S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 released today: what is known about the release of the most anticipated game

Today at 18:00 the release of the game "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl" (heart of Chernobyl), which was waited for almost 12 years. Despite the fact that the release was officially postponed 6 times, fans around the world are still waiting for the game, which has already overtaken Counter-Strike 2 in terms of sales on Steam, reports UNN. 

Details 

Yesterday, the game developers announced that the game will be released in Ukraine on November 20 at 18:00. 

"Release time" S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl " revealed, stalkers. The zone opens its perimeter to the world starting from November 20, 2024. Check the map to find out your local launch time, and get ready for a trip to the heart of Chernobyl," the release says. 

Now the game has topped the Steam sales rating among paid projects. The game will be released on the Xbox Series X/s and Windows platforms, becoming exclusive to the new Microsoft consoles. 

The game is available in three editions. The standard one costs UAH 1,399, the Deluxe Edition, which equips the main character with an arsenal of "Monolith", a set of operative weapons, specialized costumes for diving into anomalies and searching for artifacts, as well as an additional side task for an even deeper dive into the adventure - UAH 1,899. 

Xbox releases a documentary about the development of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 during the war in UkraineOct 3 2024, 04:29 PM • 96291 view

The most expensive edition - Ultimate Edition, which costs 2549 Hryvnia, equips the player with exclusive weapons and an elite exoskeleton. 

The minimum system requirements for running the game are also known:

• Операційна система: Windows 10 x64 / Windows 11 x64
• Виробник: Intel Core i7 - 7700K / AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
• RAM: 16 GB op
• Відеокарта: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6 ГБ / AMD Radeon RX 580 8 ГБ / Intel Arc A750
• Disk space: 160 GB of available space
• Додаткові характеристики: попередньо встановлена графіка: низька / дозвіл: 1080p / цільова частота кадрів в секунду: 30. Двоканальна Оперативна пам'ять об'ємом 16 ГБ. Потрібен SSD-накопичувач. Перераховані характеристики оцінюються за допомогою TSR та порівнянних технологій.

For a comfortable game based on the recommended requirements: 

• Операційна система: Windows 10 x64 / Windows 11 x64
• Виробник: Intel Core i7 - 11700 / AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
• RAM: 32 GB op
• Відеокарта: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti / Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 / AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
• Disk space: 160 GB of available space
• ТЕХНІЧНІ характеристики: попередньо встановлена графіка: висока / дозвіл: 1440p / цільова частота кадрів в секунду: 60. Потрібно 32 ГБ двоканальної оперативної пам'яті. Потрібен SSD. Вищевказані технічні характеристики були протестовані за допомогою TSR, DLSS, FSR і XeSS.

For the first time with Ukrainian dubbing: a new trailer for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl is outApr 26 2024, 02:04 PM • 18859 views

""S.T.A.L.K.E.R."2 is a continuation of the cult series of games "S.T.A.L.K.E.R."from the Ukrainian company GSC Game World and will be the fourth game in the series. Note that the Ukrainian studio is also the developer of another cult game - "Cossacks".

Issue S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 developers announced back in 2010, and the game was planned to be released in 2012, after the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat. Numerous layoffs and a general staff drain during game development resulted in a 75% reduction in the number of GSC employees. Two years later, the company's general director, Sergey Grigoryevich, announced the suspension of development of all projects for "personal reasons", probably due to financial difficulties. On December 9, 2011, GSC Game World was officially liquidated. 

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After several years of inactivity, GSC Game World was officially reformed in December 2014 to develop the game "Cossacks 3". In 2018, the game's Facebook page announced the development of a new "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2". 

In total, the release of the game was postponed six times. The last time this happened was on July 24, when the developers announced that the game would be released on November 20, 2024, and not on September 5, as previously planned. 

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, the game's subtitle was changed from "Heart of Chernobyl" to "Heart of Chornobyl" to reflect the region's Ukrainian spelling, rather than Russian. 

Even more mutants and anomalies: a new trailer for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl: Jun 10 2024, 01:55 PM • 114665 views

Realism in the Russian region was also canceled and the Russian localization was removed from the game, but only subtitles remained. Against this background, the Russians began to "burn". In particular, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on information policy Anton Gorelkin said that the game may be banned on the territory of the Russian Federation due to the fact that the developer Studio GSC Game World supports the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is possible that players of the game will be brought to criminal responsibility under the articles extremism, justification of terrorism, etc.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 may be banned in Russia - rosmediaNov 11 2024, 05:25 PM • 21069 views

The network is already spreading memes about this. 

Roskomnadzor stated that it will restrict access to illegal information on the basis of court decisions on declaring the information prohibited and decisions of authorized bodies. 

"So far, the department has not received such decisions," Roskomnadzor said, answering a question about the potential blocking of the game.

Also today, the leader of the Russian LDPR, Leonid Slutsky, called on the "relevant services" of Russia not to allow the game to enter the Russian market. 

"Now there is a continuation of the game from the Ukrainian studio, which supports the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I think that our relevant services will give the correct assessment so that such products do not enter our market," Slutsky said. 

Russians who plan to download the pirated version of the game, he urged to "wait". 

"Only the Ukrainian special services, as well as in the West, know what is installed on the gadget along with the game. We need to think about our security, so as not to fall under the influence of our enemies," the MP said. 

Note that earlier Grigorovich promised Rolls-Royce worth 300-500 thousand dollars for the destruction of the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich.

"I am ready to give Rolls-Royce to those who drown the Admiral Grigorovich so that he does not disgrace my last name, my children, my parents, "Grigoryevich said. 

One of the users in the social network X said that while the game is banned in Russia, the head of his company gave a day off to complete the game. 

The release of the game also generated a wave of memes among Ukrainians. In particular, today it became known that the embassies of four countries - the United States, Spain, Italy and Greece - announced the suspension of work after the warning of the US diplomatic institution about a possible powerful air attack on November 20.

US Embassy in Kyiv warns of “possible large-scale attack”Nov 20 2024, 06:46 AM • 17436 views

Users assume that the embassies were closed because employees want to play the game on the day of release. 

Also, users who are worried that their computers will "not pull" the game have made their own wave of memes. 

"Vladimir Zelensky signed a decree according to which Stalker 2 should run on all video cards and Xbox series s in 4k 120fps. Victory, " users write. 

Picky players also noticed Ukrainian armored vehicles in the game, in particular the Dozor - B car.