How to complete Behind the Seven Seals and leave the Lesser Zone in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl.
After you complete the prologue mission of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, you’ll find yourself in the Lesser Zone, where most of your early missions will take place.
The Lesser Zone also serves as the introduction area for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, introducing you to the game’s survival and RPG mechanics, familiarizing you with quests, the various mutants and anomalies, and the rival factions.
To leave the Lesser Zone you’ll need to finish Behind Seven Seals, a very long mission, one with its own side missions and more.
In this article, we’ve written a short walkthrough of Behind Seven Seals, and how to leave the Lesser Zones.
Behind Seven Seals
After the prologue mission, There and Back Again, you’ll find yourself in an anomalous field with only a bolt in your inventory. Throw the bolt at the gravitational anomalies, and when they vanish, run across to escape the field.
After escaping the anomalous field, head on over to Zalissya, following the objectives of the A Tough Awakening mission.
Gathering Info About Solder
Once you reach Zalissya, make your way to the bar. Inside, you’ll be interrogated by Captain Zotov. Afterwards, talk to Warlock, the barkeep, and ask about Solder.
Next, you can ask either Richter or Captain Zotov about the whereabouts of Solder. Both Richter and Zotov will ask you to look for Squint and get the Ward Sensors from him.
Richter will be at Gaffer’s House, and you’ll have to complete the Invisible Nets side mission to get Squint’s location from him.
Instead of the side mission, Zotov will take you to a warehouse occupied by a bandit named Mug, who’ll give you Squint’s location.
However, Richter’s route for the rest of the mission is the longer of the two, while Zotov’s will have you working with the Ward Faction.
Talking to either Richter or Zotov will start another main mission, A Needle in a Haystack, where you’ll have to retrieve the Ward Sensors from Zotov.
Once you have the Ward Sensors, you’ll have the option to hand it over to Richter or Zotov. Again, Richter’s route is the longer of the two and will have you do an extra step towards the end of the mission.
If you give Richter the Ward Sensors, you’ll have to go to Sphere’s Abandoned Communication Hub, to get info on how to enter the IPSF installation.
For the purposes of this walkthrough, we’ll give the sensors to Zotov so we can directly go to the sphere.
IPSF Building and Finding Solder
Head east towards the IPSF Building (the building with the sphere shaped roof), there will be three guards outside the main door.
Go down to the basement using the stairs in the main hallway and kill the hostile soldiers inside. Whether you want to do this stealthily or not is entirely up to you, though we recommend a bit of stealth.
Keep moving forward until you reach a narrow hallway with two paths. Take the right path and keep moving ahead to start a cutscene with Solder.
Leaving Lesser Zone
After the cutscene, leave the room, and turn right. Keep going ahead until you reach a boiler room. There, climb up to the catwalk using the ladder.
From the catwalk, go through the doorway to enter the sewers. Crawl through the small hole and the one following it.
Next, climb up the ladder and open the door, you’ll reach a narrow path filled with radioactive waste. Run through this path while constant healing up to get to the other side and reach the other side.
Move towards the Western Checkpoint, and Gaffer will contact you to inform you of an incoming Emission. This will start the A Race Against Death mission, where you’ll have to find shelter in Zalissya before the Emission starts.
Afterwards, follow the western road out of Zalissya and keep going straight ahead until you reach a small bridge on the river. Cross the bridge to end the Behind Seven Seals mission, and land in the Chemical Plant region.
If you gave the Ward Sensors to Richter, you’d have to head to the Northern Checkpoint, which would lead you to the Garbage region.
