Despite Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl’s rough performances at launch, the game was received well by long time fans of the series. Considering that it was developed under the shadow of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was bound to have issues, but the community rallied around it as GSC Game World promised to fix the issues.
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Despite the rough launch, the game has been immensely popular and went on to sell over a million copies on launch day. Despite the support, one of the key features that the players missed was the series’ A-Life system, or in Stalker 2’s case, A-Life 2.0. However, in what is the game’s largest update since launch, the developers have seemingly fixed the system.
A-Life 2.0 Issues Addressed In Latest Stalker 2 Update
Patch 1.1 will address over 1,800 issues and is the first series of fixes for the A-Life system. For those unfamiliar with the Zone. A-Life is Stalker’s proprietary NPC AI system that makes the Zone feel like a living and breathing environment. Random encounters and situations involving NPCs and enemies you may come across are governed by this system.
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Among the many issues that were fixed for the A-Life system are enemies spawning behind players, lack of NPCs roaming in the wild, distance at which NPCs are visible to the player, and an overall fleshing out of NPCs that are governed by this system. These were among the issues that the community had been complaining about, so it’s good to see they’re finally being addressed.
As for the NPCs themselves a number of fixes were issued for their behavior as well. Unlike the A-Life system, these were merely bugs that would make NPCs do silly things like enter doors without opening them, teleporting to restricted areas, and even stretch their limbs while firing weapons. Hopefully these changes should make the Zone feel more vibrant and alive.
The patch includes numerous fixes for other bugs and glitches. You can read the full patch notes here. Hopefully, this update will fix the majority of issues that have been plaguing the game, however, the developers noted that this is only the “first iteration of the A-Life fixes,” so you can expect further polishing to the systems in the future.
GSC Game World owner Maksym Krippa recently revealed that the game is already turning a profit and there was even word of a TV adaptation. With these fixes finally in place, and the holiday season being upon us, you can bet more Stalkers will be making their way to the Zone.
Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is the long-awaited follow-up to the apocalyptic first-person shooter. As a Stalker, you must venture into the deadly Exclusion Zone, contending with mutants and warring factions alike, in search of valuable artifacts.