Excitement surrounding S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl was high – understandably so, not just because of the stature of the release, but also how long the wait for the series’ comeback has been. Though the open world shooter has proven divisive among critics, with criticism being directed at the rough technical state it has launched in in particular, unsurprisingly, players are flocking to GSC Game World’s newly released game in droves.
As per SteamDB, today, the day of its launch, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl hit a peak of 113,587 concurrent players on Steam, an impressive start by any metric, but even more so when you consider that the game is also available via Game Pass. It’s also worth considering that we’re in the middlSports Bettinge of the week right now, which means S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s player numbers will likely continue climbing over the coming days, especially as we hit the weekend.
Its current Steam concurrent users peak also puts it ahead of a number of notable, large-scale titles, including the likes of Far Cry 5 (92,445 concurrent players), Fallout 76 (73,368), Red Dead Redemption 2 (77,655), DOOM Eternal (105,891), and Resident Evil Village (106,631), to name a few.
In our review of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, we awarded it a score of 9/10, saying, “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl masterfully combines multiple genres to deliver an unmissable and entirely unique open world horror experience. Touting unparalleled emergent gameplay, stellar atmosphere, a captivating story, and gorgeous visuals, this is easily one of the best games available on Xbox Series X/S, even with the technical issues that hamper it.” Read the full review through here.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chronobyl is available on Xbox Series X/S and PC.
