GamesFPSStalker 2Stalker 2 revives A-Life with a mondo-huge 110 GB Christmas patch that marks the game’s first major updateWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesFPSStalker 2Stalker 2 revives A-Life with a mondo-huge 110 GB Christmas patch that marks the game’s first major updateWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: GSC Game World)
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and the Christmas gift he’s delivering is “the first major patch for Stalker 2.” Patch 1.1 is out now, and its bulging, anomalous sack is full of over 1,800 fixes for AI, game balance, crashes and, most importantly, the first pokes at the game’sbusted A-Life simulation systems.
The bad news is that, in inimitable GSC Game World fashion, the full patch comes in at 110 GB, so you might actually be waiting until Christmas Day for the whole thing to squeeze itself down your net pipes.
It looks like it’ll be worth it though. If you’re not up to date, Stalker 2’s A-Life system has been iffy ever since the game out a month ago. In previous Stalker games, A-Life was the thing responsible for making The Zone feel actuallyalive: Full of weird goings-on and little dramas that the games' systems spawn in and play out completely separate from you as a player.
GSC didn’t quite get the whole thing working in UE5 for Stalker 2’s release, though, leading to players wondering if it had been yanked entirely.
Luckily, it was just delayed. PerStalker 2’s 1.1 patch notesGSC has “Fixed the aggressive optimization issue that prevented A-Life NPCs to exist in Offline (out of player’s visualization range).”
On top of that, NPCs should now be more keen to “expand territory and actively attack enemies and mutants,” and you should encounter more—and more varied—people as you travel around The Zone. That last one is most noticeable for me, to be honest. The Zone still felt pretty alive when I played Stalker 2 before this patch, but Ididnotice that I hardly ever ran across factions like Duty and Freedom in my adventures.
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Stalker 2 patch 1.1 notes
A-Life Fixes
AI Improvements
Balance Adjustments
Crash fixes, performance, and optimisation
Cutscenes
Interactable Objects
Main Line Missions and Story Progression
Side Missions and Open World Encounters
Open World Direction, Exploration, and Zone Experience
Player Gear and Player State adjustments
Player Guidance, Game Setting and Menus
Achievements
Saves
Other improvements
And over 500 fixes for
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