Back in January, it was announced that STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl, the long-awaited sequel to the classic survival game, would be delayed until December 8 of this year. Now, however, it seems like a new STALKER 2 delay is in plans with no new release date. Pre-orders are also being refunded, adding to the confusion.
The delay has apparently been indicated via a message sent to Polish pre-order owners. The message read that the game had been delayed to an unannounced point in the future, and that the owners were having their pre-orders refunded. Exactly what the reason for the delay is has not been announced, though considering GSC Game World is a Ukranian studio, it’s likely the country’s ongoing war against Russia.
While Ukraine has been able to hold out against Russian aggression since the war began, there seems to be no end in sight to the conflict, so it’s likely that GSC doesn’t want to commit to a release date for the game if it’s unable to meet it, even if the circumstances are out of its control. Thus, the fact that the new STALKER 2 delay has no date. Recently, it was also reported that STALKER 2 developer has partially been relocated to resume development. In another leak, It was reported that STALKER 2 will be a Xbox exclusive for first three months.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl is the long-awaited next entry in the STALKER series. Taking place in the “Exclusion Zone” around the city of Pripyat, where the Chernobyl nuclear disaster took place, players take on the role of scavengers known as “Stalkers”, who brave feral mutants, unexplainable phenomena, and radiation in order to try and find fortune within the Zone.
GSC Game World claimed that the Zone would be more decayed to account for the time since the last game, along with there being new anomalies, new threats, and new factions to interact with in the game. Hopefully we’ll still get to see all of that work come to fruition at some point in the future, though until then hopefully GSC can stay safe during the conflict with Russia.
STALKER 2, when it comes out, will be releasing on Xbox Series X PC.
