STALKER developer GSC Game World has reiterated its intentions to bring a long list of improvements to STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl before the year is out.
It's highly likely that these enhancements will arrive around the same time as the promised PS5 version, which was announced back near the beginning of July. The port is also targeting a release at some point later this year.
Chief amongst these improvements is an upgrade to the game's engine. As the studio writes on Steam: "Our main mission in the near future is upgrading the game to Unreal Engine 5.5.4. This will bring new features and tools to make the Zone an even better place, but more importantly — bringing the latest Unreal Engine 5 optimizations will lead to better stability and performance."
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STALKER 2 did suffer from some optimisation issues around its launch in November of last year, both on PC and Xbox Series X|S. Many of the performance problems have been straightened out since, but it's obviously always good to hear about stability-boosting engine upgrades.
Other planned additions and enhancements include...
- New exploration-based equipment
- Loads of gameplay balance tweaks
- New open world events
- New missions
- New type of weather
- New 'master' difficulty
- Extended day and night cycles
- Loot rework
- Stamina and energy rework
- 'Immersive' display mode
- UI updates
It's worth noting that GSC Game World doesn't fully commit to having all of this ready for 2025 — it admits that plans can always change — but again, that's the target. Hopefully things progress smoothly for the team from here on out.
Are you looking forward to playing STALKER 2 on PS5? Keep your eyes peeled in the comments section below.