After a decade and a half of anticipation, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl has finally launched today, and as has been made clear by even the most positive early reviews for the game (such as ours), it does have more than its fair share of pretty significant technical issues. That’s something that developer GSC Game World itself is very aware of and intends to keep working on.
The studio recently shared a message on Twitter to commemorate the launch of the open world horror shooter, where it has briefly outlined its plans for upcoming fixes and patches. GSC Game World says it intends to release quick hotfixes to prioritize critical issues in the days immediately following launch, before moving to bigger updates with larger fixes. Meanwhile, a roadmap will also be shared in December to outline the developer’s post-launch plans, which will also include free content updates.
“S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is a massive game,” GSC Game World’s message reads. “We understand that in such a game, there may still be rough edges: we literally haven’t released anything of this scale before. We’re absolutely committed to being here, monitoring your feedback, and quickly fixing any issues that need our attention.
“In the first days after release, we’ll be working with hotfixes, rolling them out as precisely as possible, but as frequently as we can. Then, we’ll switch to larger updates that include constant improvements. There will also be free in-game content- we’ll share its roadmap later in December.”
In our review of the game, we awarded it a score of 9/10, saying, “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl masterfully combines multiple genres to deliver an unmissable and entirely unique open world horror experience. Touting unparalleled emergent gameplay, stellar atmosphere, a captivating story, and gorgeous visuals, this is easily one of the best games available on Xbox Series X/S, even with the technical issues that hamper it.” Read the full review through here.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is available on Xbox Series X/S and PC.