STALKER 2 back in development – don’t expect a December release

metro.co.uk:

GSC Game World has suggested development on STALKER 2 has resumed, and even its Discord channel is working again.

As you would imagine, the Russia-Ukraine war has greatly impacted game development in Ukraine. GSC Game World, for example, had to pause development on STALKER 2: Heart Of Chornobyl until the war is over.

Although the conflict is still ongoing, it sounds like GSC Game World is back to working on the game regardless.

Recently, a fan took to the official GSC Game World Discord to ask how development was progressing, if it was at all. Surprisingly, the studio responded with a blunt ‘It continues.’

Shortly after the war began, GSC Game World had locked down most of the channels within the Discord server. If you visit it now, though, they’re all open and working again.

This all suggests that at least some work is being done on STALKER 2. However, there is so far no mention of a new release date.

Back in January, GSC Game World pushed STALKER 2 back from April until December.

The official website still lists December 8 as STALKER 2’s release date but, considering development was paused for at least a couple of months, it wouldn’t be surprising if the game had to be delayed again, until at least 2023.

GSC Game World did respond to a question about the game’s difficulty, as spotted by Polish website Gry-Online. It simply said that STALKER 2 will offer plenty of difficulty settings so players can ‘find the right level of challenge.’

There is the possibility though that STALKER 2 will make an appearance at Microsoft’s Xbox showcase in June, considering it’s an Xbox Series X/S console exclusive.

Ukraine has the biggest games development community in the region, with a number of successful developers, many of which have remained