STALKER 2 Gets Gigantic Update Right Before Launch

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home November 19, 2024 11 Views 5 Min Read
STALKER 2 Gets Gigantic Update Right Before Launch



Key Takeaways

  • GSC Game World rolled out a pre-release STALKER 2 update on November 18, two days ahead of the immersive sim’s debut.
  • The update is nearly 140GB in size, and essentially replaces the majority of the game’s original preload build.
  • The pre-release patch is exclusive to the Xbox Series X/S, as STALKER 2 isn’t available to preload on PC.



STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl has received its first-ever update, which happens to be gigantic. However, since the game isn’t out yet, the new patch will only be of interest to people who have preloaded STALKER 2.

Following around six years of development and four major delays, at least one of which can be traced back to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, STALKER 2 has gone gold in early November 2024. The long-awaited immersive sim is scheduled to hit the market on Wednesday, November 20.

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Related
STALKER 2 Team Has Message for Fans as Release Date Nears

Ahead of STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl’s release, the team at GSC Game World releases a message for fans after the project’s long development.

STALKER 2 received an update just ahead of its release, with developer GSC Game World pushing it out on November 18. The patch is nothing short of gigantic, weighing 138.9GB. For reference, the initial STALKER 2 preload build, which rolled out on November 11, was 146.7GB in size. Social media reports from Xbox users who have already downloaded the update suggest that it replaces the majority of the game’s files rather than adding to them. STALKER 2 should hence still take up around 150GB of storage space once this pre-release patch is installed.



First STALKER 2 Update Is Limited to Xbox Consoles

The update itself is only available to download on the Xbox Series X and Series S. The PC version of STALKER 2—which will be available via Steam, Xbox Store, and Epic Games Store—hasn’t been made available to preload. If the update includes any multi-platform changes, they are likely to be integrated into STALKER 2‘s day-one PC build. GSC Game World did not share a changelog to accompany this patch, which is fairly standard practice when it comes to pre-release updates.


STALKER 2 will have a simultaneous global launch on November 20, at 8am PST / 11am EST / 5pm CET. Xbox Series X/S owners hoping to play the game as soon as possible will want to check if their consoles have downloaded the pre-release patch ahead of time, especially if they don’t have gigabit internet. In many cases, this installation will have occurred without any intervention, as the current generation of Xbox consoles can download patches automatically even while they’re asleep. In order for this functionality to work, it needs to be enabled by checking the “Keep my games and apps up to date” box found under Settings > System > Updates.

As for the PC version of STALKER 2, GSC has recently confirmed that it’s going to be quite demanding. The recommended system requirements for playing at 60fps and 1440p include the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti / Radeon RX 6800 XT, 32GB of RAM, and Intel Core i7-11700K / AMD Ryzen 7 5800X.

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