A long and tedious road.
The hostile and treacherous Zone.
Unbelievable treasures that might cost you everything.
A blood trial, separating your old life from a new one...

The unique combination of first-person shooter, immersive sim, and horror is back. With unprecedented scale, advanced graphics, freedom of choices, and the thickest atmosphere of a deadly adventure, it’s going to be the ultimate S.T.A.L.K.E.R. experience.

Welcome to The Zone — an area of exclusion around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, a seamless open-world environment full of radiation, mutants and anomalies, it keeps drawing adventurers from beyond the perimeter.

Through everything, the Zone found her own way to bloom and thrive. Luring seekers from all over, gifting with wonders protected by the unknown, desolation, and human sins.

Bounty hunters dwell deep into the Zone, driven by its treasures and mysteries. These people are known as stalkers.

Are you ready to become one of them?

GSC Game World is pleased to announce that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Cost of Hope, the first major expansion for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, is coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Cloud Gaming, PC, and PlayStation 5 in Summer 2026.

Step into a fresh expedition across the Zone — a massive nonlinear expansion packed with dozens of hours of gameplay. Expect haunting stories, twisted characters, and that same heavy atmosphere of decay… with just a flicker of hope breaking through.

It’s time to step into a new chapter of a well-known conflict. 

Duty, one of the oldest factions, sees the Zone as a threat that must be contained and destroyed. On the other side, Freedom believes it’s a gift — something to explore and harness for the greater good. For a time, this tension was held together by a fragile peace. But deals like that rarely last.

In Cost of Hope, players once again take on the role of Skif, the protagonist of the core game, as he navigates events unfolding alongside Heart of Chornobyl. After installing the DLC, a signal on the PDA will trigger the new storyline as the game unfolds. As always, your choices shape what happens next — and the consequences could affect not just the Zone, but far beyond it.

Cost of Hope introduces two new regions to explore. Navigate the iconic Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, once abandoned and locked away for decades, now calling stalkers back in. Traverse the Iron Forest’s maze-like paths and uncover uncharted locations along the way. Each region features its own hub, quests, and activities. New weapons and gear give Skif a fighting chance against mutants, anomalies, and other dangers that are lurking.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 expansions will be released in installments, with Cost of Hope serving as the middle chapter of the “second trilogy.” Together with a future story DLC — details of which will be revealed later — it will form a new, expansive narrative arc within the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. saga. More information on the Summer 2026 release will be shared soon.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl will feature a branching story with multiple endings. Players will have to constantly make uneasy choices with tough consequences — some of them changing the world itself.

The unique simulation system called A-Life from the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. trilogy is getting on a new level with A-Life 2.0. With different behavior of characters and mutants, the Zone changes constantly. Every playthrough will be unique with lots of things happening every moment, even if the player doesn’t witness them directly.

Since the very start of Russia's full-fledged war against our country, GSC Game World has been supporting Ukraine in all the ways possible. For those willing to do the same, we recommend following this link to the official charity fund of Mr. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine himself.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is available for PS5, PC and Xbox Series X|S.