Chernobylite review

This Chernobylite review is based on official sources and player reviews, not on our own play time. The Farm 51's single-player sci-fi survival horror RPG came out on July 28, 2021, and Steam now sells it as Chernobylite Complete Edition for $29.99. It is set in a 3D-scanned Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, and its paid DLC is cosmetic. This page covers the first game, not the Early Access sequel Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone.

What is Chernobylite?

Chernobylite is a single-player science-fiction survival horror RPG from The Farm 51. You play Igor, a physicist and former Chernobyl Power Plant worker who returns to Pripyat to find out what happened to his fiancée, who vanished 30 years earlier. The Exclusion Zone was recreated from 3D scans.

Per the Steam page, the game mixes base building and crafting, daily planning of resources and tasks for your companions, stealth or open combat against soldiers, other stalkers and creatures, and a non-linear story shaped by your choices. Steam lists it as single-player only.

On May 31, 2024, the developer released the Complete Edition as its final major free update. It bundles the base game with the earlier free content (Monster Hunt, Ghost Town and Seasons 1 to 3) and adds Season 4, including Tour Around the Zone, a mode for exploring locations without being attacked.

Is Chernobylite free? Price and editions

No. Chernobylite is a paid game. Steam sells Chernobylite Complete Edition for $29.99 in the US as of October 30, 2026, with no discount running that day. There is no free-to-play version, though the developer runs regular sales; its April 2026 anniversary sale cut the Complete Edition to $5.99 until May 1.

The Complete Edition is the only edition on Steam and already includes every free update. Owners of the earlier Enhanced Edition got the same content as a free update. The game is also sold on GOG for Windows, and console editions are listed on the PlayStation Store and the Xbox Store.

Optional paid DLC on Steam costs $3.99 per pack for eight weapon-skin, base-decoration and music packs, $5.99 for the digital artbook and $4.99 for the soundtrack. One of the $3.99 packs is a Charity Pack whose net income The Farm 51 and All in! Games donate to help victims of the war in Ukraine.

Is Chernobylite pay to win? What money buys

Chernobylite is single-player, so there are no other players to buy an advantage over. Money buys the game itself and optional extras, and every paid DLC on Steam is cosmetic or bonus material.

Weapon skin packs (White Rose, Autumn Dread and Deadly Frost) change how weapons look. Base packs (Blue Flames, Red Trees and Black Smoke) add decorations and skins for your hideout. The Zone Bard Pack lets you choose music tracks to play in the base. The Art of Chernobylite is a digital artbook, and the soundtrack is sold separately. Steam lists no in-app purchases, so there are no premium currencies, loot boxes or season passes, and the ESRB lists no interactive elements for the console version.

Based on what the official stores sell, we rate it as not pay to win; we will check this again when we play it ourselves.

Chernobylite vs Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone

The Farm 51's official site now promotes the sequel, Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone, so it helps to know which game a page or video covers. This page is about the first game, sold on Steam as Chernobylite Complete Edition (app 1016800).

Chernobylite 2 is a separate purchase. It entered Steam Early Access on March 6, 2025, after a Kickstarter campaign, and costs $39.99 on Steam in the US as of October 30, 2026. Its Steam page calls it a post-apocalyptic hybrid action-RPG in which you play Cole Gray, a Planewalker searching the Zone for a cure for his daughter. It has its own store page, reviews and requirements.

The first game is finished: the developer called the 2024 Complete Edition its final major free update, and the latest patch post on Steam is a Steam Deck update from January 21, 2025.

Chernobylite on PC, Mac, consoles and mobile

On PC, Chernobylite runs on Windows through Steam and GOG. Steam lists no macOS or Linux version, and it shows full controller support and Remote Play on TV. A January 2025 update tuned the default settings and enlarged the interface by 20% for Steam Deck.

On consoles, the game is on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. It reached consoles on September 28, 2021, with the next-generation versions following on April 21, 2022. The developer's Steam news also announced the Complete Edition on Nintendo Switch in December 2024.

There is no phone app. In October 2025 the developer said the Complete Edition had joined Blacknut Cloud Gaming, which streams it to phones and tablets over the internet.

Chernobylite system requirements

Steam lists these requirements for 64-bit Windows with DirectX 11 and 40 GB of storage.

Minimum, for 30 FPS at Low settings: Windows 7 SP1 (64-bit), an Intel Core i5-2500K, 8 GB of RAM, and a GeForce GTX 660, GTX 1050 or GTX 770M, an AMD Radeon R7 260, Ryzen 7 4800H integrated graphics or an Intel Arc A580.

Recommended, for 30 FPS at Ultra or 60 FPS at High: Windows 7 SP1, 8 or 10 (64-bit), an Intel Core i7-4790K, 16 GB of RAM, and a GeForce GTX 970 or GTX 1060, an AMD Radeon RX 480 or RX 570, or an Intel Arc A750.

The game is single-player, and Steam lists no network requirement for either tier.

Games like Chernobylite

These games from our catalog also deal with survival, exploration or open worlds. Unlike Chernobylite, all three are free to play and online:

STALZONE: EXBO's PvPvE extraction shooter in a persistent open world, formerly STALCRAFT: X, on Windows through Steam and the Epic Games Store.

Once Human: NetEase's open-world survival game, on Windows through Steam, the Epic Games Store and its own client, plus PlayStation, Xbox, iOS and Android.

Where Winds Meet: Everstone Studio's open-world action RPG, published by NetEase, with a single-player story and online co-op for up to four friends; on Windows, iOS and Android.

• STALZONE
• Once Human
• Where Winds Meet