Developers from GSC Game World have released a major 1.3 update for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, bringing over 1,200 changes and improvements that affect almost every aspect of the game. Below are the key highlights:

AI and Combat

• Made mutants' movements during combat smoother.
• Improved the reaction of NPCs to the sound of footsteps.
• Polished ambush behavior for mutants when the player is hiding behind or on top of props.
• Fixed an issue where mutants didn't attack other NPCs when the player was in the safe zone.

Balance

• Archiartifacts rebalance:
• Weird Water: decreased radiation protection.
• Weird Nut: increased bleeding degeneration speed, further slowed down healing with equipped artifacts.
• Weird Flower: increased smell masking effect.
• Weird Ball: increased stamina gain, increased maximum weight of the artifact, but slowed down weight gain when being shot.
• Weird Kettle: debuff received from consuming food is now not random and corresponds to a specific type of food.
• Non-Stop Limited Edition energy drinks now have an additional special effect when used with Weird Kettle.
• Made A-life encounters a bit rarer on average.
• Nerfed base anomaly damage protection for "combat" armors.
• Buffed anomaly damage protection for "science" suits.
• Slightly reworked anomaly damage for different anomalies.
• Increased damage from destructible explosive props.
• Fixed an issue where the Weird Flower artifact was initially in a dried state instead of an active one after being picked up.
• Increased overall durability for unique weapons found during missions.

Bug Fixes, Crashes, and Performance

• Fixed a bug that could let players permanently stack the effect of unequipped artifacts.
• Fixed a bug that could prevent players from being able to use sprint after chaotic movement.
• Fixed an issue that caused some psy-phantoms of blind dogs to have misleading trails.
• Fixed the crash caused by zombification of NPCs.
• Fixed an issue when looting some story NPCs could block the mission.
• Fixed an issue when players could be locked inside the Ranger Station.
• Fixed an issue that could permanently keep visual effects of sleepiness if the save was made during a Main Quest line.
• Fixed issue with light from the flashlights in cutscenes.
• Fixed an issue where high-ranked NPCs were able to spawn at the Rookie Village location.
• Phantom stalkers that appear under the influence of Psy-effect no longer damage other NPCs by throwing grenades.
• Fixed an issue where the HUD would sometimes appear transparent after closing the inventory or finishing a cutscene.
• Fixed visual bugs on character costumes (texture stretching caused by awkward animation poses).
• Fixed memory leak issues when navigating inventory/looting menus (e.g., opening the player stash at Rostok).
• Resolved issues where NPCs got stuck in one place and obstructed player movement.
• Fixed an issue where the output device was reset after restarting the game.
• Fixed an issue where a guide NPC was missing at the Yaniv hub after unlocking the Prypiat region.
• UI Update: Fixed localization issues, improved stability, resolved visual bugs in widgets, corrected text corruption, and SFX for a smoother experience.
• Also, almost 100 crashes and EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION errors were fixed.

Main and Side Quests, Open World Encounters

• Fixed an issue where the player could not complete "Escape from the Cage" mission via the stealth path due to NPCs with a high perception level.
• Fixed an issue where the player could destroy the Jammer before the start of the "In the Name of Science" mission.
• Fixed an issue where the "Escape from the Chemical Plant" objective did not complete if the call from Strelok or Scar was interrupted by a loudspeaker during the "Escape from the Cage" mission.
• Fixed an issue where no new journal objective appeared, and "Dark Times" mission was stuck after killing Jarl NPC.
• Fixed an issue with "Eye of the Storm" mission not progressing after reaching the Generators.
• Fixed an issue where the side mission "A Big Score" was not progressing if an emission happened while the player was at the Car Park.
• Fixed an issue when the player was unable to loot Faust's body after receiving a call from Scar during the "Visions of Truth" mission.
• Fixed an issue where Foma NPC could become invincible during the "Chasing Ghosts" mission.
• Fixed an issue where an encounter mission with Headlight NPC near Bulba Arch anomaly was not starting after completing "Nightingale’s Hunt" mission.
• Fixed an issue where Yaryk Mongoose was hostile to the player during the "For Science!" mission.
• Fixed an issue when the Snork collar was not counted as collected if the Snork was killed by something other than the player during the "In the Name of Science" mission.
• Fixed multiple quest progression issues, dialogue triggers, and mission-related bugs.

Technical Updates

• Added multiple new death screens that vary based on the cause of death.
• Improved facial animations in the main storyline.
• Improved audio obstruction for mutant sounds.
• Improved the positioning of various sounds.
• Added a new night music theme for Slag Heap.
• Added music for the elevator in SIRCAA.
• Added missing localizations for tutorials.
• Added descriptions that explain the difference between armor-piercing and expansive ammo.
• Improved some bullet-caused decals.
• Improved the visibility of enemies at nighttime by increasing the intensity of NPC flashlights.
• Improved the shadows cast by the player's flashlight.
• Several attachments and upgrades have been moved from the "point of no return" endgame sequence to Prypiat stashes.
• Updates and fixes of NPC movement and shooting animations.
• Added an option to change the Melee weapon attack button in control settings.
• Added additional idle animations for NPCs with weapons drawn.
• Added new VFX animals and a new type of visual anomaly.