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

STALKER can't really be explained. You have to live it. The basic premise is that you are a scavenger wandering through a wasteland surrounding Chernobyl following a second cataclysmic event there. However, this time the event has done something to the very fabric of reality, causing bizarre artefacts and anomalies to emerge and twisting wildlife and humans into unrecognisable forms. But all of that is somewhat irrelevant - what is irrelevant is that no game has ever had a better atmosphere or gunplay. Forget about action corridor shooters - think grim fights for survival in bleak, windswept countryside and abandoned Soviet era buildings. Think broken guns that are hard to aim. Think getting shot even once being potentially fatal. When you find yourself walking through miles of barren wasteland in the absolute dark of night listening to the grunts and scratches of unknown creatures and watching through dark for the lights of bandits... you will know what it means to be a STALKER! Just buy this game, right now. Download the STALKER Complete mod. Play. You will never regret it.

Atmosphere can make or break a game, holding your belief steady for the world that the developer wants you to explore. In 2007 two games came along with atmosphere in spades; Stalker and Bioshock. Bioshock for me was a flawed gem. The city of Rapture was enthralling in the beginning, but the undersea environment was quickly wasted in favour of a corridor shooter, losing much of the initial dread. Stalker holds true to the environment throughout the game, offering a truly atmospheric and bleak experience. There are some terrifying moments and the world almost feels real, especially set to the backdrop of the Chernobyl disaster. While the original game was fantastic, I highly recommend installing one of the many mods now available. I personally suggest the L.U.R.K. mod for keeping to the original intent of the game yet adding stealth mechanics with lethal and varied gunplay. "Get out of here Stalker".

The first game was inspired by 2 different things, Roadside Picnic, and the Stalker film from 1979. It almost had more delays than Duke Nukem Forever. The developers are fans of Half-life (You can find a dead bootleg Gordon Freeman in a parking lot tunnel near a Desert Eagle) Excellent atmosphere, rich, immersive world. Lovable fellow STALKERS, and even lovable enemy STALKERS (those bandits are very silly and charming, BANDIT RADIO!) Relatively realistic weapon handling (I used to think how often they jam was a little bs, then me and my bro was firing his handgun at targets, and it jammed literally every other shot. I then appreciated STALKER's weapon system even more. The jam RNG can be a little stupid though. Like X-COM RNG stupid. It's a little janky at times, might want to get a mod or two. Also, check out S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly on Moddb. A really substantial mod that combines the 3 games' maps, has a new quest, and then some.

The term "rough diamond" describes the STALKER series well. After numerous postpones and ultimately even content cuts, the first STALKER game was released in fairly broken shape in late 00s. However thanks to the helpful developers and the passion of the numerous fans, the game got soon fixed into stable form, and nowadays it has gotten two sequels and numerous big fan-made mods. On DX9 & higher lighting-modes these games look stunning, and the dynamic A-Life AI keeps Zone "alive" 24/7. Throw the difficulty to max, disable crosshair, and jump into the mysterious and deadly world of STALKER! See more info at : http://pastebin.com/FUPEbLiv Don't give up in the beginning! The starting gear kinda sucks and first area is... a bit boring for some. So what ARE the STALKER games then? -First-Person- survival -shooter games. -Open-ended world with some pre-determined, scripted sections. Changing weather and day/night cycles. -Your character needs to eat, and getting hit may cause varying levels of bleeding. 1 shot may kill at best. -Focus on FPS gameplay, with physics-affected bullet trajectories, multiple ammo types and upgrading options for all guns. -Some RPG-like elements, such as weight-limited inventory and resistance statistics. No leveling-up or collecting EXP, it's all real-time action! -Loosely based on the Russian "Roadside Picnic" -novel, and the "Stalker" movie based on it. The games take place in the area known as the Zone, which is more twisted version of the real-life Zone of Alienation, the closed area around the exploded Chernobyl Nuclear Powerplant in Ukraine. Unexplainable stuff starts happening in the area, it gets closed down by military. Few nutcases start breaking in to the place and smuggle out artifacts with logic defying effects, which eventually causes a "gold rush" into the area. These people illegally infiltrating the Zone become dubbed as STALKERS, short for Scavengers - Trespassers - Adventurers - Loners - Killers - Explorers - Robbers.

Amazing story, amazing atmosphere, hard-but-fair difficulty, open world. This is PC gaming rolled up in a single game.