S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

2024-12-27
Coming back to the OG Stalker Shadow of Chernobyl (SoC) years and years after playing and finishing the IMO superior Call of Pripyat (CoP) is a trip. The bones are all here: the power curve of shit guns that can barely kill a dog (if they hit, which they won't), the jank, the BLYAT vibes, the creepy mutants, the jank, the artifacts, the emergent gameplay with various factions fighting each other, and, of course, the jank. The problem then is that it starts so slow and linear. Remember that power curve I mentioned? Well in CoP if you put in the time to hunt and sell artifacts you can make your way up that curve. In SoC you're just gimped until you find some kitted-the-fuck-out military guy who got shot by someone else, grab his amazingly accurate and powerful rifle, and ascend to become a god of the wastes. Hey, I love free stuff as much as the next irradiated Vodka-chugging rat person but c'mon make me work for it a little.

The draw then, some people will tell you, is that the story and lore are better. Huh? What story? Maybe I didn't do enough of the incredibly uninteresting, and often buggy, side quests to get the whole story but what's here ain't much if you ask me. I still have no idea who Freedom or Duty are or why they're fighting. And I only know about the whole thing with the ghost man in the computer because of the wiki, where I found out I could have seen that ending if my game hadn't bugged out previously.

And bugs there are a plenty. Personally I have a high tolerance for jank having spent the vast majority of my life adoring Bethesda games. Who doesn't love when after popping a dude in the head their corpse turns into a spaghetti monster with limbs stretching out a 100 feet in every direction, jerking around wildly? Yes you’ll have people not only see you through walls but clip their gun through said wall and unload it on you. But that’s good jank if you ask me. The bad jank is having a quest bug out and become incompletable. Or important quest NPCs end up in situations where they die no matter how many times you reload. But I s'pose that's the territory, comrade.

Less forgivable is the end section of the game which turns into shooting gallery after shooting gallery of enemies with weapons that will kill you almost immediately even with the best gear. In effect the developers want to ask us "How good are you at using quicksave/quickload?" Or the fact that weapons and armor have durability but no way to repair them. In effect the developers want to tell us "Fuck you."

All that is to say while it was cool to see the Stalker series origins, they are humble origins and not really worth the trip down memory lane if you ask me. Skip this and check out Call of Pripyat.