STALKER 2’s latest free update restores major A-life AI features to NPCs — making them more like the original game at last

Heart of Chornobyl” has recently been updated with a significant patch labeled as Version 1.5.

Similar to Patch 1.4, our next update, Patch 1.5, is focused on enhancing the intelligence and lives of all NPCs and adversaries. It also incorporates user-friendly changes, balance adjustments, bug corrections, introduces new equipment to discover, new foes to vanquish, and more exciting features.

This update aims to enhance AI for all Non-Player Characters (NPCs) by ensuring they behave as if they are always simulated, whether or not they are within the player’s sight.

In this scenario, NPCs will emulate their behavior from STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl (recently enhanced alongside the entire original Stalker series), enabling them to carry on with their existence in a more authentic manner beyond mere quest involvement or interaction with the player, enriching the game world.

Due to the extensive nature of the patch notes for Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl’s Patch 1.5, we’ve compiled a summary of its main updates instead of listing all of them here (you can review the complete list on the game’s official website). Here are the key changes highlighted from the Steam page for your convenience.

Be warned, some of these patch notes will contain story spoilers.

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Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl Patch 1.5 notes

Highlights

A-Life changes
- Life in the Zone is now simulated for all characters, not just those in the player’s view.
- Characters continue to live their lives and pursue their goals in the Zone until they meet their end.
- The player can meet the same stalkers after some time.
- Players may encounter more A-Life characters resting or interacting in various locations, adding to the world’s immersion.
- Characters will no longer respawn directly in front of the player. When the player clears the mutants’ lair, for example, those mutants won’t simply reappear moments later.
- A-Life Director will no longer respawn characters at the edge of visualization. Instead, respawn moved further away from the player, while maintaining the Zone’s population.
- Visualization range is slightly increased. Characters now appear in visualization range with relevant animations and equipped weapons. This reduces the “pop-in” effect and contributes to a more seamless character visualization.
Added new anomaly: Water Electric Tornado.
Added Three-Line Rifle weapon.
Added new handgun Kora.
Added the new feature: looting of mutant parts.
Added displaying of available artifact slots for armors in the Upgrade tab.
The player stash window is increased in size.
Fixed an issue when the “Take all” button becomes inactive after putting any item to the loot window.
Added unlockable “Fix all” button in the technician’s upgrade menu, to repair all equipped gear.
Added reload renewal feature for all of the weapons.

WARNING

If you’ve encountered performance or stability problems after updating to Patch 1.5, it would be wise to temporarily deactivate your mods. Persisting issues? Head over to for more troubleshooting tips and support.

If you face performance or stability issues after updating to Patch 1.5, try turning off your mods first. If problems persist, visit our support page at https://support.stalker2.com/hc for further help.

AI and Combat

Fixed an issue when Snork was unable to jump off from some isolated areas.
Fixed an issue when Controller was able to deal damage by his roar ability out of his line of sight, through the objects and walls.
Fixed an issue when Pseudogiant was able to stuck at short distances from the player.
Fixed an issue when Rodents kept making sounds after death.
Added ballistic falloff on the long distances for NPC`s so they won’t be able to hit players while too far away.
Improved mutants’ attacking behavior when Player is standing still.
Fixed issue where Сhimera jump attack deals damage before reaching Player.
Fixed issue where Burer could be killed while its shield was active if you were close.
Fixed issue when NPCs take exposed cover while fighting with each other.
Fixed issue where NPCs could walk in place in peaceful hubs.

Balance

Fixed generic issue where Mission NPC could have overpowered items in inventory.
Reworked ammo for machine guns and sniper rifles:
- replaced 762×39 MM ammo with 762×54 MM ammo;
- Sniper rifles (SVDM-2, SVU-MK S-3 and M701 Super) now don’t use light steel core ammo, without weapon upgrade — only super-sonic and armor piercing ammo;
- PKP machine guns, Mark I EMR and Three-Line Rifle can use light steel core ammo by default;
- supersonic ammo now deals way less damage to weapon durability, making it more useful.
Increased armor penetration for Grom S15 weapon, increased armor penetration and damage modifiers for AS Lavina weapon.
Reworked damage of Cavalier unique weapon.
Artifacts’ effects rebalance:
- Horn: decreased chemical and radio protection;
- Rosin: replaced “weight: weak” effect with “endurance: weak”;
- Shell: replaced “radiation: weak” effect with “endurance: weak”;
Fixed an issue where price for a common artifact was higher than repeatable quest reward for it.
Implemented new artifact effect: Durability, that will increase durability of equipped gear.
Reworked and replaced 7.62 ammo across the map.

Bug Fixes, Crashes, and Performance

Fixed a noticeable performance drop when entering Generators region from Dead Valley location.
Fixed an issue that caused the inventory menu to remain open after the Controller used Psy Strike on the player.
Fixed an issue that caused sound and input loss after quick resume on Xbox platform.
Fixed an issue when the game becomes unresponsive when loading save, made in certain points of Prypiat, during The Road to the Foundation mission.
Fixed an issue when Player get permanent and consistent negative effects from uncharged Weird Bolt.
Fixed an issue which caused the ammo counter to appear when picking up ammo.
Fixed an issue where the player could get the achievement for clearing a lair without raising an alarm by only performing one kill.
Fixed incorrect description for ‘Overall quality’ and ‘Mouse aim sensitivity’ options in settings menu.
Fixed an issue where stamina drain effect was stuck after loading save made in shallow water.
Fixed an issue where Player was able to get permanent effect and damage from anomaly after loading save made inside that anomaly.
Fixed performance drops on collision with psy phantoms.
Fixed an issue where Forced Mono audio setting did not affect music.
Fixed an issue that caused the vertical field of view to appear reduced when using ultrawide aspect ratios.
Fixed an issue where the Vortex anomaly icon was shown as Poppy Field on the map.
Fixed an issue which caused the Drop function to not work while looting.
Fixed an issue when two Main missions could be tracked simultaneously.
Fixed an issue when trees and bushes could appear right in front of the player.
Fixed an issue when the sound of weapon reloading is not played from NPCs in cover.
Fixed a crash when drinking vodka.
Fixed an issue when enemy quest markers were remaining at the NPCs after they were killed.
Improved performance at locations with lots of dialogues pending (e.g. large hubs like Rostok).
Fixed an issue when the Equipment Tab was becoming unresponsive after looting, putting items in stash or corpse.
Fixed placeholder texts in upgrade tabs.
Fixed crash on Xbox Series S that could occur after approaching Chemical Plant location.
Optimized skeletal meshes for stashes and some interactable objects.
Fixed an issue with performance degradation when multiple NPCs attempt to open doors simultaneously.
Fixed severe FPS drops while looking at interactive objects and NPCs at close interact range.
Fixed different crashes.

Main & Side Quests, Open World Encounters

Fixed an issue when Korshunov was sliding inside the elevator during The Last Step mission.
Fixed an issue when Powerplug was missing at Rostok when players needed to get the Control Emitter during the Dawn of a New Day mission.
Fixed an issue when Scar was leaving the arena and starting to fight with Monolithians if they were not killed during the previous quest objective of The Last Step mission.
Fixed an issue when Ward’s reputation became negative after the start of the Assault on the Duga mission for the Ward side.
Fixed an issue when the Player was able to get reward for A Matter of Honor mission twice.
Fixed an issue that allowed Gray’s Last Hunt mission to be accepted again after completion.
Adjusted several minor NPC voiceovers.
Fixed an issue when the elevator door at the top of X-3 lab was closed and blocking further progression during the Legends of the Zone mission.
Fixed an issue when elevator door to X-17 was closed and blocking further progress during the Visions of Truth mission.
Fixed an issue when Player was able to stuck behind the Sidorovich bunker door at the end of the combat.
Fixed NPC relations inconsistencies between encounter and mainline missions.
Fixed an issue where the main entrance door to Malachite was locked after the Dangerous Liaisons mission.
Fixed an issue where objective “Fight off Monolith attack” could remain incomplete during The Road To The Foundation mission.
Fixed an issue where Col. Korshunov could be killed during the Dangerous Liaisons mission.
Fixed an issue where players could get stuck inside Troposphere Comm Station at the end of Dangerous Liaisons mission.
Fixed an issue which caused the Ward squad to get stuck during The Assault On The Duga mission.
Fixed an issue where several objectives could remain active after failing the The Sound Of Music mission.
Fixed an issue where the Black Sheep mission could remain active in the journal under certain circumstances.
Fixed an issue where The Sound Of Music mission could not be completed under certain circumstances.
Fixed an issue where A Job For Sidorovich repeatable mission was able to get stuck uncompleted.
Fixed an issue where Player was able to get stuck in the dialogue with Sultan during The Mysterious Case mission.
Fixed an issue where elevator doors to Dalin’s apartment were blocked during A Long Overdue Visit mission.
Fixed an issue when player can be locked inside the Zalissya’s Clubhouse during the On The Edge mission.
Fixed an issue when the door leading to the Granite squad arena could close in front of the player during the The Last Step mission.
Fixed an issue when the player character could be killed by emission during the Escape From The Cage mission.
Fixed an issue with missing Sgt. Metlov during the Back To The Slag Heap mission.
Fixed an issue where the Dark Times mission could not progress after the death of Jarl.

Mod Support

Mold the Zone according to your preferences using the Stalker 2 Zone Creation Tool! Show off your inventive spirit by customizing existing elements or crafting something entirely new – from animations and weapons, to mechanics and unique Zone wonders. The time has come for official mod support, so join the community in creating fresh content, and apply modifications developed by fellow players. Access these modifications on Steam Workshop and Mod.io, and if you’re ready to try your hand at crafting, download the Zone Kit from: https://store.epicgames.com/uk/p/stalker-2-zone-kit

Other Updates

Improved pathing for NPCs.
Improved NPC cigarette smoking animation.
Added possibility to speed up credits scrolling for PC and XBOX.
Improved distant and indoors gunshots sounds.
Improved HUD appearance for changing ammo functionality.
Enhanced inventory sorting and scrolling on loot windows.
Enhanced weapon attachments descriptions.
Adjusted sound volume for medkit usage.
Added support of 21:9 and 32:9 Aspect Ratio.
Added an “Auto Detect” button to the graphics settings to adjust graphics presets according to our recommendations for players hardware.
Rework Ukrainian lip-sync.

GSC Game World continues to refine this long-awaited title to help reach its full potential

For quite some time now, fans have expressed their desire for the AI behavior of friendly NPCs and enemies in this new game to mimic that seen in the original STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl. This preference was voiced even before the A-Life system started getting refined, which began around Patch 1.2 release.

In earlier versions of Stalker 2, there were problems with the artificial intelligence (AI) for non-player characters (NPCs) and enemies. This resulted in strange behaviors from the characters, random disappearance of NPCs and enemies, frequent spawning of NPCs and enemies near the player, among other issues.

Regardless, Stalker 2 managed to garner numerous favorable critiques (even securing a 4/5 commendation from our team at Windows Central), and has persistently received updates aimed at rectifying the technical issues that were present at its debut.

It’s anticipated that with the release of Patch 1.5, the revamped AI for non-player characters (NPCs) and opponents in Stalker 2 will exceed fans’ expectations, providing a more captivating experience as they explore the ravaged yet breathtaking setting.

You can buy STALKER 2 on the Xbox Series X|S consoles and PC via Windows or Steam. Additionally, it’s included in the Xbox Game Pass library, which means subscribers of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate can enjoy playing it not only on Xbox and PC but also on Xbox Cloud Gaming.

2025-06-25 16:41