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

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
82
Metacritic
94
Steam
90.015
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$19.99
Release date
20 March 2007
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
94 (29 332 votes)
Recent
94 (456 votes)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl tells a story about survival in the Zone – a very dangerous place, where you fear not only the radiation, anomalies and deadly creatures, but other S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s, who have their own goals and wishes.

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S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl system requirements

  • Supported OS: Microsoft® Windows® XP(Service Pack 2)/Microsoft® Windows® 2000 SP4
  • Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.0 Ghz / AMD XP 2200+
  • Graphics: 128 MB DirectX® 8.0 compatible card / nVIDIA® GeForce™ 5700 / ATI Radeon® 9600
  • Memory: 512 MB RAM
  • Sound: DirectX® 9.0 compatible sound card
  • Hard Drive: 6 GB free hard disc space
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Orangutan
Orangutan

the scariest game I've ever played. GSC nailed the atmosphere and world building.. Yes its an eastern European game from 2007 so its janky as fuck but the jank adds to fear

Jadex
Jadex

Alot of people say this games supreamly atmospheric and as someone who loves atmospheric games i cant really say this is one of them really, heck id even say that the prequel Clear Sky is more atmospheric than this one but dosn't mean it dosn't have any atmosphere at all, its just a very chill game. It's also really not nearly as difficult as people amp it up to be and even as part of the zone your still distinctly more powerful than everyone else but that's probably more due to the enemy AI being really stupid 95% of the time untill they randomly pull the greatest trickshot you've seen in your life and headshot you from across a field. Cant wait to see how much they improve it in Heart of Chornobly

budwrench
budwrench

This game sucks. Why tf is there a shock tunnel. Can't get passed the 2nd mission while trying to get through the damn tunnel at the beginning of the game. Makes me wanna off myself

NahBroThatsAverage
NahBroThatsAverage

I've only played the game for an hour, but from what I can tell this game is elite. Sure it's old and can be quite tedious sometimes as its not as polished as modern games but it is still very fun.

Profix
Profix

Oh man this game whenever i see the cover of this or hear the soundtrack i need to cry cause this game has this bombastic atmosphere and everything please everyone check it out i mean it check it out

Désaix
Désaix

STALKER: SoC has a cool setting, strange design choices and is full of jank. I do not advice to play the vanilla version of the game since the gunplay is in such a broken state. I'd recommend STALKER:SoC to players who are patient and ready to mod the game.

pros
++ great atmosphere and setting
++ some memorable moments
+ Stalker has a different feel compared to Metro despite many similarities. especially when it comes to open world vs solid, but linear campaign
+ good story
+ old, but weirdly charming graphics
+ many mods

cons
-- gunplay has many problems:
1. body hits hardly do any damage at all. only headshots are worth it and it still takes too many of them. especially when enemies are wearing full armour
2. weapons, especially the early ones, are hilariously lacking in both strength and accuracy. this is likely why many players rage quit during the first mission and never touch this game again
3. most weapons give you a headshot damage boost, but there is a 'time_to_aim' delay that you have to wait in order for it to kick in again. this means that spraying the enemy in full auto is basically useless, forcing you to wait for some time for the next headshot. you can mod this out or find a mod that does it for you. this feature is terrible on every level
4. enemies hardly stagger when hit. one of the biggest signs of a good gunplay is that enemies stagger when hit. it hardly happens in this game. particularily non-human enemies seem to lack any damage in-take animations. humans do stagger somewhat when the head is hit, but not for long and you have to wait for your damage boost anyway.
5. for a game that requires you to aim for the head, the crosshair is surprisingly ****. too big and hardly visible during fire fights
- personally I don't like too many survival elements in shooters. however, this might be a pro for other players
- last mission throws balancing completely out of the window. devs must have been trolling us

Verdict

STALKER: SoC has many things going for it. There is a reason why STALKER: SoC still is beloved by many fans around the world and why modders have created hundreds of mods. Still, the gunplay has so many issues that I only recommend the game to players who plan to mod the game in some ways. I would have enjoyed my playthrough much more if I did.

Information:
the difficulty level is confusing. most players will tell you to play on the highest difficulty level since both the player and the enemies will die faster compared to lower difficulty levels. Others have called this a myth. I don't know what is correct, but I do encourage you to do some research on that before starting a new campaign.

Tweaks:
I had to limit my FPS in the nvidia inspector since the game ran on 2000+ FPS and no in-game settings allowed me to lower it.

kurjag
kurjag

very scary underground lab, enemy kind of easy, money only useful for ammo and healing items
but the mission at pripyat when you are with the duty squad this mission is kinda bug, i need to restart like 4-5 times, but overall this game is okay, for me i really like this kind of games
7/10

Bel
Bel

download ZRP mod and turn off headbobbing unless you want to violently puke and shit yourself while playing

The Verminator
The Verminator

DISCLAIMER: I did play through the game with the Zone Reclamation Project, which mostly just makes the game more stable and less buggy, with a few QoL upgrades. As such, you may want to take everything I say with a grain of salt, though 95% of my experience should've still been the same as a vanilla player. This review will also mainly be comparing it against it's fellow games in the series instead of overall.

Many people claim that Shadow of Chernobyl, despite being the first in the series, is still the best of the main trilogy. While it is certainly worth playing if only for the story alone, I must say that I don't see it. This entry has some very notable strengths over the others, but overall? It definitely has aged the worst in my opinion.

Strengths -
Freedom (not the faction): This game definitely treats you as if you were a total newcomer to the zone, learning about it more and more as you progress, and starting with absolutely horrendous equipment that you will need to replace ASAP if you wish to not struggle against even dogs and bandits. To enhance this effect, (and make it even more challenging) it gives you very little guidance, but also very little restrictions. From the start of the game, you can effectively go anywhere you want, and for better or worse, you can even ignore the entire story, with the game reacting appropriately if you do. This is very different from the other two games, where you both start with somewhat decent equipment, an obvious main goal, and a clear cut path of progression.

Better storytelling: Kinda going with the above point, this story definitely has a stronger mystery bent than the other 2 games, and I really like the breadcrumb trail you are given as you go through the game and get closer to your objective. You really have a lot of side objectives you can do to understand more about who you are and what you're doing, or barrel on ahead regardless of consequences.

Honestly... That's basically all I can think of that it has other it's brothers.

Weaknesses -
Worst gameplay in general: In the base game, there is a lot of stuff lacking that the other games in the series innovated with. Without mods, there is no way to repair your guns or armor (aside from a glitch that only affects armor) making EVERYTHING in the game on borrowed time. That unique gun or armor you just found? There will come a time that you simply cannot use it anymore. Weapon and armor mods are also not present, so it's not like you can even really get attached to your equipment that much anyway, so I guess that helps with the aforementioned problem I guess? Artifacts are just kinda laying there on the ground for you to pick up, or rolling on the ground. No detectors or anything needed, and they don't respawn, so their is a finite number to be found at any time. On the other hand, I guess I like the way artifacts affect you when worn in this game, with it not just being a binary "wear this good artifact with this rad-reducer one for a flat buff."

AI is dumber: AI is not that impressive in this game compared to it's sequels. Both NPC and mutant patrols rarely actually wander anywhere, and they remain static far more in this game, and it got to the point where I could literally predict the spawns in certain areas after visiting them enough times. (Fun fact, every time you enter Agroprom, a blind dog pack will ALWAYS spawn in the railway tunnel and usually attack the nearby stalker camp, no matter how long it's been since you last went there)

Factions are basically non-existent: There is no way to meaningfully join or side with any of the factions in this game, and for that matter, bandits, military, and mercs are always hostile to you, with no other characterization. The only real "choice" to be made in regards to factions I can remember was helping or destroying Skull's squad, and this basically either kills Freedom entirely or just removes a single squad from the game respectively. Obviously for your own enjoyment you can help Dutyers and kill Freedomers or vice versa if you wish, but there is no real reason to do this, as there is no progression or ranks to work towards, and no one will acknowledge your actions, even should you completely wipe out their hated enemies. And because squads will almost never move from their positions, these two giant factions more or less become static monoliths in their given locations. Apparently via a borderline glitch via sequence breaking you can "join" freedom specifically, but it's obvious the game was not planned around it.

Fairly Weak Mid-Late Game: The game get's a little droll after the early game, mainly because there is only like 3 meaningful traders and quest givers in the ENTIRE game:
Sidorovich, who you basically ignore after the early game because he is so far away from the main maps. (and there is no fast travel in this game without mods)
Barkeep, who will likely be your main trader and questgiver for the majority of the game due to his centralized location, large quest selection, and good stock as you progress through the game.
Professor Sakharov, who basically only deals in science stuff and therefore is the most situational of the bunch.
Unfortunately there is little else to works towards outside of this and the story, because artifact hunting is not really something you have to build and plan for due to the way they are found in this game, hunting mutants is really only useful when it comes to doing missions for Sakharov, and the game in general becomes a brutal gauntlet against Mercs and Monolith after a certain point, specifically after you reach the Red Forest and go into Pripyat. Seriously, the end game of this game is probably one of the most unforgiving slogs in any game I have played. The game has absolutely no chill as it throws literally 100+ guys at you with the best equipment they have to offer, with it basically becoming one giant point of no return.
As for the traders/quest givers, there ARE technically more for the factions, but there is almost no reason to actually talk to any of the faction leaders or their specific traders because their stock tends to be crap and their (infinitely respawning) missions are even more basic and bland, almost always being "go here, kill these guys, come back." Riveting. Speaking of...

Crap side missions: Almost all side missions in this game are infinite basic and repeatable tasks that involve just going somewhere and killing everything there 90% of the time. The only exceptions are the main guys I listed above, but even then their missions are little better, usually just being fetch quests when they aren't generic destroy missions.

Kind of short: Despite me dragging my feet and spending far more time than I should have just doing side missions and stockpiling money I didn't need, I was still able to finish the whole game in slightly under 30 hours despite it's freeform nature. If you care little for the side missions and know what to do, you could probably finish the whole thing while still doing almost everything the game has to offer in around 15 hours. While the other games in the series are arguably even shorter, they make up for it in replayability. The lack of any meaningful choices to make (specifically in reference to factions) makes it so that there is honestly little replayability in this game, as every playthrough will more or less play out the same way, and despite how many endings their are, almost every ending can be achieved in a single playthrough if you really go out of your way to do so and know what to do.

Despite all this, I still recommend this title solely because it's still STALKER, and also the fact that's it's story is arguably the most important to understanding the setting as a whole. The unique direction of the story and presentation alone is probably worth at least giving it a shot, but I will not sugarcoat that I believe that from a gameplay perspective, this game is indisputably the weakest of the bunch.

farco
farco

I am a 50 year old father, probably one of the oldest people playing this game. I am a single father to my son, who is now 14. My son recently started stalker and in less than a week, he had already played for over 20 hours. This was terrible for me, as it was already hard enough for me to spend time with my son, as he is always out with his friends or just watching videos on Tiktok. So i decided to make a Steam account and download this game to see if I could maybe play alongside him. I loaded into the game, looked at the menu, but I was stuck on what you where supposed to do. I asked my Son for help and he hosted a game for me to join. I loved it as it was the best time I had spent with my Son since my wife had died. This game has ever since brought my son and I closer again and now we actually spend time together outside the house as well. This game reminded me that there's fun to be had in everything, and it has brought both me and my Son many happy memories.

Moonshine
Moonshine

Заблудился как-то долговец и кричит:
— Люди, отзовитесь, кто нибудь аууу.
Тут его кто то догоняет и… хлоп сзади по рюкзаку. Ну он оборачивается, а там стоит кровосос. Грустный такой. И хлюпает ему:
— Чего орёшь, а?
У долговца уже полные штаны ежиков… но он все-таки отвечает:
— Я того, запплутал. Кричу, вот может кто-нибудь услышит?
Кровосос помолчал, помолчал и говорит ему:
— Ну я вот услышал и чего теперь делать будем?

Derpbostic
Derpbostic

game broke after playing it once, if it dont work as a vanilla game and i need to mod it to get it to work. Its not worth my money and probably isnt worth yours

coolgun274
coolgun274

a good game with a lot of cool things to discover with some pretty good iterations between everyone and everything

thehowler08
thehowler08

its a good inventory managment game that really makes you think about your next move when facing new a tougher enimeies

Dad Gamer 1978
Dad Gamer 1978

My first time playing and beating it and I have to say it’s a hugely overrated game and I can't really recommend it to anyone who isn't a die hard fan to begin with. The setting is really cool and I’ll never take that away from it and I’d say I even enjoyed myself for most of it, but my god does the game squander all the good will it’s built up with the final area. From the sarcophagus on wards, especially if you’re going for the canon ending, is truly some of the worst shit I’ve gone through in an FPS. I can’t believe that got green lit and they thought it was a good idea. I was planning on playing through the entire trilogy but honestly that really put me off. Do the later games have bullshit like that?

zisgod4
zisgod4

I am a 50 year old father, probably one of the oldest people playing this game. I am a single father to my son, who is now 14. My son recently started stalker and in less than a week, he had already played for over 20 hours. This was terrible for me, as it was already hard enough for me to spend time with my son, as he is always out with his friends or just watching videos on Tiktok. So i decided to make a Steam account and download this game to see if I could maybe play alongside him. I loaded into the game, looked at the menu, but I was stuck on what you where supposed to do. I asked my Son for help and he hosted a game for me to join. I loved it as it was the best time I had spent with my Son since my wife had died. This game has ever since brought my son and I closer again and now we actually spend time together outside the house as well. This game reminded me that there's fun to be had in everything, and it has brought both me and my Son many happy memories.

Furry gaming
Furry gaming

its a tedious game (prob cause i played pripyat first and now im playing this on max difficulty) but rewarding and also your weapons all suck cause of accuracy

pat.andymurray
pat.andymurray

At first, it was easy and normal. But as you go along the journey to Chernobyl npp, it become harder and scarier. I nearly had a heart attack 6 times already.

xxEpicDanexx
xxEpicDanexx

Don’t get me wrong, this game is amazing. The atmosphere is incredible with the occasional distant screaming and gun fire along with the low rumbling and beeping to inform you of nearby anomalies, and the dynamic weather and day/night cycle can up the tension and suspense. But holy shit the amount of backtracking you do in this game is insane. There were so many times I got a quest from the a guy with the objective located halfway across the map, spend up to fifteen minutes to get to the quest, just to have to spend fifteen minutes again running back to the guy to collect my reward, just to get 1000 rubles and a grenade. The game is an atmospheric masterpiece, but the backtracking could turn even the most sane person into an Arkham asylum inmate.

K1ro3
K1ro3

because my mother kick me so i play dis to be mentally sane

Borderlands-/-
Borderlands-/-

Bunch of nazi devs, should be trialed for nazi slogans. How can anyone possible recommend anything from such scum?

Moderate Muslim
Moderate Muslim

"For westerners Stalker is a game a bout surviving a harsh unforgiving place where there's noone to help or rescue you, human contact is limited and you are left isolated from the outside world.
For slavs Stalker is a simulation of everyday life, surviving a harsh unforgiving place where there's noone to help or rescue you, human contact is limited and you are left isolated from the outside world." - Sseth

Enver Paşa
Enver Paşa

Radyasyonla beslenmeye bayılıyorum

Guilty Spark 640
Guilty Spark 640

good game holds up in modern day a small bit scary at times but recomended for sure

Beans
Beans

Not a huge fan of how this game plays. Could barely get past the first mission without dying a handful of times because the enemies take to many bullets to die, weapons have way to much recoil even pistols which makes it annoying to hit anything. I was expecting sometimes like a Metro/Fallout play style but was nothing like that. In all honesty ur better off getting one of the Metro or Fallout games if u want something thats post apocalyptic. Played 30 minutes and got sick of how the gameplay/gunplay works, so just not my cup of tea.

CplKoopaTroopa
CplKoopaTroopa

graphics are outdated, but can be modded for a better (also buggy) experience. Game has one of the best atmospheres I have played in a long time despite being such a old game. If your library consists of fallout, metro series and/or difficult games, then you should definitely play this on hard difficulty for the full immersive experience.

kapnfyshe
kapnfyshe

this is my kinda post-apocalypse. having the characters be fairly grounded (with no real level up mechanics or skills to make you a super god) with only having equipment define them is awesome. while also having weird, wacky, physics-breaking stuff in it makes me creme.

10/10 would listen to cheeki breeki again

AGuyThatsCanadian
AGuyThatsCanadian

I want to write something explaining why I enjoyed this game at length. However, my review of Call of Pripyat embodies most of the reasons.
However, this edition of stalker is special in many ways. Combat was much more difficult and the mods for this game were off the charts in terms of their quality and the refinement the community has developed. I highly recommend Autumn Aurora to anyone considering this game - even for a vanilla play through. It does not change the game so deeply as to nullify the original experience - in fact it enhances it.

Anyways,
This game is like Metro meets Fallout...but it still manages to have more atmosphere than both (albeit not if both were combined). This is the kind of game that would've converted me to PC gaming had I been given a shot at trying it.

In short,

Buy game comrade.

graziedatos
graziedatos

despite being an oldie, this game is awsome!

beb beb
beb beb

bloodsucker turned me into a human raisin, would do master difficulty again :^)

Chị Châu Em Bấu
Chị Châu Em Bấu

Old game, buggy but best gameplay and atmosphere

CremeCrimson
CremeCrimson

You are cheeki breeki in exclusionary zone. You must kill all cheeki breeki in exclusionary zone. Cyka blyat ruski peruski

melonhead
melonhead

Really solid game, slightly buggy, but overall 9/10

Chublord
Chublord

VERY SCARY!!!!! NOT MASTERBATI YOU GO BLIND!!

A Disappointment
A Disappointment

Ivan spent a lot of time making those 3D models and by god you're gonna appreciate it.

Wolf
Wolf

I remembered watching a play-through of the game on YouTube a few years back and always wanted to play it since then. After all those years, I still wanted to play the game and finally gave it a try. I played through with the Autumn Aurora mod installed which definitely increases the difficulty of the game by a bit, but it is still pretty much the core game except with a few quality of life and graphical updates. Overall, the game was real fun to play minus the few bugs and crashes that came about, but what more can you expect form a game that originally came out in 2007. In conclusion, I highly recommend the game for anyone who enjoys a good horror-survival.

Lordblobfish
Lordblobfish

for an old game it does all right. It has flaws but nothing that makes the game unplayable.

Neeway
Neeway

They just don't make games like this anymore. If you're a fan of games like DayZ, Escape From Tarkov, and the Metro series then play the game that influenced them all. Look into mod packs like Autumn Aurora or Radiophobia for some upgraded graphics, bug fixes, etc while still maintaining the original gameplay. It's worth it at the base price but on sale it's a ridiculous steal.

Mees
Mees

Out of the 3 games, this one is my favorite. Though the last part of the game caught me off guard because of the endless spawning of monolith soldiers

Psyclonia
Psyclonia

Buying this game was the best decision I've made in my life so far. Played it with the (mods) Zone Reclamation Project (minor bug fixes and tweaks to game) and the Original Weapons Renewal 3 (Better animations and sounds for Gunplay) and it was amazing. If you like playing in an Open World w/o that power fantasy bs, this is the game for you because it punishes you for playing impatiently and radically (pun intended).
Ammo and Health item management is key in beating the game (along with spamming the autosave button every 2 minutes). This game aces in atmosphere and is super immersive. And even if you're starting out, play Hardcore :)).
Good Hunting Stalker :)

samfozz
samfozz

Very cool game also Lewis if you are reading this i am a good game reviewer

[SoDZ]ChillinVillian
[SoDZ]ChillinVillian

Best atmosphere and still holds it's own today as one of the all time best first person apocalypse shooters.

rat 2
rat 2

yeah, I love that glitchy post-nuclear 2000s RPG masterpiece with the amnesiac protagonist

no i mean the other one

couRAGE
couRAGE

Excellent game, with great atmosphere. A nice way to support the ukranian developers in such a difficult time.Slava Ukraini!

FlintPowell
FlintPowell

I have waited so long to play this game and I love it! Can't wait to play the new one one on Xbox.

Tōsu
Tōsu

It's pretty good but sometimes gets stressful and hard

SergeantRogers
SergeantRogers

Truly one of the best games, and the best one in the series!

-Random European guy on the internet

Persico
Persico

Serious slav Fallout, don't be afraid to save scum 10/10, easily one of the best shooters iv'e ever played.

Hebonky
Hebonky

It's amazing...... but I'm not telling you how to beat it.

Lich
Lich

This is absolutely a hidden gem of a game, but you will require some mods to get it working properly, namely the ZRP, AKA Zone Reclamation Project. I feel like it's the sort of game that gets much better the more you play it due to it's semi steep learning curve and a few outdated game mechanics such as the map and stamina system that need to be learned over time. However, if you are willing to stick with it, this is one of the best games you will ever play.

The games main strengths include:
> A chilling and creepy atmosphere (especially in underground).
> One of the coolest game worlds I have personally ever seen.
> The best tactical FPS gameplay and AI I have ever seen.
> Plenty of things to do such as finding caches and completing sidequests.

The games main drawbacks include:
> Hard to get into (my first playthrough was nowhere near as good as my second due to me not understanding game mechanics fully).
> Unplayable without Zone Reclamation Project mod (easy to fix though).
> It's pretty old (2007), so some parts are quite outdated like parts of the graphics.

Overall, I would very much recommend Shadow of Chernobyl to anyone with a decent amount of patience for some jank as it really is a one of a kind game.

Murk
Murk

Awesome Games. My Favorite Types Of Games. Must Try.

E_VANG10
E_VANG10

Vodka>Radiation
MakarovThe Slavic population of the zone
The Zone>The Player
Looting corpses and stashes ≥ yo mama

A truly wonderful, yet frightening experience.

Good hunting cталкер!

snek
snek

i love eastern jank
seriously a good game tho

boomga-chan
boomga-chan

i loveeee killing other people for their stuff

fz74steam
fz74steam

this game has one of the best environments and atmospheres ive ever seen.

Johnny Deep
Johnny Deep

So I've heard nothing but great things about this game. It's based off of the Tarkovsky movie which is a great movie. The setting of the game is great. I finally broke down and bought this game and tired to enjoy it but I just didn't find it to be a great game, or even a good game.

First of all, it pulls off the atmosphere pretty well. STALKER in theory is a great concept. The game fails to deliver on it's game play. It's slow paced and atmospheric, which is fun, but the gun play doesn't suit that sort of game play. It's a first person shooter but it has the slow paced movement that you would expect from a 3rd person cover based shooter. This leaves you basically trading health for health packs to kill enemies most of the time. Enemies come out into the open to shoot at you, you spray back and they or their team mates shoot you. There is no real skill to this. It's simply: "Do you have enough health packs to get through the gun fights?" If the game were cover based timing would play a better role and it would suit the rest of the slow paced aspect of the game. If your character could move with speed and agility the game would be more action packed and you could benefit from your reaction time. Instead, the gun play fails on both levels and it's not a good slow paced shooter, or a good fast paced shooter.

There is no cool down between using health packs which would again, accentuate skill. You can spam them into infinity if you have enough of them. That isn't very fun at all. Then there is the constant looting of every body just to make sure that you can get enough ammo to fight the enemies. All enemies drop handgun ammo. But pretty early on in the game the handgun becomes useless. Not all enemies drop ammo for the automatic rifles that they are shooting you with. You see an enemy with an AK, you kill the enemy, pick up his gun and it's empty, and he has no AK ammo on him. I only got 6 hours into the game and I was carrying 1200 rounds of pea shooter handgun ammo and was constantly having to switch back and forth between the AK and the SMG because the ammo for any meaningful weapon was so scarce.

The constant looting of bodies unnecessarily slows the game down even more. IDK if I've ever played a first person shooter before where I didn't automatically pick up a persons ammo by walking over it. But the game tries to pull off some sort of RPG element with how much you can carry and ammo can weigh you down.

The heart of the problem for this game is that it tries to be an RPG and a first person shooter and it doesn't really pull of either of those goals very well. If this game were a cover based shooter like Mass Effect without the annoying loot and weight management that slows the game down too much it would be a great RPG. If your character were faster and more agile with limited use of health packs and more ammo (and again losing the weight management) it could be a fun FPS with a good story.

Sh3ph3r0ff1r3
Sh3ph3r0ff1r3

Is it jank and glitchy and old? Yes. Is it the most fun I've ever had in a video game? Hell yes. Good luck in the zone, Stalker

Captprice11
Captprice11

no its fun and all but very infuriatraing

Oddysen
Oddysen

Great game. Quite buggy, so strongly recommend the Zone Reclamation Project fan-patch, which also has great, optional quality of life features if you want them.

Cubivore
Cubivore

Completed w/mods on Master difficulty. Before mods, the game was so buggy and UI was so painful that I couldn't get more than a few hours in.

Prepare to quicksave A LOT. Especially at the end of the game if you are going for true ending. The last mission is an absolute slog. Nothing but several hours of nothing but exoskeleton'd soldiers. Truly brutal experience.

Highly recommended.

Comrade Emu
Comrade Emu

What an amazing game, everything about it is great, the weapons, npcs, the world, the combat, it's just amazing.
Buy the game or I will make the second disaster at the CNPP a reality.

R0yal
R0yal

S.T.AL.K.E.R.: Bugs of Chernobyl

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl has a lot of positives, but it also has one huge problem.
Let's start with the good sides. The story is quite mysterious, which makes S.T.A.L.K.E.R. a really interesting game to play. You want to reveal all the secrets of the zone and immerse yourself in the lore of the S.T.AL.K.E.R universe as deep as possible.
Gameplay is also quite good as long as you play the main story. Side quests are literally "go - kill" or "go - find" and the reward for these quests is useless every time.
When everything seems so good, sadly, there is one big problem - the technical part of the game. The graphics for 2007 is quite good, but besides that... AI shooting and killing you trough the walls; AI stacking on top of each other; AI getting stuck in textures; Enemies reappearing in the same spawn zones again and again; Sometimes you fall into textures; Sometimes the game crashes without any reason, and this list can go on and on. Sometimes it's so bad you're not even sure whether the game has glitched again or everything is going as planned...
Overall, is S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl worth playing today ? I would say it's worth speedrunning it in 7-10 hours just for the story. It's good, but it lacks optimization. 6/10

Dragon-Eater
Dragon-Eater

not a per se linear game, as it's much more dynamic-in-play. So changing what you do,
or how you do things and to whom, is always different, resulting in different conclusions/
transactions. Game is also very immersive, so time flies when playing...which to me, is great!

wiciow
wiciow

Cool oldie with great atmospehere and very impresing sound design. Creepy, frightening and gloom.
Recommend!

Sir kotsm
Sir kotsm

a lot of wank in a bad way but the good atmosfeer makes more than up for it

EXPeriMENTAL
EXPeriMENTAL

One of the best survival games ever made. Cheeki Breeki.

zooid
zooid

By far the best of the three games. You can see the passion devs had during creation. Unlike the other two created solely for the money with a lot of tedious elements just to increase the playtime. Still I had to cheat because, well, need you ask?!

Nyarlathotep.Punk
Nyarlathotep.Punk

Come on in! dont just stand there :)

Best Buy electronics isle
Best Buy elect…

Crashing in this game isn't a bug at this point, its a feature

Swankypants420
Swankypants420

it is a 85/100 for me but the bugs are annoying and the game play is great story amazing and had a good time playing will play again and good lighting effects models have shown there age. and good hunting stalker

|UGA|Foxtrot
|UGA|Foxtrot

100% get this game. It's beautiful the graphics for being such an older game are breath taking. the game play is also pretty immersive with you only starting with a pMm and a few fist fulls of bullets try to out smart a bandit with an automatic hiding behind a tree using the peek keys to lean from cover and make sure to have ample bandages this game has bleeding but over all be ware of anomalies they hurt! pro-tip use 5 and 6 often your welcome dont go in head first!!!

Lukros76
Lukros76

This is more of a guide for people thinking of playing it currently and are unsure if it's worth it. It's not, this may have been revolutionary for it's time but as it is so many games have done and taken elements from this game and made them better. The gameplay is obviously dated, the art and atmosphere do stand the test of time but the rest of it just doesn't, you'll be better off either adding a bunch of mods to make it bearable or just playing Metro or a similar post-apocalyptic game.

Cool Birb
Cool Birb

very Stalker, Very mysterious.

Frozenflow
Frozenflow

A fine line between Metro and Fallout: NV.

IvanCG
IvanCG

If you want to get fun forget about this game. Most reviews are like "wait until the end and there's when fun begins" Not my idea of a good game.

Rilito Supreme
Rilito Supreme

Whether it was too difficult or too confusing to play, I do not remember, but I never got very far in this game as a kid. However, I just revisited it in 2022 and played through the whole thing in just a few sittings. It's been a while since a game has really pulled me in like that. Re-playing STALKER was like finally watching a classic movie--one which everyone always told you to watch--and then you're hooked to your seat the entire time and once it's over, you reminisce on it for days. I Can't recommend this game enough.

clonecaptian
clonecaptian

Was lost to the zone 10/10 CHEEKI BREEKI

vaske001
vaske001

10/10, would cheeki breeki again

Keegan
Keegan

Ohhh...
Husbant...
You sell all artifacts to Sidorovich.
Now we are homeress....

Killer_PL
Killer_PL

Stalker shadow of chernobyl is the first game out of the 4 of one of the best series which i have ever played
The game doesnt have the best graphics but it has one of the best moods and enviroment which you can experience
It took me 17 hours to beat the game and then i realized that there are like 13 or a little less endings which shows that replayability is high
Pros:
-High number of possible replays
-Mood in stalker makes it a game one of a kind and the monsters can scare you
-Amount of stuff and options is high: you can destroy some factions or become friendly with them
-Engine of the game itself is pretty decent
-Game has lots of mods so boredom shouldnt happen
Cons:
-You have to manually save most of the times and forgetting might take you 30-60 minutes away like me
-Some npcs will have the perfect aim making it near impossible to defeat without grenades or lots of meds
-Quests in some moments dont explain what you have to do: you have an large terrain with enemies with absolutely no info on how to get to the location nor how to find the last enemy hiding somewhere

Conclusion:
The game is worth playing and with a discount the stalker bundle is great for hours of gameplay or even after completing every of the games you will try stalker anomaly which is free?

JUNI
JUNI

i cant get my game back steam, stole it from me but i can write a review because it reconized i have played the game

Mechakitty
Mechakitty

absolutley amazing game have played before on physical media and it never gets old. a must play for anyone into FPS and survival games as the game even on easy can be a challenge am excited for the second one to be released as well,
keep up the good work guys

Ungus Chackus
Ungus Chackus

This game for its age has very very modern mechanics such as peaking corners, encumbrance system and AI battles (all though this last one kinda needs mods to make it work properly) and this made the game feel very fun and smooth despite the aged graphics.The combat is very fun. tactical yet kind of fast and it all plays very smooth.

смітті.дмґ
смітті.дмґ

If you like Fallout and horrifying atmosphere, you'll love this series. An absolute must have.