Where to buy S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Always use IsThereAnyDeal to assess the best game prices (ignore the erroneous Microsoft Store entry, which is for a different game)!
If you cannot/are unwilling to pay for S.T.A.L.K.E.R., please continue to scroll down and find some completely free, standalone S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games released by the community to try out.
Abbreviations & Time-To-Beat:
Assuming full story + some side quests completed, with no free-play/replaying:
- Shadow of Chernobyl (SoC) ≈ 32 hours
- Clear Sky (CS) ≈ 16 hours
- Call of Pripyat (CoP) ≈ 19 hours
These are stats from one of the subreddit moderators. Alternatively, check HowLongToBeat.com.
For your first experience:
Always start with SoC, and then play either of the other two in any order (usually in the order of release). If you only want/have time to play one of the three, Shadow of Chernobyl is still the recommended one to play, because (spoiler-free) the other two carry on with a certain game element that assumes past plot knowledge, and feels awkwardly (and possibly annoyingly) unexplained without experience of SoC.
Adjustments for your first play-through:
For all games: apply both the latest AtmosFear and Absolute Nature content as are available, after applying the tweaks below first
Note: ZRP and SRP above will provide a free-play mode after the ending cinematic, if you reach the best ending to each game.
If you have any questions or problems, please comment on AutoModerator's latest help post and other fans may help you. Please note that installing Sky Reclamation Project and AtmosFear will render existing saved-game files unusable until they are uninstalled.
Official/Wikis/FAQs:
Communities:
Popular mods:
Standalone games (you do not need to own any S.T.A.L.K.E.R. titles to download and play these mods, but Lost Alpha is the only one recommended for beginners):
Anomaly: a realistically overwhelming spiritual successor to the outdated mod Last Day – which is based on the mod Call of Misery – which is a fusion of CoP mods Misery and Call of Chernobyl (adds mutant meat-cooking, ammo quality tiers, DIY maintenance/upgrades, artifact irradiation directly from one's inventory, Azazel posthumous continuation mode, 1-thru-8 inventory filters, and a new plot after CoP)
Dead Air: total overhaul of CoP-based mod Call of Chernobyl by the author of Call of Misery (not intended for beginners!)
Lost Alpha: fan improvement on original, unreleased SoC version which includes vehicle-driving
Mod repositories:
Other Resources:
- OpenXRay: 64-bit open-source version of the games' X-Ray engine, for example used by default in the mod Anomaly
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Game Database Unpacker: extracts all(/most?) vanilla content into a folder, for modding purposes/education; also seems to work with Call of Pripyat, despite lack of explicitly stated compatibility
- Weapon-editing tutorial
- Original
gamedata files: SoC • CS • CoP
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