Developer GSC Game World has revealed Cost of Hope, the first major expansion for its open-world survival shooter, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, which originally launched on Xbox and PC in 2024 before coming to PlayStation 5 last year. The team describes Cost of Hope as a massive nonlinear expansion packed with dozens of hours of gameplay in the Zone, and it launches sometime this Summer simultaneously for all versions of the game. 

Revealed during today's Xbox Partner Preview with a new trailer, Cost of Hope puts players in control of Skif, the base game's protagonist, once more to navigate events that unfold alongside that base game's narrative. After installing the DLC, a signal on the PDA will trigger the new storyline as the game unfolds. GSC Game World says that your choices will shape what happens next and could affect not just the Zone, but far beyond it. 

Check it out in the Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl – Cost of Hope Expansion reveal trailer below: 

"Duty, one of the oldest factions, sees the Zone as a threat that must be contained and destroyed," a press release reads. "On the other side, Freedom believes it's a gift – something to explore and harness for the greater good. For a time, this tension was held together by a fragile peace. But deals like that rarely last." 

Cost of Hope introduces two new regions to explore: the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the Iron Forest. Each region features its own hub, quests, and activities, alongside new weapons and gear for Skif to use in his fight against mutants, anomalies, and more. 

Curiously, despite dubbing Cost of Hope the "first major expansion" for Stalker 2, GSC Game World says Cost of Hope serves as a "middle chapter of the 'second trilogy,'" of the Stalker series, noting that Stalker 2 expansions will be released in installments. "Together with a future story DLC – details of which will be revealed later – it will form a new, expansive narrative arc within the Stalker saga," the studio writes. 

Here are some screenshots from the Cost of Hope expansion: 

 

The studio will share more about the Summer 2026 release window "soon," it writes in the press release. 

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, and the Cost of Hope expansion will launch on all three platforms this Summer. 

What do you hope to see in this Stalker 2 expansion? Let us know in the comments below!

During today's Xbox Partner Preview stream, Rebellion, the studio behind Sniper Elite and Atomfall, revealed an all-new game. Alien Deathstorm is an atmospheric first-person shooter set on an alien world blasted by a storm. The gameplay looks intense and constant, with waves of grotesque aliens swarming you around every corner.

This first look at the game shows the settlement, which has been decimated by unstable weather conditions and monstrous alien creatures, making the name of the game extremely apt. You arrive to help figure out what caused the destruction, but that mission quickly turns from a mission of investigation to a fight for survival.

Alien Deathstorm arrives on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC in 2027, but when it does arrive, will be on Xbox Game Pass, and will be an Xbox Play Anywhere title. 

Like a Dragon/Yakuza developer RGG Studio has released a new trailer for its upcoming game, Stranger Than Heaven, which reveals that its narrative will unfold across five different time periods. Plus, RGG has announced that a deep-dive presentation for the game is coming in May. 

Stranger Than Heaven was first announced under the working title Project Century at The Game Awards 2024, revealing a jazz-infused action game set across different historical periods. A year later, at The Game Awards 2025, RGG released a new trailer for the game, revealing the official "Stranger Than Heaven" name in the process. We still don't know when to expect Stranger Than Heaven, but today's new trailer, which aired during an Xbox Partner Preview showcase, reveals that its story spans different eras of history: 1915, 1929, 1943, 1951, and 1965. 

Check it out for yourself in the latest Stranger Than Heaven trailer below: 

Alongside this new trailer, Xbox and RGG have revealed they will hold an "Xbox Presents: A Special Look At Stranger Than Heaven" presentation on May 6, promising a deep-dive "into the setting, story, characters, and much more." 

For more details about the game, head to this Xbox Wire blog post. 

Are you excited by Stranger Than Heaven's latest showing? Let us know in the comments below!

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Mistral launches Voxtral TTS, an open-source enterprise text-to-speech model that supports nine languages, including Hindi and Arabic, based on Ministral 3B  —  French AI company Mistral released a new open source text-to-speech model on Thursday that can be used by voice AI assistants or in enterprise use cases like customer support.

Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans will earn $50 million over five years, and get a share of merch and music,too