S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Video Game Series

Fans had to wait several long years for the release of the full-fledged second installment of the series. Not much was missing to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl became the first game from under this banner to hit not only personal computers, but also consoles. Nevertheless, in March 2024, a compilation was released on PlayStation and Xboxes S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy, created by GSC Game World in cooperation with Poland's Mataboo.

The plot and gameplay in the games of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series.

The source of inspiration for the creators of the series S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was the novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky titled Picnic on the Edge of the Road and the film based on its themes Stalker (1979), directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. The plot of the games presents an alternative version of history, according to which the in 2006, a renewed explosion at the damaged Chernobyl nuclear power plant contributed to the contamination of the vast area around the plant. Anomalies and mutated creatures appeared in the zone, which was closed by the military.

The action of the first part of the series takes place several years later, and the player takes on the role of one of the stalkers - the few daredevils who venture into the zona in search of artifacts, bizarre plants and objectsfor which many people are willing to pay big money. The plot of the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 in turn tells the story of Skif wishing to solve the mystery of the mysterious power present in the Zone.

Gameplay in productions under the banner of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. combines elements of FPP open-world shooters and RPGs.. The plot is non-linear, and the decisions made by the player affect its course and ending. With the development of the series, the area put at our disposal increased, as well as the amount of equipment we could use, among other things.

Engine and mods for games in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series.

The first installment of the series and expansions are based on the proprietary X-Ray Engine. For its time, it provided high-quality visuals, while being susceptible to modification. Thanks to the latter modder scene developed around the series; among the modifications prepared by it, the project led the way S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Lost Alpha. X-Ray Engine, however, was demanding for the hardware and difficult to tame for developers, so the second installment of the series was already based on Unreal Engine 5.