The vodka-loving (probably) and talented Ukranians at GSC Game World are the masterminds behind S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. Some subterranean areas feature mutant beasts and pitch-black corridors that makes you wonder if you didn’t step into a survival horror game for a second. You also have to keep an eye out for food or bleeding to death, small touches that take S.T.A.L.K.E.R. The realistic ballistics model and unpredictable but somewhat buggy AI make for some awesome firefights and unexpected behavior. Each one has plenty of terrain to explore and quests to take on, so you’ll never feel like you’re stuck in a small area. However, the game map isn’t seamless, instead being divided into several areas that may encompass huge buildings or scary underground tunnels. Instead of going for the traditional corridor shooter, the developers opted for an open world of sorts which you can explore as you see fit. This led to a surge of scavengers, or Stalkers, entering the zone for personal gain. Plenty of anomalies, animal and human mutations, and valuable artifacts that could change one’s physical properties – things such as extra endurance or the ability to sustain high radiation levels. The game mentions a second explosion and how this changed the environment around the nuclear power plant. It’s also a first-person shooter set in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, featuring an alternate reality following the tragic events that happened in 1986. This is the best I could come up with to describe it. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is a game with a big pair of hairy balls. is the location where the action unfolds: the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and its surrounding areas, known as “The Zone”. Their radioactive feet, as the main selling point of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is revered by fans of uncompromising shooters with an open world featuring mysterious, almost mystical locations and the kind of emergent gameplay that very few shooters have dared to dip their feet into. It’s hard to avoid it if you have any kind of appreciation for first-person shooters, and you’re likely to stumble across this game even if by accident. I was right, it seems, judging by the amount of fan mods and the love that the original game still gets nowadays.
When I first reviewed S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl over ten years ago, I remember saying something along these lines: ‘this is an unpolished mess featuring a fascinating dynamic world and is bound to become a cult classic.’
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