Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
STALKER 2 Cost of Hope review after nearly 20 hours, completing both the Duty and Freedom routes and reaching both endings. Is the £24.99/$29.99 expansion worth buying?
Cost of Hope launches alongside STALKER 2 Update 2.0 and the Unreal Engine 5.5.4 upgrade. This complete spoiler-free review covers the campaign, Iron Forest, CNPP, faction choices, new mutants, anomalies, performance, problems and overall value.
In this video, we’ll discuss:
What’s covered:
How to start Cost of Hope
Early Start and Advanced Start options
The conflict between Duty and Freedom
Iron Forest and its points of interest
Lymansk, SIRCAA and the Radiowave Institute
Exploring the CNPP
New anomalies, artifacts and the Svarog detector
The Kadaver and other mutant encounters
Mission design and environmental puzzles
Duty and Freedom faction routes
Differences between both endings
Campaign length and replay value
New weapons and expansion rewards
English voice acting and character development
PC performance with Unreal Engine 5.5.4
Stuttering and traversal improvements
Visual problems and remaining issues
Cost of Hope’s price
Whether the expansion is worth buying
This review contains no major story spoilers, ending details, puzzle solutions or surprise mutant reveals. Brief footage from locations across the expansion is shown without story context.
I played at 4K with maximum settings on an RTX 5090 using DLSS and Frame Generation. This should not be treated as representative of console or lower-specification PC performance.
A-Life, NPC spawn distance, combat AI, mutant behaviour, console image quality, Custom Rules and the wider Update 2.0 performance changes will be tested separately in my complete STALKER 2 Update 2.0 review.
#STALKER2 #Update20 #CostOfHope #UnrealEngine5 #GamingNews #Xbox #pcgaming #ps5
00:00 The Verdict
00:52 Spoiler and Chapter Warning
01:27 Starting Cost of Hope
03:03 The Story Setup
04:14 The Iron Forest
05:55 Two-Part Structure
06:56 Locations and Mission Design
08:37 New Anomalies, Artifacts and Detector
10:08 New Mutants and Combat
11:14 The Duty and Freedom Choice
12:37 Length and Replay Value
13:55 The CNPP ( No Spoilers Outside Only)
14:32 Performance and Problems
15:59 My Verdict/Should You Buy?
STALKER 2 Cost of Hope review after nearly 20 hours, completing both the Duty and Freedom routes and reaching both endings. Is the £24.99/$29.99 expansion worth buying?
Cost of Hope launches alongside STALKER 2 Update 2.0 and the Unreal Engine 5.5.4 upgrade. This complete spoiler-free review covers the campaign, Iron Forest, CNPP, faction choices, new mutants, anomalies, performance, problems and overall value.
In this video, we’ll discuss:
What’s covered:
How to start Cost of Hope
Early Start and Advanced Start options
The conflict between Duty and Freedom
Iron Forest and its points of interest
Lymansk, SIRCAA and the Radiowave Institute
Exploring the CNPP
New anomalies, artifacts and the Svarog detector
The Kadaver and other mutant encounters
Mission design and environmental puzzles
Duty and Freedom faction routes
Differences between both endings
Campaign length and replay value
New weapons and expansion rewards
English voice acting and character development
PC performance with Unreal Engine 5.5.4
Stuttering and traversal improvements
Visual problems and remaining issues
Cost of Hope’s price
Whether the expansion is worth buying
This review contains no major story spoilers, ending details, puzzle solutions or surprise mutant reveals. Brief footage from locations across the expansion is shown without story context.
I played at 4K with maximum settings on an RTX 5090 using DLSS and Frame Generation. This should not be treated as representative of console or lower-specification PC performance.
A-Life, NPC spawn distance, combat AI, mutant behaviour, console image quality, Custom Rules and the wider Update 2.0 performance changes will be tested separately in my complete STALKER 2 Update 2.0 review.
#STALKER2 #Update20 #CostOfHope #UnrealEngine5 #GamingNews #Xbox #pcgaming #ps5
00:00 The Verdict
00:52 Spoiler and Chapter Warning
01:27 Starting Cost of Hope
03:03 The Story Setup
04:14 The Iron Forest
05:55 Two-Part Structure
06:56 Locations and Mission Design
08:37 New Anomalies, Artifacts and Detector
10:08 New Mutants and Combat
11:14 The Duty and Freedom Choice
12:37 Length and Replay Value
13:55 The CNPP ( No Spoilers Outside Only)
14:32 Performance and Problems
15:59 My Verdict/Should You Buy?
