Stalker 2 Patch Expected Release Date And All Of The Janky Launch Bugs Targeted In The First Update
GSC Game World is rolling out the first update for Stalker 2 this week which is set to target a host of bugs including ‘detached heads’ and ones blocking main quest progression.
Stalker 2 gets its first update this week that sets out to blast a slew of launch bugs including ones that may have brought your quest progression to a grinding halt (Image: GSC Game World / Shabana Arif)
The first Stalker 2 update drops this week, and while GSC Game World hasn’t specified an exact date and time for the update yet, we have a pretty good guess as to when it’ll drop.
Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl launched last week on Xbox Series X|S and PC, after languishing in development hell for 15 years; but it’s here at last and was met with pretty solid reviews – which included our 4/5 star review that called it “one of the most enthralling open-world settings in recent memory”. It also touched on the inevitable jankiness encountered despite the many pre-release patches (this is a Stalker game after all) which included floating NPCs and uncooperative quest tracking, among others. But it speaks volumes that the presence of all those bugs didn’t detract from overall experience.
Of course, there are some bugs that can do exactly that – including some that block main quest progress – alongside crashing issues to boot. Thankfully, GSC Game World already has a Stalker 2 patch in the proverbial chamber, that’s confirmed to roll out this week. The developer hasn’t shared when the Stalker 2 patch release date or time is set for, but we’ve got a pretty solid guess.
While we don’t have months worth of updates to look back on to help us figure out when this week the Stalker 2 patch release is happening, we do have the release date and time of the launch, which was on Wednesday, November 20 at 4pm GMT / 11am EST / 8am PST. Oftentimes, launch dates/ times set precedent for when updates will drop, as we’ve seen with titles like Helldivers 2 for example.
So out best guess for the Stalker 2 patch release date and time is Wednesday, November 26 at 4pm GMT / 11am EST / 8am PST. Of course, we’ll be keeping an eye on the game’s socials as well as its Discord servers, which is usually the best place for updates on patches and the like. If GSC Game World drops any more details, we’ll update the Stalker 2 patch date and time in this story accordingly.
In the meantime, the full patch notes have been shared ahead of time, and you can delve into them below.
Stalker 2 patch notes Here are the full Stalker 2 patch notes for this week’s update as posted over on a Steam blog post from the devs:
Crash Fixes, including: Issues and memory allocation failures, which previously caused the game to exit unexpectedly, particularly around rendering, skeletal meshes, and quest-related cutscenes.
Main Quest Progression Fixes, including: Several bugs blocking the main quest progression, NPCs getting stuck in objects, incorrect quest markers, and issues with quest cutscenes.
Revision of the main quests (like Visions of Truth or A Minor Incident) to ensure smooth transitions, avoiding rare cases of players not being able to proceed further.
Gameplay & Balance Adjustments, including: Fixing the price of the weapons with upgrades installed compared to their value without attachments.
NPCs behaviour, including the way they act when lacking a shelter during the Emissions.
Cutscenes & Visual Fixes, including: Rarely missing facial animations, misplaced NPCs, and visual inconsistencies like detached heads and clothes clipping.
Quality and stability improvements of the visual effects.
Softlock Fixes, including: Issue where players were unable to close the trade screen after putting ammo in a wrong slot while playing on a gamepad.
User Interface Improvements, including: Quest notifications now showed correctly during dialogues.
Corrected texts and missing interaction prompts.
Noted to be addressed in future updates: Analogue sticks dead zones bugfixes.
A-Life system bugfixes. Not a massive laundry list of big fixes in the Stalker 2 patch notes by any means,. but the update addresses the most pressing issues like those blocking quest progression and weird visual glitches. This is a Stalker game and it’s going to be janky, so I don’t think fans mind the more hilarious ones; it’s just the crashing and quest-blocking ones that are a pain in the butt.
