S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: COST OF HOPE launches on 20 August

They've left it a bit late, but GSC Game World has revealed the release date for their Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl expansion, Cost of Hope. The expansion launches on 20 August, or in just over three weeks' time.

STALKER 2 launched in late 2024 and was a very good time, despite janky launch bugs and some questionable AI, not to mention a somewhat-sluggish implementation of Unreal Engine 5. A stream of patches and updates fixed a number of these problems. Cost of Hope adds a lengthy new questline and a whole new area, including the Iron Forest and the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant itself, which was visible but not visitable in the initial release.

STALKER 2 has sold over six million copies since release, though sales seemed to tail off as fan frustration with some of the missing features and bugs became more notable. Cost of Hope launches alongside the 2.0 revision of the game, which completely updates the game's underlying technology, moves to more stable version of Unreal Engine 5 and features revamped textures and lighting. GSC also recently oversaw the release of technically-updated versions of original games STALKER: Shadow of Chornobyl (2007), STALKER: Clear Sky (2008) and STALKER: Call of Pripyat (2009).