Summary
GSC Game World has released the massive 1.3 update forSTALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl, bringing “over 1200 changes and improvements to all aspects of the game.” This newSTALKER 2update continues to smooth out the experience for players of the successful survival game.
A game 15 years in the making,STALKER 2was a big hit for GSC Game World, releasing at the tail-end of 2024 to critical and commercial success. It only took two days for it to sell one million copies, achieving profitability for the studio in less than a month. In early March 2025,STALKER 2hit six million playersin total, checking off another major milestone. Despite the success, GSC Game World has continued to update and improve the game, showing that the developer isn’t resting on its laurels.
The patch notes forSTALKER 2’s latest 1.3 update were published onSteam, with GSC Game World confirming over 1200 changes and fixes have been applied in this latest update. Some key changes have been made to AI and combat, with mutants' movement now much smoother. Many balance changes have been made, withSTALKER 2’s A-Lifeencounters now being “a bit more rare on average.” Almost 100 crashes have been fixed, which should go a long way to fixing the general stability ofSTALKER 2.
That’s not all, either. A bunch of fixes have been deployed acrossSTALKER 2’s side and main quests, mainly to stop players from becoming stuck during their playthroughs. To top it all off, there are plenty of generic technical fixes, including improved facial animations across the board. Not to mention the addition of “multiple new death screens that vary based on the cause of the death.”
Alongside general patches, there should be plenty more to come fromSTALKER 2this year. GSC Game World has recentlypromised more accessible mod support forSTALKER 2in the future, which should come as great news to PC players of the game. A multiplayer mode is also planned down the road, which, according to the game’s Steam page, “will be added after release as a free update.” A release date forSTALKER 2’s multiplayer has not yet been given, but it’s still something for fans to look forward to.
STALKER 2 Update 1.3 Patch Notes
Due to the size of the March 18 STALKER 2 1.3 patch notes, only the highlights posted on Steam are available below. For the full list of patch notes, head to the officialSTALKER 2 website.
Also, almost 100 crashes and EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION errors were fixed.
