The release of the long-awaited Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is being pushed back yet again, but this time there’s something of a silver lining. Developer GSC Game World is soon to unveil a gameplay deep dive video giving players the closest look yet at the upcoming game. Stalker 2’s latest delay is also a fortunately brief one, pushing its release date from September 5 to November 20.
GSC seems to have a sense of humor about the game’s delay, announcing the new release date with a cheeky in-game video. In the short clip, shot from the point-of-view of a player character, the Stalker in question gets a call informing them that “the zone will remain out of bounds until November 20,” to which they simply say, “you’ve gotta be kidding me.”
GSC says the delay is meant to give the Stalker 2 team “breathing room to address technical issues with the game and bring the final release closer to the experience that the fans expect.” While eager players might not be happy with waiting a few more weeks for Stalker 2, the latest delay is miniscule compared to the development journey the game has had so far. Originally slated for release in 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine put a halt to launch plans while GSC moved its operations from Kyiv, Ukraine to Prague, Czechoslovakia. An updated early 2024 launch window was then pushed back to September 5, now landing in late November.
In the meantime, we’ll soon have a better look at what we’re actually getting into when Stalker 2 launches. On August 12, GSC will premiere its “Developer Deep Dive,” consisting of interviews with developers and “behind the scenes looks into the development process,” plus an overview of some important points around the game’s world and a walkthrough for one entire quest to offer a good look at gameplay.
Even before the most recent round of delays, it’s been a long wait for Stalker 2. A version of the game was announced in 2010 but was quickly abandoned. GSC started work on the Stalker 2 we’re soon to get our hands on in 2018. But demand for the game began way before its actual announcement. The Stalker series began in 2007 with the release of Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl (Post-invasion, GSC has switched to the Ukranian spelling of Chornobyl for the upcoming game). It was followed by two sequels over the next two years before the series stalled out.
For anyone who hasn’t experienced the original Stalker games, their appeal can be a bit hard to understand. A casual look at the game might suggest a standard first-person shooter, but Stalker has always been more interesting for its world and its tactical gameplay than for energetic firefights. The Zone — the world the game takes place in — has plenty of those, but pulling your weapon out is almost always an act of desperation there. Instead, most of your time in Stalker is spent carefully creeping through the dangerous landscape, trying your best to survive in an environment that’s hostile at every turn.
In the world of Stalker, the Chornobyl nuclear power plant suffered a second disaster after the one that occurred in real life. That turned the surrounding area into a wasteland full of mutated plants and animals, as well as “anomalies,” which are areas so warped by the disaster that reality itself is breaking down, and getting too close to one is almost always fatal. Because of that, Stalker can feel more like a horror game than a first-person shooter, where one wrong step can immediately spell defeat and the best course of action is usually to remain completely unseen. When fights do break out, they’re tense and often distressing, more a desperate attempt to stay alive than a typical FPS power fantasy.
That all seems to be true of Stalker 2 as well. While its trailers have showcased plenty of fast-paced combat, they’re also full of quieter moments as the player creeps through the devastated Zone avoiding anomalies and explores the haunting beauty of its post-apocalyptic landscape. Barring any further delays, the sequel to a cult classic will be out by the end of the year to see if it can live up to the original’s legacy. Until then, its August 12 deep dive seems well worth a look for anyone curious about what’s awaiting them in the Zone.
