Despite mixed feedback and its availability in Xbox Game Pass, STALKER 2 hits hard on PC

Game news Despite mixed feedback and its availability in Xbox Game Pass, STALKER 2 hits hard on PC

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A long and difficult development phase

Fifteen years later Call of Pripyatthe license S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is back in force. Launched a few days ago, the fourth game in the series is now available on PC et Xbox Seriesbut also in the Xbox Game Pass. But the road traveled by S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 : The Heart of Chornobyl before its release has not always been straight and smooth, and GSC Game World had to navigate some very winding paths before being able to share his work with fans.

First announced in 2009, shortly after the launch of Call of Pripyat, The Heart of Chornobyl should have seen the light of day in 2012, but the developers announced the cancellation of the project the same year of its supposed release. We had to wait until 2018 for The Heart of Chornobyl gives its news again, this time in development on l’Unreal Engine 5with a proposed release window of December 2022. Unfortunately, Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 forced the developers to put the project on pause again, culminating in several postponements, and a release official on November 20, 2024.

A warm welcome for STALKER 2

For fans of the series, the launch of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 : The Heart of Chornobyl is a true miracle, despite the mixed reviews the game has been facing in recent days. Indeed, the video game press seems rather satisfied with the version Xbox Series of the GSC Game World title, but opinions differ a little more regarding the version PC. Indeed, it would be much more unstable and would present a certain number of bugs, causing the publication of numerous patches hoping to resolve the most persistent problems. But this does not seem to discourage players, since The Heart of Chornobyl passed a significant milestone barely two days after its release.

In fact, the game has passed more than 1 million copies in the space of a few days. An impressive figure, especially since it does not count players benefiting from a subscription to the Xbox Game Pass to play it. But the most interesting thing in all of this is the success of The Heart of Chornobyl on Steam. Despite its availability on Game Pass, the title from the Polish studio has amassed nearly 118,000 competing players on the day of its release, a weekday at that! At present and according to the figures of SteamDBit is the 9th game with the most competing players on Steam, passing platform giants like Throne and Liberty et ”’Apex Legends”.