STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl will be released on April 28, 2022, exclusively on Xbox Series X and S, Windows 10, and Xbox’s cloud gaming service. Microsoft has also released a new trailer for the game, featuring gameplay-style footage.
Microsoft and Bethesda announced at this year’s E3 presentation that the game will run in 4k resolution on consoles and support ray tracing. They also reveal that the game will also be available through Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft’s monthly game subscription, from its release date.
The images show that the game is again set in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In the world of the game, supernatural phenomena take place there, which pose various forms of enormous danger to players. However, those anomalies also produce artifacts , which are items with special powers and which are worth quite a bit of money. Also, familiar enemies from the STALKER games are back, such as the invisible Bloodsucker.
The first three games in the franchise were released in 2007, 2008, and 2009. While they were criticized for their bugs, it was also priced for its survival elements and atmosphere. The game is made by the same studio as at the time: GSC Game World, from Ukraine.