It is truly remarkable that GSC Game World got to this point after everything that’s happened.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl has launched to great numbers on Steam.
SteamDB tallies that player numbers peaked at 113,587 concurrent players, six hours after the game launched. As of this writing, it has 54,313 players, a decent metric since it’s no longer peak player times in the US. It suggests that half of all those players have started playing at the opposite side of the world.
It’s a remarkable achievement since GSC Game World and Microsoft had to explain that this would not be an approachable title. Instead of a community building live service title like Minecraft or Helldivers 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a survival title, that originated from when games were made difficult the way FromSoftware makes games difficult.
To be clear, while Dark Souls and Elden Ringplayers will have skills they can carry over, and there’s already a captive …