Key Takeaways
- STALKER 2 update 1.0.2 is now available, arriving 24 hours after the game’s 1.0.1 patch.
- This release introduces half a dozen critical fixes for issues blocking progression in certain quests, including one major mid-game story mission.
- The Steam version of the update is 14.8GB in size, whereas its Xbox counterpart still hasn’t arrived as of the early morning hours ET on November 30, though it’s expected to do so shortly.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl update 1.0.2 is now available to download on select platforms. This is the second STALKER 2 patch since the game’s debut, as well as its second in two days.
Developer GSC Game World announced the first post-release STALKER 2 update nearly a full week ahead of its arrival, which finally happened on Friday, November 29. Between this timing and the fact that the Ukrainian studio didn’t hint at yet another patch already being on the horizon, fans weren’t expecting anything to drop over the weekend.
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But that’s precisely what ended up happening, with a follow-up update arriving in the early morning hours ET on November 30. Identified by version number 1.0.2, this release is much smaller than STALKER 2 patch 1.0.1, but no less significant. This is primarily because it ships with several critical fixes for issues preventing progression in certain mid-game quests. These include one particularly important mission that unlocks after players leave a massive enclosed location—which shall remain unnamed in order to avoid spoilers.
STALKER 2 Update 1.0.2 Fixes More Crash Causes
Aside from half a dozen quest-related fixes, the 1.0.2 patch also addresses additional cases of crashes ending in an “EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION” error. This category of problems—all of which stem from the game attempting to access memory locations that it shouldn’t—has recently been the subject of a lot of STALKER 2 troubleshooting among the fandom. The 1.0.1 update already resolved some scenarios leading to such crashes, but the jury’s still out on whether this follow-up patch makes all of them a thing of the past.
STALKER 2 update 1.0.2 is approximately 14.8GB in size on Steam. According to player reports on social media, the Microsoft Store and Xbox Store versions of the game are yet to receive the patch as of 10am ET on November 30. The same thing happened with the previous update, which reached Steam and the Epic Games Store a few hours before landing on Microsoft’s platforms.
The November 30 update marks a continuation of GSC’s efforts to fix STALKER 2‘s launch issues. One major complaint that’s still unresolved involves the game’s A-Life system, which currently appears broken, as underlined by the fact that mobs spawn only within a small radius around the player and lack variety. That said, there’s been a lot of confusion surrounding what A-Life 2.0 is exactly meant to be following the game’s launch, making it unclear how much of the current system is bugged versus simply not working in line with fan expectations. For example, modders rummaging through the game’s files haven’t yet discovered conclusive evidence to suggest that the game was designed to simulate NPC activity outside the player’s immediate vicinity—a feature of the original STALKER trilogy that created a persistent world.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Update 1.0.2 Patch Notes
STALKER 2 spoilers ahead.
- Fixed an issue when the second wave of Monolith soldiers would not spawn during the “On the Edge” mission, blocking further progression.
- Fixed the issue when Richter could be found dead during the “A Minor Incident” mission, blocking further progression.
- The fixed issue was a player could get stuck after installing the fuse in the Wild Island area if they got the Emitter from Faust’s Cell first during the “Just Like the Good Old Days” mission, blocking further progression.
- The fixed issue was when a player could not successfully complete the “All That is Left” mission while exploring the Chemical Plant region.
- Fixed issue when quest enemies could spawn in unreachable areas for a player during the “Down Below” mission, blocking further progression.
- Fixed an issue when Scar could be missing during the “Visions of Truth” mission.
- A few more EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION errors are fixed.
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