Stalker 2's first 2025 patch fixes troublesome Xbox bug

Pripyat Amusement Park's Ferris Wheel against a moody sky in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl.

The first patch of 2025 has landed for GSC Game World's Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, fixing a number of bugs and other issues.

News in brief

  • Patch 1.1.4 landed on January 27.
  • The first patch of the year fixes several major bugs, including one plaguing Xbox players.
  • GSC Game World also confirmed a larger update is coming soon.

 

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl Patch 1.1.4 fixes a bug that's been plaguing Xbox players for weeks. The issue in question caused Xbox players to lose hours of game progress when their save files vanished. 

Other performance issues the patch addressed include fixing crashes and freezes during shader compilation, fixing a memory leak in the Rostok zone, fixing a crash caused by UI animations, and fixing a performance degradation issue that occurred when shooting or aiming weapons during long gaming sessions.

In the Patch Notes on the Stalker 2 website, the team mentioned it's also working on an issue with the system error message about a missing DLL File following crashes on the Microsoft Store version of the game. They note there's no need to try installing DLL files manually as it's simply the wrong error message showing, rather than an actual issue with the DLL file.

The team also said that the shader compilation issue was "the hardest" to resolve. Though this should be fixed for most players, anyone still experiencing problems can report this via the game's Tech Support Hub, where other bugs and "anomalies" can also be reported.

Larger update incoming, no date confirmed

In a post on X, GSC GameWorld revealed players can expect a beefier update soon, but stopped short of revealing when this was coming.

"This update is the first of the year, and we will be releasing another major update for the game very soon. We will continue to work on STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl and will soon be ready to share other updates with you."

There's no word on what we can expect from that update, but rumors suggest it could be the game's upcoming PVP multiplayer mode. Later this year and beyond, players can expect two DLCs, though it's still unclear how they'll expand the story, and when they will be released.