In mid of this "Apocalypse World fever" my group is now, I decided to take a look in the STALKER pc game. Despite the hype, Ive never played it at the time, discarding it as just another mindless shooter.
Oh boy, I was wrong.
Im playing the last entry In the series, "Call of Pripyat", with the mod MISERY. And It must be the most atmospheric game Ive ever played (and I played a lot of System Shock, Bioshock, Amnesia, etc). I don't know if it's the mod fault, or vanilla, but the graphics are awesome in a realistic way – the night is pitch black, the ambient lighting is totally realistic, the itens and people and clothes and textures and weather are all "decayingly sober" – and the survival/simulation elements are awesome: you have to eat, sleep, get tired if running constantly, encumbrance effects, etc. And the scarcity is very tangible. Food is scarce, med supplies, etc. even bullets – If you play it like your typical shooter, you will be empty really soon. And since you are fragile and cant stand more than a few blows, its wiser to plan ahead carefully instead of go on shooting. All this really adds to the sense that you "is there", in this desolate, twisted, and "real" world.
Another thing worthy of note is how free-roaming the game is. The plot is very "open" and you are free to follow your own goals as you wish. In fact, you must ignore the plot and go "free-roaming" at first, otherwise you cant survive. And the MISERY mod also adds a replay value in the form of 3 possible character options as an Ukranian Special Services operative – Recon specialist, Assault specialist and Sniper specialist. Each one has its own advantages and disadvantages (Eg: Recon is expert at keeping his clothes and armor in good state, using bandages and chems for maximum effect, running faster than the others, and begins the game with silenced pistol, SMG and binoculars).
So, who else here played this game ?
P.S: I think Ghost Whistler would love this game. Its almost as masochist as Dark Souls. :rolleyes:
I paid 8USD for the original and loved the everloving shit out of it. Really the best 8 dollars I had spent on gaming in a long time. I also got about a fourth of the way through Clear Sky, but I got distracted by other games. Eventually I'll be finishing that and moving onto Call of Pripyat.
The graphics are a little different than the usual "plastic" look of things like id's or Epic's engines -- I've noticed that with some other Eastern-European games as well, like Cryostasis. Definitely a grittier aesthetic feel.
But yeah, as far as FPS go, STALKER is definitely up there with Borderlands (and maybe Far Cry 2) as one of my favorites from the past several years.
Just to say I finished Stalker Misery.
Since System Shock I dont have an experience so immersive and unsettling. I reccommend for all fans of "immersion shooters". I would go farther and say Misery is the first true Survival Sim Ive ever played.
Just a heads up:
Misery 2.0 is coming out in july 31, according to the official site (http://www.moddb.com/mods/stalker-misery).