GSC Game World has confirmed Cost of Hope as the first major expansion for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, due to arrive this summer on Xbox, PC and PlayStation 5 simultaneously. The studio describes the DLC as a "massive nonlinear expansion" offering dozens of hours of new gameplay in the Zone.

The expansion returns control of protagonist Skif to players and runs alongside events from the base game. After installing Cost of Hope, a signal on the PDA will trigger the new storyline, and choices made during play will shape how events unfold — with consequences that the developer says could reach "far beyond" the Zone.

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Cost of Hope introduces two new regions: the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the Iron Forest. Each region includes its own hub, quests and activities, alongside new weapons and gear for Skif to employ against mutants, anomalies and hostile factions.

The announcement, accompanied by a reveal trailer during the Xbox Partner Preview, frames the expansion within Stalker lore. A studio press release highlighted the ideological clash between factions, noting: "Duty, one of the oldest factions, sees the Zone as a threat that must be contained and destroyed. On the other side, Freedom believes it's a gift – something to explore and harness for the greater good. For a time, this tension was held together by a fragile peace. But deals like that rarely last."

GSC Game World calls Cost of Hope the "first major expansion" while also describing it as the "middle chapter of the 'second trilogy'" of the Stalker series. The developer confirmed that future expansions will be released in instalments, and that details of a subsequent story DLC will be revealed at a later date.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 originally launched on Xbox and PC in 2024 and arrived on PlayStation 5 in 2025. Cost of Hope is scheduled to launch sometime this summer for all platforms on which the game is available.