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!