It’s been a busy year for STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl. The game has made a triumphant comeback through patches and capped its one-year anniversary with a successful PlayStation 5 port.
Now, GSC Game World is looking to the future, and communications director Zakhar Bocharov has thrown stalkers a bone in an interview with FRVR.
The radioactive shooter has at least two story DLCs planned, but despite initial hopes for at least one 2025 release, GSC has confirmed earlier that the first batch of additional content will have to wait until next year.
Although no one really likes waiting, those who played STALKER 2 on release know fully well why the developers were in no rush to launch a DLC this early. The game got plenty of praise for its atmosphere and gameplay mechanics, but it was haunted by a trove of bugs and choppy performance even on high-end machines.
As of patch 1.7, however, it seems STALKER 2 is ready for a new chapter, though we don’t know exactly what or who it will be about.
STALKER 2 May Get New Protagonist
Zakhar Bocharov said that the new DLC will have a “focus on memorable characters, explaining old and new mysteries of the STALKER world.” The wording is intentionally vague, but attentive stalkers have theories ready to go.
One of the potentially interesting ones here is learning what happened to Scar, specifically witnessing how he went from a silent, gloomy mercenary in STALKER: Clear Sky to the impulsive, theatrical character brought to life by Oleksandr Laptiy in STALKER 2.
Another tale worth revisiting is what happens after STALKER: Call of Pripyat. Degtyarev’s story is fairly clear, but Duty’s functional alcoholic machine gunner Zulu is nowhere to be found in STALKER 2. Approaching random Duty members in the Concrete Plant will give you some chatter about him, so GSC has not forgotten Degtyarev’s drinking buddy.
What About Cut Content?
Even after all the patches and significant improvements, there’s no denying that STALKER 2 today is still a fairly different game from the one that was widely advertised during its road to release.
The trailers and promotional materials for the game showed characters, scenes, and story arcs that are nowhere to be found in STALKER 2 so far.
Most players who bought the game enjoyed it all the same, and there are over 100 hours of content to enjoy, but the misleading marketing leaves a bit of a bitter taste.
Considering how many people pre-ordered the game based on these promo materials, if those arcs do make a comeback as DLCs, is it really fair to charge people for it?
