instructions, which will first take you to the warehouse with radiation warning signs. It is located northeast of the settlement and is marked on your map by the quest marker.
There you will find a man named Fratze on the first floor. Here you have the first choice: You can pay him 1,500 coupons to find out Blinzler's whereabouts. Or you can just shoot him and his gang and collect his PDA from his corpse. This leads you to a mill on a hill, with dogs and two mutants hanging around. There are also traps and wires waiting for you inside, so be careful.
Help or shoot down: that is the question
This is the first option:Shoot first, ask questions later: This is the first option you have when you find blinkers. You can immediately transport the man to the afterlife without much speech and loot his sensors. This option is the fastest, but also the most linear and offers no benefits or story experience beyond completing the quest.
This is the second option:Alternatively, you can talk to him first and find out that he will give you the sensors as a favor. This starts the side quest "Child's Play", the name of which is a big lie. For the mission you have to go to the main house on the farm and find a hole in the ground. This leads to a cave system under the farm, but be careful: there is an invisible and fast mutant hanging around down there who will eat up a lot of ammunition.
Once you've killed the mutant, equip your detector and head to the cave area where yellow poisonous clouds are rising. There you will find the artifact that Blinkler wants. Go back to the mill and you will again be given the choice of whether to shoot Blinker after all. Nobody will blame you after the side quest with the mutant. Not even a judge. The reward for this is the sensors, his loot and the artifact that you had to get for him.
This is the third option:Of course, you can also be men or women of honor and let Blinker run after the side quest. Simply give him the artifact, collect the sensors and he will leave on his own. You can then return to the settlement and collect the reward for the quest.
From a story perspective, it doesn't seem to make too much of a difference whether you kill Blinkers or not. It won't lock you out of future quests or cause bad blood with other NPCs. However, it is not clear whether his death has an impact on any of Stalker 2's four endings, as they also depend on the total number of civilian deaths. So it's best to decide for yourself what type of character your stalker is and act the way that suits you best.
You can find out more about Stalker 2 here:
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Since its release, Stalker has struggled with the usual teething problems such as bugs and FPS problems. If you want to improve your performance, take a look at our guide. We'll show you, which improve your FPS and graphics.
