Stalker 2 developer GSC Game World has released the game’s first major update, patch 1.1.
The update makes over 1,800 fixes and adjustments, GSC said, including the first iteration of A-Life fixes.
Stalker 2 launched late last month to a positive reception on Steam and one million sales. It’s a success for the Ukrainian studio, a miracle, really, considering the harrowing circumstances that followed Russian’s full-scale invasion of the country in 2022. But Stalker 2 suffers from well-documented bugs; chief among them A-Life 2.0.
A-Life was a key feature of the first Stalker game that governed AI behavior across the game world. At a high level, it is a system for simulating life in the Zone that works its magic seemingly independently of the player’s actions or whereabouts. It helps to create convincing AI and the emergent gameplay Stalker is famous for.
GSC had said A-Life 2.0 would make the Zone feel alive as never before, that it would fuel emergent gameplay on a scale previously thought impossible. Indeed for some fans, A-Life 2.0 was Stalker 2’s biggest selling point. But when Stalker 2 actually came out players discovered that A-Life 2.0 didn’t work properly, with some questioning whether it was even in the game at all.
In an interview with IGN, GSC explained what went wrong with Stalker 2’s A-Life 2.0, and vowed to fix the system. Patch 1.1, then, is the first step on that road.
A-Life fixes added with patch 1.1 include the issue with spawning NPCs behind the player's back. Players can now encounter roaming NPCs across the Zone more often, and the distance at which A-Life NPCs are visible to the player is greatly extended.
Stalker 2 patch 1.1 A-Life fixes in full:
A-Life fixes
- Fixed the issue with spawning NPCs behind the player's back.
- Players can now encounter roaming NPCs across the Zone more often.
- Greatly extended the distance at which A-Life NPCs are visible to the player.
- Fixed the aggressive optimization issue that prevented A-Life NPCs to exist in Offline (out of player's visualization range).
- In Offline mode, A-Life will continue to advance towards their goals over time.
- Players may now have opportunities to encounter A-Life NPCs they've previously met by following in the same direction as the NPCs.
- Improved A-Life NPCs navigation in Offline using GameGraph (global AI navigation map):
- Fixed multiple issues where NPCs would fail to follow or find a path to their designated goals.
- Fixed several issues with NPC being stuck in Online-Offline transition state,
- Enhanced A-Life NPCs' motivation to expand territory and actively attack enemies and mutants.
- Fixed issues that could result in fewer A-life NPCs encountered than intended.
- Further contextual actions improvement to ensure seamless transitions between Offline and Online states for NPCs engaged in these actions.
- The groups exploring the Zone are now more diverse regarding possible factions and group sizes.
- Fixed issue that while roaming over the Zone, Human NPCs didn't satisfy their communication needs and talks.
And some other development related improvements.
Elsewhere, there’s a long list of AI improvements, balance changes, and loads of other fixes Stalker 2 fans will benefit from. This patch fixes mainline missions, story progression and side missions, crashes, and many, many bugs. It also improves performance and optimization. The patch notes, posted to Steam, are well worth checking out if you’re playing.
GSC warned that patch 1.1 is a massive download, so players should brace themselves for that. "We understand that the size of the patch is huge and the process of downloading will take some time," the developer said. "We would like to thank you for your understanding, and we will work on this aspect as well."
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
