GSC Game World, the developers behind S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, have addressed the complaints regarding many graphical and stability issues plaguing the recently released titles. Though the game is already a huge hit with over one million units sold, the developers are aware of the issues and have just taken to Steam to inform about a new patch that will likely release next week.
Stalker 2 Patch Notes
Below are the fixes included in Stalker 2’s upcoming update
“Crash Fixes, including:
- Issues and memory allocation failures, which previously caused the game to exit unexpectedly, particularly around rendering, skeletal meshes, and quest-related cutscenes.
Main Quest Progression Fixes, including:
- Several bugs blocking the main quest progression, NPCs getting stuck in objects, incorrect quest markers, and issues with quest cutscenes.
- Revision of the main quests (like Visions of Truth or A Minor Incident) to ensure smooth transitions, avoiding rare cases of players not being able to proceed.
Gameplay & Balance Adjustments, including:
- Fixing the price of the weapons with upgrades installed compared to their value without attachments.
- NPC behavior, including the way they act when lacking shelter during the Emissions.
Cutscenes & Visual Fixes, including:
- Rarely missing facial animations, misplaced NPCs, and visual inconsistencies like detached heads and clothes clipping.
- Quality and stability improvements of the visual effects.
Softlock Fixes, including:
- An issue where players were unable to close the trade screen after putting ammo in the wrong slot while playing on a gamepad.
User Interface Improvements, including:
- Quest notifications now show correctly during dialogues.
- Corrected texts and missing interaction prompts.
Noted to be addressed in future updates:
- Analog stick dead zones bugfixes.
- A-Life system bugfixes.”
Stalker 2 is finally out and, the good news is, we’re looking at a classic Stalker (the video game) experience. The not-so-good news is that Stalker 2 is a fantastic game filled to the brim with exciting ideas, but all that is covered by a massive amount of glitches and jank in dire need of fixing. Luckily, things have blown out of proportion community-wise. We gotta thank old Stalkers for that, as they’ve been assuring newcomers who likely weren’t even born by the time of the original’s release that this is just how things work in the zone.
I hope the upcoming patch will fix many of the game’s more severe problems, and I’m glad the Stalker 2 devs were much quicker to assure fans things are being worked on than Konami was when dealing with Silent Hill 2‘s remake issues on the PS5 Pro. Still, I’m secretly hoping some of the glitches that make the zone feel like the inexplicable place it’s supposed to be remain in the game.
You can now play Stalker 2 on PC and Xbox Series X|S.
