From fleeing Kyiv bombings and supporting colleagues on the front, the game’s developers have endured the shadow of war

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl has sold an amazing one million plus copies despite being out for fewer than three days. That’s one heck of an accomplishment, considering it’s been fifteen years since the last game in the series game came out and Ukrainian developer GSC Game World is rightly pleased.

Not that a lot of post-apocalyptic first-person shooters are, but STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is especially not for the faint of heart. It’s built to generate the kind of friction that goes a long way in creating a challenging and punishing game that’s also captivating.

Ahead of its release, Digital Trends received a PC copy of Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl that was plagued with more technical issues than we typically see in a review build this close to launch. I personally hopped into the Xbox build once our critic started raising red flags and was instantly met with bugs within my first 20 minutes.