GSC Game World has just announced the “final” release date for STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl – the highly anticipated game will be released on September 5th, 2024. The release will take place simultaneously on PC, Xbox Series X|S and Game Pass.

This is the fourth time STALKER 2 has been pushed back since the highly-anticipated shooter’s sequel showed gameplay at E3 2021 (er, E3…), when the project was first given a release date — originally slated for April 28, 2022, the studio moved it to December 2022 in early 2022. , then 2023, and by this point GSC Game World was aiming for the first quarter of 2024. Until recently, many believed that the game would be released in February 2024, and the recent appearance on the STALKER 2 page in the Epic Games Store of screenshots with an updated interface was taken by some users as a hint that the release was approaching. Well, it didn’t turn out as expected.

We’ll have to wait a few more months, and for all intents and purposes, no more postponements are expected, as the STALKER 2 developers indicate the new date as “final”. They also promised to continue to share various interesting details about the game, and most likely STALKER 2 will become one of the key titles of the summer gaming expos of the 2024 season.

Trailer announcing the final release date of STALKER 2

Official letter from GSC Game World regarding the postponement of the release

stalkers,

Last year, during Gamescom 2023, we finally got to meet you in person. As true friends, we sat down by the fire and shared with you a small part of what we have been working on all these years – the STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl demo. In public, for the first time.

Initially, it was a one-time initiative, which later expanded into a full-fledged campfire-to-campfire tour in France, Brazil, Singapore and other countries. Thousands of players have been able to play the game and, most importantly, share the feedback we need.

And like true friends, you were honest in your feedback about the game. Thank you very much for drawing our attention not only to the positive, but also to the negative points. After analyzing all the records, comments and notes, we came to two conclusions. One causes joy, the other needs more attention.

So, the first conclusion: the Zone remained the Zone. In her image and human form. The game feels and plays like STALKER 2. The atmosphere, the hardcore style, the dangerous and unfriendly environment – your words made us incredibly happy. After all, this is how the Zone was conceived from the beginning.

The second takeaway is that you need to double-check your backpack gear to make sure it won’t fail you when you need it most. From a technical point of view, the game still needs some time to be refined.

Throughout the frankly complex development process, we understood that time is a key resource and need for the team. After assessing the extent of the polishing work and realizing that we can’t feel your patience too much, we have targeted a Q1 2024 release and have been working to meet that deadline.

However, that doesn’t change the fact that this early in the year, we still see some technical imperfections that need to be fixed in STALKER 2 in order to reach the level of quality players expect.

There’s no way to make another delay any less frustrating, so we’ve decided to be clear about our reasons for delaying the game for another wave of patches.

The final release date of STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl is September 5, 2024.

We know you’ve been waiting for this moment—and believe me, we have too. But the trip to the Zone requires additional preparation for the sake of confidence in its quality. Thank you for your patience and support. You’ll definitely see a lot more information from the game throughout the year.