It seems that the developers of STALKER 2, GSC Game World are changing the spelling of its highly-anticipated, upcoming game, STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl. The game is now going to be named STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl. But, why did they do that? That is what the main question is.

Well, in case you are not aware, Chernobyl is the Russian spelling, and Chornobyl is the Ukrainian version of it. With the current war going on between Ukraine and Russia there is clearly a lot going on in the minds of the Ukrainians. GSC Game World is based in Kyiv, Ukraine, and they feel that their game should be named according to the Ukrainian spelling, that is Chornobyl and not Chernobyl.

Now, this change has not been made official yet, as in there has not been a clear announcement as of now. However, if you check the Steam page for STALKER 2, you would be greeted with a new spelling. That is STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl, instead of Chernobyl that it had before. We believe as time passes, this update will happen across other places as well, where it is still mentioned as STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl.

Many Ukrainian locations when translated in English tend to use the Russian counterpart. This is something that the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has tried to change. They want the English translations to be based on the Ukrainian version of them. In 2018, they started a campaign called KyivNotKiev. The purpose of this campaign was to encourage international media to use Ukrainian spellings for locations in Ukraine, such as Kyiv (Ukrainian). However, despite that being the capital city of Ukraine, it is used as Kiev (Russian) at many international places.