Added a full day–night cycle system. You can now visit locations in the morning, daytime, evening, or at night.
Real-time has been replaced with in-game time. As before, one in-game minute equals one real minute — there is no accelerated time system.
Added the ability to sleep at the bases of the Free Stalkers and Dawn factions. Sleeping slightly restores your health but also increases your hunger level.
Traveling between locations now takes in-game time. For example, a trip to the raid location Military Town takes 2 in-game hours. The transition still happens instantly — but the time on your PDA and tablet will adjust accordingly.
Location markers on the map now display the in-game travel time required to reach them. For example, if you depart for Pripyat at 18:00, you’ll arrive there around 1:00 AM. Keep this in mind when planning your raids at different times of day.
Added a new artifact — “Children’s Joy.” It can be found only in the raid location Military Town, exclusively at night, and only one artifact per raid. This is the first artifact that can be discovered without a detector.
Added new loot — a toy “Children’s Pyramid.” It can be found in some raids and story locations.
Added new loot — a toy “Pyramid.” Also found in some raids and story locations.
When starting a new game, players will now see a confirmation screen for the initial control setup. This should help those who prefer not to search through the main menu.
Increased the amount of guaranteed loot in the raid location Military Town — making it one of the most profitable areas for new players.
Increased the chance of finding artifacts across all locations.
Backpacks of defeated faction fighters can now contain not only magazines with more ammo but also grenades.
Increased the volume of weapon drop sounds. Heavy firearms now produce a louder and more noticeable sound when dropped outside of a slot.
Increased the volume of pistol drop sounds — helping players notice when they’ve lost a weapon.
Increased bullet speed and travel distance for the Night Hawk pistol.
Increased bullet speed and travel distance for the Desert Eagle pistol.
Increased bullet speed and travel distance for the Glock 19zo pistol.
Increased bullet speed and travel distance for the PL-14 pistol.
Increased bullet speed and travel distance for the PM (Makarov Pistol).
Minor updates made to the game’s main menu.
Optimized several textures on raid locations.