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GSC Game World has announced that its next paid story expansion for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 will arrive on August 20th along with a major technical engine upgrade. The passion and commitment of the developers behind S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2: Heart of Chernobyl are the stuff of legends, probably worthy of a movie or at least a documentary, and roughly two years after its release, they are launching a paid expansion in the form of Cost of Hope.

“Skif will have to choose between the two beliefs of Freedom and Duty and try to discover for himself what is hidden at the center of the Zone, which until now has been closed to all stalkers.”

– GSC Game World

“Discover twisted stories of Duty and Freedom, explore previously forbidden lands of Iron Forest and CNPP, and face the intrigue of powers far greater than any lone stalker.”

– GSC Game World

GSC Gameworld says that Cost of Hope’s story focuses on the conflict between two Duty and Freedom factions who each see a different end goal for The Zone. The developers have an extensive overview, shy of being a short novel, which can be found here. Meanwhile, it’s also been reported that they have been hard at work for over a year now to update the game engine from Unreal Engine 5.1 to 5.5.4. This massive undertaking is expected to provide numerous performance improvements and technical upgrades. This free upgrade, said to be called Patch 2.0, has yet to be officially announced but is expected to launch alongside the upcoming DLC on August 20. The following is from GSC Game World, from last August, via PC Gamer.

“This will bring new features and tools to make the Zone an even better place, but more importantly—bringing the latest Unreal Engine 5 optimizations will lead to better stability and performance.”

– GSC Game World

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