Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl finally gets next release date after initial delay

The New Year has brought its set of happy and sad news, and the news of Stalker 2 Shadow of Chernobyl's delay is sure to disappoint many fans. The game has been across two separate decades in the making, and it was even binned once completely. But good fortune beckoned, and the developers were once again preparing a fresh build.

Stalker 2 will be a natural successor to the three Stalker games that have been released in the past. The series gained fame with Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl in 2007, which was the first game of the series. Two more followed in the form of Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat.

The original Stalker appeased the fans for a lot of good reasons and it was way back in 2010 when Stalker 2 was announced but its only in December 2022 when the game is going to appear.

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Stalker 2 developers have confirmed a potential release date but fans will have to wait longer

What made Stalker a cult classic was the world the game was able to recreate. It perfectly recreated the world after a nuclear fallout and contained all the hardships that one can expect in such a setting. The game at its core is a true sandbox with elements of both first person shooters and RPGs.

It's hard to predict the path the game will take, but one can anticipate that developers GSC will keep the best things from the earlier games. It's not to be forgotten that the game's original build had been shelved after GSC had faced financial hardships.

It was only in 2018 that GSC, having recovered financially, announced a fresh new build for part 2, which had greatly excited the fans ever since. However, in an official statement put out on Twitter, the developers have confirmed that Stalker 2 is being delayed till December 8, 2022.

The reason for this is likely the shift in the gameplay engine from UE4 to UE5. As per GSC's own admissions, Stalker 2 is the biggest project from the studio and they feel that the wait would be worth it. A rushed product may compromise the delivered quality and hence the decision for the delay has been taken.

There were already rumors in the community about a possible delay, which has now been confirmed. But what will excite fans the most is the possible confirmed date they may have received in the news of the delay.