The acclaimed Ukrainian action-adventure S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is being released this week for PlayStation 5, and is already available for PC and Xbox Series S/X. We gave it a glowing review when it was first released, and since then it has been further improved through a series of updates.
One might think that everyone would be satisfied and happy about this, but that's not quite the case. PC Gamer reports that Russia has decided that the game is a threat to "the foundations of Russia's constitutional order, defense capabilities, and security." Among other things, they are outraged by the studio's audacity in viewing"Russia as the 'aggressor state'," and as a result, developer GSC Game World has been added to the Russian government's list of undesirable organisations. This effectively makes it a criminal offense to have anything to do with them.
Like countless other Ukrainian studios, the developer has been severely affected by Russia's war against the country, which has led to them being forced to move out of the country (they are now mainly based in Prague), employees losing family members, and one of their colleagues being killed near Bakhmut. The studio has tried in various ways to support Ukraine and encouraged players to do the same.
Currently, there is a 30% discount on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl on Steam, and hopefully we can look forward to something similar for both PlayStation and Xbox during Black Friday. A golden opportunity to snag a great game and also support Ukraine.