A Love Letter to S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s Iconic Atmosphere

Welcome to the Zone Stalker

I struggle describing the reasons why I enjoy everything Stalker. The series and its mods have this intangible quality that leave a novice writer at their wits end when it comes to translating the series’ “feel” to text. So, I resorted to dipping my toes into video editing. Below, I have tried to capture the atmosphere and tone of some select locations by recording the ambiance of Stalker’s game world. This is a tough undertaking because my own nostalgia and connection to these areas makes communicating the merits of Stalker’s game world to an outsider a strange endeavor. That’s one way of saying this whole piece is going to be a very subjective look at GSC Game World’s level design, art direction, and more. While the video footage is ambiance with occasional moments of activity, the accompanying text is essentially a trip down memory lane for the different areas I choose to highlight. Please note that I will be using abbreviations for the original games: Shadow of Chernobyl (SoC), Clear Sky (CS), and Call of Pripyat (CoP).

I chose to use S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly for these recordings as I knew how to go invisible, turn on god mode, and noclip around in that mod. Also, Anomaly gives me access to all the locations I’d potentially want to capture. On top of Anomaly, I installed the Old World Addon which I think closely replicates the atmosphere and some of the gameplay of the original trilogy. One last touch was using the Classic Textures Addon converting Anomaly textures to Call of Pripyat ones. While the video footage captured is in Anomaly, my comments will be made with regards to the whole series, mods included, while the lore excerpts are pulled directly from the original trilogy.

Cordon | Rookie Village

Think of it as the Zone's antechamber - it's a good place for rookies to get their head around. You'll find a trader in the vaults at the back of the village, next to the army outpost. Don't miss the chance to talk to him. You'd be advised to steer clear of the outpost itself, however. You don't want the soldiers to catch a sight of you - most of them shoot first and don't bother asking questions later. Yet, as always, there are some who can be bribed as long as the top brass is looking the other way. Attacking the soldiers is not recommended, unless they pose a direct threat.

Shadow of Chernobyl PDA description

The Rookie Village in the Cordon is one of the most iconic locations in all of Stalker. It’s where every Loner’s journey starts, so your first memories in the zone usually involve this block of dilapidated huts. Returning to the village after long, arduous journeys in the north lets on feelings of nostalgia for a simpler time. The Rookie Village’s appearance is quaint and the level of activity quite mundane. The whole experience is akin to revisiting a childhood neighborhood. Your memories don’t quite match reality anymore. Whether that’s because time changed the place or because your perspective as a child was fundamentally different, you’ll never know.

Great Swamps | Pumping Station

You could roam these marshes for days on end and never get anywhere. It all looks the same: water, reeds and the occasional vegetation. I guess that's why Lebedev and Beanpolev chose this place for a camp. Even the army with their choppers can't spot us down here. That's how we've managed to do our business freely, away from prying eyes.

Nimble

The Great Swamp is an expansive area. The paths through the swamp are confusing, with the shoulder-height reeds and grasses creating a corn-maze effect. It’s easy to get turned around and lost without a landmark in the distance acting as your guide. Part of the reason the swamp feels expansive is the location of the Clear Sky base in the far southwest corner of not only the Great Swamp but also the entirety of the Zone. As a Loner, the safest point of entry to the swamp is the northeast corner as the Military make life difficult for other routes. So, if you take the north Cordon-Great Swamp route now you’re catty-corner to the hidden Clear Sky base… This is where the pumping station comes in.

To the east and south there are several memorable landmarks: the old church, the watchtower, the machine yard. But to the west there’s really nothing but swamp and the pumping station. This base on stilts has assisted in orienting me countless times. From the base rooftops you can see out over the swamp, revealing mutants that were previously shrouded from view. While many trips through the swamp and stops at the pumping station will be eerily quiet and uneventful, sometimes action will breakout and break the still silence. That could be boars bursting through the underbrush or CS’s janky but awesome faction wars mechanic. Assaulting the holed-up Renegades at the pumping station with your Clear Sky squad highlights one of my favorite features first shown in Clear Sky, the squad vs squad firefights. I’ve always found the enemy AI in Stalker to be surprising and unpredictable and these large gunfights are just a smorgasbord for funny/compelling AI interactions.

A favorite memory in Anomaly was hiding out inside the pumping station with a couple Clear Sky squads during a blow-out. We were all squished into this the patched-together tin can on rickety stilts like sardines. Looking up at the roof I could see too many gaps to count, looking down all I could think about was slipping through the wood planks like I did on boardwalk on the way in. After the Zone threw ups its lunch, all the stalkers spilled out of the little bunk we just shared, all expect one. As I walked out, I stepped over a Loner rookie who stood a bit too close to the doorway and got fried by the emission. What stuck with me was that I definitely could’ve squeezed further into the bunk I was in, who knows, he could’ve made it…

Garbage | Flea Market

A vast machinery graveyard. Right after the first accident whole heaps of radioactive waste were dumped there. Mostly ruins of old buildings infested with mutants. Much like the outskirts of the Zone, the place swarms with rookie stalkers, with an occasional bandit loitering around, always on the lookout for freebies. Some artifacts to be found here, but most of them are just not worth the effort. You'll be better off elsewhere. Going North, you will get to the Wild Territory, East lays the entrance to the Dark Valley, with the road to the Agroprom Research Institute to the West.

Shadow of Chernobyl PDA description

Garbage is a main thruway in any stalker’s road north. Garbage is also a nexus of conflict. In SoC there’s a great sequence when first entering Garbage where you take out a bunch of bandits sticking up a loner, then run over to the vehicle graveyard where you defend loner outpost from a bandit raid. While these events are staged, the first time around the gameplay feels extremely emergent. SoC often asks the player to be quick on their toes and then jump into action during these type of set pieces. In CS, Garbage is a battleground for both the Duty-Freedom and Loner-Bandit faction wars. In Anomaly, mutant hunts are always on the menu thanks to Butcher and the nearby faction presences of Duty, Military, Bandits, and Loners always keeps things interesting. Needless to say, Garbage can be action-packed, but in a restrained sort of way. This is in regards to the weapon and armor quality. Something about fighting off a couple bandits wielding sawn-offs with nothing but a leather jacket and a Makarov pistol just hits the spot.

Agroprom | Northern Factory Outskirts

The Pigs got me cornered at the yard! Help me out brothers!

Mole

Agroprom always stuck with me as inherently hostile zone. Part of it is the foreboding knowledge of what lies below. Because of SoC and by extension Anomaly, the Bloodsucker(s) that reside in the underground always live in the back of my mind as this spooky roadblock to progression. Although their presence has no bearing on the above-ground action, just the knowledge that the manhole in the corner of the northern factory leads to these underground horrors sets an ominous tone for the whole level.

The other part is the Military presence. In SoC, I love the quick, in-engine cutscene that sets the stage as the Marked One enters Agroprom. It’s a hectic shootout between Loners and Military and you’re tasked with assisting the Loners in pushing back the Military’s assault. This is a theme that carries into Anomaly where the Military’s Research Institute base must be given a wide berth as more often than not the Military shoot stalkers on sight.

I tried to capture the respite found between these hostile zones with one of the roadside campsites. Despite my attempts, the peace and quiet only lasted for so long. I had some special visitors show up in the night, guess the undergrounds were getting a little crowded…

Rostok | Southern Checkpoint

The Duty faction have set up camp on the plain's edge and they always welcome stalkers in need of rest. A desert oasis of sorts - a place completely devoid of anomalies and mutants. Be sure to check out the 100 Rads bar in the vaults - it's a meeting point for stalkers from all over the Zone. The bar is run by the local trader, so if you're interested in selling or buying wares apart from the local gossip - that's the place to go to. North of the bar is the military base, with the Garbage to the South.

Shadow of Chernobyl PDA description

Rostok is another iconic location within the Zone. Situated between Garbage, Army Warehouses, and the Wild Territory, its position makes the urban/industrial outpost a hub for the south-central region of the Zone. Rostok has a distinct feel compared to other areas in the Zone. There’s no open landscape, it’s just a tight, mishmash of deteriorating factory buildings, overgrown warehouses, and slumping apartments that have been repurposed for the inhabitants of the Zone.

After playing through the original trilogy of Stalker games you might not think much of Rostok. It only shows up in SoC as a pit-stop location you pass through a couple times on your way north. You go to the 100 Rads bar, meet Barkeep, and are on your way. However, when playing Anomaly or any of its modpacks, Rostok transforms into a vital cog in the landscape of the Zone and progression of your stalker. Rostok is a staple of the early to mid-game for any ally of Duty. Its central location, variety of vendors, squads of Duty guards, and multitude of stalkers who give tasks make it the perfect home-base. On the flip-side, enemies of Duty must carefully navigate the southern regions and plan on longer excursions as they cannot take the roads most traveled. It’s an interesting contrast in the way you can play the early to mid-game of Anomaly and adds a lot of character to the geography of the Zone.

Yantar | Mobile Science Lab

There used to be a lake here before the first accident, called Yantar. When they were building the factory they screwed something up underground and the water drained from the lake, leaving a stinking puddle. Right now the scientists have a camp next to what's left of the lake, and that same factory is still causing trouble a bit further up the road. Your brain goes haywire as soon as you get close and you can't think for shit. The only people still trying to get inside are suicidal – everyone else just kills off zombified stalkers who come out of the factory, and helps the scientists.

Loner Stalker

Home to the Ecologist’s mobile science lab, Yantar is a necessary stop for your trip north. Only the scientists can help you mitigate the effects of the brain scorcher…

Nestled in a swamp on the southern end of Yantar, the lab and the scientists are easily accessible from Agroprom and the Wild Territory. If you’re interested in artefact hunting, they have the best gear for the job and will buy your artefacts at a great price. North of the lab is a large production facility with the mysterious and dangerous Lab X-16 lying below. Emissions emanating from the facility fry intruders brains causing extreme hallucinations making you an easy target for the hordes of already afflicted mutants. The facility being on the northern horizon looms large over the tiny science lab. It casts a foreboding shadow but only tells a quarter of the story, as what lies below casts a darker shadow over your mind.

Limansk | Radiowave Institute

For a long time no one heard anything about that town. Many folks don't believe Limansk ever existed. Only they're lying: the town exists - I saw it with my own eyes before the first disaster. You see, there was a closed institute there, a real big one, with houses built specially for scientists and their servants. It was a research institute with some fancy name...something like Radiowave. They put up a huge antenna too, the size of a five-story building! Real intellectuals, those fellas. Only there was never any peace in Limansk. Its residents were always cagey, suspicious of strangers. Always muttering something under their noses and praising the Soviet regime, even when we had provision shortages. We countryfolk used to go 'round Limansk - the people weren't exactly hearty, and the town kinda made your head hurt...must have been the antenna. Then Chernobyl happened, but Limansk was not even evacuated. They might have screwed something up in the documents, or maybe it was all that secrecy, I don't really know. But that was the last I heard of Limansk. I've got no business there.

Forester

Limansk is a bit of a mystery to me. Unlike a lot of the other areas I’ve highlighted, I don’t have much time spent in Limansk. In CS you fly through the town on your quest to reach the power plant. But what I loved about that linear segment was the Half-Life 2 City 17 vibes. Something about fighting Monolith/Military outposts in these quaint eastern European town squares or apartment blocks feels Source engine-like.

The Duga-1 Radar on the horizon is such a pronounced image that’s hard to forget. The idea of living in the shadows of such a huge antenna is fascinating which is why I included the quote from Forester.

Zaton | Skadovsk

Welcome aboard our swamp icebreaker, hah!

Beard

Or…

What are you, a statue? If you've got something spill the beans, if not take a hike.

Owl

Call of Pripyat is my favorite game of the series. Call of Pripyat is the game in the trilogy I’ve spent the most time with. Zaton might be my favorite area of the series. Zaton is probably also the area I’ve spent the most time in. You see where this is going… Skadovsk is like a 2nd home to me.

Places like Garbage, Agroprom, the Dark Valley, and so on are memorable to me because of the trail the Marked One blazes through them in SoC. Defending the vehicle graveyard from bandits in Garbage, the shootout with the Military at the Agroprom factory, helping the Duty stalker ambush bandits who captured his comrade all highlight these little set pieces that dot the Marked One’s journey.

In contrast, what makes Skadovsk and by extension Zaton so special is that it’s the series’ first hub area from which a bunch of side content spins off. The stalkers you meet in Skadovsk have little backstories, rivals, stories of betrayal, lost friends, and much more. Stalker squads roam in and out of the area, a sly bandit leader posts up in the corner, the mechanic has a drinking problem, a stalker on the top floor can smuggle you rare equipment, the one trader is a wholesome friend, the other is an irritable asshole, I could go on… but you get the point. Skadovsk feels alive, rich with evolving relationships and dynamic stories that make the location memorable.

Outskirts | River Port

This used to be a town built for engineers working at the Chernobyl NPP. Quite a big place once, it is a ghost town now with mutants and zombies as the only residents. There seems to be no way to get in there: the Brain Scorcher is blocking the way.

Shadow of Chernobyl PDA description

I love brutalist architecture.

Oh, I also like shootouts with Monolith soldiers in apartment blocks, hospitals, schools, etc. If you’re like me, the Outskirts of Pripyat is the place for you.

Outskirts | Laboratory X-8

The notebook contains a detailed description of an experiment assessing a psy-field's effect on an object in another hemisphere. A group of scientists in the Caribbean received the signal, but it was distorted. The signal was altered in a strange way, as though corrected by someone. A possible explanation is that the noosphere theory is correct and the changes were made by the noosphere.
These documents must not fall into anyone else's hands, as they would be of great interest to USS analysts.

Notebook found in Laboratory X-8

The laboratories of the Zone are like a whole other game within Stalker. One moment you’re playing an open-world, exploration-based, FPS and then the next you’re in a horror game. The labs are really claustrophobic as you suddenly realize you’re not used to having four walls around you. Mutants that were once easily avoidable become the monsters of your nightmares. Maneuvering in narrow hallways with laboratory equipment strewn about and the ever-present threat of anomalies makes tracking a snork with a flashlight infinitely more difficult.

…

Alright, so I’m going to cut myself off at 10 locations of the Zone. Hopefully that gives a taste of what Stalker is all about. This is by no means a ranking or complete list; this is just a sampling of what I love about these games. Stick around if you want to learn more about Stalker and where to start with these games!

An Introduction to S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

If you’ve made it to this point in the article, you’re probably already a fan of Stalker and have your own recollections, little moments of emergent gameplay, or cozy hideouts that draw you into the Zone. For the 1 person who is still here and hasn’t played any Stalker games, you may be asking yourself, “Well where do I start?” Don’t worry, I got you covered.

If we look big picture, there’s the original Stalker trilogy developed by GSC Game World in the 2000s. That’s Shadow of Chernobyl (SoC), Clear Sky (CS), and Call of Pripyat (CoP) in order of release. Chronologically it’s CS, SoC, then CoP, but don’t worry about that too much. Then there’s a decade plus worth of mods… These mods range from bug fixes to complete overhauls and lastly there’s the standalone sandbox mods, Call of Chernobyl and Anomaly, with the latter being the most downloaded mod of all time on moddb.com.

Quintessential S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

So where to start? Well, to answer your question I have to first ask you question:

Are you putting a gun to my head and demanding I recommend you the single best Stalker experience? If so, I say play:

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat modded with GUNSLINGER mod

CoP has the best gameplay of the series. The main story is very bare bones and pretty dumb, but I’m here to explore and be immersed in these big environments: Zaton, Jupiter, and Outskirts. CoP has incredible side content with fun interactions and interesting areas to explore. Gunslinger mod updates gun animations, item usage animations, hand models, and much more while keeping the vanilla weapon and item options and not touching the story or side content, perfect! I talk more about CoP and Gunslinger in my review. Otherwise, checkout some screenshots below:

The Original Trilogy

Ok, so you’re not putting a gun to my head, and you’re more interested in getting invested in the story/world of a whole series of games. If that’s the case, I say play:

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl modded with the Zone Reclamation Project

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky modded with the Sky Reclamation Project

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat no mods necessary (but Gunslinger if you want)

This will give you a vanilla playthrough of the entire series with some bug fixes for the first two entries. SoC is a more linear, story-driven experience when compared with CoP. The journey will take you throughout the entire Zone meeting a wide range of characters and factions. SoC is an iconic game that establishes much of the lore of the Zone. All these reasons make SoC a fantastic starting point. CS has a bit of a reputation for being the black sheep of the series, but I don’t see it. Yes, CS retreads many of the same areas of SoC but these areas deserve to be retread, in my opinion. The faction war mechanic introduced in CS adds in a fun wrinkle to combat that bumps up the scope of some the firefights in the Zone. This is one mechanic that I wish CoP incorporated and fleshed out more. I already commented on COP above, so refer to that as most of it remains true for the unmodded version. If I were to summarize, I’d say the story and dynamic little set pieces standout in SoC, the faction wars standout in CS, and the side content and expansive areas of CoP highlight the series’ last entry. What reigns supreme throughout is the Zone’s atmosphere and I think I’ve said or at least showed enough on that topic.

Vanilla-ish Mods

So, you booted up one the Stalker games, started playing, was intrigued but couldn’t get past something with the visuals, whether that be the gun models, world textures, hand animations, etc. Here’s my recommendations for mods that update the visuals but leave other things mostly untouched:

Absolute Texture Packs - SoC, CS, CoP

Old Good Stalker Evolution - SoC (adds a lot of non-vanilla stuff but can be tweaked)

Arsenal Overhaul - CS (adds too many weapons, but still cool)

GUNSLINGER mod - CoP (already mentioned above)

The Standalone S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Sandbox

There’s a good chance people these days are getting into Stalker thanks to the incredibly popular standalone sandbox mod Stalker Anomaly. For those people I still recommend starting with any the experiences I listed above. But if you’re really only in it for Anomaly here’s my thoughts on a few different ways I’ve played the most downloaded mod of all time:

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly - base mod

I’ve never really gotten deep into base Anomaly. I’ve done a ton of ironman runs with my custom mod-list but that was it. In my opinion Anomaly’s story mode and crafting system are pretty lackluster. The story retreads old beats, leaving me uninterested in seeking out those missions. The crafting system is overbearing leaving you with an inventory full of junk that you couldn’t care less about. However, it’s still Stalker and it can be fun to free roam, dealing with quests and problems when they pop up. Next there’s:

Old World Addon - Anomaly addon

Old World tries to capture the tone, gameplay, and atmosphere of the original trilogy by stripping down Anomaly’s features and overhauling the visuals. I had a really fun playthrough with the Old World addon. It creates a streamlined version of Anomaly that removes a lot of my frustrations. The side effect is that what you’re left with is a worse version of SoC. Anomaly can start to feel very lifeless when you begin stripping back its features. On the other end of the spectrum, you have the immensely popular:

GAMMA - Anomaly modpack

Stalker GAMMA is a gigantic modpack for Anomaly, totaling 300+ mods. While Old World strips away features, GAMMA ramps up Anomaly to the nth degree. Progression slows to a crawl, guns and armor are hard to come by, radiation is a significant hinderance, your inventory will look like a hoarder’s garage… it’s brutal. But in all honesty, it’s really good in a very different way. In my latest ironman playthrough I started with Duty and after 15 hours about I finally rigged together a shotgun. But for those first 15 hours all I had was a 1911 pistol and some shredded armor and damn does it feel good to have nothing. This meant Garbage, Cordon, and Agroprom were my main stomping grounds and I love nothing more than a good boar hunt or bandit hit job. I usually hit a roadblock or die and my interest swoons, but goddamn does GAMMA do the early game well. Those early-game pistol shootouts with a couple bandits are so damn tense and satisfying. The item bloat however is less then satisfying…

I am by no means an expert with Anomaly and there are a multitude of experiences that can be created with it as the bedrock. Seek out the experience you want but in my opinion nothing about Anomaly or any of its addons/modpacks replicates the feeling of playing the original games. This can be for the better and for the worse. Bottom line is that Anomaly is just a fundamentally different game.

Final Remarks

Thanks for sticking around to the end! I don’t know if I’ve said it already, but I can’t recommend this series enough. It’s the definition of a diamond in the rough, so if you hit a rough spot don’t worry too much. Push through, try another game, install a mod, I know I’ve done all these things... Hopefully later this year, the “sequel”, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart of Chernobyl successfully releases and is able to recapture the magic of this original trilogy. For now, we must wait, cautiously excited…