STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl has a new update out, 2.1, which builds on the excellent 2.0 patch by upgrading that most beloved and contentious of STALKER series features: the A-Life system that governs simulated NPC behavior. With the 2.1 update. It's now possible to whack up the distance at which A-Life NPCs (who, unlike scripted characters, will wander around, fight others over faction turf, and sometimes hunker down for a campfire-side guitar sesh) are visualised, while audio tweaks can make these unplanned shootouts audible from further away. The effect, in theory, is a better sense of the Zone's inhabitants going about their bang-banging business, even if Mr. Main Character here isn't close by.
Both the updated game and the accompanying blog post warn that cranking this A-Life bubble up beyond the lowest, default 'Recommended' setting may have adverse effects, ranging from lower framerates to "story quest instability" and crashes. Fearing a return to STALKER 2's bug-ridden early days, I tried out the new A-Life distance options on the RPS test rig, and found they're not actually that perilous – though they might do strange things with binoculars.