{"id":374574,"date":"2026-08-08T03:16:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/?p=374574"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:16:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:16:44","slug":"stalker-2-cost-of-hope-opens-the-chornobyl-power-plant-on-august-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/stalker-2-cost-of-hope-opens-the-chornobyl-power-plant-on-august-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Stalker 2: Cost of Hope opens the Chornobyl Power Plant on August 20"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">GSC Game World has locked in <strong>20 August<\/strong> for Cost of Hope, the first story expansion for <a href=\"https:\/\/stalker-2-heart-of-chornobyl.en.softonic.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl<\/a>. It\u2019s coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X\/S.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-card-program\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-program__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__img\" alt=\"Steam\" src=\"\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-title\">\r\n        <span class=\"sc-card-program__title\">Steam<\/span>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-program__button sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/steam.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Download<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-rating\">\r\n        <svg class=\"rating-score__content\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.1\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 50 50\" enable-background=\"new 0 0 50 50\" xml:space=\"preserve\"><path class=\"rating-score__background rating-score--good\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><path class=\"rating-score__value rating-score__value--0\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-dashoffset=\"0\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><text class=\"rating-score__number\" content=\"\" text-anchor=\"middle\" transform=\"matrix(1 0 0 1 25 31.0837)\" data-auto=\"app-user-score\"><\/text><\/svg>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <span class=\"sc-card-program__description\"><\/span>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__bigpic\" src=\"\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-program__link track-link sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/steam.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This add-on opens up <strong>Iron Forest<\/strong> and the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, two parts of the Zone you haven\u2019t been able to reach before. More than that, it\u2019s the first time the series will let you properly explore the plant itself. GSC says to expect dozens of hours of new content, along with fresh weapons, gear, hubs, quests, and other unexplored locations. The story also feeds into the main campaign through PDA notifications, so it won\u2019t sit off to the side as some separate post-game chapter.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iron Forest sounds like exactly the kind of place this series does well: a dangerous industrial wasteland full of rusting factories and overgrown railyards. <strong>The Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant<\/strong> goes in a different direction, with industrial interiors, machine halls, administrative buildings, and abandoned reactor facilities, all of it stuffed with environmental storytelling.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you\u2019ve been waiting to see one of Stalker\u2019s most famous locations done in full, this one seems easy to justify. And <strong>20 August<\/strong> might end up being one of the game\u2019s biggest post-launch days anyway, since <a href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/stalker-2-gets-cost-of-hope-on-august-20-free-2-0-update-arrives-too\" rel=\"noopener\">free Update 2.0<\/a> is also expected around then. That update should move Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl to a newer version of <a href=\"https:\/\/unreal-engine.en.softonic.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Unreal Engine 5<\/a> and bring wider visual and technical improvements. All of that lands while GSC Game World founder Sergiy Grygorovych continues to say Microsoft paid a significant amount for timed Xbox exclusivity.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cost of Hope arrives on <strong>20 August<\/strong> for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X\/S.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GSC Game World has locked in 20 August for Cost of Hope, the first story expansion for Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl. It\u2019s coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X\/S. This add-on opens up Iron Forest and the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, two parts of the Zone you haven\u2019t been able to reach before. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/stalker-2-cost-of-hope-opens-the-chornobyl-power-plant-on-august-20\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Stalker 2: Cost of Hope opens the Chornobyl Power Plant on August 20&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9343,"featured_media":374573,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1015],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-374574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9343"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374574"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":374575,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374574\/revisions\/374575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374574"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=374574"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=374574"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=374574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}