You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereOn release, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl was a game that ran pretty damn well on Xbox Series consoles, but the release suffered from a devastated A-Life system. Now, a new patch fixes the games A-Life AI simulation, making the world feel more alive, but performance has suffered.In an interview shortly after launch, developer GSC Game World revealed that the games busted A-Life system was butchered by aggressive optimisation. Now that the system has been moderately fixed, although theres still a long way to go, the Xbox version of the game isnt running so hot.Stalker 2 A-Life kneecaps Xbox performanceFollowing the release of the Stalker 2 Patch 1.1 update, players immediately noticed a massive cut to performance on Xbox Series X and Series S. Prior to the update, the game was mostly stable, outside of key areas filled with NPCs and interactive elements.However, now, Stalker 2 runs at a significantly lower level of performance with even normal traversal through the games lush open world resulting in noticeable drops in framerate. What was once a smooth experience on console, despite the number of other technical issues, is buckling under the improved systems. But is it that bad?In our testing, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl on Xbox seems mostly stable when moving across the world. However, when A-Life activities start taking placesuch as two factions fighting each other from afarthe framerate does noticably drop. While we dont have the bespoke framerate measuring tools of, say, Digital Foundry, my TVs VRR tracker noticed a drop down to 42fps, just barely hitting the VRR window.For players with VRR displays, this means that youll notice the game going in and out of that special window that makes games with uneven framerates feel better to play. For those without, the huge variance in performance may be very noticeable.Players on the official Xbox subreddit have noticed the significant cut in performance with one player saying: this patch has made performance much worse on XBSX. I was so excited to continue my playthrough over the holidays but now that there are more NPCs and mutants the framerate tanks down to 40fps or less when there is action happening.However, in our experience, which is only a couple of hours with this patch, the performance drop is worth the benefit. Even across just two hours of play, the world of Stalker 2 feels so much closer to its predecessors. This world is now truly alive, and we already adored the original release. That doesnt mean everything is fixed. For example, enemies still see you through walls and the like, but its much improved.If you can handle uneven performancealthough it has yet to drop under 30fps for usthen this update is absolutely balling.S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of ChornobylPlatform(s):PC, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Series XGenre(s):Action, Adventure, RPG, Shooter, Survival HorrorSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share