S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Goes Gold Ahead of November 20 Launch With Final PC Specs

Ukrainian developer GSC Game World has officially announced that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl has gone gold, confirming that master code development is complete and discs are pressing ahead of its global release on November 20, 2024.

The achievement marks a triumphant and deeply emotional milestone for the Kyiv-founded studio. Production on the Unreal Engine 5.1 open-world survival shooter endured extraordinary adversity, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, partial studio relocations to Prague, cyberattacks, and office server fires, as chronicled by Eurogamer.

Alongside the gold announcement, GSC Game World published comprehensive final PC hardware specifications across four distinct performance tiers, confirming an extensive 160 GB SSD footprint, detailed by PC Gamer and IGN, and on the game's official portal.

Four-Tier PC System Requirements and Upscaling Tech

The finalized specifications scale across four targeted gameplay resolutions, requiring 64-bit Windows 10/11 and mandating a high-speed solid-state drive (SSD) across every configuration:

• Low Preset (1080p / 30 FPS): AMD Ryzen 5 1600X or Intel Core i7-7700K; 16 GB dual-channel RAM; AMD Radeon RX 580 (8 GB), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB), or Intel Arc A750; 160 GB SSD.
• Medium Preset (1080p / 60 FPS): AMD Ryzen 7 3700X or Intel Core i7-9700K; 16 GB dual-channel RAM; AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super, or RTX 4060; 160 GB SSD.
• High / Recommended Preset (1440p / 60 FPS): AMD Ryzen 7 5800X or Intel Core i7-11700; 32 GB dual-channel RAM; AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, or RTX 4070; 160 GB SSD.
• Epic Preset (2160p 4K / 60+ FPS): AMD Ryzen 7 7700X or Intel Core i7-13700KF; 32 GB dual-channel RAM; AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080; 160 GB SSD.

GSC Game World confirmed that internal performance benchmarks were established utilizing modern temporal upscaling algorithms, including NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR, Intel XeSS, and Unreal Engine's TSR, providing PC enthusiasts with broad flexibility to balance visual fidelity with smooth frame pacing in the harsh Chornobyl Exclusion Zone.

Perseverance in the Zone and Day-One Game Pass

The journey to release completes a sixteen-year odyssey following the 2009 release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat. In addition to PC releases across Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 launches day-and-date on Xbox Series X|S as a console launch exclusive and will be available on day one to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Franchise Development Timeline

• March 20, 2007GSC Game World releases S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl for PC.
• October 2, 2009S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat debuts as the third original entry.
• May 15, 2018GSC officially restarts development on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 on Unreal Engine.
• February 2022Russian invasion forces wartime relocation of studio operations from Kyiv to Prague.
• November 8, 2024GSC confirms the game has gone gold and publishes final 160 GB SSD PC requirements.
• November 20, 2024S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl launches worldwide on PC and Xbox Series X|S.
• November 14, 2026The title stands as a landmark achievement in modern Ukrainian game development.

Sources & Reporting Credits

Reporting verified from GSC Game World Official, PC Gamer, IGN, and Eurogamer.

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