Attention, stalkers: GSC Game World has released S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl Update 2.1 on PC and consoles, with two of the community’s most requested features. You now decide how far you see across the Zone, and you can pay a guide to cut the trip short. As always, the numbers are up to your hardware.

NPC visualisation distance

The headline feature is a manual setting for how far away A-Life NPCs appear, on PC and consoles. It lives under Settings, Game, Visualisation, with presets. GSC recommends the default for the best balance of performance, stability and immersion: raising the range may affect performance, and the Dynamic preset adjusts automatically to your PC or console. For stability, the longer range mainly applies to A-Life NPCs rather than quest NPCs, and presets may vary by platform.

Long-distance firefights

Ballistics and balance were tuned so long-range fights feel more natural. Depending on your preset, you will now hear gunfights breaking out much farther away. Muahaha, the Zone has never sounded so alive.

Fast travel with squad leaders

Squad leaders now appear on your compass, and you can ask them to guide you to nearby, previously explored destinations along their route. It won’t come cheap, your guide won’t carry your backpack, so don’t travel overloaded, and don’t expect a stalker from Zalissya to take you all the way to Pripyat.

The update also brings bug fixes and visual tweaks, and GSC says it was built almost entirely from community feedback.

See also our monthly game release calendar.

Source: GSC Game World.