S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (Windows)

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Description

The Ukrainian town of Chernobyl was the site of a severe nuclear accident in 1986. In an alternate timeline, following attempts to repopulate the area, another unexpected accident occurred twenty years later. By the year 2012 the area, which was dubbed "Zone", has become hazardous with mutated animals, bandits, and mysterious anomalies. These anomalies differ in their effects, but they all have one thing in common - they are deadly. Despite that, the Zone attracts scientists, explorers and scavengers (known as "stalkers") hunting for valuable artifacts. Military organizations have been formed, fighting for dominance in the Zone.

The player controls a stalker who has lost his memory in an accident. After being rescued by another stalker, he discovers himself in a village located on the outskirts of the Zone, with only a single clue: he has a note in his PDA telling him to kill an unknown person with the nickname "Strelok".

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is inspired by the science fiction novel Picnic on the Roadside (1977) by the Soviet Russian authors, the brothers Arkadi and Boris Strugatsky. The game is an open-ended first-person shooter featuring a thirty square kilometer playing area which the player is free to explore. There are also many characters the protagonist can communicate with; in this sense the game has similarities to RPGs, although there are no attributes or skills to improve. The protagonist may also develop relations with NPCs. Helping a faction will boost his reputation with it, which may result in better items for purchase or information, while attacking a member of said faction will ruin his reputation and prompt other members to attack him. Along with the main quest, the player can also complete side quests, some of which have time limits.

The player has to carefully manage the protagonist's inventory, not only because there is a carrying capacity, but also because weapons and armor degrade as they are used. The player can also use artifacts, which can be usually found near anomalies, to his benefit. Artifacts offer different kinds of bonuses, but often have negative side effects: for instance, an artifact could improve the hero's bullet resistance but also increase his radiation level.

The game features ragdoll physics, destructible surroundings, HDR lightning, dynamic weather, day and night cycles, and multiplayer for up to 32 players.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Trailer

Alternate Titles

• "迷失地带" -- Simplified Chinese spelling
• "STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl" -- non-punctuated title
• "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Oblivion Lost" -- Working title
• "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Cień Czarnobyla" -- Polish title
• "Stalker" -- Common abbreviation

Part of the Following Groups

• 3D Engine: X-Ray
• Covermount: Level (Romania)
• Gameplay feature: Armour / weapon deterioration
• Gameplay feature: Burden / Encumbrance
• Gameplay feature: Hunger / Thirst
• Gameplay feature: Multiple endings
• Gameplay feature: Radiation / radioactive poisoning
• Inspiration: Author - Arkadi and Boris Strugatsky
• Inspiration: Literature
• Physics Engine: Open Dynamics Engine (ODE)
• Scripting language: Lua
• Setting: Future now Past
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series

User Reviews

Flawed as a genre hybrid; great as an experience	Unicorn Lynx (181593)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a great game, which unfortunately falls short of the mark for attaining “classic” status.	Nick Drew (412)
This one creates history!	SifouNaS (1326)
[v1.0] I don’t speak Russian, but I speak S.T.A.L.K.E.R.	Indra was here (20905)
It has flaws, but the unique gameplay and mesmorizing game world make S:SoC one of the most unique games in years.	Kaddy B. (796)
The best game ever made, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. sets a new standard in the genre.	Spartan_234 (460)

Critic Reviews

Eurogamer.fr	May 10, 2007	9 out of 10	90
PC Zone	Mar 20, 2007	8.5 out of 10	85
GameSpot (Belgium/Netherlands)	Mar 26, 2007	85 out of 100	85
Gameslave UK	Apr 14, 2007	8.5 out of 10	85
Gameplay (Benelux)	Jan 30, 2007	83 out of 100	83
Playfuls	Mar 29, 2007	8.3 out of 10	83
Entertainment Depot, The	Jun 12, 2007	8 out of 10	80
Factornews	Mar 20, 2007	8 out of 10	80
2404.org PC Gaming	Apr 18, 2007	7.6 out of 10	76
Gamesmania.de	Mar 26, 2007	75 out of 100	75

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
SEVA Suit cosplay	1	Angel80 Feb 16, 2015
Kruglov taking radiation measurement bug	1	Angel80 Feb 15, 2015
RPG?	35	GTramp (64977) Aug 23, 2013
Patch Guide?	5	Zovni (10638) Oct 17, 2011
Essential mods?	3	Indra was here (20905) Jul 29, 2010
RPG?	22	Yashma Aug 01, 2009
Play the 2004 build	4	Pseudo_Intellectual (62613) Mar 05, 2009
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. cosplay	8	MichaelPalin (1419) May 14, 2008
Any plot guide yet?	2	St. Martyne (3650) Sep 20, 2007
Patch it before you play it	2	Virgil (8589) Sep 02, 2007

Trivia

1001 Video Games

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

PDA

At some point of the game, you find one PDA called "Gordon's PDA". Some people say you find it in some scientist's corpse, but it seems to be more random than that. Reading it, the owner tells how he was first in Black Mesa, then in some Russian town and then here in Ukraine. This is clearly a reference to the Half-Life series and the possibility of that series' protagonist Gordon Freeman visiting the zone as an stalker.

The funny thing is how Freeman looks like a total rookie trying to survive in the Zone, to the point that he even has to trade his crowbar for a can of food. The bottom line comes when you realizes that you have just killed Gordon Freeman (which is why you have his PDA), who hasn't been able to survive to the Zone after all.

References to the game

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl was parodied in an episode of "Die Redaktion" (The Editorial Team), a monthly comedy video produced by the German gaming magazine GameStar. It was published on the DVD of issue 08/2007.

Weapons

The survival knife that the player character (the man known as "Marked One") uses for fighting is almost certainly based on an HB-1-01, manufactured by the Russian company Izhmash. Information also contributed by 88 49, and Patrick Bregger.

Related Web Sites

• The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. wiki (The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. wiki (Game page on the .S.T.A.L.K.E.R. wiki, a Wikipedia style database about the .S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series (English)))
• Wikipedia (Detailed information about the game on Wikipedia)