Patch 1.5 for STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl brings significant improvements to A-Life

Dmytro Dzhuhalyk - 25 June, 04:53 PM

GSC Game World has released a new patch for STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl, numbered 1.5, which brings a number of improvements to the A-Life system and artificial intelligence, as well as other elements of the game. At the same time, the company presented a new Guns & Looting trailer.

The A-Life system updates are intended to make the Zone "alive": NPCs will evolve and act even when the player is not seeing them. Here is a list of the main changes to this system:

Life in the Zone is now modeled for all characters, not just those in the player's field of view.
Characters are no longer deleted when the player leaves. They continue to live their lives and achieve their goals in the Zone until they meet their demise.
After some time, the player may encounter the same stalkers.
Players can encounter more A-Life characters resting or interacting in different locations, which adds to the realism of the world.
Characters no longer spawn directly in front of the player. For example, when the player clears out a mutant lair, they no longer spawn again after a few seconds.
A-Life Director will no longer spawn characters at the edge of the render. Instead, the respawn has been moved further away from the player, while still maintaining the Zone's population.
The render range has been slightly increased. Characters now appear within the render range with appropriate animations and weapons. This reduces the "appearance out of nowhere" effect and helps render characters more smoothly.

Other notable changes include the introduction of a new anomaly in the form of a water-based electric tornado, the addition of new weapons (the Tri-Line Rifle and the Kora Pistol), and the mutant parts collection mechanic. All of these innovations were showcased in the game's new trailer.

The game also displays available slots for armor artifacts in the improvements tab, adds a "Fix All" option to the technician menu for quick repair of all equipment, and updates Ukrainian lip-sync.