After plenty of speculation, we may have just learned when STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is finally coming thanks to the developer’s own fact sheet: Q1 of 2024.
Per the official document from developer GSC Game World, that’s now the release window for the first-person survival horror game on PC and Xbox Series X/S. As the fact sheet notes, it’s available for pre-order on its official website – which, it should be pointed out, still has 2023 listed as the release year.
Most recently, there were some rumors that STALKER 2 will debut in December of this year, with distributor Plaion giving it a Dec. 1, 2023 release date on its official German store (though that could’ve always been a placeholder). Last summer, Xbox’s official Twitter account listed STALKER 2 as a 2023 release, although it was a discouraging sign when it was announced to be a no-show at the Xbox Showcase this past June, though GSC World promised updates in the coming months.
The delays for STALKER 2, however, are incredibly understandable, with GSC pausing development after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, reportedly resuming last May. The highly anticipated sequel was first announced and then canceled in 2011 before development restarted with GSC Game World in 2018.
There have been signs, however, that STALKER 2 will be ready to release soon enough, with the game hitting gamescom with a hands-on demo. Game director and GSC Game World CEO Evgeniy Grygorovych also stopped by IGN’s gamescom studio to give an update on how the team is doing.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.