With Tuesday’s announcement of a 1.0.3 patch, STALKER 2: Coronary heart of Chornobyl has now acquired its third substantive post-launch code replace. Once you take note of the so-called day zero patch that went out to reviewers within the hours simply earlier than the sport formally launched on Nov. 20, meaning the sport has been up to date on common each two-and-a-quarter enterprise days. It’s a formidable tempo, particularly contemplating the extenuating circumstances of the high-profile sport’s launch.
STALKER 2 went dwell on Nov. 20 with a cavalcade of evaluations – together with right here at epicgamejourney – that referred to as out the sport’s tough state at launch. My very own expertise over some 40 hours included every thing from main audio points and weird hitches throughout cinematic cutscenes, to abhorrent AI conduct, to minor animation and graphical hitches. As I continued taking part in the sport (I’m 65 hours in at this level) extra bugs continued to crop up.
On Sunday evening, as an example, I spent an excellent 6,000 coupons deescalating a state of affairs with a vendor solely to see him drop useless as he handed via an invisible wall. That bug, and a handful of others, function prominently in at present’s patch notes. It appears virtually as if publishers GSC Sport World are pacing the neighborhood, working points from earlier within the sport first earlier than shifting on to the later issues.
That is smart to me, as a result of STALKER 2 is greatest performed sluggish. It’s a sport about exploration, and the intimate challenges that crop up as you progress overland from point-to-point in a particularly hostile surroundings. In case you’re attempting to race to the tip of the sport, you’re frankly doing all of it mistaken.
However greater than something, it simply goes to indicate the unimaginable dedication and dedication of the builders — which nonetheless persists 1,013 days since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the place the studio is predicated. Shoppers are in the meantime voting with their {dollars}. Even with its inclusion within the Xbox Sport Cross program, which implies the sport is free for subscribers, STALKER 2 has reportedly bought multiple million copies within the 48 hours after launch.
