GSC Game World Releases Final S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl System Requirements

[GFreeman]

Ahead of the November 20th release, GSC Game World has now shared the full PC system requirements for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl. Powered by Epic's Unreal Engine 5, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl will definitely push hardware to its limits, despite the fact that it won't support any hardware ray tracing effects at launch.

The released PC system requirements are quite high, but at least GSC Game World, as well as NVIDIA and AMD, have confirmed it will feature DLSS and FSR 3.1. NVIDIA already added the support for both DLSS 3 and Reflex with its latest GeForce drivers, and AMD has it on its list of games as "upcoming." The game will run on Windows 10 and Windows 11 and need around 160 GB of SSD storage.



According to the released table, you'll need at least an Intel Core i7-7700K or AMD Ryzen 5 1600X CPU, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB, AMD Radeon RX 580 8 GB or an Intel Arc A750 graphics card, and 16 GB of RAM in order to run the game at a low graphics preset and 1080p resolution at 30 FPS, which is hardly the way to play a game like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl. In case you want to get 1080p resolution at 60 FPS and medium graphics preset, the system requirements go up to an Intel Core i7-9700K or AMD Ryzen 7 3700X CPU and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super/RTX 4060 or AMD Radeon RX 5700XT graphics card.

Things get a bit interesting at higher graphics presets and resolutions, as in order to run the game at 1440p resolution with 60 FPS, you'll need an Intel Core i7-11700 or AMD Ryzen 7 5800X CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti/RTX 4070 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, as well as 32 GB of RAM. Running the game at 2160p resolution with over 60 FPS, GSC Game World says you'll need an Intel Core i7-13700KF or AMD Ryzen 7 7700X CPU and an NVIDIA RTX 4080 or AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics card.

The most recent game we tested, Dragon Age: Veilguard, was also struggling to get over 60 FPS at 2160p resolution and Ultra settings without Ray Tracing, except with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.

As announced by GSC Game World earlier, STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl will launch on November 20th on PC and Xbox Series S|X.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[Tomgang]

Looking forward to 20 november where the games comes out.

I just don't hope this is yet another game plague from bugs, crashes and plain bad optimization. Cause way to many games comes like that, some worse than others. But i find i more rare with games that actually works perfectly on release than not. That's also why i never pre-ordrer games and have not done so in at least 10 years.

If it works perfectly, its a must have for me. To support game developers and the war plague Ukraine where this game is made. They need the help.

 

[Nostras]

I am once again calling out that system requirements that specify different classes of CPUs for similar framerates is just plain wrong. Do better GSC.

 

[nvidiaenjoyer]

I am once again calling out that system requirements that specify different classes of CPUs for similar framerates is just plain wrong. Do better GSC.

and i would like to point out that, as a very simple example, increasing view distance puts more stress on the CPU, which could in turn make slower CPUs put out less than 60 fps
do better Nostras

 

[qlum]

As always scaling is generally based on the systems at hand at the studio + a decent bit of guesstimates.
Would not pay too much attention to them.
Only thing to say is they actually bothered to test Intel Arc at least.

 

[AGlezB]

I just don't hope this is yet another game plague from bugs, crashes and plain bad optimization. Cause way to many games comes like that, some worse than others. But i find i more rare with games that actually works perfectly on release than not. That's also why i never pre-ordrer games and have not done so in at least 10 years.

I only pre-order on GOG and only games I know for sure I'll enjoy a lot. My only "recent" pre-orders were CP 2077, BG3 and Rogue Trader. For the rest I wait until the reviews are out.
This one I've had it in my wishlist since it was announced, and I will buy it ... eventually. How long will depend on how buggy it is. TBH I expect it to be rather well polished but some bugs will inevitably crop up on day one, a.k.a. beta testing day.

 

[Onasi]

It’s a STALKER game. I would be insulted if it isn’t buggy as all hell and prone to crashing at release. It’s a proud tradition that should not be broken. Joking, of course, but I absolutely do not expect a smooth launch.

If it works perfectly, its a must have for me. To support game developers and the war plague Ukraine where this game is made. They need the help.

That’s a nice sentiment and GSC sure milked the whole “development during war” angle for PR, but truth is they’ve moved to Prague pretty much at the start of the thing, so yeah, the game is absolutely not actually made in Ukraine.

 

[nguyen]

Nice, STALKER and Metro have been my favorite game series, let hope they keep up the traditions

 

[KrazyT]

Humm, given the specs , I should play it in Medlow ...
Maybe the time to upgrade is finally here ...

 

[Tomorrow]

That’s a nice sentiment and GSC sure milked the whole “development during war” angle for PR, but truth is they’ve moved to Prague pretty much at the start of the thing, so yeah, the game is absolutely not actually made in Ukraine.

Some employees stayed in Ukraine and some have died in the war. So the game is still party made in Ukraine.

 

[Launcestonian]

Get this about a year later when more chance of patches being released.

 

[Ruru]

I guess "optimization" is a word that nobody knows anymore in game development.

 

[claylomax]

I guess "optimization" is a word that nobody knows anymore in game development.

They don't bother anymore since DLSS and FSR.

 

[Dristun]

I guess "optimization" is a word that nobody knows anymore in game development.

Average gamedev pay is relatively shit, work is not stable, overtimes still a norm in many studios, so coding/engineering talent simply goes elsewhere. All the while execs just keep trying to cut even more in costs. It's a full-blown enshittification loop, haha.

 

[Shihab]

I guess "optimization" is a word that nobody knows anymore in game development.

Game dev is probably the last consumer software making process that still does that (*stares at so-called web and mobile "devs"* -_-). The only thing that has changed are the constraints, which we tend to forget that they do evolve with time.

From some quick aggregations and focusing on graphics cards only: According to October's survey, at least 38% of the Steam users satisfy the medium requirement and 97% do the lowest. That sounds like a reasonable target to me.
You can multiply these figures with, say, Steam's active monthly users, for more absolute metrics.

That said, I do agree with Onasi. No one should expect this specific title to perform well in general.

 

[Hyderz]

I guess "optimization" is a word that nobody knows anymore in game development.

Optimization now = dlss and frame gen

 

[Ruru]

Optimization now = dlss and frame gen

Exactly. Having those technologies is a nice bonus, but it tells something when these are a must to have a game even run with playable framerate.

 

[Onasi]

That said, I do agree with Onasi. No one should expect this specific title to perform well in general.

I also look at it from the standpoint of us already having some idea of the performance numbers. NVidia did post some benches via their DLSS announcement (here). It’s obviously not perfect, but seeing that even a 4090 can’t break 100 FPS at 1080p without DLSS is really already fairly alarming considering the game doesn’t run any hardware RT.

 

[boomheadshot8]

Going to stream it on youtube day one
Expect mods to upgrade the game, dlc ?

But i'm not too hyped (cyberpunk like)

 

[Onasi]

Expect mods to upgrade the game

It’s UE5. I would not bet on this game having near the modding support that elevated the original. In fact, that’s kind of the issue on its own with STALKER 2 - everything this game is doing and has as a selling point was already done by modders for the OG and probably better. The turbo-autists (and I mean this in a good way) playing and making stuff like Anomaly, Misery or Narodnaya Solyanka will probably give this one a run, shake their head and return to the OG.

 

[boomheadshot8]

indeed forgot that is a new engine, so few devs
but maybe later ? 2 or 3 years ?

 

[nvidiaenjoyer]

It’s UE5. I would not bet on this game having near the modding support that elevated the original. In fact, that’s kind of the issue on its own with STALKER 2 - everything this game is doing and has as a selling point was already done by modders for the OG and probably better.

don't make me laugh, modders are amateurs and in 99% of cases their work amounts to amateur hour stuff, not even close to "probably better"
there hasn't been a single big stalker mod i've played that wasn't rife with tedious, amateur garbage features