After perhaps the most heartbreaking game development saga of all time, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl finally went gold ahead of its November 20 release.
Developer GSC Game World announced the news today via social media, with a short trailer featuring some clips of the FPS culminating in the message “GONEGOLD.” The term “gone gold” dates back to the days when physical media was supreme and essentially means that the game code is final and ready for release. There's no doubt that a day one patch will be in the works for Stalker 2, but this announcement means that the game is officially ready for release.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl – Gone Gold – YouTube
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It's been a long saga for Stalker 2. The game was first announced in 2010 for a 2012 release, but developer GSC Game World suddenly dissolved in 2011. The company was revived in 2014 and re-announced Stalker 2 in 2018, but it wasn't until 2021 that it revealed the game to the public as part of the Xbox showcase at E3 with a target date of April. January 28, 2022 release date. GSC Game World would end up delaying the game until December 2022.
GSC Game World is a Ukrainian studio and its employees were among the many affected when Russia invaded the country. Amid updates for fans from the front lines of the war, development of Stalker 2 has been put on hold. But development finally resumed, and Stalker 2 will finally launch in late 2023. Then early 2024. And then on September 5. And now, finally, November 20th.
Given the circumstances surrounding Stalker 2's numerous delays, there are few fans who will be upset about the time it took to bring this game to market, given that the developers had to survive a literal war to get here. Soon we will finally be able to see what all that work has been accumulating.
After playing three hours of Stalker 2 and dying in every way imaginable, I can't wait to recommend this post-apocalyptic shooter to (almost) every Fallout fan I know.