Shortly after its introduction into STALKER 2: Heart of ChornobylProfessor Hermann becomes a central character. Hermann is a senior researcher at the Scientific Institute for Research of the Chornobyl Anomalous Area (SIRCAA), a powerful and well-informed STALKER 2 faction that plays an important role in the plot. He is also the source of Skif’s transportation to the Zone, agreeing to help him in exchange for some valuable data. However, the mission goes south and Skif and Hermann are temporarily separated. When they finally meet again, it is a fateful meeting that could prove fatal for Professor Hermann.
During the main quest “Positive thinking“, Skif will find Professor Hermann tied to a chair in a back room at SIRCAA headquarters. Having long ago realized that Hermann and Faust used him as a pawn and planned to kill him, Skif can choose between returning the favor or letting the professor live. Although the immediate consequences of this choice are easily inferred, the long-term consequences may not be so easy to predict. Here’s what Professor Hermann’s choice affects.
What happens if you kill Professor Hermann?
Pros and cons of attacking Hermann
Once he finds Hermann weakened and trapped, Skif will receive a message from Heather. She reminds him that Hermann betrayed him, deliberately withheld information from him, and ultimately decided to try to kill him for Hermann’s own convenience, apparently inciting him. Heather then materializes in the room and hands Skif a gun. If Skif chooses the dialogue option, “He has to die,” Hermann will protest, but Skif will shoot anyway. Contained and already bloodied, Hermann dies immediately.
Of course, the most obvious consequence of this decision is that Hermann will no longer appear for the rest of the game. Skif will neither see nor hear from him again; your plot will effectively end in that room.
Agatha will then take Skif aside and give him some necessary information, which will eventually lead to the next chapter of the story – or “Until the last drop of blood” or “Law and Order“depending on whether Skif sided with Dubny or Ward at the end of this mission. Either way, the information he gets from Agatha is the same. Even though she claims to want to avoid bloodshed, she doesn’t really seem to care if that blood is Hermann’s.
Killing Hermann also does not affect the material rewards for this quest. Either way, Skif will receive some coupons – nothing more, nothing less. There are no unique rewards for killing Hermannas Skif will automatically leave the room in a cutscene after making this choice. It also doesn’t affect the next mission, as many crucial choices in STALKER 2 seems to do. The Dubny-Ward decision will have a much greater impact on this country.
Don’t expect anyone to come after Skif for killing Hermann later STALKER 2. Faust appears to be his only friend at this point, and a confrontation with him is inevitable, albeit much later in the story. Killing Hermann does not appear to affect Skif’s reputation in SIRCAAany. It appears that killing average civilians aligned with that faction has a greater effect on diminishing reputation than large acts of revenge like this.
What will happen if you let Professor Hermann go?
Pros and cons of siding with Hermann
If Skif chooses the “Let it go“the following scene will play out in the same way, with one crucial difference. For one, Skif will return the weapon to Agatha, and she will untie Hermann’s bonds, giving him the chance to run out of the room – but not before thanking him profusely to Skif for sparing his life, Hermann’s body will no longer serve as a backdrop for Agatha’s speech, which is identical anyway.
The same can be said for the rest of the mission, as Skif heads to the Cryptobiology Lab and makes his choice regarding Dubny and Ward. Dubny doesn’t seem to care about what happened to Hermann, and Skif can proceed through “Positive thinking” and the following mission of your choice normally.
Just as there are no special rewards for killing Hermann, there are no special rewards for saving himany. He gets away with little more than a “thanks“, and it doesn’t seem likely that Skif will see him again anytime soon. Frankly, it doesn’t appear that Hermann plays a major role in the rest of the story. He may appear later in a much smaller capacity, but it appears he fell off the face of the earth immediately after completing”Positive thinking.”
You should spare Professor Hermann
Just in case
Even so, It’s probably best to let Professor Hermann go. Even though it doesn’t seem to have much impact, aside from giving the player a sense of agency in a difficult time, keeping people alive is generally considered the right thing to do when given the opportunity.
STALKER 2 often rewards the merciful approachespecially when it comes to scenes like this, or the one where Skif can choose between killing or helping Squint. Typically this comes in the form of other characters expressing their gratitude, or those Skif spared returning later to help. Even if nothing like that happens here, it’s best to give Professor Hermann a second chance anyway. The player has nothing to gain by killing him, and nothing to lose by sparing him. Hermann is clearly grateful for his rescue. He has little reason to attack now that his secrets have been revealed.
That said, in the event that Professor Hermann shows up later on some shady mission, he would probably greet Skif more warmly if he were alive, just as he does if Skif decides to knock out Solder instead of killing him. So, at least to cover the bases, it’s best to let Professor Hermann in STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl.