S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is coming September 5, 2024

Ukrainian gamedev studio GSC Game World has officially announced the final release date of the long-awaited game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl. The release is scheduled for September 5, 2024.

You can pre-order the game by following the link.

• The studio made the announcement through a new cinematic trailer. Interestingly, the trailer displys an iconic campfire scene featuring a small Easter Egg in the form of the Ukrainian tryzub (coat of arms) on the back of a tablet.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl was first announced in 2010. It will be the fourth game in the franchise and the first to be released on game consoles. The game was announced after the release of Call of Pripyat, the release was planned for 2012, but it was canceled a year before that.

• The game was announced again in 2018. The release has seen several delays due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which affected the whole team, and caused subsequent troubles with the development process. In December 2022, it became known that one of the lead game designers Volodymyr Yezhov sadly passed defending Ukraine.
• The development was also hindered by Russian “fans” who leaked the early build of the game after blackmailing the whole studio. At last, the final release is scheduled for the first quarter of 2024 — exclusively on Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox Series X/S consoles, as well as Windows.

Despite several release delays, PC Gaming Show recognized S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl as the most anticipated game of 2024.