GSC Game World developers have recently brought to light the kind of news that the inhabitants of the Zone would probably talk about, though not quite the way they would have expected. The long-awaited ‘Stories Untold’ update for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl release was pushed back for a few days. It was another delay, indeed. They referred to ‘last-minute complications’ that, to be frank, are just part of the game development industry. The release date for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5 has been moved to December 18th. They apologized for the trouble caused and expressed confidence that it would be a pleasant surprise in the end. We have previously heard that, haven’t we?
Let us move on! For the ones who are only after the facts: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 ‘Stories Untold’, a free content update, has been delayed from its original date to December 18, 2024, because of development issues. The update release will still be simultaneous for all platforms.
Now, if you permit, back to the discussion. The player’s reaction is what we could call a mix- if you use the Zone proverb- bolts and sausages. From one side the circle of absolutely understanding and totally calm people is not small at all. User ‘Ren’ just said “No worries. Take your time!” and it was very nice. Another gamer, Jon Sauve, said that they “can’t get mad at a free update with a tiny delay that was very clearly communicated.” And that is a reasonable point! Free things are free things. Many of the other comments were simply reiterations of “take your time” or “let them cook,” so it seems the team still has a robust support base.
The opposite side of this coin is still to be seen, the side that has been gnawing at some bitter anomalies for a while. User JB went off on a detailed rant explaining the mounting irritation a bit. They talked about an ongoing Quick Resume problem on Xbox that has lasted more than a year since the launch and a lack of some key features from the previous titles, poor performance, and updates feeling “late and half-hearted.” Ouch! That is a heavy dose of reality. “the only question remaining is how much more we’re expected to swallow” was their final statement. That is not only a two-day slip but also a year’s worth of baggage.
As usual, the spicy responses didn’t take long to come. One commenter called the developers “clowns” and “embarrassing,” which, okay, not very nice. Another one, Lx Makaveli, said “It will be full of bugs I will wait another year,” which drew a sarcastic suggestion from Jeff Herk to wait for the PS6 enhanced edition. The drama! It’s like a small social anomaly happening right there in the comment section.
Some of the more interesting discussions were not about the delay itself but about why it might have happened. A few users, Bambucha and others, were talking in Ukrainian (which we have translated, of course) about how PlayStation might have unintentionally revealed the content drop prematurely with an unlisted YouTube video. One commenter said, “They spoiled the surprise.” So, perhaps the timeline was always a bit unstable because of that leak? Who knows. The developers did not respond to this, but the community detectives are always on the case.
And, of course, there are the pragmatic players. User Luis Soto wanted to know if they could start playing the new narrative from the beginning since they had already finished and were erasing the game. That is a reasonable question! Others took it as a good thing: “good, cause I needed time to finish Starfield dlc 😆” was the comment by Matt G. Also, Evil geek just dismissed it with “Lol still have a lot to do anyway, always in the Zone.” That is the spirit!
Some feature requests were sneaked in as well. Johnny Lightfoot complained that the compass-style radar was hard to see against the background and called the console inventory “absolutely terrible,” which led to a mini-thread agreeing that the mini-map should be reintroduced. Hence, even during a delay announcement, items on the wishlist keep coming.
So what have we learned? It is a slight delay for a free update. Looking at it overall, two days is practically nothing. But for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 it seems to be drawing from a larger reservoir of player patience that has been gradually getting empty. The game went through a rough launch and the support provided post-launch has been, let us say, slow. Some players are perfectly okay with waiting for the full product, even if it is free. Others just feel… worn out. They think that they have been swallowing disappointment for quite a while now.
