We have been waiting a long time for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart of Chornobyl to make its debut. Today, a few months before its planned release date, the game"s development team GSC GameWorld posted its longest and most detailed look yet at its first-person post-apocalypse shooter sequel.
In a 35-minute developer deep dive video on Microsoft"s Xbox YouTube channel, a number of GSC GameWorld"s team members describe some of the features, locations, and situations the player will come across in S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2. The game features an open world with 20 separate zones. Each zone will have its own creatures, anomalies, and architecture. The game is so big that the developers claim some of its separate zones could be full games if they were released on their own.
Indeed, the developers claim players have a huge degree of freedom while exploring the open world. In most cases, the player can wander in any location, though they won"t be able to encounter everything in the game in just one walkthrough.
Another interesting feature is that while players will be able to upgrade things like their weapons and items in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, they sometimes won"t get them just by following the main storyline but by exploring the world and finding these upgrades in the environment. Players will ultimately get to use a total of 35 weapons in the game.
You can check out a lot more of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 in the deep dive video, including how AI figures into the game its mutant creatures, cut scenes, and more. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart of Chornobyl is currently scheduled to be released on November 20 for the PC and the Xbox Series S and X consoles. It will also be available as a Day One release for Microsoft"s PC Game Pass, Console Game Pass, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members.