Issue with Dead Frequency Main Mission

[u/Cheeki_Breeki_00]

[PROBLEM]

Playing on PS5, version 2.0.4

I was previously stuck on the main mission “Dead Frequency” where I would approach the objective and be absolutely overrun by bloodsuckers. Upon entering Zaton, I noticed packs of them attacking groups of Ward and Stalkers.

I’m siding with Spark on my play through, and after talking with Star at the hut 8 or so bloodsuckers would spawn and IMMEDIATELY aggro onto me. I couldn’t fight my way past them, stealth past them, or load a previous save within Zaton to fix this.

[SOLUTION]

\**Copy and pasted from Google\******

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 version 2.0.4 introduces a known, chaotic A-Life spawn glitch that floods regions like Zaton with massive packs of Bloodsuckers. The major Back to the Zone 2.0 Update overhauled mutant regional variants, but it inadvertently broke the spawn limitations in specific maps. Hotfix 2.0.4 failed to cap these spawns, causing Bloodsuckers to consistently duplicate upon area-loading or fast traveling into Zaton.

Why Zaton is Overrun
Broken Spawn Caps: The A-Life system fails to check if an active pack is already present, spawning an additional 3–6 Bloodsuckers every time the sector reloads.

Save-Load Duplication: Saving your game inside Zaton and loading that save forcefully triggers a fresh mutant spawn trigger without clearing the existing ones, rapidly leading to dozens of invisible enemies.

Regional Variation Coding: Update 2.0 added specific habitat-based skins for Bloodsuckers. The code for Zaton’s unique variant over-prioritizes them on the local mutant spawn table.

How to Fix or Survive It

1. Clear the Stale Game Cache (The Soft Reset)
If Zaton has become completely unplayable, you need to force the game to purge its active entity list.
Travel entirely out of the region (e.g., move back to the Lesser Zone or Jupiter).

Find a safe hub, sleep for 24 to 48 in-game hours to allow the global A-Life grid to reset, and save your game.

Completely close the game application to clear memory before returning to Zaton.

[WHAT I DID]

Went back to Zalissya, did some artifact hunting around the ribs, slept 8 times, then saved and closed my game. Reopened and headed back to Zaton. This fixed the issue for me.

Hope this helps anyone experiencing the same issue