Summary
A new report indicates thatSTALKER 2: Heart of Chornobylwas so popular in Ukraine that it caused some internet outages for a few hours.STALKER 2is one of the biggest games to be made by a Ukrainian developer in years, so it’s understandable that it would attract a lot of attention in the country.
STALKER 2was originally announced by GSC Game World back in 2010, but eventually canceled. The project restarted in 2018, and the popular FPS was finally released on Jun 10, 2025. Despite being available on services such as Xbox Game Pass Ultimate,STALKER 2sold over 1.4 million copies on Steamin only four days, and was considered a massive hit.
However, it seems thatSTALKER 2’s success caused internet outages in Ukraine, affecting several cities for five or six hours during the day when the game was released. These issues seemingly varied in severity, with multiple people having major problems with network stability and internet connection speed during the event.According to ITC, reports from two local internet providers, Tenet and Triolan, confirmed that the problem was caused by the enormous number of people downloading the popular FPS simultaneously. Speaking toEurogamer, GSC Game World’s creative director Mariia Gryogorovych acknowledged the situation, saying that it was hard to see the country having internet issues during such a difficult time, but was also impressed with the launch.
STALKER 2’s Release Caused Internet Outages in Ukraine
WhileSTALKER 2had a huge launch, it’s also likely that the ongoing war with Russia made the problems worse. Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the country has been struggling to keep its infrastructure working due to damage caused by the conflict. This is not the only time that the war with Russia affected the game, though. Last week, reports alleged thatSTALKER 2was being review bombedby Russians paid to tarnish the game’s image.
In general, however,STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobylhas had positive reviews, and it currently stands with a 74 score on OpenCritic. While most critics like the game, there’s also a consensus that it’s fairly bugged and that some systems are not working well.
Among the most noteworthy bugged features inSTALKER 2is the A-Life 2.0 system, which simulates more lifelike NPCs. Recently,STALKER 2developers revealed why A-Life is not working, explaining that some sacrifices had to be made to optimize the game, and A-Life was too demanding on performance.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Chornobyl Exclusion Zone has changed dramatically after the second massive explosion in year 2006. Violent mutants, deadly anomalies, warring factions have made the Zone a very tough place to survive. Nevertheless, artifacts of unbelievable value attracted many people called S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s, who entered the Zone for their own risk striving to make a fortune out of it or even to find the Truth concealed in the Heart of Chornobyl.EPIC NONLINEAR STORY IN SEAMLESS OPEN WORLDTake over a role of the lone stalker and explore photorealistic seamless open world in a 64-km² radioactive zone with a variety of environments that reveal post-apocalyptic atmosphere from different angles. Make your way through the Zone to define your destiny as you choose your paths within highly branching epic story.VARIETY OF ENEMIES AND HUNDREDS OF WEAPON COMBINATIONSMeet members of different factions deciding who of them worth your friendship and who deserve a bullet. Engage intense gunfights with a variety of enemies that follow different tactics trying to outsmart you. Choose your preferable firearms from 30+ types of weapons with numerous modifications that allow creating hundreds of distinctive lethal combinations.
