GSC Gameworld have announced that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 will be in the Unreal Engine, we assume Unreal 4.

The news comes via the game’s official Twitter, stating the following within an image:

“S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 IS POWERED BY UNREAL ENGINE

Frankly speaking, we wanted to hold this particular announcement for a while.
But our colleagues at Epic accidentally made a New Year surprise for everyone, including us.

GSC Game World team constantly searches for the best technologies ot work with, and UE was the most suitable choice for us.

It gives us the opportunity to make the game you wait for with the atmosphere of tension and mystery the flesh and blood of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe.
Additionally, Unreal Engine harmonizes well with out goal to make modding more easy and accessible. User modifications help the world of the Zone live on while we are busy with making a sequel, and we can’t be more grateful for that.

Yes, we know what you are thinking about, but this announcement has nothing to do with platforms or digital stores.

We will talk about this later.”

As Unreal is owned by Epic Games, it comes as no surprise that GSC Gameworld somewhat addressed the concerns some have about the game becoming an Epic Games Store exclusive.

Due to the ramping bad press of Epic Games Store exclusivity (especially when cancelling planned Steam releases), some have rejected the Epic Games Store’s exclusivity offer outright. These include Bandai Namco, Microsoft, and indie developer Unfold Games– going as far as to say pulling Darq from Steam for Epic Games Store exclusivity would ruin their credibility.

Back when the game was announced on March 15th, 2018, Epic Games’ Director of Publishing Strategy and SteamSpy creator Sergey Galyonkin made small hints the game would use the Unreal Engine even then.

We will keep you informed as we learn more about the game.