Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone News

[h3]Hello all,

We’re exactly three weeks into the Early Access - thank you for all the support you’ve given us![/h3]

Why "megadevlog"? Forgive us for using that kind of differentiation between this devlog and a regular one. We call it that way because it's really a huge amount of information. And because we won't post news like that regularly - we'll leave it for moments when we want to address a lot of different subjects in a detailed way.

So this Megadevlog will be focusing on something most important in the Early Access: your feedback.

Every feedback counts, positive and negative equally, as we released an early version of the game exactly to gather your opinions and your invaluable input (meaning: reviews, reports, suggestions, all of these).

Of course, we know the game has issues - we expected some to appear (didn't want to, but nonetheless expected) and we are happy you provided us with so much feedback. It helps us identify and solve problems, so overall: it helps us to make the game better than we ever could without your help.

Screenshot by TheGameTales

That said, we’ve prepared this quite long post about our nearest plans. And, as you might expect, our observations regarding the information you’re giving us every day (either thanks to posting on the forum, posting reviews or purely technical reports).

We know this might sound vague, but we’re working on making everything run smoothly as well as filling the huge open world of the Zone with content we either already prepared or are getting ready now.

This post is to let you know: yes, we hear you.

We try to respond to as many requests, comments, reviews, suggestions and reports as possible. We treat every single feedback or opinion we get seriously and analyse it as well as we can. We also wanted you to know that even if we don’t respond to your post, it’s only a matter of how time-consuming it is, not because we do not care. So if that happens: remember that we see you. Sometimes we just don’t have enough time to write to each one of you separately.

Our plan to stay in the Early Access for 6-10 months is not changing - that’s the goal we set when entering the EA.

So… what’s been going on with the development?

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[h2]The development process[/h2]

The nearest plans include three main paths:

1. planned work
   
2. fixing and optimizing the game
   
3. analyzing your feedback
   

Each of these paths may seem simple, but believe us: none of these is more or less important than the others.

• First, planned work is not something that is changing on the go. This is the part of development that needs to be scheduled and taken care of day by day, as the whole production takes years to complete. So if we say “this or that will be added" - that’s the case. Why? Because we’ve been working on it for a long time.
  
  
• Second, fixing and optimizing the game when the game enters Early Access. That’s quite opposite to the planned work, as it’s purely “spontaneous”. Meaning that your reports and information you share direct us to the things needing our attention.
  
  
• Third, analyzing your feedback is also something that we do every day. And despite it’s also quite spontaneous, it needs more time to think about. We’ll give you an example: imagine there’s trouble with weapon balance. As soon as it’s reported, we have to deeply analyze what is the cause of this, sometimes re-check if that’s a persistent thing or just an error - and what can we do about it. Only then can we shift our priorities to take those matters into our own hands.
  

Screenshot by Kevin Czaski

This seems quite easy, right? Well, in a perfect world - it would be. But the real trouble here is a question of how to give attention to the “unplanned” things when we also have the… well, planned ones to attend to.

Of course, given our previous experience with Early Access when Chernobylite 1 was released in Steam’s programme, we were definitely better prepared. Yet, Chernobylite 2 is much bigger (the map itself about 20x) and much more complex than the first game was. This means one thing: we really need to think about what, how and when we can do to make your experience the best.

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[h2]The plans[/h2]

So maybe you already know this, but we want to make it clear: Chernobylite 2 is in development.

It simply means that a lot of content is not yet there and the one that is - needs polishing (or even more). When we started Early Access on March 6th, Chernobylite 2 had about 30-40% of the planned content prepared.

Pay attention to the word “planned” - as we were completely sure that your feedback would give us a lot of important suggestions. So changes or adjustments will take more time. But these were accounted for (as well as we could before entering EA).

The closest important update (let’s stick to Chernobylite 1 names and call it a “megapatch”) will be published in the upcoming weeks and with it, we will most probably prepare the specific roadmap that will show you what steps we’ve planned on taking next.

Besides adding more content, the update will fix a lot of current issues that cannot be addressed by a simple hotfix or a patch.

Screenshot by Nazerbanu

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[h2]AI Voices and translations[/h2]

This is one of the “hottest” subjects here, on our Steam page. You pointed out that you encounter voices that hear like an AI. Well, that’s the case. But the reason behind it is quite simple: it’s production matters and every single line of AI voice will be replaced as soon as the proper voiceovers are ready.

When we entered the Early Access, the English voiceovers were almost ready. Yet, not finished.

There were bugs, the AI voices were still standing out sometimes. We used them only temporarily to make our work easier and quicker: it’s a lot better in the matter of production time to use placeholders which will later be swapped with real assets.

Imagine this process as sculpting: first, you chisel out some crude shapes, and then you gradually make smaller and smaller cuts. Before the sculpture is considered ready, the skilled craftsman has to “review” it piece by piece, making adjustments, corrections, checking every centimetre.

But let’s leave abstract examples and focus on technical reasons: AI-generated voiceovers serve as placeholders that allow us to test animation systems, cutscene lengths, and gameplay pacing.

They were never meant to replace voice actors, and they never will.

Screenshot by 🅕🅤🅝🅚🅦🅔🅛🅣

So yes, “placeholders” are exactly what they sound like: they are just holding the place for when the real asset comes in. A similar thing goes for translations. Yes, this should be done better and we’re working on it, so it’s nowhere near what we consider a finished state.

That’s one of our priorities to have them ready as soon as we can. So don’t worry if they are not yet ready or are buggy. We know it, we’re not leaving them inside the game looking like this, we had the work scheduled long before the EA started.

Perhaps we could’ve waited a bit more time and prepared them before entering the Early Access… but now it is done, the game's Early Access version is already published. We take responsibility for that and we’re sorry if you encountered any unfinished translations or voices.

What can we do now? Work on them as we planned. We’re doing it right now. When will that be? As always, we won’t sugar coat anything: we can't promise any precise date yet, we simply aim to add them as soon as possible. And that's also one of our top priorities.

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[h2]Translations - additional languages[/h2]

Taking your feedback into consideration, we’ve noticed a lot of you asked for examples for Turkish or Portuguese translation.

We’ll be completely honest with you: we can’t make them ourselves. We need your help to make those unplanned translations happen. Why? Simply because of time and costs of preparing outsourced professional translations.

If you want your language to be present in Chernobylite 2, please comment below. Especially if you want to help us make that happen! We will direct you to people from our team that handle translations.

You can join our Discord here (CLICK) if you want to help us translate the game into your language or polish an existing translation.

Screenshot by Jack Hammer

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[h2]Co-op[/h2]

A lot of you also asked about co-op, so we will address that here: yes, you can invite your friends from your Steam list to play together in co-op missions in fractal worlds. You have to unlock these first. Usually, if you don’t rush through the gameplay, it’s achievable after about 2-3 hours of playing, depending on how you play, of course.

As our protagonist, Cole Grey, you play as a planewalker - a person able to travel through many different versions of one world. Later in the game, you learn to create different “personalities” which live in parallel universes and that you can summon on the go. No spoilers, but this also connects to how the co-op works and why, after you play the mission with your friends, everybody returns to their own world.

After the co-op mission finishes, every player returns to "his world" - with all the benefits of a successfully carrying on the task (like loot or experience).

Screenshot by marshmallowwuwu

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[h2]Your feedback and questions[/h2]

We have many discussions going on Steam right now, and that’s great! That’s what we aspired to have: direct contact with you, our players. After all, our goal is to give you an entertaining experience.

There’s a pinned post which points out the current status of community requests. We will keep this updated to show you which proposals will be added to the game and which will be discussed (for example to assess how or if can we make them happen).

You can check this post & it's updates here (CLICK)

For you to better understand how your suggestions can impact the development process, let’s speak about that. What happens when you post your feedback, for example a clear suggestion of a particular change? Usually, when the change is small or cosmetic, we can deal with it on the go (like your suggestions about traders).

But what happens with more complex ones (or really huge ones)?

Screenshot by DragonwithinDivine

Let’s try to break it down step by step.

• First step: we gather more suggestions and discuss them internally as it would be impossible to address each one separately (that’s why we often can’t respond to your feedback immediately). We look into how your idea can impact the existing game infrastructure, what could break down or what processes can it change.
  
  
• Second step: let’s say your idea will fit into the game. Now we discuss how can we make it happen, what will it need to be implemented and how long could it take (just an early estimation).
  
  
• Third step: let’s say we estimated that it’s possible to implement, we know how to deal with it, how long will it take (more or less), what changes we have to make in the existing system. We schedule creating a new feature or tweaking an existing one simply to keep our workflow organised.
  
  
• Fourth step: we prototype the change and test it against the existing mechanics. It actually happens quite often that what sounds good as an idea, is really “not cooperating” as reality. So before we can let you enjoy it, we have to test it and re-check it at least a few times.
  
  
• Fifth step: when we are quite sure it will fit inside the game, we test it, we check for errors or bugs - only then we can release it along with an update.
  

So now we have our new feature!

Nonetheless, it’s impossible to predict and bug-hunt everything that hundreds or thousands of players will encounter (for example, because of so many different PC configurations). That’s why Early Access is so important - it gives us invaluable information on what needs to be polished, perfected… and sometimes simply re-done.

Of course, that whole process was oversimplified just to explain it in an easy way. But we hope now you understand better how we have to work on your suggestions. That said, let’s get back to your feedback.

Screenshot by Jack Hammer

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[h2]Suggestions under consideration[/h2]
These suggestions are already under discussion or consideration, so we’re estimating how much would it take to make them happen and whether it’s possible for us or not.

• Weapon Jamming - we really like the idea! It could introduce a nice change into how the gameplay feels without nerfing the weapons or making enemies near immortal. Though we will discuss it, it could be really difficult to implement as it is not simply a matter of turning on/off, but rather require an entire new animations (which take quite some time to make).
  
  
• Using the Tablet in TPP – okay, that’s on us. We made the FPP mode because a lot of players suggested this. Then again, if you can now play fully in the first-person perspective… it would be great to be able to play full TPP experience, right? Despite we agree with the idea, we’re not yet sure how to make that happen - or rather if / how can we translate the tablet functionalities into the TPP. No promises, but we’re looking into it.
  
  
• Weapon Holstering – it is exactly how it sounds. No further explanation is needed, right?
  
  
• The ability to modify the main character's hairstyle and beard – we didn’t think that you would miss deeper character customization. Not because we don’t like it, but because we didn’t think the Zone would be a place where one could find a barber. Maybe we travelled there so much it just never occurred to us - it’s quite an empty and alienated place without even the simplest conveniences of everyday life. However, you explained how important it is for you to have at least some influence over their character’s appearance. So maybe we’ll give it a try.
  
  
• Possibility of walking - on a gamepad, we can walk simply by tilting the analogue stick more lightly. However, with a mouse and a keyboard, we can only run or sprint. We’ll check if we can change that.
  
  
• Possibility to disable head bobbing - it’s basically this “feel” of the head moving while the character is walking or running. That animation, while moving in FPP, can cause motion sickness in more sensitive individuals, so we’re looking into it.
  

Screenshot by Kevin Czaski

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[h2]What has already changed?[/h2]
Here are a few of your suggestions that have already found their way into the game.

• FOV adjustment - We’ve added a slider, so now you can freely change FOV.
  
  
• Motion Blur Control - that’s also a slider, so you can increase, decrease or disable motion blur completely.
  
  
• Traders - you’ve pointed out that the amount of money is not enough, but also some items you were able to sell were overpriced. We’ve corrected these, but we still want to hear your feedback. Also, please note that the traders’ items and money are replenished every few days.
  
  
• First-Person Combat (FPP) - that was suggested by many players even before the Early Access started. We organized the Kickstarter campaign exactly for this reason: to make FPP mode happen.
  

Now, you can freely choose between FPP or TPP in the settings, even during combat, if you feel like experimenting with the feel of different perspectives. Of course, the FPP mode requires a lot of improvements and polishing, so despite a lot of you saying it’s already nice, it will be the subject of many changes.

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Okay, now let’s see how many of you reached this point - we’re curious mostly because of how big this post is.

Some of us don’t believe anyone could read it all, so if you’re reading this, post a comment saying what you like in our game or what could make Chernobylite 2 better.

As always, we encourage you to share your feedback with us. The particular sub-forums are here:

• General discussions
• Early Access feedback
• Bug reports

We also want to ask you to leave a review if you feel like sharing your experience with everybody!

As soon as we can, we will announce new changes, updates, fixes. Keep in touch with us and our posts / announcements. Do you have any questions? Feel free to ask in the comments, we'll try to answer as good and as precisely as possible at the moment.

Cheers!
The Farm 51

Work on Chernobylite 2 is well underway. The game recently launched in Early Access, and we quickly released the first critical hotfix to address the most serious bugs. But that was just the beginning. We're continuously receiving valuable feedback from you, and rest assured, we’re taking all of it into account for future updates. And these updates will be rolling out very soon, so stay tuned!
In the meantime, let’s take a trip into the past.

We receive a lot of questions about Chernobylite 2, especially regarding its development and how it differs from the first game. Many of you are particularly curious about the behind-the-scenes process. Fortunately, we’re the perfect people to answer that!
[hr][/hr]
[h3]The Game World[/h3]
Although both games are set in Chornobyl, the structure of the world has evolved significantly. In Chernobylite, we had to navigate production challenges inherited from Get Even, primarily due to being a relatively small team. As a result, we opted for a hub-based structure: players started from a central base and traveled to various locations on the map. Despite these limitations, we did our best to make the levels as expansive as our technology and team size allowed.

In theory, this worked. In practice—not entirely. While players praised the detailed and immersive environments, many felt there was too much repetition. So, within our team, we asked: What should we change in Chernobylite 2? The most common answer? An open world.



We knew this would be a massive challenge, especially with a team of around 40–50 people. But we wanted to try. Our approach started with merging all the levels from Chernobylite into a seamless world while learning the new tools and features of Unreal Engine 5 (we had previously used UE4). Over time, we filled the empty spaces, added new locations, and modified old ones to reflect the passage of time in the story.

Today, Chernobylite 2 is a fully open world, roughly 20 times larger than the Chornobyl of the first game combined.



[h3]Combat[/h3]
We’ve said it many times: Chernobylite was not designed as a shooter. That’s why combat was one of the most criticized aspects of the game. It confirmed something we had already suspected after Get Even: without a massive development team, competing in the shooter genre at a high level is nearly impossible.
Adding an open world introduced an even bigger challenge: how could we expand the scope of the game without sacrificing combat quality?

We had to rethink gameplay from the ground up. Our goal was to balance artistic freedom in level design with engaging gameplay mechanics.

Prototype 1: Turn-Based Combat
Our first idea took inspiration from classic RPGs—where encounters triggered a transition to a separate isometric battlefield with turn-based combat (think X-COM). The system was simple, flexible, and easy to prototype—one designer was able to create multiple encounters in a single day.



However, two problems quickly became apparent:

1. It felt too drastically different from Chernobylite, almost like an entirely new game.
   
2. We’ve spent years developing action games—suddenly switching to turn-based combat was a massive risk.
   

Prototype 2: Action-RPG Combat
Next, we experimented with a hybrid system inspired by Dragon Age and Fallout, where players controlled a squad in real-time melee combat. While the mechanics were solid, it introduced an unwanted fantasy RPG feel, and having companions lessened the sense of isolation that was so crucial in Chernobylite.

Prototype 3: Finding the Balance
The third prototype aimed to bridge the gap between Chernobylite and the action-RPG elements. We worked to refine the balance between firearms and melee combat, ensuring that gameplay was both engaging and believable within the established world.



Before finalizing the system, we ran multiple focus tests and iterated extensively. The end result is what you experience today—plus a few improvements based on your feedback, such as the ability to switch between first-person and third-person modes in combat.



[h3]Base Building[/h3]
One thing was never in question—the base-building system had to return. Chernobylite players loved customizing their base, and we knew removing this feature would be a huge mistake.

So not only is it back in Chernobylite 2, but we’ve expanded on it. Now, you can add more rooms, connect them with corridors, and customize them even further to make your base feel like home.

[h2]What’s Next?[/h2]
That’s it for today—a behind-the-scenes look at the key design decisions that shaped Chernobylite 2. But don’t worry, we’re just getting started. We have plenty more insights, stories, and surprises to share in the future!



[h3]So stay tuned[/h3]

[hr][/hr][h2]We're working on our new game! Add it to your wishlist![/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2075100/Chernobylite_2_Exclusion_Zone/

The previous hotfix broke the functionality of crystal weapons that drop from monsters. We've fixed this. Sorry about that, we tried to respond as quickly as possible.

Additionally:

• The first boss in the game now drops a special crystal weapon to make the fight more rewarding
  
• Ranged weapons should drop more frequently from chests.
  
• All crystal weapons have been slightly improved visually to look better and fit the player's hands more naturally.
  

• We have significantly optimized CPU performance in many areas. This should reduce stuttering and increase FPS for players whose CPU was a bottleneck. However, please keep in mind that stuttering from PSO Caching (the well-known hitches in many UE games when visiting a location for the first time) is something we are still working on.
  
• Now, users of AMD FSR can also use frame generation. The scaler itself should also work slightly more optimally.
  

• After defeating one of the ultra bosses (a faction-wide quest), the NPC in the fractal world should no longer occasionally fall below the level. We've also fixed a similar issue where the player themselves could fall below the level.
  
• We've fixed an engine crash that frequently occurred for users with AMD GPUs (mainly RX 570/580, but it could also appear occasionally on others). This crash most often happened during cutscenes and dialogues but could also occur in other situations. Let us know if it's improved!
  
• We have fixed the music in the scientists' base, which could get stuck.
  
• During the quest "TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN," the exploration music should now play correctly.
  
• During dialogues and cutscenes, the Main Hero's hair should now appear correctly - meaning significantly better.
  
• The companions in the base should no longer be sinking into the ground. If anyone experiences this again, please make sure to let us know on the bug subforum.
  
• The "Learn to cook" skill should now function properly every time.
  
• Using the "Glitch" skill should no longer cause FPS drops. We've also fixed the training itself.
  
• We've fixed the item that allows for the restoration of Planewalker's shells. It should now revive dead shells every time.
  
• During "Survival of the Fittest," if you move too far away from Luka, Chernohosts will no longer be able to permanently kill him.
  
• Now all items collected during a co-op mission should correctly return with the player to their world.
  
• Projectiles fired by Chernohosts should now be properly visible on lower graphics settings.
  
• When using frame generation, full-screen UI (inventory, skills, etc.) should no longer break or have transparency issues.
  
• Human enemies should no longer spawn with weapons floating around their heads.
  

[h2]Hi Chornobyl explorers,[/h2]

It's already been a week since we launched Early Access and started collecting feedback on the overall game from our community worldwide.

[h3]What did you like as the game highlights?[/h3]
💚 Open world, its atmosphere and its exploration.
💚 Amount of activities you can take within a game.
💚 Variety of gameplay mechanics, combat, and customization options.
💚 Interesting story premise and different conversation options.
💚 Switchable first-person and third-person perspectives.

The above is an excellent message because it's exactly how we wanted Chernobylite 2 to be perceived. The only reasonable comment for this is that we plan to keep working to improve this aspects wherever they can be improved. But we also thank you a lot for all your words of appreciation and heartwarming notes you're sending to us to let us know that you enjoy our vision and the direction of the project. High five! 💚

[h3]What you didn't like especially?[/h3]
☢️ Optimization issues, lack of balance in certain aspects, and bugs.
☢️ Lack of proper language text localization (machine translation) and occasionally used AI-generated voices.
☢️ The fact that co-op missions are limited only to specific areas of the game and not available all the time.

This deserves more attention here because these are the areas we need to address with top priorities.

First, each point falls into a different category of things that can be evaluated from the perspective of what can be done and when.

We have to admit with complete openness: only the first of these things - optimization, balance issues and bugs - was fully expected by us, for a relatively simple reason: we have been testing the game for a long time, both internally and externally, and we are pretty aware of how much work remains in the area of optimization and bug fixing. Here, Early Access was primarily intended to help us collect additional data on the frequency of various technical glitches and their annoyance, which we want to translate into prioritizing the tasks of fixing these inconveniences. In this regard, our activities are proceeding according to plan so far - we have already published the first hotfix, which addressed some of the most significant glitches suitable for correction in recent days, and we plan to publish more hotfixes in the coming days.

The following two aspects - language localization and dialogue recordings - address flaws that we knew about but whose importance we underestimated from the point of view of Early Access reception and directly translate into changes in our priorities for the near future.

In short, we are preparing a major update to the game, in which we will solve the issues of text localization and voice recordings of actors. We are currently in the process of both translating the entire game text by human translators working with us, as well as recording with real actors and implementing those lines of dialogue that, for various reasons, we did not manage to insert into the game before the launch of Early Access. We estimate that this work will take no more than a few weeks, and we are preparing to publish it along with the first mega-patch, which, in any case, was scheduled for April. With this patch, in April, we'll reveal the roadmap of the Early Access with all milestones we're planning to deliver to you, not only fixes and improvements but also new content, features, and extra surprises.

Last but not least is the matter of co-op scope and availability in the game. This is where we need to do a deeper evaluation of your opinions and comments, as our game is a heavily story-driven game based on similar narrative assumptions as Chernobylite 1, and there is no easy way to shift the emphasis toward cooperative play without demolishing other design assumptions. We will certainly continue to listen to your feedback on all aspects of the cooperative missions and explore the possibility of a different exposition and development of them. Still, we must ask for your patience in this regard, as any changes in this area would inherently affect all other aspects of the game. We certainly don't want to spoil anything you think is well-conceived and executed so far.

Of course, there's much more to the details of your feedback—we're reading all of your comments, reviews, and messages carefully. We'll update you on the progress and next steps here, on Steam, and on our social media channels.

Don't forget that you can still publish your in-game screenshots in our Virtual Photography contest and win cool prizes, or if you simply like enjoying nice pictures, take a look on our Community Hub to see what others have already published.


[hr][/hr][h2]We're working on our new game! Add it to your wishlist![/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2075100/Chernobylite_2_Exclusion_Zone/