Here's what to expect from the first patch for Stalker 2
GSC Game World posted a message today thanking everyone for buying Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, and also letting us know what we can expect from the patch that will release "during the week to come."
The first patch will address mostly major crashes and game-breaking progression stops that keep people from continuing the game as it is now. Though there are certainly other requested changes, like to the value of weapons with upgrades installed and the behavior of NPCs while seeking shelter during Emission events, alongside some graphics and user interface fixes.
Despite bugs, Stalker 2 has been a pretty big success, selling over 1 million copies with even more players joining in from Game Pass. I can't imagine how long it took for the first game—Shadow of Chernobyl—to sell a million copies, but it certainly wasn't "pretty much overnight."
The major bugs people will likely be disappointed to learn are in the "to be addressed in future updates" category are bugfixes to the signature A-Life system. The game system that tracks and controls what people and animals are doing in The Zone while you're not around has been wonky since launch, and there are some very strange NPC-spawning behaviors in videos shared on social media.
GSC has confirmed that the A-Life system is in Stalker 2, but it has also confirmed that, yes, it has some issues to be fixed.
"There are several known issues with A-life 2.0 system that we are aware of and are working on fixes/improvements," GSC Game World community manager Mol1t wrote to the Stalker Discord. "We know that this system is very important to the Zone having an immersive atmosphere, and we will do our best to fix the known issues."
"We want to reassure you once more that we will make every effort to constantly improve your S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl experience. We are truly grateful for your feedback and suggestions for improvement," said GSC as part of its upcoming changes post.
Here's the list of changes that GSC Game World has confirmed are coming in the update:
- Crash Fixes, including:
- Issues and memory allocation failures, which previously caused the game to exit unexpectedly, particularly around rendering, skeletal meshes, and quest-related cutscenes.
- Main Quest Progression Fixes, including:
- Several bugs blocking the main quest progression, NPCs getting stuck in objects, incorrect quest markers, and issues with quest cutscenes.
- Revision of the main quests (like Visions of Truth or A Minor Incident) to ensure smooth transitions, avoiding rare cases of players not being able to proceed further.
- Gameplay & Balance Adjustments, including:
- Fixing the price of the weapons with upgrades installed compared to their value without attachments.
- NPCs behavior, including the way they act when lacking a shelter during the Emissions.
- Cutscenes & Visual Fixes, including:
- Rarely missing facial animations, misplaced NPCs, and visual inconsistencies like detached heads and clothes clipping.
- Quality and stability improvements of the visual effects.
- Softlock Fixes, including:
- Issue where players were unable to close the trade screen after putting ammo in a wrong slot while playing on a gamepad.
- User Interface Improvements, including:
- Quest notifications now showed correctly during dialogues.
- Corrected texts and missing interaction prompts.
- Noted to be addressed in future updates:
- Analogue sticks dead zones bugfixes.
- A-Life system bugfixes.