The city of Pripyat is an iconic location featured many times in the series, including Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl. Although you will eventually enter this region, some players may be interested in exploring this late-game area early. Technically, you can enter Pripyat during the Boundary mission, but there is a secret path that lets you stroll into this city near the beginning of the game. Don’t worry; you won’t crash the game, and you can still interact with the NPCs inside.
How To Enter Pripyat Early in Stalker 2
If you want to enter Pripyat early in Stalker 2, you must head to the Yaniv Station on the northwestern side of the map. Note that you can’t access this area until you complete the main mission in the Lesser Zone. You can immediately head northwest once you can go to the Garbage area.
From the Garbage region, head west and pass through Rostok, and then go north to pass through the Red Forest. After this, you will enter the Yaniv region, where you can find the Yaniv Station base. The area around Pripyat is blocked by abandoned train carts. However, there is a hole you can use to pass through this barricade.
On the eastern side of the Yaniv Station, you can find an abandoned excavator near one of the trains. The excavator’s bucket has made a hole in one of the train carriages, and you can jump into this opening to get through the barricade. Once you are on the other side, you can sprint right into Pripyat.
I highly recommend visiting the Enerhetyk Palace of Culture base on the northern side of Pripyat first. In this location, you can hire a guide to lead you out of the city, and you can also use other guides to bring you back to this base once you’ve visited it.
