Summary
- STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl shared some stunning new screenshots showcasing a number of its environments.
- The newly emerged images also reveal the game's recently revamped HUD, which is slightly more stylized and a lot more colorful.
- While STALKER 2 remains without a release date, its developer recently assured fans that the game is still targeting a Q1 2024 release on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox Game Pass.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl shared some stunning new screenshots showcasing a number of its environments, as well as its recently revised heads-up display (HUD). This latest look at the game surfaced online without much fanfare shortly after GSC Game World assured its fandom that STALKER 2 is still targeting an early 2024 release.
The original STALKER trilogy achieved cult status for its unique blend of survival, horror, open-world exploration, and role-playing elements. While GSC canceled the original follow-up to the trilogy, the project restarted development circa 2018. Some two years later, STALKER 2 was confirmed as a day-one Xbox Game Pass title.
Xbox Game Pass Is Losing 4 Games Today
A pair of beloved and critically acclaimed RPGs is scheduled to leave Xbox Game Pass later today, along with two other games.
And while the game is still without an official release date, GSC just updated its Epic Games Store page with four new screenshots. The images, first spotted by Twitter user Stalker2News, showcase some stunning new environments, including a post-apocalyptic farm with a windmill and what appears to be some kind of a desolate boathouse. One of the screenshots features a firefight with members of the Zone, while another depicts a clash of some mutated and rather unfriendly-looking fauna.
New STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Screenshots
While a few screenshots from the recently surfaced batch were already shared by the STALKER 2 developer in 2023, the freshly emerged images are still notable for including a revamped HUD. Specifically, it would appear that GSC ended up revising the game's heads-up display with the goal of delivering a slightly more stylized interface. The most noticeable change concerns the bottom-left corner of the screen, which now features indicators for hunger, sleep, and overencumbrance. What appears to be a radiation meter is also a permanent feature of the newly redesigned HUD. If the past three games are any indication, all of these HUD elements will likely be user-toggleable.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl UI Comparison
Other than that, the compass at the top of the screen appears to be slightly more detailed compared to the previously shared STALKER 2 screenshots. Specifically, this HUD element is now divided into smaller angle increments, while the icons that it displays are no longer black-and-white, but color-coded. For example, the player's current objective is marked with a dark shade of orange verging on gold, while custom landmarks are displayed in green. Enemy indicators are bright red, while all the other icons visible in the screenshots are white.
GSC has yet to treat its upcoming title to a release date after delaying STALKER 2 to 2024. Given that state of affairs, and in light of the studio's recent reassurance that the game is still targeting a first-quarter debut, March 2024 seems like the safest prediction for its launch window.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 75 /100 Critics Rec: 64%
- Released
- November 20, 2024
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco
- Developer(s)
- GSC Game World
- Publisher(s)
- GSC Game World
WHERE TO PLAY
Chornobyl Exclusion Zone has changed dramatically after the second massive explosion in the year 2006. Violent mutants, deadly anomalies, and warring factions have made the Zone a very tough place to survive.
Nevertheless, artifacts of unbelievable value attracted many people called S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s, who entered the Zone for their own risk, striving to make a fortune out of it or even to find the Truth concealed in the Heart of Chornobyl.
EPIC NONLINEAR STORY IN SEAMLESS OPEN WORLD
Take over a role of the lone stalker and explore photorealistic seamless open world in a 64-km² radioactive zone with a variety of environments that reveal post-apocalyptic atmosphere from different angles. Make your way through the Zone to define your destiny as you choose your paths within highly branching epic story.
VARIETY OF ENEMIES AND HUNDREDS OF WEAPON COMBINATIONS
Meet members of different factions deciding who of them worth your friendship and who deserve a bullet. Engage intense gunfights with a variety of enemies that follow different tactics trying to outsmart you. Choose your preferable firearms from 30+ types of weapons with numerous modifications that allow creating hundreds of distinctive lethal combinations.
LEGENDARY MUTANTS WITH DIFFERENT BEHAVIOUR MODELS
Prepare to encounter horrifying mutated creatures that will try to slaughter you following different behaviour model. Each mutant may appear in different subtypes which makes their behaviour less predictible. Truly extreme danger represent regions with lairs with numerous mutants hunting in large groups.
ARTIFACTS OF INCREDIBLE VALUE AND UNFORGIVING ANOMALIES
The most valuable artifacts and secrets of the Zone are hidden in the most dangerous places. Beware of the hazardous anomalies and unique devastating arch-anomalies as you hunt for highly valuable artifacts scattered around the Zone. Will you dare to unveil the mysteries of the Zone that took lives of many others before you?
GOOD HUNTING, STALKER!
- Franchise
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- Genre(s)
- First-Person Shooter, Open-World, Post-Apocalyptic, Survival
