GSC Game World’s highly anticipated S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl will finally come out this year. The shooter is set to launch on September 5 on Xbox Series X/S and PC.
First announced in 2018 and publicly shown off in 2021, this survival horror shooter has been a long time coming. A much-demanded sequel to a PC cult classic, the development of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has been arduous, mainly because of how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine impacted the studio. Initially slated for April 2022, the game has been delayed several times. GSC Game World had settled on promising a Q1 2024 release window, but an announcement on Tuesday morning explained that it needed one final delay to get the game over the finish line.
“Throughout the frankly challenging development process, we understood that time was of the team’s main essence. Seeing the scope of polishing and understanding that we can’t push your patience too much, we were absolutely dedicated to releasing the game in Q1 2024, and we worked extra hard to meet the release window,” the developer explained on X (formerly Twitter). “That, however, doesn’t change the fact that at the beginning of this year, we still witnessed the certain amount of technical imperfections that hold S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 below the expected standards for the final experience our fans are waiting for. While there is absolutely no way to make another delay sound less dim, we decided to be clear about our reasons to postpone the game for the sake of yet another wave of polishing. The final release date for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is now September 5, 2024.”
Thankfully, GSC Game World seems like it has the renewed vigor to make this release date stick. That X post went on to explain how the team understands that the core of the game is the Zone players explore and how the game needs to be built around these harsh environments with hardcore gameplay. It’s also reworking the backpack system to make getting items from it as seamless as possible and taking the extra time to polish its still-present technical problems.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl will launch for PC and Xbox Series X/S on September 5 and will be part of the Xbox Game Pass catalog from day one.
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