Should you kill or spare the zombie Noontider on the roof in STALKER 2?

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is loaded with interesting and unique side-quests t. A Sign of Hope, for example, tasks you with a seemingly simple decision: do you kill a particular zombie or let it live?

A Sign of Hope is one of Noontide’s side-quests, available by speaking with Prof. Lodochka over at the faction’s Wild Island headquarters. If you’ve previously explored the Wild Island around the Noontide, then you must’ve encountered many zombified Noontiders prowling about. Unsurprisingly, their attempts at dealing with this threat are a key aspect of many of the faction’s side-quests, and A Sign of Hope has Skif tasked with destroying the Psi-Antenna at the roof of the facility. There’s a catch, though, and it’s got to do with that zombie I mentioned before.

A Sign of Hope: Should you kill the zombified Noontider on the roof?

As with many of STALKER 2‘s other side-quests, Skif can choose how to deal with Kvaska, the zombified Noontide Stalker on the roof.

• Lodochka recommends killing Kvashka and will reward you with an additional 3,500 Koupons if you do so.
• Khors would much prefer if you did not kill Kvashka and will reward you with 2,600 Koupons if you keep the zombie alive.

From a mathematical point of view, your choice should be simple. Lodochka gives you substantially more Koupons than Khors, and you also get to loot Kvashka’s body after you take him down and grab his weapons and gear as a bonus.

If you’re not keen on killing people willy-nilly, you may feel at odds about taking down Kvashka. This is where your understanding of STALKER lore comes into the picture. Historically, it hasn’t been possible to un-zombify Stalkers, and that’s because they’re not classic Romero-esque zombies. Instead, they have had their brains irreversibly scrambled either by the legendary Brain Scorcher facility or a nearby Controller, which means Kvashka is most likely already dead by the time Skif finds him on the rooftop.

This is not what C-Con and Monolith have done in the past, wherein they lobotomized Stalkers while keeping their faculties and intellect in place. This is reversible, as shown by Noontide itself, who are all former Monolith commandos.

Also, the meager Koupons you get for dealing with Kvashka’s zombie are barely relevant as a reward. Instead, your big prize is the awesome Bear Detector, which you’ll receive from Prof. Lodochka regardless of which choice you make. So, Skif ends up on top no matter what happens. The only difference is philosophical, which wasn’t something I expected much of in a STALKER game, honestly.