S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Developer(s)GSC Game World
Publisher(s)GSC Game World
SeriesS.T.A.L.K.E.R.
EngineUnreal Engine 5
Platform(s)
Release5 September 2024
Genre(s)First-person shooter, survival horror
Mode(s)Single-player

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl[lower-alpha 1] is an upcoming first-person shooter survival horror video game developed and published by Ukrainian game developer GSC Game World. It will be the fourth game released in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. video game series, the first game in the series released on consoles, as well as the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game in 15 years since the release of Call of Pripyat in 2009.

Initially announced following the release of Call of Pripyat, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was planned to release in 2012, before it was ultimately cancelled on the year of its intended release.[1][2] The game resurfaced years later in 2018, with the development restarted and powered by Unreal Engine 5. It was scheduled to release on December 8, 2022, but due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, development for the game was put on hold.[3] However, the development team later stated on their official Discord server that the development process continues, and was scheduled to release for Windows and Xbox Series X/S in early 2024.[4][5][6] It was delayed again for further polishing with a date of 5 September 2024.[7]

Development

Early development

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was initially announced in 2010, with a release date set in 2012, by Sergiy Grygorovych, CEO of GSC Game World, stating "After the official sales of the series exceeded 4 million copies worldwide, we had no doubts left to start creating a new big game in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe. This will be the next chapter of the mega-popular game players expect from us." The development of the game was ambitious; it was stated that the game would feature an all-new multiplatform engine, made from scratch to fit S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.

Numerous layoffs and overall attrition during the development of the game had shrunk GSC's employee count by 75%. Two years in, Grygorovych had announced the immediate cessation of all development due to "personal reasons", likely as a result of financial difficulty.[8] GSC Game World was officially dissolved on December 9, 2011.[9] The official Twitter account posted, "We will do our best to continue. However, at this moment, nothing is certain."[10] After several months of uncertainty,[1] an update was posted that the development would continue after the holidays, although it would require funding.[11] However, the cancellation of this build of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 had been formally announced in April 2012 on the company's Facebook page,[12] officially stated to have resulted from dispute between investors, staff, and the original IP rights owner.[13]

West Games scandal

West Games, a studio founded by former GSC lead developer Eugene Kim,[14] had launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for a spiritual successor to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise in June 2014, under the title "Areal".[15] However, this drew widespread criticism and was described as a scam, with its trailer entirely composed of footage from the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games as well as purported screenshots from its development being revealed as modified assets from the Unity engine's "asset store", which West Games claimed was "media-fabricated".[16] The project drew $65,000 in Kickstarter funds, $15,000 over its original goal of $50,000, however it was permanently suspended by Kickstarter in July, citing guideline violations.[17] After the cancellation though (West Games had at first claimed to have switched to private funding on their website to fund the project), they announced another crowdfunding campaign on the Wfunder platform in December 2014, setting a much larger goal of $600,000 to produce a new game called S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Apocalypse.[18]

Revival

After years of dormancy, GSC Game World was officially reformed in December 2014 to develop Cossacks 3. Four years later, on said game's Facebook page, development of a new S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was announced, linking to www.stalker2.com, the game's website.[19] It was later revealed that the game would be developed using Unreal Engine 4.[20] This build of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was announced exceptionally early into development, with it still being in the "design doc phase".[21] Grygorovych later stated on a podcast that the intent of the project's announcement in 2018 was largely to generate hype, in order to strike a publishing deal at E3 2018.[22]

Little information was given regarding the project until E3 2021, where a full gameplay trailer was shown at the Microsoft/Bethesda press conference. The release date was rescheduled to April 28, 2022.[23] In August 2021, the developers revealed that the game was updated to Unreal Engine 5.[24]

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Near the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, GSC, based in Kyiv, released a video on their YouTube account which called for financial aid for the Ukrainian Armed Forces,[25] stating that the outbreak of the war and the need to protect GSC employees has led to the game's development being paused indefinitely. This was also followed by a Twitter post which linked to an account to donate to the Ukrainian military and stated "through pain, death, war, fear, and inhuman cruelty, Ukraine will persevere. As it always does".[26][27][28] On March 14, 2022, the game's subtitle was changed to "Heart of Chornobyl", reflecting the native Ukrainian romanisation rather than the Russian form.[29][30] On June 14, 2022, GSC stated in a development diary that the development continues despite some of the team fleeing their homes or joining the Armed Forces of Ukraine.[31]

Due to the war, GSC decided to move development of the game to Prague, Czech Republic.

In March 2023, GSC said they have been enduring constant cyberattacks for more than a year and anticipated that there could be leaks in the future.[32] In June 2023, GSC announced that hackers have leaked an internal test build to the public.[33]

Release

The game is planned to be on Xbox Game Pass at launch.[34] In addition, the game was stated by GSC Game World to be planned as a Microsoft-exclusive release, only releasing on Microsoft Windows and the Xbox Series X/S.[35] This exclusivity, however, is only slated to be for three months following its release, as evidenced from leaked documents as a part of Epic Games v. Apple.[36][37][38]

Notes

  1. ↑ The subtitle was formerly spelled "Heart of Chernobyl", but was edited to the anglicised Ukrainian spelling in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

References

  1. 1 2 Sinclair, Brendan (December 12, 2011). "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 studio facing uncertain future". GameSpot. Archived from the original on January 8, 2012. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
  2. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (April 25, 2012). "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 canceled". GameSpot. Archived from the original on April 10, 2019. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
  3. ↑ O'Connor, Alice (January 12, 2022). "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 delayed into December to try to 'live up to the expectations'". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on March 4, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Produkcja STALKER-a 2 została wznowiona" [The production of STALKER 2 has been resumed] (in Polish). gry-online. May 20, 2022. Archived from the original on May 20, 2022. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
  5. ↑ Scullion, Chris (June 12, 2022). "Stalker 2 has been delayed to 2023, Xbox indicates". Video Games Chronicle. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  6. ↑ Yang, George (August 23, 2023). "Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl Delayed To 2024". GameSpot. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  7. ↑ GSC Game World [@stalker_thegame] (January 16, 2024). "Dear stalkers, Last year, during Gamescom 2023, we finally had the chance to meet in person. We gathered around the campfire with you to share something valuable that we have been creating for you for all these years — a small part of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl. Publicly, for the first time ever" (Tweet). Retrieved January 16, 2024 – via Twitter.
  8. ↑ "Киевская компания, создавшая игры S.T.A.L.K.E.R. и 'Казаки', решила самоликвидироваться" [The Kyiv company that created the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and 'Cossacks', decided to self-destruct] (in Russian). Ukrainian News Agency. December 9, 2011. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  9. ↑ Hall, Charlie (September 8, 2013). "Stalker fallout: Polygon traces the exodus from Kiev's legendary GSC Game World". Polygon. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  10. ↑ "We will do our best to continue. However, at this moment, nothing is certain". Twitter. Archived from the original on September 4, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  11. ↑ Sinclair, Brendan (January 13, 2012). "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 presses on, but studio needs cash - Report". GameSpot. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  12. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (April 25, 2012). "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 canceled". GameSpot. Archived from the original on April 10, 2019. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  13. ↑ "The reason we cannot continue..." Facebook. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  14. ↑ Senior, Tom (June 1, 2012). "Rumour: Ex-STALKER devs form Union Studio, developing Fallout/Rage inspired shooter". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on February 24, 2019. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  15. ↑ Tach, Dave (June 24, 2014). "STALKER devs working on survival horror spiritual successor Areal". Polygon. Archived from the original on May 17, 2019. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  16. ↑ Cook, Dave (July 2, 2014). "UPDATE: S.T.A.L.K.E.R successor scandal is media-fabricated, dev claims". VG247. Archived from the original on October 26, 2018. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  17. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (July 22, 2014). "Kickstarter suspends Ex-STALKER devs' Areal campaign, West Games turns to direct funding". Polygon. Archived from the original on May 17, 2019. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  18. ↑ Hall, Charlie (December 12, 2014). "After having its Kickstarter canceled, STALKER sequel goes back to the well". Polygon. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  19. ↑ "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
  20. ↑ Hall, Charlie (May 15, 2018). "STALKER 2 announced, scheduled for 2021 release". Polygon. Archived from the original on May 16, 2018. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  21. ↑ Bailey, Dustin (May 29, 2018). "STALKER 2 was only announced so the devs could find a publisher". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  22. ↑ "Как Делают Игры 222. Отвечаем на вопросы". YouTube. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  23. ↑ Barbosa, Alessadro (June 13, 2021). "Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl Launches In April 2022, On Xbox Games Pass At Launch". GameSpot. Archived from the original on June 23, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  24. ↑ Birch, Nathan (August 11, 2021). "STALKER 2 is Running on Unreal Engine 5 Confirms GSC Game World". WCCFTech. Archived from the original on August 12, 2021. Retrieved August 12, 2021.
  25. ↑ Lights! Camera! War... GSC Game World. March 22, 2022. Archived from the original on March 13, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022 – via YouTube.
  26. ↑ GSC Game World [@GSC_GW] (February 24, 2022). "(image)" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 3, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022 – via Twitter.
  27. ↑ Stanton, Rich (February 24, 2022). "Stalker studio asks for donations to Ukrainian army, laments 'inhuman cruelty' of Russian invasion". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  28. ↑ Carpenter, Nicole (February 24, 2022). "Ukrainian developers ask for support amid Russian invasion". Polygon. Archived from the original on March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  29. ↑ Santon, Rick (March 14, 2022). "Stalker 2 renamed Heart of Chornobyl to reflect Ukrainian spelling". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on March 15, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  30. ↑ Cryer, Hirun (March 14, 2022). "Stalker 2 appears to change its name to the Ukrainian spelling of Chornobyl". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  31. ↑ "Новий трейлер S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 та 'щоденник розробників'" [The new trailer for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 and 'developers diary']. Mezha.Media. June 15, 2022.
  32. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (March 12, 2023). "STALKER 2 developer suffers Russia-linked security breach: 'We have been enduring constant cyberattacks for more than a year now'". PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
  33. ↑ Chalk, Andy (June 1, 2023). "GSC Game World says Russian hackers are leaking Stalker 2 test builds, please don't look at them". PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
  34. ↑ Barbosa, Alessandro (June 13, 2021). "Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl Launches In April 2022, On Xbox Games Pass At Launch". GameSpot. Archived from the original on June 23, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  35. ↑ Reeves, Brianna (April 30, 2021). "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 On PS5 Not Planned, Developer Talks Xbox Exclusivity". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  36. ↑ Barker, Sammy (May 2, 2021). "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Could Come to PS5 Three Months After Release". Push Square. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  37. ↑ Donnellan, Jimmy (May 28, 2021). "Is Stalker 2 Coming To PS5?". Cultured Vultures. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  38. ↑ Smith, Rebecca (May 3, 2021). "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Exclusive to Xbox for Just Three Months". PlayStation LifeStyle. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
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