“We launched the game during wartime.” For GSC Game World, bringing STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl across the finish line would have been demanding even in normal circumstances, but doing it while Russia’s invasion turned everyday life upside down in Ukraine turned the project into a real-world survival story. The long-awaited return to the Zone has become both a large-scale post-apocalyptic shooter and a symbol of resistance that the team continues to refine through patches and updates.

On paper, STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl was already a huge undertaking: a vast and atmospheric open world, systemic factions, and a demanding first-person shooter loop all had to mesh, even as the studio was working under air-raid sirens, missile strikes, and an unstable power grid. GSC Game World still managed to push the project through and deliver a game that is about the Zone, yet also reflects their lived reality over the last few years. Even after launch, the post-apocalyptic shooter had plenty of rough edges, and the studio’s roadmap includes more major patches and expansions in the coming months.

Recently, it was announced that STALKER 2 is leaving Xbox Game Pass just as the PS5 version arrives, and patch 1.7 dropped at the same time. The update introduces a faction territory control system, an “Ultra-Hard” difficulty setting, more than ninety bug fixes, better performance, improvements to main quests, AI optimizations, anomaly tweaks, and a long list of smaller gameplay adjustments. Speaking to Eurogamer, communications manager Zackar Bocharov explained that the top priority for the PS5 version was to make full use of the DualSense controller, tuning adaptive triggers and haptic feedback so players can literally feel the Zone, sense anomalies drawing closer, and read the kick of their weapons in their hands.

According to Bocharov, the team wanted to squeeze as much as possible out of Sony’s hardware, even though the conditions they were working in were anything but ideal. The studio considers the PS5 port solid right now, but acknowledges that there is still a lot of work ahead on every platform. For a large open world game, that would be expected, but in GSC Game World’s case the situation is complicated by the fact that part of the team is still living and working in an active war zone, so every tiny performance boost or bug fix carries very real human costs and constraints.

How Difficult It Was to Bring STALKER 2 to PS5

Bocharov went into detail about what it took to bring STALKER 2 to PS5 while half of GSC Game World remains based in Ukraine. “Both the teams I am working with on the PS5 version and on mod support are in Ukraine. They are doing the best job possible, even under these circumstances, and delivering great results. Most of the challenges are related to the war, for example, the power outages”, he said. Adapting to that reality meant re-engineering how the studio operates from day to day: “We had to adjust to the situation if we wanted to move forward. We bought a lot of external batteries, a lot of large power stations with a big reserve. We had to do it, and of course, we used Starlink to provide internet connections for the staff from time to time”.

On top of that came the logistical headache of getting PS5 development kits into a city that is regularly targeted by missile attacks. “We order them from our office in Prague, and then we ship them to Kyiv”, Bocharov explained, pointing out that “some of the distribution centers and post offices are also targets, so we are risking the loss of our equipment because of these attacks”. For him, the experience was not only stressful but also technically fascinating because it meant learning a new platform and system in extreme conditions. At the same time, he stressed that while the studio’s main goal is still to deliver the best possible experience to players, the wider context can never be ignored.

“There is a war going on in Ukraine. It is not something that should be happening in any civilized country in the world, and Ukrainians are facing something they should not have to face”, Bocharov said. Around 230 staff members now work from Prague and roughly 280 remain in Ukraine, and coordinating work between the two offices has been one of the toughest parts of the project. “By the time we launched, everyone was extremely tired, but there was no way to delay the game again. We launched the game during wartime. We finished it, and now we are updating it and working on DLC”, he added. The studio has shifted to working on several fronts in parallel – post-launch support, expansions, and early work on future projects – which required restructuring teams and responsibilities. With more than one million copies sold and over six million Game Pass players, Bocharov considers the project an obvious success for GSC Game World, but, as he puts it, “we cannot stop”.

Source: 3djuegos