S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 developer confirms plans to address its major technical issues
GSC Game World, the studio behind S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Shadow of Chornobyl, has announced plans to address some of the game's "rough edges" after players reported numerous game-breaking bugs and other technical problems.
The details:
Stalker 2 was released earlier today on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and Game Pass following a lengthy development process impacted by several delays, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the studio's subsequent relocation, and a major cyber attack. While many have praised the game's setting, narrative, and gameplay as a long-awaited sequel to Call of Pripyat, it suffers from poor performance and a number of bugs that frequently block progress.
In a message posted to X, GSC Game World states that the game is a "love letter to Ukraine" that it is proud of, but that it will continue to work on patches as it "may" have "rough edges." It intends to release hotfixes for major issues over the next few days, followed by larger updates that address additional issues and improvements in the future.
The studio also confirmed that a roadmap for post-launch content will be revealed in December. “We have big plans for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe,” it wrote. “In a way, today is both a return and the beginning of a grand new journey. We’re blessed to have you before, we’re blessed to have you now. The Zone belongs to you. Have fun.”
Despite its technical issues, Stalker 2 has gotten off to a strong start, with SteamDB reporting a peak of 113,587 at launch and over 87,000 players in-game at the time of writing. It has also received favorable ratings from critics, sitting at an average score of 78 based on 55 reviews on OpenCritic, with many of the largest criticisms focusing on the bugs rather than its actual content.
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