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GSC Game World's STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl had previously been infinitely delayed due to the ongoing conflict in the Ukrainian studio's home country. However, new rumors suggest that the team is now moving to Prague in the Czech Republic.
Pavel Dobrovsky, a Czech industry-insider, dropped the details on Twitter recently. His tweet can be roughly translated to:
"Part of the Ukrainian studio GSC Game World (working on Stalker 2) is moving to Prague."
He then went on to suggest that the team will be making a new entry in the Cossacks RTS franchise. The latest entry was last year with Cossacks: European War.
STALKER 2 might be getting back on its feet
It definitely sounds like good news if its true. To top this off, Vortex (also a Czech gaming site) has confirmed that the team's shifting claim is true. According to them, the team is in talks to set up shop in the Czech Republic, pretty much reiterating what was said by Dobrovsky.
The current crisis between Russia and Ukraine has caused great tension and strife, with people being subjected to precarious circumstances. Hopefully the devs at GSC Game World will be able to get back on track to deliver on their vision for the new STALKER game after the delay.
A brief dive into STALKER 2
STALKER 2 was first announced in its current form in 2018. After an engine change from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5, it was delayed to December 8, 2022.
The game is the first entry in the series since Call of Pripyat in 2009. Like other games in the series, it is a first-person shooter set in an alternate universe Ukraine where mutants run amock.
This latest entry sees players control Skif, a member of a group of survivors known as S.T.A.L.K.E.R.S who are braving the dangers of the Zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Players face Anomalies, mysterious phenomena that disobey the laws of physics and scavenge for resources.
Of course, they're not alone, as the wilderness hides the aggressive fauna and bandits that fight dirty. To help with this, players have access to a variety of firepower from standard assault rifles to more whacky sci-fi machinery.
If the game does see the light of day, fans can expect to see a release on Xbox Series X|S and PC.
