We have launched a new Poll in which we will try to find out if the community is still enjoying the game.

Feel free to submit your opinion about 'the why' you are or are not enjoying STALKER.

We also like to know which part of STALKER you play mostly and which online maps are your favourites!

THX!

Released around the first quarter of 2007, the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl revealed itself to be pure gaming Marmite. Check any forum discussion about GSC Game World’s incredibly ambitious title, and you’ll find almost no middle-ground whatsoever. Some will criticise the game for being a confused, buggy mess. Others, on the other hand, will recognise it for what it is – a game that, despite its fair share of problems, is an idiosyncratic, atmospheric gem. Then, of course, there’s the depressingly large group of people who have never even played the game, having been put off by the talk of in-game glitches and bits of missing dialogue – a group I found myself in until very recently. The good news, though, is that a sequel is on the way, and it looks set to be everything the team wanted to achieve with the first game, and a whole lot more.

For more info, check: strategyinformer.com

Once again, the creators of STALKER, GSC have found time from their hard work to answer a few questions:

1. Everyone respects STALKER for providing one of the most atmospheric
FPS experiences to date, but this respect is tempered by the fact that
the final release code was rather buggy. What lessons have the team
learnt from SoC in terms of play-testing and bug hunting? Can we expect
a more stable playing experience this time around?

There is complexity of testing and bug fixing inherent in our life
simulation system, which makes the number of potential combinations
practically unlimited. A group of 30 testers hired by the publisher
worked on Shadow of Chernobyl. All bugs discovered by this team have
been fixed. Unfortunately, thousands of different configurations owned
by the gamers have left their mark, since we could not test for all of
them. Much also depends on quality of the different computer parts. Most
players have not encountered any serious errors, which shows a fairly
good level of game stability.

GSC, the creators of STALKER, are working hard on their next game: STALKER Clear Sky. However, they still found some time to answer questions from fans:

1. Will you keep releasing patches for Shadow of Chernobyl even after Clear Sky comes out? How many will there be, and when can we expect patch 1.1?

As we have stated previously, right now all our efforts are directed at releasing Clear Sky. However, after this is done, the team will return to work on the patches.

2. How will enemies react to being wounded in certain limbs (limp, drop weapons)?

It will definitely be possible to tell how the enemy is wounded. Characters play animations of being hit, but one should not drop his weapon in battle. The weak do not survive in the Zone.

3. Will all locations with A-life work at once, without making you carry out all quests?

You do not need to carry out quests in order for A-life to work. It will work all the time and at all locations.

4. Will the DX8 renderer change (for the worse or for the better)?

The DX8 renderer will remain at the same level, the same as you saw it in Shadow of Chernobyl.

5. Will there be cooperative missions in multiplayer (for example, defend a point against monsters, like the Invasion mode in UT2004)?

No, there will not be such modes, but there will be teamplay.

GSC has answered 10 questions from STALKER fansites:


1. Do you have to have Shadow of Chernobyl to be able to play Clear Sky?

No, Clear Sky is a full independent game, not requiring the first part to be installed.

2. Will Clear Sky be as easy as Shadow of Chernobyl to make mods for?

The file system and structure of the game have in general remained unchanged.