S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl - A technical success... or almost?

Reaching 1 million copies sold is a milestone that cannot be ignored, especially for a title as highly anticipated as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl. This achievement, driven by Game Pass, brought even more players to explore the iconic Exclusion Zone. But not everything is radioactive flowers around here.

Technical issues? Of course. The Unreal Engine 5 brought stunning visuals, but also demanded a lot from the hardware, resulting in constant performance drops and reports of memory leaks. In addition, the gameplay suffers from flaws in both mouse and controller usage. So far, the Ukrainian studio GSC Game World continues to release updates to mitigate these issues.

If detailed graphics are a victory, the overall game performance resembles more of a battle. Still, the studio promises more news. The anticipated multiplayer mode will be made available as a free update, expanding the experience for players.

The reception, despite the problems, shows that fans are willing to face the Zone with all its complexities. In an official statement, the studio thanked for the support:

"No wonder the Zone feels a bit crowded. A million copies were sold, and many more hunters joined the artifact hunt with Game Pass."

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 may have stumbled technically, but its commercial success already secures its place on players' radar.

 The question remains: will the next patch be as impactful as the Unreal Engine 5 graphics?