GSC Game World recently rolled out Update 1.4 for Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, which is a significant part of their extensive Q2 2025 development plan.
Now available on both PC and Xbox platforms, this latest update focuses on resolving numerous problems while significantly enhancing gunfights against Stalkers. It marks the first significant repair for the game’s troubled A-Life system, enabling NPCs within the Zone to carry on with their lives independently of player locations.
At the moment I’m writing, Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl is yet to be fully completed. The development team isn’t just focusing on creating new expansions, they are also planning to reintroduce previously removed content in upcoming updates.
Stalker 2 Patch 1.4 Patch Notes
To check out the full list of fixes, check out the update’s patch notes below:
Highlights
- Persistent A-Life: stalkers are now living their long, happy lives, unless they meet their end in the Zone as a result of their actions outside the player’s view.
- Mutants can now use corpse-eating animation if there are dead bodies nearby.
- Mutants now have an “alert” state if something is happening near or approaching them.
- Improvements to human combat:
- Fixed numerous bugs and problems with cover usage for NPC. Now they can properly use available covers, always try to hide before shooting, and don’t rush forward when not needed.
- Characters use trees as cover.
- Improved flanking pathfinding and transition to close combat.
- Close combat has become tougher on Veteran and Stalker difficulties.
- Fixed issues in communication and actions synchronization between characters in the squad.
- Characters now communicate tactical actions and reactions more clearly in combat.
- Human characters throw grenades when they want to flush out the target, not on the cooldown.
- Squads now have a finite number of grenades, depending on their rank and faction (bandits have significantly less than military).
- Human characters are able to attack mutants in melee. They use kick melee attacks against smaller mutants.
- Human characters can kick players who are crouched.
- Human characters look around for a brief moment, searching for enemies after combat ends, then proceed to the post-combat activities like looting and healing wounded.
- Humans are no longer able to snipe with shotguns. Fixed problems with pellet dispersion and non-natural ballistic distances.
- Increased number of generic heads for NPC randomization
- Burer can now use his telekinetic abilities to catch and throw grenades
- Improved Weapon stat displaying in the inventory. Updated weapon stats bars and their calculation logic.
- Added new weapon stat — handling.
AI and Combat
- Fixed erratic behavior of A-Life NPCs after attacking enemy lairs.
- Fixed an issue where A-Life NPC didn’t move after transitioning to offline.
- Improved mutant behavior during combat.
- Fixed an issue where a Flesh mutant was hiding to ambush the Player after they avoided a jump attack.
- Fixed an issue where a swarm of rat mutants were ignoring the Player after loading a save made near them.
- Improved path building for NPCs in offline to avoid them getting in restricted areas.
- Fixed an issue where an NPC was able to stay alive after falling in a wounded state underwater.
- Fixed an issue where mutants’ bodies were jumping/shaking/stretching after being killed by shotgun or grenade.
- Fixed an issue where patrolling NPCs could clip with each other.
- Blind Dogs are now playing peaceful barks when not in combat with Player.
- Fixed issues where NPCs were clipping or going through doors while in combat.
- Fixed an issue where mutants were able to get stuck searching for enemies after escaping combat during emission.
- Fixed an issue when NPCs could be stuck in ambush pose.
- Adjusted aim for the NPCs that are in low cover.
- Fixed an issue when the NPCs could stay idle after receiving critical damage.
- Adjusted shooting range of NPCs depending on their weapon.
- Adjusted shooting from cover for the NPCs.
Stalker 2 Balance fixes
- RPM-74: increased armor piercing value
- Explosions now cause more damage on high-ranking targets
- Increased RPG damage
- Decreased lethal distance for grenades
- Increased concussion distance for RPG
- Added some silencers into stashes.
- Added Khors the possibility to upgrade Zircon Suit.
- Fixed an issue where Player was able to install physical protection upgrades twice for PSZ-9I Falcon armor.
- Rebalanced stashes in Zaton region.
- Improved regeneration and spawn of random anomalies after emission.
Bug fixes, crashes and performance
- Made performance optimization of light and shadows in multiple regions and locations.
- Improved LODs for grass in multiple regions.
- Performance optimization for light garland at 100 Rads Bar.
- Some other Under the Hood CPU performance and optimizations tweaks were made.
- Fixed an issue where bullet hit decals would not appear on certain parts of Mutant and NPC bodies.
- Fixed an issue where a Vortex arch-anomaly was throwing NPC corpses under terrain.
- Fixed an issue where an anomaly spawned by an Electric Poltergeist was invisible.
- Fixed an issue where stamina was spent even if action wasn’t available.
- Fixed generic issues where NPCs were unable to reach a scripted animation pose if it was located too far.
- Fixed an issue where Zombies were able to fall under level geometry.
- Fixed an issue where sounds of raindrops were playing for certain props located underground.
- Fixed an issue where Player was able to stuck behind the door in Sidorovich’s bunker.
- Fixed an issue with the HUD opacity option not working.
- Fixed an issue where dynamic shadows cast by flashlight appeared jagged.
- Fixed an issue where some effects could stuck on the player after loading a save.
- Fixed an issue where some effects could not be applied to the player after loading a save.
- Fixed an issue where increment in Psi Protection was displayed on armor stat bar when selecting Radiation Protection upgrade on some exosuits.
- Fixed an issue where Player was able to get to Prypiat ahead of time by jumping over the railroad cistern on Yaniv.
- Fixed an issue where a broken weapon didn’t have a red background when equipped.
- Fixed Trader items being sorted after cancelling trade.
- Fixed an issue where no technicians in the game were able to install “Extra Barrel Upgrade” to SVDM-2 and Lynx sniper rifles
- Fixed an issue where mutants with telekinetic abilities were unable to pick up or throw items or corpses directly at Player.
- Fixed an issue where Bayun didn’t deal any damage during his Jump Attack.
Technical Issues
- Improved pathing for NPCs.
- Minor polishment and improvement for scripted NPC animations.
- Human characters that turn on flashlights are now slightly more illuminated and visible in the dark.
- Improved sound obstruction for grenades thrown outside from indoors location.
- Added a new emission shelter in Chemical Plant’s dining room.
- Added emission shelter to technician room at Ranger Station, Zaton region.
- Improved facial animations and realism.
- Improved impact sounds for the bolt.
- Removed redundant blur effect on Player’s vitals stat panel during trade.
- Added Player’s vitals stat panel in the trade menu.
- Added new death animations and sound effects for electricity, acid, bullet, and rat bites’ damage.
In addition to significant enhancements, Game Studio Chicago (GSC) has tackled numerous issues related to missions and progress within the Zone by fixing close to 700 bugs found in this update. They have plans for even more bug fixes throughout the year.
GSC has not only made major improvements but also fixed a lot of problems with the game’s mission and progression within the Zone. This update includes around 700 fixes, with even more planned for later in the year.
In this current quarter, our development team will be unveiling customizable mod tools for Stalker 2, empowering fans to craft their own modifications suitable for both PC and console platforms.
Moreover, the group is currently refining their version of the Stalker Trilogy’s remake, set to launch this month with upgraded graphics and Steam Workshop compatibility.
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2025-05-15 12:41