The years of waiting are finally coming to an end for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fans, as GSC Game World has announced that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl has gone gold, meaning that it will hit its November 20 release date for for the Xbox Series, Xbox Game Pass, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. The announcement was accompanied by a short little trailer celebrating the milestone.
Along with finally announcing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 going gold,GSC Game World also released another trailer (courtesy of IGN) titled “Smoking Barrels,” detailing the weapons at your disposal in The Zone, as well as delving into their maintenance, upgrades, and attachments.
For those not aware of game development lingo, “going gold” means that the final development build has been burned to the gold master disc, and has been submitted to the publisher. Discs can then be pressed from the gold master, while digital storefronts can upload the 1.0 version of the game in time for its release day.
The fourth entry in the cult favourite series that began back in 2007, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl continues the series’ combination of first-person shooter, immersive sim, and horror. The Chornobyl Exclusion Zone has changed dramatically after the second massive explosion in 2006. Violent mutants, deadly anomalies, and warring factions have made the Zone a very tough place to survive. Nevertheless, artefacts of unbelievable value attracted many people called S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s, who have entered the Zone at their own risk striving to make a fortune out of it, or even to find the truth in the heart of Chornobyl.