After over two years of delays, Ukrainian games studio GSC has finally released the latest edition in the ‘S.T.A.L.K.E.R’ franchise.
One of the most highly anticipated games of recent years has been finally released after delays due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine pausing development for the Kyiv-based studio.
‘S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl’ is the 2024 sequel to 2007’s ‘S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl’ and the fourth game in the ‘S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’ series following most recent instalment ‘S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat’ released 15 years ago.
The original 2007 title was a critical and commercial success, as a first-person shooter survival game taking place in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. It was lauded for its evocative setting, non-linear storytelling and exciting gameplay.
When GSC Game World, the studio behind the series, announced it was developing a new title in the series in 2018, gamers were excited for a new chapter in the beloved post-apocalyptic franchise.
Pipped for an April 2022 release, ‘S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl’ was put on hold suddenly when Russia invaded Ukraine. GSC Game World is one of the biggest Ukrainian game developers and many of its staff had to flee the country to avoid the violence.
The name of the game was also changed since the start of the war to reflect the Ukrainian spelling of Chornobyl over the Russian-styled “Chernobyl”.
One of the company’s former developers Volodymyr Yezhov, was killed in action in Bakhmut in December 2022.
GSC eventually relocated to a temporary office in Prague, where work could continue on the upcoming game. With the game officially released on 20 November, the company behind it have told of dealing with blackouts, military strikes, and Russian hacking attempts to complete their work.
As part of a documentary released alongside the game about its development, Anton Kukhtytskyi, lead concept artist explains the terrible conditions he was in when Russia first invaded.
“Sitting in that cellar with my wife and my cats, I felt like I was abandoned. But like a ‘stalker’, you have to learn how to live in such a situation,” Kukhtytskyi said. “I switched to drawing on paper, so I didn’t stop developing.”
Some staff were able to relocate to Prague, but others went to fight or fell out of communication with the studio entirely – leading to GSC having to recast their voice actors.
In 2023, GSC said they’d endured near constant cyberattacks in the year following the invasion.
Before the official release date, ‘S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl’ was already at the top spot of the Steam games charts thanks to presales. Within 48 hours of its release, the game has sold over a million copies.
So far, ‘S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl’ has been positively received, although there have been some technical issues that the studio have said they’re committed to fixing.