Developer GSC Gameworld has outlined Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl‘s roadmap for the latter half of this year which includes the entire game getting ported to Unreal Engine 5.5.4 to improve stability, performance and many other technical issues, as well as the game releasing for the PS5 and PS5 Pro.
The devs explained in Stalker 2’s official Steam page: “Our main mission in the near future is upgrading the game to Unreal Engine 5.5.4,” GSC Game World wrote. “This will bring new features and tools to make the Zone an even better place, but more importantly — bringing the latest Unreal Engine 5 optimizations will lead to better stability and performance.”
However, they also admitted that upgrading the game could disrupt the timings of other updates that have been planned for Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, but they’ll still do their best to keep up with the announced roadmap for the game.
“We’re taking this risk — like true stalkers would — and will do our best to hit our 2025 goals. Stick with us on this journey and keep an eye out for upcoming news, including bigger and exciting ones.”
As anyone who has played Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl already knows, the game suffers from lots of traversal stuttering which will hopefully get reduced after the engine upgrade. Also, as Unreal 5.5 has brought major performance boosts to both Lumen and Path Tracing, this could also lead to an increased overall performance in Stalker 2 when it’s upgraded to the new version.
Below are the complete list of new additions and contents coming to Stalker 2 later this year:
- Engine update to Unreal Engine 5.5.4 (for optimization)
- Various night vision devices
- Binoculars
- A-Life Updates:
- More A-Life Zone: various technical improvements and updates
- NPCs can’t see in the dark as good as before
- NPC combat updates
- Mutants combat and balance updates
- New anomalies
- New missions, fron old and new friends
- New weather scenario
- Master difficulty preset
- Extended day/night cycle
- Stashes loot rework
- Stamina and energy drinks rework
- Immersive display mode
- Player equipment UI updates
- More UI updates and improvements
- Local save backup restorations
- Further optimization and “anomalies” fixing
- Zone Kit — Phase 1 to Phase 2
- Audio modding (Wwise)
- Narrative tools
- Improved compatibility of various mods that interact with common game systems
- Ehnhanced Blueprints Modification Support
- Technical Improvements and Optimization
- Discord holiday event
- More Stalker Legends of the Zone Enhanced Edition improvements
- Release of Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl on PS5 and PS5 Pro
