Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl's first patch is here, featuring over 650 fixes

A little over week afterStalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl's launch, developerGSC Game Worldis back with the post-apocalyptic shooter's first patch, promising over 650 fixes for Xbox and PC.

Stalker 2 received a solid critical reception last week, but rare was the review that didn't acknowledge its significant technical issues. "There are many instances where that bugginess still affects quests, gets you killed, or leaves you befuddled," we noted inour three star review, "and it all hurts the game's natural playability quite badly, even if it is often funny."

GSC Game Worldmoved quickly to acknowledged concerns, however, promising a first batch of fixes was on the way. And thatinitial patch is now here, bringing "over 650 fixes, including quest blockers, memory leaks, crashes, and minor bugs."

There are AI improvements, "approximately 100" crash fixes, audio and sound adjustments, balance changes, as well as a whole sweep of tweaks intended to enhance everything from combat and the open-world experience to character models and cutscenes. GSC's release notes are pretty lengthy, but you'll find the full breakdown below.

Concluding its Patch 1.0.1 announcement, the studio thanked fans for their "feedback, passion, and support", adding that "work on the game and future patches" continues. It also noted it's already tackling A-Life bugs, with those fixes coming at a later date.

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl has, of course, got off to an impressive start despite its technical issues. Earlier this week, GSC Game World revealed the shooter hasalready sold 1m copies- and that figure doesn't including all those players exploring The Zone via Game Pass.

And finally, as promised, those Patch 1.0.1 release notes in full:

AI fixes:

And other, more than 20 different issues with AI.

Optimization fixes:

Also, we fixed approximately 100 different crashes, including potential memory leaks and EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION issues.

Audio & Sound fixes:

And 7 other minor audio & sound bugs.

Balance adjustments:

Some additional minor bugfixes.

Combat Balance:

Gamepad Input:

Characters:

Cutscenes:

Game Settings & Menus:

And 10 more minor issues.

Interactable Objects:

And more minor bugs.

Main and Side Missions:

And approximately 120 other issues within the main line, side missions, and encounters.

Open World Experience:

And approximately 50 other issues were fixed.

Player Guidance, Gear, and Weapons:

And approximately 50 minor "anomalies".

Voiceover and Facial Animations:

And a couple more things are fixed.

World:

And approximately 50 more bugs.