After a development that will go down in history as one of the most brutal ever after Russia attacked Ukraine and forced GSC Game World developers to the front as soldiers, sadly resulting in deaths, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is set to launch next month.
It's being released exclusively for PC and Xbox Series S/X (and included with Game Pass), and many have wondered why this has happened. In an interview with Windows Central, a representative of the studio tells us that they didn't actually know anyone at Microsoft and found Spencer's email address on Reddit, and that's that:
"We actually started with zero contacts inside Microsoft. We started searching Google for an email for Phil Spencer, and we ended up finding it on some Reddit thread. It was an email that was essentially 'We are GSC Game World, we're interested in bringing Stalker to console players.' We got a near-instant response and a connection to the correct team. We've been working until now with the Xbox team, we love them, we think they are very effective and very empathetic."
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl runs at 60 frames per second for Xbox Series X, and in the same interview GSC Game World tells us that they don't rule out that it could be the same for Xbox Series S, despite initially thinking that it "might be impossible" to get the game to work at all on the cheaper Xbox. For now, however, it's 30 frames per second, but they say they're working on "a performance mode for Xbox Series S, to get it to 60 FPS. We think it's possible."
Incidentally, working with Series S has also been beneficial for the PC version, which is now better optimised and does not have the same hardware requirements:
"We had to boost our expertise on the optimization side, which also helped the PC build, making it a lot more performant. We have quite low minimum PC requirements for a modern game."
On November 20, it's time to visit the forbidden zone again when S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is released after all the horrors and countless delays as a result of the Russian war, and we will of course write a review. What are your own expectations on this adventure?
