S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, the highly-anticipated new entry in the beloved S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise, may finally have a release date. After years of delays – including a 6-year period where the game appeared entirely cancelled, and a delay of over a year due to the war in Ukraine – the sequel will reach PC and Xbox Series across the globe on December 1st this year. That’s if Amazon DE and Plaion Games‘ online store is to be believed, anyway.
Plaion/Koch Media Store has listed S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl for December 1st 2023 release.
This is most likely accurate as other titles have placeholder dates of December 31st 2023, They have previously leaked dates including Darksiders 2 for Nintendo Switch. pic.twitter.com/GxxCsdFyEo
— Andrew Marmo (@the_marmolade) August 11, 2023
The date was first noticed recently by Twitter user @the_marmolade, who rightfully points out that December 1st is unlikely to be a placeholder. Placeholder dates typically fall at the end of a month, especially December.
Amazon and Plaion themselves do this, with titles such as the currently-undated Sonic Superstars being listed as releasing on December 31 on both sites. That S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is listed for the December 1 then is notable – even more so since Heart of Chornobyl‘s Steam page corroborates the idea of a December release at the very least.
However, do keep in mind that these are unconfirmed leaks at this time. Until the studio announces a date, this remains speculation. It should also be noted that other Amazon in other countries have discrepancies regarding the release date of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. Amazon UK, for instance, lists the game as releasing on that placeholder date of December 31st.
That being said, it looks like gamers will finally have S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl in their hands this December, whatever specific day it might be. After over 13 years of waiting, that glorious day cannot come soon enough.
