S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2's Cost of Hope DLC: new characters, a new rifle, and PS5 day-one access
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is getting its first story expansion — Cost of Hope — in summer 2026, and for the first time the launch is simultaneous on PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and PlayStation 5. That last point matters: the base game launched as a timed Xbox and PC exclusive, so PS5 owners are finally getting in on day one. Season Pass holders through the Ultimate Edition get access included; a standalone price hasn't been announced yet, though estimates put it in the £15–20 range on Steam.
The new faces
The expansion centres on Skif navigating a conflict between the Freedom and Duty factions deep inside the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, with the action returning to the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the Iron Forest. Two familiar faces join the cast: Zulu, a Duty veteran from S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, and Mavka, a character who has been referenced but never seen in the series.
The biggest casting detail comes from a Discord moderator for the STALKER community — handle Mol1t — who says Duty general Voronin will be voiced and motion-captured by Oleksiy Gorbunov, a decorated Ukrainian stage and screen actor. Gorbunov, born in 1961, holds both the Honored Artist of Ukraine (1991) and People's Artist of Ukraine (2016) titles — the country's two highest theatrical honours. GSC has not officially confirmed the casting, so treat it as credible-but-unverified for now.
New Information about the Cost of Hope DLC has been shared by community manager Mol1t
— S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 News (@Stalker2News) June 16, 2026
The Ukrainian Actor and Face Model for General Voronin is Oleksii Horbunov
The New Rifle shown the new Trailer is called Self-loading infantry carbine (SIC) and will use 7.62x54 ammo in-game pic.twitter.com/cIFVby4Nxe
The new hardware
The same Discord source claims a sniper rifle spotted in the recent story trailer is called the SPK — a self-cocking infantry carbine chambered in 7.62x54. A smaller gameplay tweak: players will reportedly be able to use a side-mounted scope without a night-vision device attached, though that change may arrive via a free update rather than the DLC itself.
The bigger picture
Cost of Hope is framed as chapter two of what GSC is calling a second trilogy — per Gagadget, the base game is chapter one and a third DLC would follow, likely around 2028. The expansion triggers through an in-game signal to Skif's PDA, weaving its story into the existing main campaign rather than sitting apart from it.
The simultaneous release across all platforms, confirmed via Xbox Wire, signals a clear strategy shift from GSC. Whether the expansion delivers on its promise of answering long-running lore questions is something players on every platform will be able to find out at the same time this summer.
