Stalker 2 is rising out of its grave and coming out in 2021. Seemingly out of nowhere, a website appeared with the game’s title, an email, and “2.0.2.1.” confirming the game’s existence and projected release date.
Developer GSC Game World’s Owner Sergiy Grygorovych posted a link to the website on his Facebook page. It’s also now listed on Ukrainian developer’s official website, validating Grygorovych’s post. Besides the logo and release year, nothing else was shown.
Anything new in the Stalker universe needs a bit more proof than most games, especially considering the franchise’s history with fraudulent developers. In 2014, West Games formed and claimed to be made up of ex-Stalker developers in order to fund their new game on Kickstarter. It turned out to be an elaborate lie but GSC Game World did not file any lawsuits.
If you blocked Stalker 2 from your mind, there’s a good reason. The game was canceled in 2012 after the developer could not make the game fast enough and secure proper funding. GSC Game World stopped developing the title when they dissolved in 2012. However, the studio reopened in 2014 but had stayed relatively quiet about Stalker 2 since. Although recently the company has been tweeting about the Stalker franchise quite frequently in the over the past year.
Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl, the first game in the series, was a cult PC hit when it originally came out in 2007. It spawned two follow-ups, Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat, before the numbered sequel was announced in 2010. Stalker 2 was originally supposed to come out in 2012 on their own custom engine. After GSC Game World crumbled, the game did as well.
Some former employees from GSC Game World opened Vostok Games and started development on Survarium, a spiritual successor to Stalker. Survarium is a free-to-play game on Steam Early Access with similar first-person shooter mechanics set in a harsh world. Although nothing has been said about this iteration of Stalker 2, it’ll probably have similar survival first-person shooter gameplay.
