S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

Played this game for the first time in 2024, after I completed Shadow of Chernobyl and used the openXRay mod. The core gameplay has been improved and finally delivers on the vision of the first game. Looking for artifacts, avoiding anomalies, killing mutants, sneaking in enemy bases... everything works together and the world truly seems alive and not centered around the player. It also was less buggy, with only a few minor bugs and glitches. The difficulty was also more consistent and fair. However, it's not perfect, the story is pretty bad and far less interesting than SOC, the final area is pretty weak, there are some rough edges (no traders in the final area and you need to pay 5K to travel back and forth), loading stutters while traversing the map, which get worse the longer you play... However, it is still definitely worth playing! Now I just gotta wait until I get a giga gpu so I can play STALKER 2...

Can't say what isn't already said about this game. If you like post apocalyptic scenarios, ego shooters and you don't mind some survival feature (eat, drink, sleep) this game might be for you. However it can be the case that this game might not run (or for some reason only on random occasions) with Win 10. If so, you probably find a solution here: https://www.gog.com/forum/stalker_series/call_of_pripyat_wont_launch_1

The third and last instalment goes back to revisiting some cult locations of the first game and the signature klicking of the Geiger counter is your constant companion along the way. An incredibly 'alive' game and very worthwile to play, much for the same strenghts as the previous instalments.

Not as atmospheric as the SoC Stalker, but still has its moments. Bad gun sounds, some are extremely loud, bordering on ear-damaging, some are barely discernible. Graphics have aged well (end of 2020).

OK, I played all three S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games and like them all. I still think SoC is the best, bt CoP is a worthy ending of this trilogy. And it did something few other games ever managed: Almost gave me nightmares. OK, I hope I am not giving away much by way of spoilers, but as you probably know, once you finish the main story, the game remains open for free play. The final act of the main storyline in my case was an epic gunbattle in the middle of Pripyat, in the dead of the night. Once we "won", the NPC team was evacuated by helicopter, and I was offered the choice of either joining them (ending the game) or staying behind. Naturally, I chose the latter. So the NPCs board the chopper, the chopper leaves, its sound fades... and there I was, in the middle of a pitch dark Pripyat, completely alone, surrounded only by the corpses left behind by the battle. And it was the eeriest experience imaginable. So much so, I sensed almost a physical sense of relief when I finally made it back to a building that, much to my relief, was not abandoned but had NPC humans in it. Finally... light, voices, signs of life. Sheesh, get a grip of yourself! It's just a silly computer game! Yes, that's how atmospheric these games really are. As a footnote, not long after I finished CoP, I came across a picture on the Internet: A photo of the Yanov railway station, which is currently used as a warehouse. I recognized it immediately, because it looks just like in the game.