Should you kill Squint in Stalker 2?
Here are the consequences of killing Squint in Stalker 2's A Needle In A Haystack quest
Wondering whether to kill Squint in Stalker 2? Squint is a Stalker you'll meet early on in the main story of Stalker 2, in the quest "A Needle In A Haystack". Your aim is to get the Ward Sensors that are on Squint's person, but whether you take them by force or gain them as a reward for completing his errand, the choice is yours. But which choice is better really?
In this guide, we'll walk you through every outcome of killing Squint or leaving him alive during either of your encounters in the "A Needle In A Haystack" quest. So if you want to know which is the best outcome from a material or a moral standpoint, keep reading!
Should you kill Squint in Stalker 2?
The short answer is that it doesn't matter much whether you kill Squint or not. If you want to finish the quest as fast as possible, kill Squint in your first encounter. Sticking it through to the end will net you an artifact, after which you can still kill him or leave him alive. He doesn't have anything worth looting apart from the Ward Sensors, so you won't gain much from killing him, so it may be worth leaving him alive on the offchance you see him again in more positive circumstances.
If you can't make up your mind, we recommend you kill Squint just to get the quest finished quicker. If you decide to help Squint, then you'll end up using up ammo and weapon durability against the Bloodsucker in the cave, and you don't get any reward from it apart from a crumby Mold artifact. Better to just get it over and done with, unless you're a completionist and don't like the idea of missing out on a small side quest.
If you kill Squint
You have two opportunities to kill Squint in the "A Needle In A Haystack" quest. The first is during your initial conversation at the top of the windmill. If you choose to attack Squint, then a quick headshot will kill him in a single hit, and you can loot his body for the Ward Sensors that you're after. He doesn't have much else on him at all, but you have what you need. Quick and simple.
If you don't kill Squint in your first encounter, then he'll send you on a brief errand to retrieve an artifact from a nearby acid-filled cave. After you return, you can again choose whether to hand over the artifact or simply kill him and loot the Ward Sensors from his body.
Either way, you won't face any consequences from killing Squint Neither Richter nor Captain Zotov will even enquire about whether you left Squint alive or not. All they care about is the Ward Sensors, and either way, you'll get them at the end of the quest. Even if you kill Squint in your first encounter (thereby avoiding his side quest) you can still visit the cave and retrieve the "Mold" artifact for yourself. So there's really no reason not to kill Squint if you want to do so.
If you help Squint
If you avoid killing Squint in your first encounter, you'll have to complete his brief side quest to retrieve the "Mold" artifact from the nearby cave. Doing so won't add much to the length of the overall mission. However, Squint is a sneaky bastard, and neglects to tell you the cave is guarded by a dangerous Bloodsucker Mutant.
After killing the Bloodsucker and retrieving the artifact - called "Mold" - you can return to Squint. Skif will immediately question why Squint didn't tell him about the Bloodsucker, to which Squint replies: "Would you have gone in there if I did? That's why."
If you give Squint the artifact, then he'll repay you with the only thing in his possession worth anything: the Ward Sensors. He ends the conversation with an open-ended "Zone willing, we'll meet again", and you're then free to take the Ward Sensors back to either Richter or Captain Zotov. No one on the RPS team has yet found evidence that Squint ever returns after this point, though.
So really, you might as well kill him.
That wraps up this guide on whether to kill Squint or leave him alive in Stalker 2's main quest, "A Needle In A Haystack". We've also got you covered if you're wondering whether to give the Ward Sensors to Richter or Zotov. Alternatively, you can read up on more general guides like how to get more ammo, how to fast travel, and how to repair weapons and other gear.