GSC World has released a huge patch for Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, which has over 1,800 fixes, including the first iteration of changes for the A-Life feature.
A-Life is an AI program in Stalker 2 that gives NPC characters a life of their own outside of their interactions with players. Stalker 2 uses the 2.0 version of that. The fixes include players being able to encounter roaming NPCs more often, and greatly extended the distance at which NPCs are visible to players. Additionally, these NPCs will continue to advance towards their own goals over time, even in offline mode, and players may now encounter NPCs that they’ve previously met by following in the same direction.
Players will now notice that NPC groups that explore the Zone will be more diverse in terms of possible factions and group sizes, along with enhanced motivation to expand territory and actively attack enemies and mutants.