Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl is a very ambitious game that suffers because of it. The ambition is plain to see in the complex and dynamic world the developers have created; the gameplay shortcomings will only reveal themselves gradually.

The game is set in the mutated and broken lands surrounding Chernobyl following a fictional second incident. Gameplay can be warped and broken as well: quests aren’t handed out by NPCs distracted by something in the unpredictable game world and completed quest objectives aren’t registered. The player will have frequent reason to revisit older savegames and replay vast chunks of quests.

For all the frustration, the game remains appealing with the main draw the atmosphere of its fantastic setting. It is strange, it is desolate, it can also be creepy and outright terrifying. There are few games that induce as many violent starts as this one does and such violent starts frequently prelude a violent end. Life in the shadow of Chernobyl is often short giving the player yet another reason to save often.

For all its deadliness, the irradiated land is not completely abandoned. The promise of wealth, knowledge and power draw the opportunistic, the fanatic and the desperate. The player is an amnesiac and is free to choose his own destiny in the Zone. Choose to side with a faction or walk alone. Choose to prosper or merely survive. Choose to find the truth behind the Zone or be content to merely live in it. Somewhere within the Zone’s centre is the key to unlocking your most ardent wish though the price to pay may be too much to bear. Somewhere within the Zone is the key to stopping it though the effort needed may be too much to endure.
Continued…

Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl is set in Ukraine in the aftermath of a fictional second disaster. The first disaster was bad enough and the world is still dealing with its fallout. There are safety restrictions and precautions still in place today because of it. Is it too soon for a game in this setting?

Set aside that question and consider the setting itself. The phrase “bleak beauty” will come to mind. There are times when the player will feel the need to stop playing and simply savour the atmosphere. It can be eerie, it can be desolate but it can also be strangely beautiful.

It can also be chilling. There is the terror of being in underground catacombs with an almost invisible creature stalking you. The horror of watching a crate slowly and supernaturally rise in the air and fly towards you. Something malefic, out of your sights but close enough to have you in its, wants you dead. If it doesn’t get you, something else will. Death comes frequently in the game.

The player is no superhero and you are not here to save this world. You are here to survive it long enough to discover who you are. To survive Stalker’s world, you will have to scavenge and scrounge. A corpse is a treasure trove. A found backpack can be the difference between survival and death.

The NPC AI in combat is impressive. The opposition will duck and find cover when things aren’t going well, flank you when they have the numbers and generally behave like they, too, want to survive. The default difficulty level will prove frustrating to most and the new player would be advised to dial it back down to the lowest setting. Life is especially short in this strange otherworld in the shadow of Chernobyl and one must do whatever it takes to survive.

There are few dignified deaths in games with ragdoll physics. I’ve witnessed a lot of death in Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl but this takes the cake.

If limbo contests had fatalities, this is what I imagine it would be like.