After a short period of Xbox and PC exclusivity, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl gameplay is finally releasing on PS5, but what extra goodies, if any, can PS5 players expect and how will the performance of Stalker 2 Ps5 gameplay differ to that of Stalker 2 PS5 Pro gameplay?

Stalker 2 will soon be available on PlayStation 5, joining its existing releases on Xbox and PC. According to the game's technical director, both the PS5 and Xbox versions will maintain content parity, with no exclusive missions or gameplay differences between platforms. However, the PS5 version will utilize the DualSense controller's advanced features, including adaptive triggers, haptic feedback, and motion controls for enhanced immersion. 

Players on PS5 can expect unique pre-order bonuses such as exclusive gun skins and outfits, but all core content remains consistent across platforms. The game will also support keyboard and mouse input on PS5 and will implement a 'play before full download' feature for physical editions. Additionally, a significant engine update is planned for all platforms, aiming to improve performance and graphical fidelity.

Stalker 2 on PS5 vs. Xbox - How different are they?

Stalkers have been exploring the zone on both the Xbox and the PC for a while now, but in the next couple of months, Stalker 2 is going to be available on the PlayStation 5. But what differences are available on that console? I'm here with Eugene, the Technical Director on Stalker 2, to ask him a few questions about the PlayStation 5 build, starting off with a brief overview of what is going to be available on the PlayStation 5. Yeah, so much better visual fidelity, but both consoles feature performance mode and quality mode. But for PlayStation 5 Pro, we'll be running 4K, both performance and quality. Now, in terms of the differences between the Xbox and the PlayStation 5, both the console builds, are we going to see any improvements over the Xbox with the PlayStation 5, or will both consoles be running pretty much the same build? We are keeping the parity between the platforms, of course, but with the new features that DualSense controller provides us, we are making sure that our player base will get much more enhanced user experience with our implementations of haptic feedback, of adaptive triggers, and speaker, of course. Will we be able to feel things in the controller, like the guns jamming, different trigger pulls on different guns, things like this? Yes, we already implemented the adaptive trigger system, and each gun has the unique settings for adaptive triggers. The different trigger pull, the different moment when actually the gunshot is fired. And how about with the haptics? Will that just be things to do with firing guns, or perhaps will we feel haptics when we're healing ourselves, when we're falling from heights, doing things like this? Yes, we are utilizing the haptics, the advanced haptics from the DualSense controller. We have a lot of tools to make things happen, so just for example, when you're moving through different terrain, you will be able to feel with your hands what's exactly under the feet of the main character. There are also motion controls now for the game on PlayStation 5. Can you explain how those will work? Is it just aiming, or is there more implementations here? For now, we are working on more implementations for exactly this feature, but for now, from our current implementation that we have right now, you can utilize the gyroscope and motion sensor for much more precise aiming. These motion controls will give you more mouse-like aiming, it will maybe feel a little bit more like playing on PC, even though you don't have as much control over a keyboard. But actually, we are supporting both keyboard and mouse on PlayStation as well. If you want to play on the PC with a classical setup, keyboard and mouse, you have that option. Right, okay, great. And I've also saw in the trailer that you've added functionality of the touchscreen, in particular, playing a guitar. Now, we've seen players on The Last of Us using a similar feature to cover some really intricate songs. Is the fidelity of your guitar playing as in-depth as that of The Last of Us 2? We are trying to reach that level of fidelity, but for now, it's a really basic implementation, but it helps players who really want to enjoy the zone with the guitar in hands to play some favorite music using the gestures. With our new technology, you can use the touch pads to play the guitar. And there's even more. We've got the pro version of the device. Now going back to the visual differences, is it similar to the differences between the Xbox Series S and the Xbox Series X? I would not say so. So we are aiming to utilize most of the features of the pro version to improve the graphical fidelity and for the base version, it still looks amazing and plays amazing because we are supporting 30 FPS in quality mode and 60 FPS in the performance mode. We know that there's going to be all these differences with the PlayStation 5 build because of the controller, but will you be adding any PlayStation 5 exclusive content, maybe new missions or pre-order bonuses or anything like that? Actually, yeah, we are adding the pre-order bonuses, the unique for PlayStation 5, things like the unique gun skin, unique suit for Stalker and the backpack. But no unique missions, so to speak? No, we're trying to keep the parity between the platforms. So everyone gets absolutely the same content. That's fair enough. Now with the physical edition of Stalker 2, will the game be included on the disc or is it more of an unlock key? With the PlayStation 5, we utilize the feature of play before full download. So you will get in the physical edition with the disc that actually contains a playable chunk. Okay, so you can start playing and as you're playing, the rest of the game will be downloading on the console. Basically when you're starting your gameplay, the game downloads additional chunks for the full game and is installing it in the background while you're playing the game. Tell me you didn't overwrite my progress, otherwise you'd better be immortal. What is next for the Stalker franchise once you've brought it to PlayStation 5? Will you be working on DLC for across these platforms? Maybe Stalker 3 is already in development? Can you give us any hints? For now, we're focusing mostly on the gameplay parity and fixing the bugs and of course PlayStation for now. Other than that, in parallel, we are working on the DLCs that are included to Ultimate Game Season Pass. I've heard that there is an update coming which is going to improve fidelity. The Xbox version had a few problems later on in the game with slowdowns and glitches and stuff. You're working on fixes for this? It's a major engine update. We're updating the engine to the latest production. Now the game is running on version of Unreal 5.1.1 and we are updating to 5.5.4. What will this bring to the game? First of all, we will utilize the updated optimizations for Lumen. We are utilizing some additional tools to optimize the game. We're looking forward to being much more optimized in the future when we are finishing this update. Awesome. And it will be available on all platforms. All platforms at the same time? Yes. Cool. Now, when can we expect to play Stalker 2 on the PlayStation 5? PlayStation 5 is releasing on our release anniversary on 20th of November. Look, I'm almost at my hundred hour mark. Sure, Colonel, but your soldiers are turning into zombies as we speak. Ah, those bastards. Never admit it to myself. Finally. I thought he'd never leave.

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