Sometimes, the problems with hackers never seem to end. That's probably what the development team on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart of Chornobyl are thinking, since a playtest build has been leaked online. Apparently, the studio had been using torrent files to distribute it and one link was intercepted by the hackers and shared around on the internet.
Earlier this year, in March, the team confirmed that it had been hacked and blackmailed by a Russian hacker group, who said to have been in possess of "30 gigabytes of information, including concept art, environmental art and maps" and threatened to release it.
Ukranian developer GSC Game World has confirmed that this leak was the result of the work of the same hacking group, who has now been pestering the team for almost a year and a half. "Unfortunately, they were able to access and compromise some of our leaked information intended for internal testing of various game aspects", said the team.
While it has been confirmed that the build, despite being basically unplayable, may contain events and characters that might indeed appear in the final game, GSC has been telling fans "not to share it". Playing that build might indeed ruin the overall experience of entering "The Zone", when the game will be officially released.
Still, the team aims to reassure all fans that they will stay dedicated to bringing them the best experience possible. The team concluded by saying "Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is the game we dedicate our hearts and souls to. Despite the issue, we will continue to ensure that the game will satisfy your expectations, as we hope".
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart of Chornobyl is still slated for a 2023 release, even though no official details have been shared yet. We definitely wish the team good luck with their work as we are all curious to see what is coming next for the series.