We’ve known since the expansion’s announcement back in March that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Cost of Hope would arrive sometime this summer, and today GSC Game World released a new trailer focused on the story and characters at its center. The first major expansion for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl digs into the long-running conflict between Duty and Freedom, two of the series’ most established factions.
The trailer centers on Zulu, a series veteran from Duty, and Mavka, a member of Freedom, who set out to uncover new mysteries of the Zone under increasingly tense circumstances. Skif, the protagonist of the base game, gets caught in the middle of the age-old confrontation, following previously unexplored paths and once again shaping the future of Chornobyl through his decisions, including choosing a side.
As for new places to explore, the trailer offers a glimpse of the Iron Forest and the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the two regions confirmed when the expansion was announced, along with familiar locations that have been reimagined, all wrapped in the series’ trademark atmosphere of decay. GSC also published a blog post on the official S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 website covering the history behind the Duty and Freedom conflict, for anyone who needs a refresher before diving in.
As we noted when Cost of Hope was announced, Heart of Chornobyl had a bit of a rough launch on PC back in November 2024, but GSC has continued to support the game with regular updates since. The expansion serves as the middle chapter of a second S.T.A.L.K.E.R. trilogy and promises dozens of hours of gameplay when it launches later this summer on PlayStation 5, XBOX Series X|S, and PC, where wishlisting is now available. An exact date still hasn’t been announced. Summer is already here, though, so GSC doesn’t have much runway left.
