The new STALKER 2 patch is going to save you lots of time

STALKER 2: Shadow of Chornobyl arrived late last year in a fairly incomplete state. Technical issues with graphics, animations, sound, and quest design were the biggest problems. But taken together, they combined to drain computer and console resources. The only option left to developers at GSC Game World was to dial back the efficacy of their vaunted A-life AI system for non-player characters. Nearly three months later, the game is still far from perfect, but the Ukrainian team has made great strides in improving the overall experience. In fact, the latest patch is going to save you loads of time.

Patch 1.2 dropped on Feb. 13, and you can find the lengthy patch list of changes on the official website. My favorite of the bunch is the introduction of an icon to lootable weapons in the game world, a familiar colored shield that shows their condition — yellow for serviceable, and red for broken. Previously you had to pick guns up and view them in your inventory to see their condition. You can’t easily sell broken weapons, so lugging them around doesn’t make a lot of sense. So, in addition to the time saved messing around in the inventory screens players should also have fewer issues with encumbrance slowing them down.

With a stated 1,700 individual changes, there’s a lot to go through in the patch notes. But, by and large, developers seem to be pacing with the community, which has been taking its time with the game. There are a lot more bug fixes for late-game enemies and quests than in the last patch. The performance of A-life has been expanded as well. According to the notes, A-life now allows fellow STALKERS to do things like render aid to their comrades, loot more powerful weapons from bodies, and more effectively hunt down and fight back against the player character. Even bullet penetration has been tweaked a bit in their favor.

Other features include tweaks to lighting, including the ability for your personal flashlight to cast shadows. I spent just a little bit of time with the game after the patch dropped today, but I also get the feeling that the dark, shadowy corners of interior spaces are darker now than ever before. Taken together, that should make for an even moodier experience in an already evocative game.

But it’s the little quality-of-life features, like in-world weapon condition indicators, that are going to really improve the experience.