STALKER 2 Heart of Chernobyl is going live on November 20 (unless there are any last-minute delays), and the upcoming title is a??lready available for pre-download on spec?ific platforms.

Developers GSC Game World have revealed plenty of important information surrounding the technical side of things. This includes more data on the system requirements, which will be vital for PC players before they purchase their copy. If you're on the Xbo??x and have access to the Game Pass or bought a copy, you can download the full game a week before the official launch.

STALKER 2 Heart of Chernobyl file size on Xbox

The pre-download for STALKER 2 Heart of Chernobyl went live on Xbox on November 12, and it stands at a stag?gering 146 GB. This is the same for users on both Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X, so? you'll need to clear plenty of space to download all the files.

You can pre-download the file regardless of whether?? you purchased a standalone copy ?or are a member of the Xbox Game Pass. The new STALKER title will be a day-one entrant to the Xbox Game Pass. Subscribers won't have to pay any additional money to enjoy the game on the very first day.

STALKER 2 Heart of Chernobyl file size on PC

While I hav?e yet to test out the download system on S??team, the game can be pre-downloaded via the Xbox PC app. All you have to do is search for the game and start the download. On PC, the file size is set at 150 GB. It's likely going to remain the same if you purchase your copy on Steam.

While it's preferable to download the game on your SSD, you may also choose to install it on your HDD. Either way, it's going to occupy a lot of space, far more than other recent releases like Call of Duty Black Ops 6.

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There's roughly a week left until the release of STALKER 2 Heart of Chernobyl, but there could be some grey clouds for those who don't have ??a t??op-end GPU on their PC system.

Hardware giant Nvidia has pushed out their latest driver update ah??ead of the game's launch and has also published the expected FPS (frames per second) one can obtain to get on their system. The numbers revealed by Nvidia are all based on the 4000 series car??ds, and things aren't looking too bright if you want to have great FPS counts and the best graphical settings at the same time.

STALKER 2 will need an incredibly good GPU to run at the highest settings

It's pretty obvious that STALKER 2 would require good hardware if you want to have the highest settings. The game's Steam pag??e makes that part crystal clear. However, based on the readings from Nvi?dia, we now have a fair idea about just how intense it will get a week later.

All the readings have been taken on a system at 1080P Super Resolution quality mode, having an ?i9-14900K, 64GB RAM, and Win ?11 x64.

Unless you're running with DLSS enabled, you won't be able to achieve 90 FPS on a single Nvidia card (it's hard to imagine if someone will have a better setup in terms of the CPU and RAM). If you're not using DLSS and have either the RTX 4060 or its Ti variant, you won't be able to r??each 60 FPS unless you're willing to sacrifice the graphical quality.

This raises a lot of question marks for someone like me—I have a 5600G and an RTX 3060 (along with 16 GB RAM). While I was expecting to sacrifice some of the graphical settings to get higher FPS, it seems that it might not be enough. While we should all be able to run the game on a 3000 series card, the question is—how well will STALKER 2 run on them?

The exact answer will be known?? a week from now when the eagerly anticipated game goes live on November 20. But it's fair to keep our expectations in check for the time being. Based on the latest numbers from Nvidia, most of us may have to reduce the graphical presets just to get a smooth 60 FPS experience.

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In just over a week's time, GSC Game World will release STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl, the long-awaited follow-up in the studio's cult horror FPS series. The last installment we saw was Call of Pripyat way back in 2009, so it's been a while.

In preparation for STALKER 2's release, you may need to clear some space on your hard drive. As noted by PC Gamer (and seen on the game's Steam page), you'll need storage capacity to the tune o??f 150GB. It also looks like you will definitely need an SSD rather than a much slower HDD, which most people will likely have these days. Still, that's a fair amount of space needed.

To put it into perspective, Black Ops 6 "only" requires 128GB, according to Steam. Call of Duty games are often noteworthy for their hardware requirements, so seeing Heart of Chornobyl asking for about 22GB more than that feels like it's worth mentioning, in case you need to clear some space. While the Xbox site doesn't say, I imagine the console version of STALKER 2 will need the same amount of storage.

The end of a long road

It goes without saying that the game has been in development for a very long time. Perhaps one of the big??gest setbacks was GSC getting caught up in the middle of the war between Russia and Ukraine. The Russian invasion forced the team to relocate to Prague, where work conti?nued.

Outside the war, the turmoil didn't end. The studio announced in June 2023 that hackers were leaking test footage from the game. Given the delays, fearing for their lives, and cyberattacks, it's by some miracle of determination that STALKER 2 is almost upon us, at last.

In fact, a few days ago, an announcement was made that said it had finally "gone gold." This means th?e project is now at the point where the developer feels it's ready to launch. And launch it shall. It's been a trying time for the people at GSC, but by God, they've pulled through. Given the blows that have been dealt, maybe making room for a 150GB game isn't such a bad thing after all.

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While it may seem rather quaint and simplistic compared to modern hardcore tactical shooters like Escape From Tarkov, it's a matter of fact that STALKER went above and beyond with its guns back in the day. That trend is primed to continue, too, if STALKER 2's new combat gameplay trailer is any indication.

In fact, GSC Game World has now taken STALKER's handling of weapons to its logical extreme: rails, M-LOKs, and all the other customization goodness now rule supreme. As Smoking Barrels aptly shows, you can safely expect STALKER 2 to cater to the vast majority of your gunplay needs. Need to switch a weapon's caliber to accommodate less exotic ??ammunition? For sure. Want to slap a snazzy underbarrel shotgun to a high-grade sniper rifle? Why not! The Zone's your oyster, from the look of things.

STALKER 2: Smoking Barrel gameplay trailer shows us how guns and attachments work

In the broadest possible sense, we now have a pretty solid idea of how STALKER 2's weapons will function:

• Low-grade modifications can be done on the fly (e.g., attaching an optics system or an aiming module).
• Complex modifications are completed at a technician's table.
• There's a non-insignificant amount of complexity related to the physics of firing a gun, as it used to be in the old STALKER games.
• Weapons degrade and jam, depending on their state.

Most of these things, granted, we did see coming. It's still good to see them present and accounted for. In fact, STALKER 2 is seemingly taking things further in the direction of the more hardcore GAMMA and Anomaly mods when it comes to gunplay. Classic, baseline STALKER titles only ever featured a single type of optics per weapon type (SUSATs for NATO arms, PVS-14 for Warsaw pact guns), a universal silencer, and two thematically appropriate underbarrel launchers. Heart of Chornobyl has already shown off a bevy of e??xotic attachments, on the other hand, and seems to have modernized the upgrading systems across the board.

In a Reddit thread discussing the featured Smoking Barrel trailer, GSC developers have also shared some information on how STALKER 2's HUD will work. According to the community manager, the HUD can be fully customized depending on your preference, going so far as to only have an ammo counter and a health/stamina display shown at any given time. Since the old STALKER games of yore had an era-appropriate crusty UI going on, this, too, is ex??cellent news.

I would like to complain a tad about the AI shown off in this trailer, however. In the trailer, none of the enemies appear to pose a serious threat and seemingly walk straight into Skif's firing lines willy-nilly. Since we know that A-Life plays a big part in STALKER 2?, I believe this is just trailer-tier AI being what it is for demo?nstration purposes. The community manager, of course, claims this i?s the case, so that's nice.

With STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl''s November 20 release date drawing ever closer, it genuinely seems like we've finally entered GSC's final marketing push. It's worth remembering that STALKER 2 suffered a whole slew of various pushbacks over?? the years, so it shouldn't be strange if the community is still uncertain whether it's finally coming out. I myself am still a tad cynical, but I can't help but feel like ?t??he hype is finally on point. Let's see how this pans out.

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Despite my own initial skepticism, STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is shaping up to be the tour-de-force that both the developer GSC Game World and the franchise's fans deserve. The November 20 launch date is s??eemingly set in stone, too, with pre-order goodies now finally shown off.

As exciting as news about STALKER 2's mod-kit and A-Life handling might be, who wouldn't get thrilled by a fancy new gun skin? Notably, while we have known for quite a while now that there'd be a snazzy set of pre-order bonuses available to those who pre-purchase STALKER 2, the specifics have been fairly hazy. That's all in the past now that GSC has shown off an appropriately tuned VSS Vintorez, the legendary Tourist stalker suit, and a backpack patch, of all things. These items will be available for discovery in-game to all pre-order owners across all platforms, so it's worth highlighting them.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl early bird pre-order digital content shown off, and it's cool stuff

Skins are, obviously, not going to be particularly relevant to one's core gameplay experience in playing STALKER 2, but they sure are lovely to look at. M??ore specifically, the pre-order boons include:

• Gvintar/Vintar DMR (As VSS marksman rifle) with custom attachments and a built-in Geiger counter.
• "Tourist" Sunrise suit of armor with appropriate upgrades.
• "Early Bird" survivalist backpack (with a fancy sewn-on patch).
• Bonus Campfire content, including guitar tunes and stories.

Nothing too wild or ridiculous, then. My only hope is that t?his pack of goodies is later bundled into a post-launch DLC of sorts, as it'd be a shame to have it permanently locked behind pre-order/early bird offers.

The big question, though, is how these items will be handled in-game. To have a VSS handed to you in the early stages of a STALKER game is... uh, definitely a choice. The featured armor set, too, appears to have increased inventory capacity and upgraded protection against anom?alies, and this could very well end up k??illing the early-game survival experience.

I expect that GSC will have foreseen this as a potential problem, however. I expect that all three of these items will instead be found a bit later on, as the player progresses through the ear??ly-game gauntlet. We'll have to wait and see, however.

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I might've been a tad too pessimistic in my belief that STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl might have problems maintaining a modding scene. Notably, a recent interview has revealed that GSC has changed up Unreal Engine 5 significantly to support STALKER 2, and A-Life is a part of it.

RadioTimes recently had the opportunity to visit GSC Game World's Prague office to talk shop with STALKER 2's technical producer, Yevhenii Kulyk. According to Kulyk, GSC was basically forced to rework certain aspects of Unreal Engine 5 for it to be able to accommodate STALKER 2's sci-fi take on the Exclusion Zone. The game's build of UE5 is customized to the poin?t that devs refer to it as "5.1 GSC," a??pparently, and Kulyk said that his team "had to adapt and [rewrite] and upgrade some tools that were provided by�the basic Unreal Engine to fit our needs to create [this] world."

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl may break the Unreal 5 modding curse

This is exciting for a variety of reasons, not in the least because everything suggests GSC might've successfully transplanted the impeccable vibes of the STALKER games into Unreal, of all engines. One of the most notable of these changes has to do with A-Life: an oblique and questionably implemented AI system that has, arguably, acted as the main reason for STALKER's general popularity.

According to Kulyk, A-Life is present and accounted for in the Unreal-driven STALKER 2. He explained how the game's AI functions in practice, even when the player isn't around: "First of all, they have [offline mode]. [Constantly] some events are happening in the back end. So you may notice that during your gameplay. And of course, you may notice [the] results of maybe some firefights or maybe some mutant encounter that was attacked by NPCs or vice ver??sa," he said.

"So they have their, like, let's say natural habitat areas, and some of the??se factions, or some of these monsters may roam around the map and try to catch the players. So there's constantly life? in front of the player, and, of course, [where they aren't looking]."

For those who aren't familiar with the old STALKER games' AI, this is more-or-less exactly how A-Life worked there as well. Of course, mods such as Anomaly and Call of Chernobyl helped amp up A-Life to remarkable levels, but STALKER 2 may deliver something similar by default.

Not that modding is off the table at all, mind. Kulyk suggests that STALKER 2 will have a seriously impressive set of modding tools available from early on: "We're basically creating and preparing the very big toolkit that will be that will provide the mod makers with basically al??l necessary tools to create mods from, like the smallest one to, like, big, total conversions," he told RadioTimes.

As a long, long-time fan of the fran??chise, A-Life and modding toolkit details?? were the two last tidbits I needed to kickstart the hype train. Now, let's just hope GSC delivers the goods.

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There's an air of tentative excitement around next month's release of STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl. The fi?nal batch of previews is now pouring in, and amidst it, some new information straight from the horse's mouth.?? For example, we now know that the 2010 build was an entirely different beast.

In more concrete terms, some of you may well remember that Heart of Chornobyl is the second time a STALKER 2 has been announced. Back in 2010, when the three classic STALKER games were still more-or-less the talk of the town, GSC Game World announced an honest-to-goodness STALKER 2 with a targeted launch window of 2012. That didn't pan out, obviously, but according to GSC CEO Ievgen Grygorovych, "[the team] didn't take anything from the first attempt" for the new STALKER 2.

The 2010 version of STALKER 2 will be left to the annals of time

In a small interview with Eurogamer posted as part of the publication's final STALKER 2 preview, Grygorovych said that absolutely none of the development work done on the 2010 build of STALKER 2 has been re-used on Shadow of Chernobyl. "The standard changed, and we couldn’t take that content we had previously," said Ievgen. He explain?ed that the development ground to a halt in the first place because the original studio head and Ievgen's brother, Sergiy Grygorovych, found it "exhausting" at the time.

In practice, this means absolutely everything that GSC Game World had created for the 2010 version of STALKER 2 had to be thrown out: technology, gameplay mechanics, story elements, and so on. "We were doing it from scratch based on the STALKER 1 lore," said Ievgen.

This tidbit is unlikely to be all that interesting to franchise newcomers, but to those of us who have kept a close eye on STALKER over the years, it may bring a sense of closure. I still remember getting excited over the fact that STALKER 2 was being deve??loped back then, only for the hype to deflate as it became clea?r that nothing would come of it.

For what it's worth, I don't think this hypothetical STALKER 2 �which Destructoid covered with a delightfully cheeky little article at the time �would have been a meaningful enough step forward in the grand scheme of things. Both GSC and the broader gaming community are more respectful of gaming legacies today than they might have been back then, and Heart of Chornobyl appears to be an honest-to-g??oodness love letter to the ol??d titles.

Heck, if nothing else, STALKER's most beloved modding developments only came about after GSC Game World dropped the project. Who knows whether that would've happened in the first place had modders moved on to a new title so early? Modding is, of course, on thin ice with STALKER 2's Unreal Engine 5, but that's a story for a different article.

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The STALKER series has a long, complicated, and extremely storied history of development. From the earliest days of Oblivion Lost all the way to the release of the open-source port of GSC Game World's X-Ray engine, it's quite fascinating. How likely, though, is it that STALKER 2 tops all that?

Here's the thing about STALKER 2: the odds of it truly substituting and improving upon every single aspect of its predecessors are remarkably slim. I've said before that, following the latest developer deep dive, I'm way mor??e keen on th?e state of the game than ever before. The developer, GSC Game World, is obviously doing its best to replicate the immaculate vibes of the old STALKER titles in ?every possible way, but I just don't see it happening across the board, and modding is one of the reasons why I feel this way.

Now, obviously, this article may well prove to be incorrect within a couple of years: STALKER 2 may well be the title that will kickstart full-fledged Unreal Engine 5 modding in an unprecedented way. You're going to want to keep a pinch of salt at hand as you read, is what I'm getting at. Yet, having been at the ground zero of each and every one of STALKER's PC releases, I can't help but be skeptical of UE's ability to host this franchise's burg??eoning modding community. Down below, I'll explain why that's the case.

STALKER 2 replaces X-Ray with Unreal Engine 5, but is it for the better?

Obviously, this header is a bit of a stinker when you think about it, because good grief was X-Ray an absolute mess in its Shadow of Chernobyl build. Yet, as years went by and OpenXRay came into its own, the community ended up fixing and improving upon every single aspect of the old, original STALKER titles wh??ile developing a new standalo??ne experience along the way.

This materialized in the form of Call of Chernobyl - a free single-player mod that unifies all the content from Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear Sky, and Call of Pripyat into one A-Life simulating super-sandbox. It is phenomenal, and if you haven't yet given it a chance, I highly recommend doing so. Avoid the usual assortment of Anomaly and GAMMA modpacks that players often recommend, too: just give STALKER a chance for its ecology to start popping off. Now, had STALKER always relied on third-party engines, this wouldn't have been possible, and I firmly believe that, in turn, we wouldn't be so vigorously discussing the merits of a full-featured STALKER 2 to begin with.

Don't get me wrong: Unreal Engine 5 is obviously going to be a huge improvement to the core stability and feature-set of STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl. Its tech-stack is so massive that GSC Game World didn't have to spend time producing their own custom engine that would, inevitably, come apart at the seams if X-Ray is anything to go by. Yet, in moving over to a mainstream third-party solution, GSC Game World is without a doubt losing something that's been absolutely crucial to STALKER: modding capacity.

The STALKER modding community is almost guaranteed to suffer

Certainly, there are moddable Unreal Engine 5 games. The engine?? lends itself to third-party customization way better than its immediate predecessor, but it's still not even close to the flexibility of Un?real Engine 3. UE3, in turn, was a pale shadow of some other game engines when it comes to modding, and X-Ray is one of them.

It's crucial to understand that STALKER games have had prolific modding communities basically from day one onwards. True, we didn't get to enjoy the golden age of Call of Chernobyl until after the release of OpenXRay in 2020, but that's beside the point: deep modding is a crucial implement for a STALKER game. It's a pillar of the franchise's community, and I sadly do not think this will continue with STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl.

Here's the jig: it all has to do with Unreal Engine 5 and how moddable it is or is not. Now, obviously, all of this depends entirely on the developer, a game's community, and whether or not they end up releasing the mod-kit/SDK for a game in the end. Some UE5 games are moddable, to an extent. Take Ready or Not, for example, which has map mods, gun mods, A??I mods, and a variety of other thingamabobs players can instal??l through the integrated modding UI.

Thing is, though, that virtually everyone recommends manually installing mods regardless, because the in-game UI is simply unreliable and doesn't work properly half the time. I can vouch for this, too: the mods will not reliably load in Ready or Not if you don't put in some elbow grease.

Technically, the possibility of modding is on the table for STALKER 2 and, certainly, GSC Game World has promised to support it, as per the official website. Given UE5's track record, though, I just don't think the game's modding community will ever reach the ridiculous heights of its predecessors. Predecessors which, note, did not come with SDKs of any sort, only for modders themselves to reverse-engineer t?hem into being.

STALKER 2 will continue the franchise's legacy, but jankiness and free-form modding may be a thing of the past

I fear that this article's tone may suggest that I'm somehow skeptical of STALKER 2 in general. Not at all, though: not after the latest ??batch of gameplay trailers and showpieces. Heck, I was absolutely thrilled when Scar of Clear Sky fame made a triumphant (and surprisingly jolly) appearance in his own dedicated trailer.

No, I genuinely believe that STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl will deliver a true STALKER gaming experience that meaningfully riffs on what came before it. I just don't think the game's new tech-stack is going to allow the modding community to spread its wings quite as much as it did with Call of Chernobyl.

Gun skins, armors, and perhaps even some new content? I'm sure it'll drop in, sooner or later. Something resembling a full-scale retrofit such as GAMMA, though? No shot. At least not from what we've seen of Unreal Engine 5 so far. And, really, it's hard to argue that this hypothetical scenario wouldn't be a marked loss for the STALKER community.

For the time being, let's wait and see what comes of all this. Even if STALKER 2 does manage to find its footing as a proper modding platform, it'll take years before we know how far modders can take it. In the interim, we just gotta hope that GSC Game World can deliver the base gamepla??y experience we're all hoping to see.

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For a game that's been vaguely on the horizon for as long as STALKER 2, it sure is surprising to see it taking up such a wonderfully nostalgic shape. As if that wasn't enticing enough, we now?? have confirmation that one of the prior games' protagonists is coming back: Scar!

That's right: STALKER: Clear Sky's playable character, Scar, appears not to have been zombified at the end of the original STALKER's standalone expansion pack and narrative prequel. Instead, he's quite lively in STALKER 2, as depicted in the latest trailer released by GSC Game World. Although this particular trailer won't be quite as fascinating to fran??chise newcomers as some of the other ones might've been, it is just the sort of thing veter?ans will be on the lookout for. Check it out:

Clear Sky protagonist Scar is a supporting character in STALKER 2, it seems

Pushback after pushback, STALKER 2 is still going strong as we approach its supposed November release date, and I'll be the first to admit that I'm genuinely surprised with how comprehensive and engaging GSC Game World's recent media blitz has been. When the last release day postponement was announced, the studio promised oodles of game information over the coming weeks, and that much has cert??ainly ??been delivered via gameplay videos, in-depth developer talks, and trailers such as the one featured above.

For those who are not in the know, Scar is a bit of a legend in STALKER lore because he was one of the mercenaries tasked with hunting down and killing Strelok, from the original STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl title. The curious bit is that the final sequence of Clear Sky, where Scar chases after Strelok all over Chernobyl NPP with a Gauss Rifle, leads to Strelok's amnesia and, in turn, sets the stage for everything else that hap?pens afterward?s.

Further, Scar was also the tip of the spear for the Clear Sky faction, and the main working theory as to what happened to him (after the faction wars and the events of Clear Sky) was that he was lobotomized by the Brain Scorcher and turned into a Monolith leader. That's really why this trailer is such a big deal: it redefines a pretty bit chunk of STALKER lore and reintroduces Scar as a key? character in?? the new game.

It's exciting stuff, honestly, and that's coming from someone who's gotten fairly jaded about this franchise over the years. I'm not saying that GSC Game World has turned me back into a STALKER believer just yet, mind. It's just that, after the studio's recent efforts, the vision of what STALKER 2 is and is not is getting clearer and clearer. And, honestly? ??I'm here for it.

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Though the news that STALKER 2 would be pushed back to late November was quite painful, GSC Game World's attempt to sweeten the deal with a developer deep dive worked. We got a 30-minute gameplay session and now know for sure: this is a STALKER game through and through.

Explaining why this is the case is not easy, however. The last official STALKER game - Call of Pripyat - launched back in 2009/2010, depending on your region, and from that point onwards, mods have been the key thing that kept players coming back for more. Sure, the core gameplay loop was the crux of the STALKER experience, but fans the franchise has accrued since ?have been playing standalone mods more oft?en than not.

Stuff like GAMMA and Anomaly, for example, are what dominate the STALKER discussion boards, and up until the developer deep dive, there was an argument to be made that this is what GSC Game World would choose to emulate in the end. After all, mods are what the community wants, so why not give that to us? Well, I am thrilled to report that STALKER 2 hasn't been lost to the ultra-gloomy, super-hardcore tactical shooter niche that both GAMMA and Anomaly subscribe to.

STALKER 2 is STALKER, not a glorified mod

I was taken aback by how true-to-form STALKER 2 was in the new footage, honestly. It was such a potently eye-opening sequence, in fact, that it helped me remember just how much mods changed the old STALKER games over the years. It's kind of poetic, really, in that the STALKER experience mutated over time in much the same way The Zone did. Now, however, with STALKER 2, we're absolutely getting an authentic throwback, and one that was seemingly clever en?ough to know what to toss and what to keep.

I'm not being concrete enough, though, I know, and it's bound to be confusing to those who didn't play old STALKER titles as they came out. It's the opposite of a death by a thousand cuts: we're once again getting a weirdly exotic arsenal of weapons that shies away from genre tropes in lieu of originality. Enemies once again pop up on the mini-map, and the sound and detection meters whir away in the background. Seemingly unbreakable crates and metal cases give way when you hit them with a knife, and the whole game is - most certainly - not just another hardcore tactical shooter in the vein of Escape From Tarkov.

The old STALKER games were exceedingly janky: some of the most prominent examples of the Eurojank niche, in fact. Your binoculars used to highlight every living being in your sights, and healing was quick, easy, and readily accessible. Guns once jammed willy-nilly and broke apart in mere hours, and you genuinely didn't have to? lug around 30 different healing items just to stay alive.

Story is a huge consideration

One of the more curious, albeit sensible, changes that standalone mods delivered to STALKER is that they are usually entirely sandbox and free-form, with either an extremely lightweight and unimportant narrative or skippable. This is perfectly valid for a mod: there's usually no budget or need to come up with stories and cutscenes, after all. The thing is, however, that STALKER games always had cutscenes and,?? in most cases, didn't really allow you to go wherever you wanted whenever you wanted.

The bit that often gets forgotten about both Shadow of Chernobyl and Clear Sky is that their stories were largely linear, and there was no way to continue playing after you were done with them. Call of Pripyat introduced the concept of post-campaign c?ontent to the series, giving us the sort of free-form gameplay the series always deserved.

This sets the precedent for STALKER 2 to be way more linear and deliberate as its story goes on, and the fact that there are three hours' worth of cutscenes in the game may suggest as much, too. STALKER has always had a story to tell, and the new title won't shy away from this in favor of sandbox gameplay. We're not getting a Sons of the Forest type of thing, is what I'm getting at. Inevitably, this will disappoint some people, and I suspect it's going to be the fans of GAMMA and Anomaly who might get caught in the crossfire.

Improvements where they make sense, not just for the sake of change

At the same time, of course, STALKER 2 is obviously improving upon its predecessors in some key ways. We can mantle, for one, and there's a fancy animation for eating, healing, and otherwise interacting with our inventories.?? It's good, it's fun, and it's decidedly le??ss hardcore than a portion of the community might've expected out of the game.

I'll be honest here: I was skeptical about STALKER 2 until this latest devblog. I didn't think GSC Game?? World had it in them to faithfully recreate the bits that made the old games what they were. After the blog, though, I'm almost positive this will be true to its immense legacy.

The point of this article, though, is that there will be growing pains even if the game executes its vision absolutely perfectly. Since we haven't had an official STALKER game in a decade and a half, the understandable worry was that GSC might've taken too many pages from the hardcore tactical shooter mods released in the interim. One gamer's worry is another gamer's hope, though, and those who expected to get a survivalist bonanza are almost certainly going to be disappointed in what is, compared to stuff like GAMMA, decidedly less punishing.

Don't believe me? Take 30 minutes out of your day and watch the gameplay deep dive. From the delightfully weird franchise-classic mutants to the organic way both exploration and artifact hunting work, it's precisely how I imagined STALKER 2? would look years ago. Who knew it might e??nd up crystallizing in the end!

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After many years of waiting, STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl (to give it its full title) is not far from release. Admittedly, the developer did have to delay the game once again,?? but this final push should hopefully make the long-awaited follow-up even?? sweeter.

However, we must be coming to the end now, as GSC Game World has announced that STALKER 2 will be at this year's Gamescom. In a recent post on X, the studio announced that the demo "will await yo??u in the public zone" at the event, which kicks off later this month.

The fact that the post mentions the Xbox bo??oth suggests that it's going to be the Xbox Series X|S version of the game. Not much else has been said about the demo, so if you are attending Gamescom 2024, you may be able to get your Exclusion Zone?-based survival horror kicks whilst you're there.

No more delays for STALKER 2

Along with GSC Game World, other developers and publishers who will be attending Games?com 2024 include: Capcom, EA, Blizzard Entertainment, Ubisoft, SEGA, Konami, THQ Nordic, and many, many more. The event is being held at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany between August 21 and August 25.

However, not all will be in attendance. Sony recently confirmed that PlayStation won't be at Gamescom this year. Neither will Nintendo, which means there will ??be no announcement ?for the anticipated follow-up to the Switch (which everyone is just referring to as the Switch 2 until we hear otherwise).

Back to STALKER 2. It's good news that there will be a public demo available at the event, as it also means it's definitely close to finishing development. Although it was also at Gamescom 2023. Having said that, it's been a very long time since there was a new entry in the series, and the likes of Chernobylite can only pick up some much of the slack.

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Did last month's fancy STALKER 2 trailer really make you want to play the game, too? Well, tough luck, because we're getting one more pushback, as per the developer GSC Game World's official announcement. The silver lining is that it's not that big of a pushback, all things considered.

As of now, STALKER 2 is slated to release in late-ish November due to GSC Game World needing a few more months to polish up the "unexpected anomalies" that have cropped up along the way. It's not an ideal situation by any stretch of the imagination, but it is what it is, and it's a simple fact of the matter that the studio has been beset by problems for quite a long while now. Between wars and fire-related problems, it's not? like the previous pushbacks have been unwar?ranted.

STALKER 2 is now due to launch on November 20

GSC Game World's Game Director Yevhen Grygorovych didn't mince any words in his recent email announcement: "We know you might be tired of waiting, and we truly appreciate your patience. These two additional months will give us the chance to fix more “unexpected anomalies�(or simply “bugs� as you call them). We are always grateful for your ongoing support and understanding - it means the?? world to us. We’re just as eager as you are to finally release the game and for you to experience it for yourself," he said. With the game now due to release late in November, it's an understandable measure, albeit not one that's going to be taken kindly by everyone in the community.

For context, STALKER 2 has been postponed a fair number of times, the latest having been given out early in 2023. This time around, GSC Game World ha?s taken to joking on its own expense with the cheeky video featured above. It's cute, for what it is, and it might make the news easier to digest for some fans.

Another tidbit that might make this whole ordeal a tiny bit b??etter is the fact that we're getting a load of new game information materials on August 12. As per GSC Game World's announcement, we should expect:

• Interviews and behind-the-scenes footage of how the sausage is being made
• New in-game footage featuring "world overview[s], various locations, gameplay and cutscenes"
• And a full gameplay walkthrough of one of STALKER 2's quests

Not bad, right? And don't forget: if it's STALKER-style vibes you're after, you can always try jumping into Escape From Tarkov's single-player mod, no?w with full Poké?mon Trading Card Game (collectible) support.

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If you've been following along with the development of Stalker 2, yo??u'll be well aware of the turmoil the studio has had to endure. With GSC Game World having to flee to Prague to escape the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the future of the long-awaited horror FPS remained uncertain at one point.

We know it had to be delayed for fairly obvious reasons, pushing the release date back to September 5. Now, the latest trailer has been released, and it's really whetting my appetite for Heart of Chornobyl.

The gloomy backdrop of the Exclusion Zone has never looked prettier than in the "Time of Opportunities" teaser the developer put out yesterday. While many of us strongly suspect Stalker 2 is going to be quite something, I now cannot wait for it? to finally ar?rive.

Heart and soul

That's not to say I was ignorant of the game until now. Though I admit, I haven't really played any of the other entries in the series, aside from a brief stint of the first game. But that doesn't mean it hasn't intrigued me, largely because it's been fifteen years since GSC released the last installment, Call of Pripyat.

At any rate, the new trailer really shows off what's almost certainly going to be a pretty solid horror FPS. I know I'm not alone in saying that it gives me mad Chernobylite vibes, which I have played and did enjoy.

It has, indeed, been a long and worrisome road for the development team, but whatever tribulations have come their way, they've remained steadfast in their completion of Stalker 2. I truly hope it pays off for them, because it looks fantastic. Look, just go wishlist the game on Steam already.

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Three classic STALKER games (Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear Sky, and Call of Pripyat) are bound to be r??eleased on Xbox and PlayStation consoles for the first time. And better yet, it's happening today.

Confirmed during today's Xbox Partner Showcase, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Legends of the Zone Trilogy is out today for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S via backwards compatibility. The Xbox One version hits today, while a patch is due out later this year to bring additional graphic enhancements and features, per the Xbox Wire post. [Update: After publication, GSC Gam??e World confirmed that the collection is coming to PS4 and PS5 in a similar manner. We've updated the article to reflec?t as much.]

While unprecedented, this move isn't necessarily totally unexpected, as the upcoming STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is still on its way. With the long-awaited sequel bound to drop on September 5, 2024, releasing the three classic PC games on consoles before the big event is an excellent opportunity for GSC Game? World to drum up some excitement well ahead of time.

The Legends of the Zone

It's going to be particularly interesting to see whether the Legends of the Zone re-release will also launch on PC, and what sort of upgrades might the developer have spliced into the package. Whatever the case may be, it's curious to see whether the mod.io support that GSC plans to roll out for Legends of the Zone will match up to its the massive mod support S.T.A.L.K.E.R. already sees on PC.

Regardless, the ability to play the old STALKER gam??es on consoles is not some??thing we expected to see, so it's a thrilling development no matter what.

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It looks like the upcoming open-world FPS Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is getting another delay. Originally scheduled to be released in 2022, the shooter now has a tentative release date of September 5, 2024. According to a video by developer GSC Ga?me World announcing the release date, this is the "final" release date.

Detailing the decision, GSC indicated that thousands of players got the opportunity to play Stalker 2 for the first time during Gamescom 2023. After some playtests, GSC felt the game needed a little more time on the technical side of things. Originally the team was dedicated to releasing Stalker 2 in early 2024, but certain technical issues have popped up triggering the new dela??y.

It's always a bummer when a game gets delayed, especially a highly anticipated one like Stalker 2. But with so much hype around this sequel, it's certainly important for the team to get things just right. The developers have also had a myriad of challenges impacting ??the development process, so it's very understandable that the g?ame has taken a bit longer than expected to release.

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is now set to release ?on September 5, 2024? on PC and Xbox Series X|S.

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STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is one that a lot of horror fans have been looking forwar??d to. While the game is scheduled to release sometime in the first quarter of next year, the developer GSC Game World brings us another teaser.

The dark trailer sees the return of a familiar face. Those who played the 2010 installment, STALKER: Call of Pripyat, will be pleased to see Strider will be making a return for the follow-up.??? The description underneath the YouTube video also has something pretty interesting and, dare I say, profound: "You cannot kill God, just as you cannot get rid of the sky above."

Hopefully, GSC Game World will be able to come to us with a mo??re definite release date soon. For now, the new cinematic trailer should keep fans sati?ated for a bit.

It's been a trying time for GSC

We haven't had a STALKER game for a good while. Over thirteen years, to be precise. This latest entry was originally due for release in 2021, so a lot of people have been waiting a long time for it to ?drop.

Things only got worse for the studio. Being based in Ukraine, the team had to pause development on STALKER 2 during the Russian invasion, with the company relocating to Prague to complete the project. Sadly, one of GSC's developer, Volodymyr Yezhov, was killed in action last December.

As it stands, development on the new game in the survival horror FPS series continues to be in full swing. It's also the first one to ditch the developer's own X-Ray Engine and opt for U??nreal Engine 5 instead. T??hat seems to be a thing a lot of studios are doing lately.

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GSC Game World's S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has had quite an eventful development timeline. Fans were initially excited when the game was announced, though it quickly drew criticism when developers announced that NFTs would be included. The Ukrainian studio backtracked on this, though it then had to co?ntend with the Russian invasion of Ukraine which resulted in the game's delay.

As revealed in a fact sheet from the studio at Gamescom 2023, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has been delayed yet again, pushing its release date to Q1 2024. This may be disappointing news but wit?h a new trailer out, you can rest assured that GSC Game World is still working hard on the upcoming game.

[caption id="attachment_398998" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via GSC Game World.[/caption]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2's development has been anything but predictable

It was inevitable that the Ukranian studio would be affected by the ongoing conflict, as it was based in Kyiv. When the invasion began, development was paused as the studio relocated to Prague and employees fled the conflict zone. Some decided to stay and fight alongside the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

//youtu.be/bcDHClWRHd8

The studio has also found itself subject to cyberattacks originating in Russia, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2's site was banned from the country after it ceased operations t?here. Despite the setbacks, the studio?? has continued to condemn the Russian invasion while embracing its Ukranian roots.

??//twitter.com/stalker_thegame/status/16946??55679271690472

On a more positive note, preorders for the game are finally available, which represents some progress. It has also received po??sitive reception at Gamescom 2023 where a playable demo was available, indicati??ng that the long w?ait might be worth it.

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It's unfortunate that STALKER 2 never made its April 2022 release date. However, it appears? as though the long-awaite??d FPS horror game from GSC could be launched at the start of December, even though there's been no official confirmation.

That's according to the game's listing on German retail website PLAION, as spotted by ex-VGC writer Andrew Marmo. As of this story going live, it looks as though STALKER 2 may be releasing on December 1. That goes for all platforms, it? seems.

//twitter.com/the_marmolade/status/16900929617724??82560

Of course, the developer hasn't said anything about this, so it's hard to say whether this is accurate information or not. Amazon currently has the game'??s release date as December 31, which is like??ly just a placeholder.

This sounds a bit familiar

Maybe some of you are scratching your heads and thinking, "Wait. Didn't we already get a confirmed launch window?" Why, yes. Back in January 2022, GSC Game World did post on Twitter to say that STALKER 2 was coming December 8, 2022. Though that was last year, and as you can see, that didn't happen, eith?er.

As such, it seems as though the release date is probably going to be Dec??ember, but temper expectations until we get official word.

It's a shame the studio had to push back the upcoming sequel. Much of the delay came from the Russian invasion into Ukraine that begin at the start of 2022, which forced the developer to relocate to Prague.

As such, delaying the release of STALKER 2 was expected but understandable, and most fans are happy to wait a little longer. Hop??efully, GSC will make an announcement soon around this possible December 1 release date.

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GSC is pushing the game for another seven months of development time

GSC Game World's next foray into the post-apocalypse needs a little more time in development. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl, or STALKER 2, has been delayed out to Dec. 8, 2022.

With seven additional months of time in development from its original April 2022 date, GSC says it plans to use this time to fulfill its vision and achieve the "desired state" of the game. STALKER 2 is the largest project GSC has worked on so far, and the studio?? says it needs thorough testing and polishing, and that development should t??ake "as long as necessary."

//twitter.com/stal??ker?_thegame/status/1481279837469872129

Even with STALKER 2 delayed out to the end of the year, GSC Game World says that more information and updates are still ahead. There are, of course, plenty of showcases and opportunities to detail more about STALKER 2 between now and December.

It's a pretty substantial delay, but since delays have become pretty common in the pandemic, it's fairly understandable. GSC Game World has also elected to take a pretty large chunk of time too, so hopefully this means a little more breathing room for the team to really dig in on STALKER 2 and be ready to hit the ground running.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjDMwsbaSd8

This is also some extra time to potentially extricate any remaining trace of NFTs from the game. After announcing, then subsequently un-announcing their inclusion in STALKER 2, a little extra time can give GSC some more breathing room between that incident and the actual launch of STALKER 2.

We'll see what the series has in store for us when STALKER 2 is out on Dec. 8, 2022.

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