GSC Game World has released a new trailer for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Cost of Hope, the first major expansion for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl. The upcoming DLC will be released later in the summer of 2026 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, and will bring a new chapter in which the long-standing conflict between the Duty and Freedom factions will reopen. At the center of the story will be Zulu, a veteran of the series and a member of Duty, Mavka from Freedom, and Skif, the protagonist of the base game whose decisions will once again shape the future of the Zone.
Cost of Hope will take players to new locations such as Iron Forest and the area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, along with familiar places shown from a different perspective. GSC promises dozens of hours of gameplay, new dangers, disturbing encounters, and the atmosphere of decay for which the series is known. The expansion will also be the second chapter of the so-called second S.T.A.L.K.E.R. trilogy, and the new trailer already hints that the conflict between Duty and Freedom will be much more personal than it initially seems.
