The latest patch for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is out now, and as outlined in GSC Game World’s Q2 roadmap, it brings several changes and improvements to enemy NPCs. Mutants will now consume corpses (complete with a dedicated animation) and become alert if approached (and not necessarily by the player).
Humans are also more threatening than before. They’ll better utilize cover, hide before opening fire, and boast improved pathfinding for flanking. Their animations are also more fluid, and fighting them in close combat on higher difficulties will be more challenging.
Several balance changes have also been implemented, including high-ranking targets taking more damage from explosions, RPGs having increased concussion distance, and more. You should also find silencers in stashes and see random Anomalies regenerating and respawning more efficiently.
Check out some patch notes below and the list of 700+ fixes and improvements here. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is available for Xbox Series X/S and PC. There are currently no plans for a PS5 version.
Patch 1.4 Highlights
- Mutants can now use corpse-eating animation if there are dead bodies nearby.
- Mutants now have an “alert” state if something is happening near or approaching them.
- Improvements to human combat:
– Fixed numerous bugs and problems with cover usage for NPC. Now they can properly use available covers, always try to hide before shooting, and don’t rush forward when not needed.
– Characters use trees as cover.
– Updated combat and cover animations to look more fluent and fast.
– Improved flanking pathfinding and transition to close combat.
– Close combat has become tougher on Veteran and Stalker difficulties.
– Fixed issues in communication and actions synchronization between characters in the squad.
– Characters now communicate tactical actions and reactions more clearly in combat.
– Human characters throw grenades when they want to flush out the target, not on the cooldown.
– Squads now have a finite number of grenades, depending on their rank and faction (bandits have significantly less than military).
– Human characters are able to attack mutants in melee. They use kick melee attacks against smaller mutants.
– Human characters can kick players who are crouched.
– Human characters look around for a brief moment, searching for enemies after combat ends, then proceed to the post-combat activities like looting and healing wounded.
– Humans are no longer able to snipe with shotguns. Fixed problems with pellet dispersion and non-natural ballistic distances. - Increased number of generic heads for NPC randomization
- Burer can now use his telekinetic abilities to catch and throw grenades
- Improved Weapon stat displaying in the inventory. Updated weapon stats bars and their calculation logic.
- Added new weapon stat — handling.
AI and Combat
- Fixed erratic behavior of A-Life NPCs after attacking enemy lairs.
- Fixed an issue where A-Life NPC didn’t move after transitioning to offline.
- Improved mutant behavior during combat.
- Fixed an issue where a Flesh mutant was hiding to ambush the Player after they avoided a jump attack.
- Fixed an issue where a swarm of rat mutants were ignoring the Player after loading a save made near them.
- Improved path building for NPCs in offline to avoid them getting in restricted areas.
- Fixed an issue where an NPC was able to stay alive after falling in a wounded state underwater.
- Fixed an issue where mutants’ bodies were jumping/shaking/stretching after being killed by shotgun or grenade.
- Fixed an issue where patrolling NPCs could clip with each other.
- Blind Dogs are now playing peaceful barks when not in combat with Player.
- Fixed issues where NPCs were clipping or going through doors while in combat.
- Fixed an issue where mutants were able to get stuck searching for enemies after escaping combat during emission.
- Fixed an issue when NPCs could be stuck in ambush pose.
- Adjusted aim for the NPCs that are in low cover.
- Fixed an issue when the NPCs could stay idle after receiving critical damage.
- Adjusted shooting range of NPCs depending on their weapon.
- Adjusted shooting from cover for the NPCs.
Balance
- RPM-74: increased armor piercing value
- Explosions now cause more damage on high-ranking targets
- Increased RPG damage
- Decreased lethal distance for grenades
- Increased concussion distance for RPG
- Added some silencers into stashes.
- Added Khors the possibility to upgrade Zircon Suit.
- Fixed an issue where Player was able to install physical protection upgrades twice for PSZ-9I Falcon armor.
- Rebalanced stashes in Zaton region.
- Improved regeneration and spawn of random anomalies after emission.
Bug Fixes, Crashes, and Performance
- Made performance optimization of light and shadows in multiple regions and locations.
- Improved LODs for grass in multiple regions.
- Performance optimization for light garland at 100 Rads Bar.
- Some other Under the Hood CPU performance and optimizations tweaks were made.
- Fixed an issue where bullet hit decals would not appear on certain parts of Mutant and NPC bodies.
- Fixed an issue where a Vortex arch-anomaly was throwing NPC corpses under terrain.
- Fixed an issue where an anomaly spawned by an Electric Poltergeist was invisible.
- Fixed an issue where stamina was spent even if action wasn’t available.
- Fixed generic issues where NPCs were unable to reach a scripted animation pose if it was located too far.
- Fixed an issue where Zombies were able to fall under level geometry.
- Fixed an issue where sounds of raindrops were playing for certain props located underground.
- Fixed an issue where Player was able to stuck behind the door in Sidorovich’s bunker.
- Fixed an issue with the HUD opacity option not working.
- Fixed an issue where dynamic shadows cast by flashlight appeared jagged.
- Fixed an issue where some effects could stuck on the player after loading a save.
- Fixed an issue where some effects could not be applied to the player after loading a save.
- Fixed an issue where increment in Psi Protection was displayed on armor stat bar when selecting Radiation Protection upgrade on some exosuits.
- Fixed an issue where Player was able to get to Prypiat ahead of time by jumping over the railroad cistern on Yaniv.
- Fixed an issue where a broken weapon didn’t have a red background when equipped.
- Fixed Trader items being sorted after cancelling trade.
- Fixed an issue where no technicians in the game were able to install “Extra Barrel Upgrade” to SVDM-2 and Lynx sniper rifles
- Fixed an issue where mutants with telekinetic abilities were unable to pick up or throw items or corpses directly at Player.
- Fixed an issue where Bayun didn’t deal any damage during his Jump Attack.
