S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl’s first major story expansion, titled Cost of Hope, is set to launch in Summer 2026 for PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Cloud Gaming and PlayStation 5. According to a release, the expansion will add a new storyline centred on protagonist Skif, along with two new regions, additional quests, weapons and equipment. The DLC was announced on March 26th. The expansion’s first trailer was also published alongside the announcement.

In Cost of Hope, players will once again follow Skif as events unfold alongside the main game’s story. According to the release, installing the DLC will trigger the new campaign through a PDA signal during gameplay, with player decisions continuing to affect how the story develops.

The expansion will also revisit one of the game’s key faction conflicts. Duty, one of the Zone’s oldest factions, views the area as a threat that should be contained and destroyed. Freedom, by contrast, sees the Zone as something that should be explored and used for wider benefit.

New regions and the next chapter for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2

According to the release, Cost of Hope will introduce two new locations: the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the Iron Forest. Both regions will include their own hubs, quests and activities. New weapons and gear will also be added, giving players more options when dealing with mutants, anomalies and other threats across the Zone. The release described the DLC as a large nonlinear expansion featuring dozens of hours of gameplay, though no exact length was disclosed.

GSC Game World also said that Cost of Hope would serve as the middle chapter of the game’s “second trilogy”. Together with a future story DLC, which has yet to be detailed, it will form a broader narrative arc within the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series.