STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobylhas finally released on November 20, after 15 years of delays, cancelations, and teasers.STALKER 2’s development has been arduous, spanning the developer’s dissolution and comeback, with more recent delays because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The ambitious open-world immersive sim has finally arrived on Xbox and PC, but there is likely a significant number of PS5 users wondering how they can play.
The newest entry in the series brings the unsettling experience of navigating the anomalous Chornobyl Exclusion Zone to the modern era of gaming. Players must survive the merciless and radioactive landscape with limited guns and ammo but plenty of enemies, both human and mutant, as they explore mysteries in the Zone. Players have been looking forward to the newestSTALKERgame for more than a decade, buthopeful PlayStation 5 players may have to wait longer.
STALKER 2 Isn’t Coming To PS5 Right Now
The Zone Is For Xbox And PC Only
STALKER 2is notcoming to PlayStation 5 upon release. The title has launched on Xbox consoles and PC, and is evenavailable via Game Pass. There are currentlyno plans to bringSTALKER 2to PS5, as GSC Game World confirmed that the studio focused on releasing the game on Xbox Series X/S after its E3 2018 trailer attracted Microsoft as a publisher. For the foreseeable future,STALKER 2will only be playable on PC and Xbox Series X/S.
The first threeSTALKERgames are available to play on PS5, so any console players lacking an Xboxcan catch up on the entire seriesin the meantime. As for Xbox players,STALKER 2will come to Xbox Game Pass alongside other radically different indie games likeLittle Kitty, Big City, PlateUp, None Sols,andAliens: Dark Descent.
Is It Possible For STALKER To Come to PS5 Later On?
PlayStation Fans May Need To Wait
It’s entirely possible thatSTALKER 2may come to the PS5 in the future, though there is no guarantee on when that would happen, if ever. The ray of hope for PlayStation fans is that Xbox has recently become more open to allowing previously exclusive games to migrate over to PlayStation and Nintendo consoles, a significant indication that the console wars of the past decades are fizzling out. Earlier this year, Microsoft brought four exclusive titles to the PS5 and Nintendo Switch:Grounded,Hi-Fi Rush,Screen Rant’s 2022 Game of the YearPentiment,andSea of Thieves.
The other glimmer of hope is a quote from a GSC Game World developer, who stated that there are “no plans for now” for a PS5 release. Since the developer didn’t outright confirm thatSTALKER 2would remain an Xbox only game,there’s a possibility that it could be added to PlayStation in the future.
Is STALKER 2 An Xbox Exclusive?
Xbox Exclusives Aren’t So Exclusive Anymore
WhileSTALKER 2will exclusively be available on Xbox, that restriction is only for console players.STALKER 2won’t be on the PlayStation 5 upon its release this November, that doesn’t mean that the game is only available on Xbox.PC players will also be able to play the game right away on Steam, as all other titles in the series have been available on PC.
PC players can rejoice about being able to playSTALKER 2right away, butthey’ll need to clear out plenty of space on their computersbefore they can dive back into the Zone. GSC Game World confirmed the system requirements for the game, which are fairly hefty. The four graphics presets – low, medium, high, and epic – all require at least 160GB of SSD storage and a minimum of 16GB of RAM. The epic setting, which will run the game at 4K, needs at least an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 or an AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPU.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobylmay make an appearance on Nintendo consoles in the future as well, sinceSTALKER: Legends of the Zone Trilogycame out on the Nintendo Switch at the end of October. This collection featuresShadow of Chornobyl, Clear Sky,andCall of Prypiat,so it seems that the series is open to being available on as many platforms as possible.
Source:GSC Game World/YouTube
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a survival horror FPS game that picks up in the world where the first game’s expansion, Call of Pripyat, left off. Players will head deep into the heart of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone as they meet new allies, foes, and terrifying mutated creatures carving out their tale in a world ravaged by nuclear disaster years prior.
