Stalker 2’s official subtitle is now “Heart of Chornobyl,” reflecting the Ukrainian spelling of Chernobyl.
GSC Game world, the Ukraine-based studio behind Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, quietly changed the title recently on Steam. It’s unclear when this happened, but one eagle-eyed fan on Resetera noticed rename on Monday. As PCGamesN notes, many English transliterations of locations in Ukraine are derived from Russian rather than Ukrainian. Thus, the swap from “Chernobyl” to “Chornobyl” in Stalker 2’s subtitle.
There was no official announcement for the change, but it’s likely in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. GSC Game World put Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl’s development on hold as a result and released a video explaining why, which you can watch below.
«Gameplay when?» is no longer the most common question. Now we hear «Are you guys okay?» more and more.https://t.co/E6yyzTwwSd
— S.T.A.L.K.E.R. OFFICIAL (@stalker_thegame) March 2, 2022
The last update for Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl was in January when GSC Game World announced a seven-month delay. It’s unclear what’ll happen with the game now.
Many companies within the games industry are condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. PlayStation, Microsoft, CD Projekt Red, Electronic Arts, and more are suspending sales in Russia while The Pokémon Company, Itch.io, and others have donated towards humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine.
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.
