No, STALKER will never die. Nor do I believe that STALKER 2 will become a masterpiece, but a legendary leap into a new sub-genre of gaming. I know that you've all seen a very large spike in nostalgia for STALKER, but this is a game that is very near and dear to me, in so many more ways than one. So here, Escapist, here is my homage to STALKER.
I was living in Ireland when I saw STALKER sitting on a shelf in the local GAME store at the mall. It's light brown, radiation tinted case was calling to me, so I picked it up and read the extract on the back. My 12 year old mind couldn't contemplate how amazing this game sounded, I had never read anything like it, it was just too unique. So after weeks of saving allowance money, I returned and purchased the game, not knowing what to expect.
KILL STRELOK. I didn't know why I had to, but I needed to, and this is how -like many other player's- my journey began. Literally nothing was like this, nor could anything have prepared me for this. From the first gunshot to the last death, I enjoyed the hell out of this game. A constant state of paranoia hung around my head every time I loaded this game up, something that has never happened since. Could I be attacked by a mutant? Would I stumble upon a dying STALKER? A whirlgig or a springtrap anomaly? Every step something changed around me, and it has forever stuck with me. Learning and adapting to the environment, finding the best spot for cover or finding a stash, it just never got old. So far I have beaten the game over 5 times and have gotten nearly every ending, completing every quest, still picking up things that I had never noticed before, like finding Gordon Freeman (which I'll let you find for yourself
).
But I think the real reason why this interested me so much is because of how unique it all is. The setting was a real place -which still intrigues me to this day-, the world moves around you, you aren't a bullet-absorbing super hulk, you're a normal man, one who bleeds and gets hungry. The atmosphere breathes around you, the Eastern flavors of Ukraine and Soviet-Russia enveloping you. Even little things like NPCs speaking Russian sets the game apart. And so does that utter solidarity and loneliness, the isolation, which is something only STALKER can do.
There aren't enough words to express how much this game has meant to me and how it has changed the way I look at gaming as a whole. That's why I love STALKER and GSC, they created a while new genre, established an untouched niche in gaming that only they can truly touch. Studios may try, and some have done so successfully -4a games and Crotech, who made two of my other favorites, Metro 2033 and Crystatsis: the Sleep of Reason-, and some have failed, but none can capture the depth and feel like STALKER can. It's something that I can keep coming back to and still enjoy, it always feels fresh, knowing the weapons and their balances, how they reload, etc; It just never gets tiring.
So now I will finish with a few good words.
Good hunting, STALKER. Get out of here.
I was living in Ireland when I saw STALKER sitting on a shelf in the local GAME store at the mall. It's light brown, radiation tinted case was calling to me, so I picked it up and read the extract on the back. My 12 year old mind couldn't contemplate how amazing this game sounded, I had never read anything like it, it was just too unique. So after weeks of saving allowance money, I returned and purchased the game, not knowing what to expect.
KILL STRELOK. I didn't know why I had to, but I needed to, and this is how -like many other player's- my journey began. Literally nothing was like this, nor could anything have prepared me for this. From the first gunshot to the last death, I enjoyed the hell out of this game. A constant state of paranoia hung around my head every time I loaded this game up, something that has never happened since. Could I be attacked by a mutant? Would I stumble upon a dying STALKER? A whirlgig or a springtrap anomaly? Every step something changed around me, and it has forever stuck with me. Learning and adapting to the environment, finding the best spot for cover or finding a stash, it just never got old. So far I have beaten the game over 5 times and have gotten nearly every ending, completing every quest, still picking up things that I had never noticed before, like finding Gordon Freeman (which I'll let you find for yourself
).But I think the real reason why this interested me so much is because of how unique it all is. The setting was a real place -which still intrigues me to this day-, the world moves around you, you aren't a bullet-absorbing super hulk, you're a normal man, one who bleeds and gets hungry. The atmosphere breathes around you, the Eastern flavors of Ukraine and Soviet-Russia enveloping you. Even little things like NPCs speaking Russian sets the game apart. And so does that utter solidarity and loneliness, the isolation, which is something only STALKER can do.
There aren't enough words to express how much this game has meant to me and how it has changed the way I look at gaming as a whole. That's why I love STALKER and GSC, they created a while new genre, established an untouched niche in gaming that only they can truly touch. Studios may try, and some have done so successfully -4a games and Crotech, who made two of my other favorites, Metro 2033 and Crystatsis: the Sleep of Reason-, and some have failed, but none can capture the depth and feel like STALKER can. It's something that I can keep coming back to and still enjoy, it always feels fresh, knowing the weapons and their balances, how they reload, etc; It just never gets tiring.
So now I will finish with a few good words.
Good hunting, STALKER. Get out of here.
