GSC Game World has released Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl Update 1.5, and the major June 2025 update improved A-Life features, added new quirks, and made more changes to the game. Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl was announced in 2010 and released in November 2024 as a first-person horror action game. The release of Stalker 2 brought much anticipation to players, even making parts of Ukraine's internet go offline for some time. Since then, GSC Game World has continued to update the game. In May 2025, they released a patch that primarily revamped mutant movement and AI combat. Shortly after that, the developers began teasing what would be included in Stalker 2's Update 1.5, which is now fully available.
For the Update 1.5 release of the scary and daring game Stalker 2, there have been major improvement steps for A-Life systems, adding depth to the simulation. The ZONE feels more alive with activities. NPCs autonomously perform tasks away from players, as previously mentioned, being able to be in distant places over time doing their daily routines and interacting with each other sometimes as opposed to standing still waiting for a player nearby for triggers. A LOT changed.
In Stalker 2, you observe character models engage in animated rest or conversation throughout the world. The way foes respawn has improved; they no longer respawn too close to the player. Improved visibility helps reduce pop-in, which improves realism and allows for proper scripted appearances. The Stalker 2 update adds new content like the Water Electric Tornado, Three-Line Rifle, and Kora handgun remastered. Players can now scavenge parts from mutant enemies, which adds additional reward incentive for exploration and combat. Other updates include more expandable player inventory space, clearer labeled slots for armor upgrade nominations, and a new "Fix all" button for restoring gear that streamlines repair processes. Gun reload animations have also improved across the board.
Changes made to Stalker 2's AI systems, along with combat encounters, featured heavy refinement so that balance feels fresher than before. Greater behavioral compliance has been added to Snork, Controller, and Pseudogiant mutants. NPC long-range shots have been reduced due to redesigns of projectile physics. Changing NPC covering behavior further away from engaging polygonal models improves realism alongside fixed issues where creatures attack through solid surfaces or make noise postmortem. Also, the game's weapon balance is now better, with changes to bullet types and armor damage, plus artifacts have new effects.
The June update for Stalker 2 also adds a lot of fixes for performance and makes the game more stable. Crashes from missions, certain places, or when using Xbox Quick Resume have been fixed. Now, the frame rate is better in busy spots and in story scenes. Other new things are support for ultrawide screens, better sorting of items, new sound hints, and a new "Auto Detect" choice in the graphics menu, making the game run smoother and easier to use on all systems.