S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky - Prologue (Windows)

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Description

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is a stand-alone prequel to the original game of 2007. This game takes player back to the anomalies ridden territory surrounding the dormant Chernobyl nuclear powerplant called the Zone. The story of Clear Sky is set one year prior to the events unfold in the original game. Assuming control of the stalker named Skar the player finds himself subjected to lethal dosage of nuclear emission and surviving. The game begins its narrative by challenging player to uncover the truth behind his condition and find the true source of those emissions. The player will the return to the already familiar locations, even though they aren't exactly what player may remember of them from the original game, as well as explore new areas and meet new characters.

Gameplay-wise the game has benefited from a modified quest system which now closely follows his relations with the faction. At one point or another the player may choose to become involved in one of the faction wars (by joining one of the factions). These are the full-scale events which challenge player to capture a number of points in order to weaken the enemy faction presence in the region. Thanks to the modified AI of the game, the stalkers of your faction won't wait for you to do their jobs. In fact, they may complete all of the objectives without you. However, since your reward will reflect your involvement in the battles, it is not advisable to loiter.

Another distinct change is artifact hunting. Before, artifacts were frequent and visible to the naked eye. Now, artifacts are rare and need to be 'detected' using a scanner which will locate nearby artifacts and will appear when the player is close enough, often in situated dangerously close to surrounding anomalies. Artifacts now also have slightly different abilities and different armor has limited artifact slots that may be equipped.

A lot of changes were made to S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s appearance as well. The game's in-house developed X-Ray engine has learned to support full dynamic lightning with every single object casting soft stencil shadows on the normal mapped environments. The game now supports DirectX 10 enabled features like softer shadows, volumetric fog and light and wet surfaces. The in-game models were also reworked to include both an increased polygon count and a normal map.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Trailer

Alternate Titles

• "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Чистое небо" -- Russian spelling
• "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Czyste Niebo" -- Polish title
• "STALKER: Clear Sky - Prologue" -- non-punctuated title
• "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky" -- Online re-release title
• " ストーカー ～クリアスカイ～" -- Japanese spelling

Part of the Following Groups

• 3D Engine: X-Ray
• Covermount: Fullgames
• Gameplay feature: Armour / weapon deterioration
• Gameplay feature: Hunger / Thirst
• Gameplay feature: Radiation / radioactive poisoning
• Inspiration: Author - Arkadi and Boris Strugatsky
• Setting: Future now Past
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series

User Reviews

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Critic Reviews

Jeuxvideo.com	Sep 03, 2008	17 out of 20	85
gameZine (UK)	Sep 17, 2008	8 out of 10	80
Game Captain	Sep 10, 2008	80 out of 100	80
GameStar (Germany)	Sep 24, 2008	77 out of 100	77
PC Games (Germany)	Sep 24, 2008	74 out of 100	74
GamingHeaven / DriverHeaven	Sep 04, 2008	73 out of 100	73
IGN	Sep 05, 2008	7.3 out of 10	73
Game Informer Magazine	Nov, 2008	7.25 out of 10	72
GameCell UK	Oct, 2008	7 out of 10	70
Gamer.nl	Sep 20, 2008	7 out of 10	70

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Trivia

1001 Video Games

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Related Web Sites

• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Game.com (Official website)
• The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. wiki (The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. wiki, a Wikipedia style database about the .S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. (English))