STALKER 2 developers reveal why a major feature isn't working in the game

Key points

• A-Life 2.0 in STALKER 2's Heart of Chernobyl is currently not working as expected due to performance issues.
• The mention of A-Life 2.0 was not removed from the game's Steam page in an attempt to mislead players, but because someone in the marketing department thought it would confuse newcomers to the franchise.
• There is currently no timeline for the A-Life 2.0 fix, but the STALKER 2 developer is committed to making it happen.

STALKER 2: The Heart of ChernobylThe A-Life 2.0 system is currently down due to performance issues, senior officials at GSC Game World said. This revelation was shared as part of a recent interview which also saw developers GSC face accusations of misleading fans about A-Life's status in STALKER 2 before the game's release.

A-Life is an immersive life simulation system widely regarded as the defining feature of the original STALKER trilogy. Heart of Chernobyl it initially promised an improved version of this feature, dubbed A-Life 2.0 by GSC. However, its mention was removed from the game's Steam page a few days before its release on November 20th. Also, the day one version of Heart of Chernobyl it apparently lacked the simulation aspects of its predecessors – not to mention improved simulation features – prompting some players to wonder if A-Life was in the game.

GSC CEO Ievgen Grygorovych and creative director Maria Grygorovych addressed these concerns in a recent interview with IGN, stating that the system is indeed in the game but currently doesn't work as it should. I. Grygorovych said that the developers made some temporary sacrifices while optimizing the game before its release to ensure that its performance level was acceptable. The CEO explained that maintenance STALKER 2A-Life's A-Life 2.0, as originally intended, was too demanding in terms of performance. As a result, NPC spawn radius has been significantly reduced while the team explores other optimization methods.

GSC promises to make STALKER 2's A-Life 2.0 work as expected

I. Grygorovych confirmed that the GSC is adamant in addressing the current situation. “We made a commitment to the players to achieve [A-Life 2.0] work,” he said. However, there is currently no timeline for when this has long been promised STALKER 2 the functionality will be corrected. Optimization efforts aimed at freeing up more resources for the system are currently underway without GSC lead programmer Dmitriy Iassenev, the creator of A-Life 1.0, who is currently deployed in the Ukrainian military due to the ongoing Russian invasion.

We have committed to the players to achieve [A-Life 2.0] Work.

Mention of A-Life 2.0 not removed from STALKER 2 Steam page to mislead players

Reflecting on the recent removal of the A-Life 2.0 mention from the game's Steam page, M. Grygorovych insisted that this was not done in an attempt to mislead players. Instead, someone in the GSC marketing department decided to change A-Life 2.0's promise to that of “advanced artificial intelligence systems that will keep even the most hardcore gamers engaged” because they believed the newcomers STALKER the franchise would have no idea what A-Life is.

M. Grygorovych only noticed this due to Reddit complaints about the change, noting that the description had been reworded without his approval. “I was shocked, honestly,” she told IGN editor Wesley Yin-Poole, also showing him a screenshot of some internal company communications that validated her story, which she said would have been hard to believe otherwise. Be that as it may, GSC will not add the mention of A-Life 2.0 to the game's Steam page until the functionality itself is fixed, M. Grygorovych said.