S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a wonderfully old-school first-person shooter that, when firing on all cylinders, is one of the year’s most rewarding experiences. Unfortunately, the best of what it offers is trapped in a buggy experience that could turn players off in its early hours. Thankfully, developer GSC Game World is hard at work on a patch to fix some of the game’s most glaring flaws.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s first patch will focus on seven specific areas of the game, according to the Ukranian developer. This includes crash fixes, progression bugs in the main quest, weapon and gameplay balancing, graphical and UI fixes, soft locks that kept players in menus, and problems players have had with controls. The update is due out sometime this week.
“We’ve been following your feedback in all possible forms carefully,” the developers wrote in a blog post on Steam. “We want to reassure you once more that we will make every effort to constantly improve your S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl experience. We are truly grateful for your feedback and suggestions for improvement.”
The biggest fixes will patch how the game handles memory, which it says “caused the game to exit unexpectedly, particularly around rendering, skeletal meshes, and quest-related cutscenes.” Quest issues being patched include “NPCs getting stuck in objects, incorrect quest markers, and issues with quest cutscenes.” GSC Game World specifically called out the “Visions of Truth” and “A Minor Incident” quests as ones it will be fixing.
As mentioned in our review, Inverse encountered several issues that prevented player progression, including quest items that wouldn’t work and another where an NPC refused to let the player leave a one-way room. Luckily, both issues were fixed with a reload on Xbox Series X. Other issues, like problems with animations and enemy AI were also a constant throughout our time with the game.
The other big problem flagged by the community both on Xbox user reviews and in the game’s Reddit is the lack of analog stick deadzone options. As of now, the game doesn’t let players account for stick drift or stick sensitivity. This means movement or aiming can happen without the player’s input. In a game where precision and positioning can be the difference in staying alive, the lack of this option can ruin an otherwise fun experience.
Some other nagging issues include fixing a problem where players using controllers couldn’t close the trade screen after putting ammo in the wrong slot, missing interaction prompts, and rebalancing the economy in the player’s favor. For example, weapons sold with attachments installed by the player should now reflect the value added via modifications. It’s a crucial fix that should net players a few extra precious coupons while adventuring in The Zone.
While S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was released in a less-than-optimal state, the circumstances surrounding its development explain why the game is coming in so undercooked. The ongoing military conflict in the developer’s homeland delayed the game for at least a couple of years. The team was forced to halt, relocate, and continue development elsewhere in Europe in the aftermath.
Those circumstances didn’t impact the game’s success at all. The developer announced that the game sold over a million copies in its first week. And those figures don’t account for those playing the game through Xbox Game Pass on both console and PC.
“No wonder it feels a bit crowded in the Zone,” the developer tweeted. “A million copies were sold, and much more stalkers joined the artifact hunt with Game Pass.”
