Stalker 2: Cost of Hope – Every Main Mission and Side Mission

Cost of Hope drops Skif into the middle of a Duty versus Freedom power struggle, and its quest list is shorter than the base game’s but far more branch-heavy. The expansion arrived on August 20th, 2026 alongside the free 2.0 update, and it splits its missions across two chunks of the main campaign rather than dumping everything on you at once.

Quick answer: Cost of Hope contains 16 main missions and six side missions, but one playthrough can only complete 13 of them on the Duty route or 14 on the Freedom route, because the choice at the end of The Destructive Power of the Mind locks the other faction’s quests out permanently.

Cost of Hope main missions in order

The expansion is delivered in two parts. Part one runs five missions and takes you into the Iron Forest. Part two is the longer stretch, and it ends with the faction split and the run to the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

#	Main mission	Notes
1	Terra Incognita	Part one opener; Digger’s Tunnel and Dead or Alive run alongside it
2	Step Into the Unknown	Ends at Freedom Camp, where you meet Zulu
3	Unexpected Alliance	Repeater climb, then a mutant wave at the vehicle workshop
4	In the Heart of the Iron Forest	Generator Room key, Poltergeist fight
5	Distant Mirage	Closes part one; includes a blame-Duty decision
6	Moving in the Shadows	First mission of part two
7	Shadows of the Past	Paired with the mission below
8	To the Origins of Freedom	—
9	The Destructive Power of the Mind	The choice here sets your ending route
10	In the Memory of the Fallen	Duty route only
11	Status Quo	Freedom route only
12	Dangerous Way	Freedom route only
13	The Road to the Center of the Storm	Both routes
14	Gunpowder, Sweat, and Blood	Duty route only
15	Uninvited Guests	Freedom route only
16	The Price of a Miracle	Finale on both routes

Where the mission chain splits between Duty and Freedom

Eleven of the 16 main missions are shared. The rest are gated behind the decision you make at the close of The Destructive Power of the Mind, which also determines the DLC ending you get. Once the route is set, the opposing faction’s missions never appear in your PDA on that save.

Stage	Duty route	Freedom route
After the choice	In the Memory of the Fallen	Status Quo, then Dangerous Way
Shared middle	The Road to the Center of the Storm
CNPP assault	Gunpowder, Sweat, and Blood	Uninvited Guests
Finale	The Price of a Miracle

Note: the Freedom side carries one extra quest, so a Freedom playthrough completes 14 main missions while a Duty playthrough completes 13. Seeing all 16 means a second run.

All six Cost of Hope side missions and how to start them

Two of the side missions are effectively mandatory, since they run through Terra Incognita and hand you the key card for the Iron Forest gate. The other four are tied to your route and to the Water Purification Facility at the power plant.

Side mission	How it starts
Digger’s Tunnel	Pick up Goodbye’s PDA on the way to the Iron Forest base during Terra Incognita
Dead or Alive	Clear the mutants at the IPSF checkpoint and speak to Captain Vusatyi; rewards include 4,000 coupons and the Iron Forest gate key card
Where Hope Leads	Duty: talk to Lieutenant Blatin after taking the Water Purification Facility. Freedom: talk to Ihor Fox after defending it from Duty
The Forgotten	Duty: Sgt. Kamenetskyi at the Water Purification Facility after Gunpowder, Sweat, and Blood. Freedom: Sashko Chaga at the same spot after Uninvited Guests
Fair Deal	Becomes available once The Price of a Miracle is done
Territorial War	Duty: a call from Zulu after The Price of a Miracle. Freedom: a call from Zen after the same mission

When the DLC missions appear in your save

Cost of Hope hooks into the base campaign at two fixed points rather than starting from a menu. If the quests aren’t showing up, it’s almost always because your save hasn’t reached one of them yet.

Push the main story until Skif leaves the Lesser Zone during Behind Seven Seals. Part one unlocks here, and you’ll receive a transmission about a stalker at Slag Heap who has been to the Iron Forest.

Head into the Slag Heap base and talk to the stalker called Chatterbox, standing behind the table. He wants three bottles of beer before he shares anything, and that conversation starts Terra Incognita.

Continue the base campaign to A Minor Incident. Clearing that mission opens part two, which covers everything from Moving in the Shadows onward.

If your save was already past A Minor Incident before you installed the expansion, both halves are technically available immediately, but you still need to wait four in-game hours after finishing part one before part two triggers.

Starting fresh, the new game menu offers two skips. Early Start cuts the opening tutorial stretch and drops you at the point where part one is live. Advanced Start jumps ahead to A Minor Incident with both halves open, though it pre-selects your major story choices, including whether Skif sided with Spark and Scar or with Ward and Korshunov to take down Faust.

How long the full mission list takes

Running only the main missions and skipping everything else puts a single route at roughly 10 to 12 hours. On difficulties above Stalker, that stretches closer to 15 to 18 hours depending on how comfortable you are with the combat. Adding the six side missions and general exploration pushes the total higher again.

Because the branch is permanent within a save, the cleanest way to tick off every entry is one route to The Price of a Miracle, then a second run using Advanced Start to reach the split quickly and pick the other faction. Keep a manual save just before the end of The Destructive Power of the Mind if you’d rather not replay the earlier chapters at all.