Patch Notes [03.06.2026]

Steam post imageOver the past year, the weather has remained largely unchanged, but new winds have begun to blow, bringing change to the Zone. Down South, everyone’s talking about the new contingent of foreign troops. Meanwhile, all the factions in Forge are keeping a wary eye on the SSPP and its new representatives, with a sense of unease as they recall last summer. Dark clouds are gathering over the CEZ, and every stalker is wondering whether the fragile balance achieved after the Defence of the Perimeter can be maintained.

Content

• Anticyclone season

• Economic changes to Act and Season

• Revitalization of The Swamps

• Guide update

• 3D faces

• Balance adjustments

• Session battles adjustments

• In-game shop update

• Other changes and fixes

Anticyclone season

Summer weather

As time goes by, the weather changes too, bringing with it a sun that beats down on your head.

In the game, you will see the following updated weather phenomena:

• Clear weather;

• Cloudy weather;

• Overcast weather;

• Heavy rain.

Season awards

The following key rewards are available this season:

• Tec-DC9;

• Steyr AUG A3 9mm XS;

• Brigand Armored Suit;

• Special Case Tokens;

• Trail of War skin;

• Tactical Binoculars charm;

• Act III Tickets;

• Removal paint container;

• Tamagotchi charm;

• Typhoon charm;

• Anticyclone customisation set.

AAC Honey Badger assault rifle is a unique reward for reaching level 500.Steam post image

Special case

Special case contents have been updated. Now you can use it to get:

• KS-12 Komrad;

• Albatross Interceptor;

• Bear’s Den-6 Container;

• Cheytac M300;

• AK-308.

Economic changes to Act and Season

In Act III, the Ticket system will undergo changes, and economic adjustments will be made to the Season Pass.

Changes to the Act III Ticket system

Legendary gear in the shop

Removed the offer to purchase the legendary gear for 6 500 Tickets.

You can obtain legendary gear by collecting 6-8 parts, barter resources and rubles.

Changes to the barter recipes for Legendary gear

Before

After

Sources of Tickets

Season Pass is still the main source of income. Removed the element of chance in the form of Caskets. Players will now receive 2000 Tickets per season for completing 400 levels whilst holding an active Season Pass. Consequently, you can earn 8000 Tickets for the entire Act. However, this Act will also feature various activities where you can earn extra Tickets.

Activities will be divided into two types:

• For anyone interested, with simpler gameplay but fewer Tickets. They take place in autumn and spring.

• For those who aren't looking for the easy way out, with plenty of Tickets. They take place in winter and summer.

The first event of this kind is already planned for this autumn!

Exchange of parts for legendary gear

You can now trade parts of legendary gear that appeared in the same Act. You can now exchange legendary gear pieces obtained in the same Act. To do so, right-click the piece and select Transofrm.

For example:

• Parts of the armour Albatross Heavy Assault Armored Exoskeleton suit and parts of the Gauss rifle can be swapped for one another.

• Parts of the Chitin backpack and parts of the ZIVCAS M2-C armour suit are replaceable.

In other words, you can swap one item for another from the same Act in which the gear first appeared in the Ticket Shop.

Ticket shop

In Act III, we will return master items in exchange for Act I Tickets, and we will also keep the offers from Act II.

In addition, new items will be added to the shop’s range during the Act.

Consequently, the range of products available at the Ticket shop will not change, but will simply be expanded to include new items.

Changes in prices of Ticket shop

In Act III, a new pricing policy for master gear will be applied using Tickets:

• Containers will not change in price and will cost 1500;

• Melee weapons — 1000;

• Sights — 500.

Selling gear for a third of its cost

Added the ability to sell master gear to the Fence for Tickets at a third of its full price.

An item can only be returned within the Act in which it was purchased.

New legendary pistol

The latest addition to the Act III Ticket shop is the legendary CR-72.

It can be obtained the same way as other legendary gear for Act Tickets, using 6/7/8 parts along with barter and rubles.

Attention!

The current Act Tickets system will not change significantly throughout the Act. However, new offers with Master rank gear may still be added to Act Ticket shop.

Changes that do not affect the total amount of Tickets received per season, store prices, or the overall game economy (such as redistributing the amount of Act Tickets across Season Pass levels) are also possible.

Act Tickets policy may change between Acts, including changes to prices, total amount, and distribution of Tickets, as Tickets are an economic entity specific to a particular Act and do not carry over between them.

Season shop changes

Any gear part from previous seasons can now be purchased A part price is now 200 Act Tickets

The gear parts container now holds parts from previous seasons Price: 100 → 150 Tickets

Season gear obtaining changes

Previously it was possible to obtain 4 gear parts: from Special to Legendary quality. Now, crafting a season gear requires 5 Red parts instead of 4 different.

Some of the parts will be compensated:

• 1 Red part -> 2 Red parts;

• 1 Golden part -> 3 Red parts

• Purple and blue parts will not fall under compensation. It is possible to sell the parts to the Fence NPC within a month.

Season Pass rewards changes

Special Case Token is now obtained at level 460 of the Season Pass, instead of 200 as it was previously.

Same amount of Act Tickets can be received at 100, 200, 300, and 400 levels accordingly. At the same time, a fixed amount of Act Tickets is obtained in the paid Season Pass version.

Season currency consumables changes

Special case changes

Added a possibility to sell all Special/Advanced cases items to Zen

Special cases currency price: 15 000 → 25 000

Season currency gear selling changes

Learn more about the reasons behind Tickets changes in our article.

Revitalization of The Swamps

NPCs at Ataman's HQ and the boathouse have finally come to life — they got their own unique animations. Stalkers no longer stand around like statues — they look around, shift their weight, chat with one another, and go about their daily routines. The Zone feels more alive now because movement is life.

And this is only the beginning. Over time, we'll add high-quality animations to other locations as well, making NPCs throughout the Zone feel truly alive.

Guide update

The in-game Guide was fully reworked. Let's take a closer look at what's changed.

Updated visuals

You can find the new Guide in the upper-right corner of the ESC menu.

Information about game mechanics has been consolidated under the Instructions section, while items have been moved to the Codex tab.

This makes finding the information faster and more convenient.

Information Search

Besides browsing categories, you can now use the search bar to quickly find relevant information.

An automatic recommendation system for related articles has also been added, helping you explore topics in detail.

Articles are recommended based on the number of matching tags. For example, if you explore about progression and open an article on weapon upgrade, the system will suggest other articles tagged with “Character progression”. This allows you to seamlessly navigate to the Researcher article and learn more about artifact builds.

Items can now be examined directly in the Guide: view them from all angles and access almost all available information without opening external windows.

Terms

If you come across an unfamiliar characteristic or term in the Guide, you can hover over it and get a brief explanation.

And if you would like to learn more, just left-click to go to the page with full information.

In the item's characteristics list, you can hover over unfamiliar terms to get a short definition from the Guide or head straight to the corresponding article.

3D-faces

2D faces are a vestige of the past that no longer fit our current vision for the game's visual. It's time to move on and open the new chapter of STALCRAFT: X visuals.

First iteration

All skins have received unique 3D models, giving characters more individuality.

As part of the first iteration, lip-sync has also been implemented — now NPC dialogue lines are accompanied by synchronized speech animation, making interaction with the world even more lively.

Now skins differ not only by its textures, but by its silhouette as well.

Unfortunately, in progress of development some skins have undergone changes. For example, the Gift Snatcher has changed his appearance — from mutant his became in balaclava.

Try to find other changes like this!

Further plans

It's just first iteration, and then there are several more stages of development:

• Lip-sync for NPC's replicas in open world;

• Characters emotions (playable and NPC);

• Possibility to wear balaclavas on all skins (not soon);

• Voluminous models of accessories — about that in details below;

• And other upgrades that are so early talking about.

Unfortunately, due to the inability to remove visors and helmets, 3D accessory support on skins is temporarily unavailable.

For example, the Corporat skin will currently appear as a character wearing a balaclava without glasses.

As soon as it becomes possible to remove the suits' helmets, we will immediately start working on a 3D accessory system for skins.

Write your thoughts, and we will monitor the feedback and make changes as needed.

Balance adjustments

SIG MPX update

SIG MPX submachine gun has received master rank and has been added to the barter as a continuation of HK MP5.

You can also obtain the drum for it through barter using the X-5 drum.

Due to the upgrade, the following have been changed:

Update on anomalous grenades

• RemovedThe following grenades have been removed from accessFrost, Snowstorm, Sickness, Tarmac, Paralyzer, Barrier. Removed recipes in the Hideout, drop rates from safes, and so on.

• Stinky grenade now combines poisoning and slowing effects (the former functionality of the removed Tarmac grenade), but applies these effects more slowly than these grenades did previously.

• All grenades in the Damage category have been reclassified as Obstacle. They now share the same category as the Stinky. Stinky takes top priority: it will cover the effects of Napalm or Hot Jack.

• Napalm (and all other grenades that produce a similar visual effect), Plantain and Stinky now have different visual effects for enemies and allies.

Following the removal of grenades, the following item replacements have been made for players

Stabilization adjustments

All Stabilization values (for attachments and built into weapons) have been halved. Stabilisation from anomalous modules is not affected by this weakening.

Anomalous module changes

• Improved many properties of the anomalous modules

• Weakened Regulator

• Changed characteristics of the Aggressor property

Armour adjustments

Beastslayer branch received almost record-breaking stopping power protection. Combined with its laceration protection (which reduces incoming stopping power), the Beastslayers durability will allow it to withstand slowing effects more effectively than the SBA TANK, losing only to super-heavy armour suits.

Faction combat suits have received a slight boost to their durability to make them more competitive compared to similar items

Super-heavy armour suits have been averaged and now resemble more of a natural progression of the Centurion concept Excessive penalties to speed and bullet resistance made them a nuisance for both enemies and the owner, depending on the situation. They have become more mobile.

Yorsh and Spanner had rather poor parameters for their level and were of little use compared to their analogues, so they were upgraded.

Improved armour suits, which previously suffered significantly in gunfights due to their speed penalty

Artefact and consumable adjustments

Weakened the following properties for most artefacts and consumables:

• Regeneration

• Healing

• Healing Effectiveness

• Stability

• Bleeding protection

Added adjustments to artefacts that were too weak or too strong

Artefact changes

Consumables adjustments

Containers changes

Ammunition changes

• Increased 5 mm and 7 mm Round stopping power by 5

• Increased 10 mm Round stopping power to the 5 mm and 7 mm Round amount

Weapon changes

• Increased effectiveness at long and medium distances for Machine Guns, Assault Rifles, and Submachine Guns

• Removed damage reduction from most of the sniper rifles Changed maximum and minimum damage distances to ensure correct functionality of Compressor and Decompressor modules

• Removed plate penetration for CR-380

• Moved PTRD-M from Other Weapons category to Sniper Rifles

• Changed HK PSG and SOK-94 characteristics to more correct and convenient

• Increased Premium SIX12 and Premium Micro UZI to top-tier barter gear level

Session battles changes

Duels

• The presets for the gear for duels was update.

• In duel maps list was added Inferno and Hospital.

• Most equipment presets now use armor-piercing ammunition, except for the issued shotguns.

Session Battles

• Removed the Hospital Deathmatch, Wormhole, and Pripyat Streets maps, along with their variants.

• Session Battles for the Stalker and Veteran ranks are now played on the Colosseum and Collapse maps, rotating every 30 minutes.

• Changed team spawn points on the Moria House map.

• Removed the capture point on the Hospital, Moria House, Inferno, and Glass maps — victory now requires reaching a fixed kill count. Map rotation has been added for these locations: Hospital and Inferno rotate every 10 minutes, while Moria House and Glass rotate every 15 minutes (the kill limit required for victory is not final and may be adjusted in the future).

• Added map rotation for GOST-17 Deathmatch and Glass Deathmatch — now they replace each other every 10 minutes.

• Added access to the personal storage inside the mobile camp in Subdivision Battles.

• All variants of the Flamethrower and Frostthrower no longer automatically replenish their magazines on kill in Session Battles.

In-game shop update

Pack chain

Do you want to get closer to the season's top rewards faster? The chain of special bundles includes Season pass levels, Overdrives, Tactical Stockpile crates, and the Control paint — everything you need for a strong start.

Styles

True superiority starts before the first shot is fired. The Tactical superiority style set is designed for those who prefer their gear to look just as dangerous as its owner. If you favour strict tactics over flashy appearance, this set is sure to find a place in your arsenal.

Tank and Melted cosmetics, along with Ship motifs, will be available for purchase until the end of summer.

Other changes and fixes

• Changed the chunk loading mechanism. It is no longer possible for an enemy to shoot at you while being outside your loaded chunks. Now the list of chunks that can be visible from your current position is determined by that position and does not depend on your previous movement across the map.

• Updated AUG A3 model.

• Updated Houndmaster, Trapper, Hunter’s Cloak and Orion Jumpsuit models.

• The Drossel's resource box for Arsen can now only be purchased with rubles.

• Added reputation limit per day, which can be obtained by donating one type of resource. The limit is approximately 1000 reputation, but each resource has its own quantitative limit.

• Arsen also now accepts advanced and standard spare parts and tools on a permanent basis.

• Raincoat was deleted from barter. Now its position in the barter is taken by the Cloak-Tent.

• Fixed missing texture on F2000.

• Removed zeroes from the ZIVCAS M2-C exoskeleton.

• All styles for the Desert Eagle are now also available for the Big Bill.

• In the death screen, you can now view the name of the equipment without the style/motif.

• The weapon no longer increases in height to 3 slots when installing 45-round magazines and the ACOG sight.

• Adjusted the spawn of quest сaches in the factional North.

• Adjusted the Morse code for tangledsignals: you can now distinguish the dungeon signal from others.

• Your own pack can now be added to the trash independently of other packs.

• All artefact build stats are now applied only after the build is fully equipped.

• The Trampoline anomaly now activates the laceration reaction again.

• Now, after collecting anomalous crystals or pulp, a collection mark remains in their place for a while – a plant without pulp or branches/stumps without crystals.

• Reduced the weight of the Core Inhibitor item from 10g to 1g.

• Fixed multiple translation inconsistency bugs across all languages.

• Corrected several minor localization bugs in all languages.