The world is anxiously anticipating the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl. Earlier this year, Ukrainian developers GSC Game World paused production on the game due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, in order “to help our employees and their families to survive”.
It’s claimed that the title is still targeting a 2023 release, but obviously it’d be very understandable if this ended up being pushed back further - fans have been very supportive of the studio and truly want the best for its employees. In case you were planning on replaying one of the classic titles while you wait for the new one, though, you might want to take a look at this stunning fan remaster first.
Before we get into it, take a look at the trailer for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl below.
This mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl comes courtesy of Andrey0007 via Mod DB, and aims to rebuild the 2007 game into something absolutely beautiful. Visually, it’s been improved massively, but it doesn’t seem that this is all the mod changes. According to the modder, they also plan to “remove some inconsistencies” in the plot and “make changes to the voice acting”, so it sounds like a pretty huge overhaul.
S T A L K E R Shadow of Chernobyl Rebuild - Mod DB
What’s more, it's coming very soon - a texture pack is currently planned to release on 25 December, so be sure to put that one in your calendar. It sounds like other changes could be added in the future with the help of other modders, so we'll just have to stay tuned for those.
If you’re interested, you can take a look at the modder’s page here to peek at their work-in-progress screenshots. They’ve been working on this remaster since 2019, so it’s been a long time coming - hopefully it’ll be worth the wait.