Stalker 2: continuation of the cult game will be available in Russia

Gamers in Russia and around the world are waiting for the official continuation of the launch of the new game in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series about the events in the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which was placed in a virtual fictional world. The official world release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl, which gamers have been waiting for for more than ten years, will take place today at 19:00 Moscow time.

But for Russian fans of the series, the game carries with it a number of nuances associated with its Ukrainian developers GSC Game World and Russian legislation. Let's figure out what's going on.

Almost outlawed in Russia: it's all about legislation

The new "Stalker" has every chance of being officially banned in Russia. The website of the developer of this game series has been blocked by Roskomnadzor since the spring of 2022 by decision of the Prosecutor General's Office.

This decision was made on the basis of Art. 15.3 of the law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection": the developer's website contained materials that fall under calls for extremist activity, financing the enemy, as well as unreliable information about the Armed Forces of Russia.

At the time of release, the game is not officially banned in Russia. But it may contain slogans, texts, images and symbols prohibited in Russia, as well as other extremist content that violates Russian law.

After assessing the content of the game, the court may decide to ban it on the territory of Russia. In this case, the Ministry of Justice will include the game in the federal list of extremist materials within 30 days. That is, the acquisition, storage, distribution and use of "Stalker" will then be punishable by law.

Restrictions from developers

GSC Game World has banned the sale of "Stalker" in Russia on physical and digital media, but it is known that pre-orders for digital editions placed before March 15, 2022 have been retained by players. The ban from developers on the new "Stalker" and their previous products for Russians also applies to the Steam platform. The Xbox Game Pass subscription from Microsoft, which would help to buy the game, is also officially unavailable to Russians due to sanctions.

However, the Russian gaming community has learned to circumvent the restrictions. Access keys to both Game Pass and Steam are sold to players on various marketplaces by account holders from other countries.

A small language barrier also awaits fans of the post-apocalyptic game series. In 2022, the creators of the game announced that the voice acting for "Stalker" was done only in English and Ukrainian. At the same time, they promised to keep the Russian language in the game interface and in the subtitles.

Forced assortment from developers

The gaming community is also confused by the fact that players will have to download a separate special patch weighing 139 GB to their devices. The game itself weighs 146 GB. Moreover, this became clear shortly before the release. This applies exclusively to the console version for Xbox Series X and Series S.

Those who pre-ordered and downloaded S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl will also not be able to play without a heavyweight patch.