CORRECTIONS: 28:11 By the time that the Chornobyl disaster happened on April 26th, 1986, the Soviet-Afghan War had been going on for over six years since Christmas Eve 1979, instead of the five years that I mention here 31:18 By the late 1980s, the largest political organization in Soviet Ukraine was obviously still the Communist Party. What I should've said instead was that the Rukh was the largest non-governmental organization in Ukraine at that time apart from the CPU 41:58 There is a slight gap in the audio mix that I missed, apologies
Oh nice! a video about STALKERs immersion! 60% politics from watching mainstream news... Yes it is relevant but I am sure you would not know what a "Ukraine" 3 years ago. You do know that the Russians started their invasion 2014 right? they took Chrimea and then it was on hold. This is American level of ignorance, and saying "ChOrnobol" doesn't make you a good person, it is still pronounced "ChErnobyl" in Ukranian even though it is spelled "Чорнобиль"(Ukr) "Чернобыль"(Rus) you fake carebear.
I was playing STALKER in my dark room, and my cousin was sitting next to me. I was going through some basement that was pitch black, exept for my flashlight. It was quiet, and we thought we heard a snork running around in the dark. I was ill-prepared, with a shitty AK-74U and barely any armor, I walked slowly towards the sound, crouching down as I went... The silence was suddenly broken when my little brother (7 yr) had gone into the room through the open door and sneaked up behind us to ask "WhaT aRe yoU plAYing?!" Let me tell you that my soul left my body and I suddenly started shooting everywhere, screaming in unison with my cousin and not seeing where the fuck I was going anymore... Shit was crazy
With drewskis video on gamma, he unknowingly gave birth to a whole new playerbase of stalker, makes me happy to see GSC finally getting the exposure and traction theyve deserved from creating one of the most unique video games to date.
True. If not him I wouldn't try Anomaly out. I played old Stalker games but Anomaly is like a breath of fresh air. It is amazing. Plus with those mods.
You couldnt be more incorrect. GSC already had good enough exposure from years back, let alone from them making the trilogy itself. I might look like a hater, or an "old boomer" by saying this, but I honestly do not like the mods released these days. They are either the most unacceptably laziest Anomaly repacks (Which I have no idea how the community cannot see, maybe the hurr durr radiation ate their fucking braincells), or just a Gunslinger port. Its very rare to see original, proper mods these days, maybe 1 in 50 mods are original now. The Stalker community has to be one of the most stagnating communities right now, as they have completely locked onto acting like we haven't been already doing mod merging with Call of Chernobyl more than half a decade ago, and just pass off all the Anomaly repacks as genuently original and brand new games (Which A.R.E.A. and GAMMA are, they are repacks, lazy at that). Wouldnt mind getting something in the magnitude of Lost Alpha, or OGSE, or just OLR, mods that had a tremendous amount of work and dedication in order for them to flrousish, without having to resort to lurking through GameBanana, to see what they could copy paste into their own work.
i tried to play Shadow of Chernobyl years ago on a laptop but it kept crashing so i abandoned it now that i know about the anomaly mod and gamma i can finally return to experience these games and how fun they are
@@kovacsbence5521 i played all of them (even clear sky) when they came out, seen them fade in to memory by the mainstream playerbase, big mods started coming out during the years and every time some youtuber (way before Twitch was a thing) dusted it off and some new videos appeared or footage from the scrapped alpha Oblivion Lost, but it never really had a resurgence until the Misery mod & the Complete mods dropped and they introduced all the items & gameplay improvements that this version profits from(even than the old XRay engine sadly is still stuttering and breaks immersion in the originals no matter how much you mod it), but it was still overshadowed by similar games like Metro & Escape from Tarkov, now finally it gets the spotlight again, all of us who continuously played the franchise during the years might scratch their head and think "this has been out for years, it's not really new" but i can't be mad or anything, i am happy that people get a taste for such a cerebral game, that might look like a shooter but it is so much more. I hope Stalker 2 gets its release soon and all the new people support the franchise by buying it.
For all its jankiness, every person who’s played STALKER has stories from their time in the Zone. From weird, wild shit that spontaneously happened, to the simple relief of coming across a group of Loners around a campfire.
I had to bury my two pals after a bloodsucker hunt went awry. Vadik Anomaly, and Gleb Salesmen, may you find rest outside the zone. We got tasked to go deal with a bloodsucker in the middle of truck cemetery, nothing eventful, dealt with a few zombies on the way, and we get to the hill this bloodsucker is at. We clean him up pretty well, three slugs and hes down for the count. I then hear a massive roar and gunfire behind me, Both my companions are shooting at a fucking chimera while another seven or so zombies are attacking. Gleb, the fucking unit distracted the zombies while Vadik dealt with the Chimera. By the time i kill the Chimera on Vadik, Gleb died to the zombies, and by the time i kill them, a poltergiest kills Vadik. Im fucking heartbroken, i end up burying both of them with their custom rifles i made for them and all. Worst of all, on Gleb's body i find a note to his family (it was a note from another stalker, but it was too fitting to not be his) and im even worse off. So i make a stash with both of their gear, and i pull them ontop of a truck so nothing eats their bodies
I played Stalker Call of Chornobyl once as a neutral. I stashed my loot at the 100 rads bar and tried to establish good relations with everyone (even became neutral with the bandits) One day, for no reason at all Duty turned hostile on me and opened fire whenever I returned from Yantar. I swear it was a programming glitch but I thought "Hey man, life has no guarantees, so whose to say The Zone was gonna be predictable." Begrudgingly and amusingly, I fought my way in the 100 rads bar, shot up the place and moved my loot to dark valley instead. Good times.
As a Ukrainian, thank you, and as fan of Stalker - thank you, im glad you didn't "forgot" about bugs, even if in this kind of videos i always feel like the reviewer get the most bugged version while i get last, you told about them fairly (and maybe even somewhat underestimated them). Anyway, again i want to say thank you, and also sorry for my bad English.
In a world where the tedium of everyday life govern every facet of our existence, the Zone’s simplicity of live or die, sprinkled with a moment of camaraderie with fellow stalkers is a welcoming escape.
Honeslty its kinda fucked up how us the average 9-5 worker/student start prefering simple live or die situations to monotone existance of current life.
"They can allow us to explore incredible virtual worlds, subjectively identify with its narrative themes, or master the depth and flow of its mechanics.." "We can extend that definition to mean the closing of the figurative distance between the player and the game; the flow state that eliminates all the artificiality, the distractions, and the contrivances to create a sincere and intimate dialogue." Beautifully said. This video really does narrate my first experiences with the Stalker franchise that initially grabbed me, and has had me playing and replaying, modding, and replaying over and over to this day. Fantastic video dude.
Excellent ! Especially the look into the human side of the game and the sacrifices made by the dev team. We can only for their countries safety and for peace to return to them all. Subbed = )
I played both back in 2007, MW and Stalker. I played MW first and it instantly became a benchmark for what an FPS single player experience should be. I remember being super hyped for stalker and convincing all my friends to buy it when it comes out, which we all did. All my friends quit the game within the first 2 hours telling me I'm an idiot for suggesting they buy it. In the beginning it was hard for me to defend the game too, especially as a 12 year old coming from COD4. It was clunky, unpolished and simply broken at times with no hand holding or guidelines to what you should do. I still stuck to it for some reason. I guess I was just curious to see what the rest of the game world was like because it was just dripping with atmosphere. It took me almost a year to beat the game, I would just get stuck or sidetracked. It's to this day the most immersive, creepy, weird game I've ever played. Back then I thought COD4 couldn't be topped but today I appreciate Stalker so much more for so many reasons. No bombastic scrippted event can compare to the random nature of Stalker, no playtrough is the same.
Great video dude. I've been a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fan since 2004 when whispers of Oblivion Lost first started. It's been really cool seeing interest in the games rise over the years!
Sad that they had to dumb down the game for general audience. And ran out of time. I hate the people who think that the Anomaly mod is true stalker expirience. Fuck drewski.
I remember when I was 11 years old and Shadow of Chernobyl came out. It was a love at first sight, I never played a game like this before. The head bob and weapon sway felt so real and immersive. Even shooting a 12 gauge gave a pleasurable feedback. I accidentally shot someone in the Sid's village and the whole camp went hostile. I barely put half of them down and got killed. At this very moment, I realized, this game is no walk in the park. Unlike most games, Stalker does not hold you by the hand throughout the whole game. It feels like you've been thrown into the lake not knowing to swim. When I got to the first underground level in Research Institute and encountered a Controller for the first time, I shit my pants and uninstalled the game. I thought I am done with it for good. Again, I was 11yo. Didn't I know they'd release a sequel year later, Clear Sky which made me give it another chance. I finished the first game and then the sequel and I loved every bit of it. Call of Pripyat was just a cherry on top. Modding community and a loyal player base has done wonders for this franchise and there has not been a single years since 2007 in which I did not play Stalker. I can without a doubt say that Stalker is the best game ever made... for the right audience. Nothing ever beats it. Anomaly and its branches are total pinnacle. Can't wait what modding community will do with an upcoming Heart of Chornobyl.
"I was ten years old when I first played CoD 4" Omg I feel old. When I was 10 I was begging my mom to order the full release of Doom and a fuckin SoundBlaster lol.
Thank you a lot for representing the actual events and history of Ukraine, for love to Stalker series. It is all very important for fans, those who believe in Ukraine and GSC while waiting for Stalker 2. Thank you!
Nicholas, Be certain that you have created a very good essay and video. Good directing, great commentary, impacting use of the soundtrack. Yet another jewel by the STALKER fan community. Well done. Well done.
Excellent essay and an timely reminder of the difficult history that informs the series, not to mention the current hurdles these dedicated people are overcoming to bring us a vision of a unique world. Slava Ukrania!
If you guys haven't played any Stalker games yet, but still want a free and updated experience to get you know the world and actual lore of Stalker I would suggest you to first try OGSR(Old good Stalker Evolution/Revolution) it a standalone mod of the first game shadow of chernobyl with some restored cut content completely remade in 64bit version of the xray engine. And if you have played Shoc and not for a while you might wanna try it too, in a new refreshed way with new content and stories to discover. Also you could see it as a introduction in a slightly less overwhelming experience then anomaly. Since anomaly is filled to the brim with new items and strongly expanded mechanics build upon the original mechanics.
Playing the original STALKER at 11 years old was the most emersive, confusing and terrifying gaming experience of my life. While all my friends were stuck on COD 4 Multiplayer I was grinding it out in the Chernobyl exclusion zone not knowing what I was doing and if all this weird stuff is actually happening in that place. It took me more than a year to beat and the feeling of the first playthrough will never be replicated. Such a unique series. I'm so excited for the sequel yet I'm dreading it at the same time. No game could really scratch that ich for me, not even Metro.
No matter what version you play, what your preferred mod pack is, Stalker is the GREATEST single player fps experience one can come across, simply. Edit: oh and 23:19... Stalker IS perfect, in all of its glory and imperfections, it IS perfection.
very nice video, I've never really seen something like your comparison or consideration on how the chernobyl disaster effected ukraine and relating stalker's setting to it and I've seen a good amount of stalker video essays
Thank you so much for taking such an in-depth look into the historical context behind the game, it is such a crucial part of its identity that is so often overlooked. As someone with a personal connection with the tragedy, I've wondered for years whether using Chornobyl as a setting was a morally correct decision from the developers. However, at its core, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a game about people surviving among the ruins of an empire, facing an uncertain future, and forging their own identity in the process. The game is by no means some masterful sociopolitical reflection, but it is so good at capturing the air of uncertainty that defined life in Ukraine in the 90s and 00s. And Chornobyl is the perfect symbol for the downfall of the USSR and the traumatic legacy it left Ukraine with: just like the nuclear particles left by the disaster, the lasting effects of repression and colonialism will take many generations to truly decay.
if you get the chance, try stalker gamma it uses stalker anomaly as a base, then adds a lot of immersive and lore mods, it also as a lot of emphasis on crafting, since traders don't sell guns because of crackdown of gun smuggling in the zone, so you have to scavenge new guns from either dead stalkers or find them in stashes, and repair them to working order
From a gameplay perspective, traders not selling weapons is great as you really feel the progression as you scavenge, repair, and re arm a gun you found in your play through But lore wise, I find it hard to believe that crafty black market sellers like Sidorovich or Owl wouldn't be able to find a way to get guns off of Corrupt soldiers, Mercs, or even dead stalkers. The Zone is a lawless place and it feels impossible to completely regulate any facet of it
@@kovacsbence5521 And to the people reading this later, people complaining about popular (STALKER) mods and whining for the "good old days" has been around forever It's been there when Call of Chernobyl was obscure to the mainstream, but popular in the fanbase. It was there when Autumn Aurora was popular for Shadow of Chernobyl. It was there when people were battling over OGSE versus Lost Alpha too. Remember to have fun and don't let people convince you away from having fun how you see fit
glad i clicked this, great video! im always so on the fence with this game franchise that i have to watch videos praising it to keep me going X D i subbed
I see a STALKER video - I click on it and give a thumb up immediately. Great job, thank you very much for this essay! Also, I personally appreciate your take on the overall context of the ongoing war and the hardship and dedication of the GSC team. A subjective note regarding other stalkers in the wilderness: I think that it makes perfect sence for those in the field to carry only the essentials (like food, basic medicine and possibly an artifact) as well as only a small amount of money with them - after all, why would you carry all of your stuff on you at all times, especially during long, dangerous and physically demanding raids? Player character with a hypercube inside their backpack is the only exception :p Also, from a 'realistic' point of view, it makes much more sence to keep the valuables for traders who can buy them for a higher price than a random guy with an MP5 (who is also suspiciously nosy for a stranger...). The point is, at least partially, limited interaction options can be attributed to the pursue of believability and immersion.
There is something in "Eastern European Jank" games that is missing in games from rest of the world. Lets take 3 games to show what I mean: original Mafia, Kingdom come deliverance, STALKER series. They all made decisions to include things seemingly not important features, effects etc. that other game dev companies would not risk or "waste" resources to include.
So glad this masterpiece trilogy is finally getting the true love it deserves. Plus the fact that the developers are in Ukraine just adds to the current global situation.
I know I absolutely loved the stalker games they were absolutely incredible gaming experiences for me when I played them as a teenager many years ago. The fragile nature of our character and the realistic aspects combined with the supernatural ones just made for a very unique experience that I've never had with anything else, the closest game I had that felt like stalker for me was that vr game into the radius that basically is a toned down version of stalker but in very immersive VR.
Hello, the video, editing and sounds are really really good, still tho, as a non native english speaker i find it a little hard understanding you sometimes, so just a little advice for the future, maybe talk a little slower and louder so you dont stumble over your words that much (and edit the sound a little quieter in the background so your voice is in the foreground) still tho a really great video and i cant wait for more content like this!
I like how you called it eurojank while we in europe call it slavjank😁 It is usually games from the slavic countries that have this kind of jank, and i love it.
very enjoyable vid. i was surprised when u mentioned immersive sims cus i dont think any stalker video essay has talked about that part of its influence :)
Keep in mind that A lot of the assets and ideas were made and later changed back in 2001-2004. Sad that THQ dumbed down the game for the general audience.
you are in underground complex emergency light still works and spins seueaking water somwhere drips and echo goes through entire complex something heavy fell/stepped on a catwalk THAT'S immersion and there's not a single mutant there if stalker 2 is made for wide audience that will forget about it in a year then it will be trash the jank has become a core experience of the zone stalker 2 must be exactly like previous trilogy
CORRECTIONS:
28:11 By the time that the Chornobyl disaster happened on April 26th, 1986, the Soviet-Afghan War had been going on for over six years since Christmas Eve 1979, instead of the five years that I mention here
31:18 By the late 1980s, the largest political organization in Soviet Ukraine was obviously still the Communist Party. What I should've said instead was that the Rukh was the largest non-governmental organization in Ukraine at that time apart from the CPU
41:58 There is a slight gap in the audio mix that I missed, apologies
You should pin this comment
Chill
Oh nice! a video about STALKERs immersion!
60% politics from watching mainstream news...
Yes it is relevant but I am sure you would not know what a "Ukraine" 3 years ago.
You do know that the Russians started their invasion 2014 right? they took Chrimea and then it was on hold.
This is American level of ignorance, and saying "ChOrnobol" doesn't make you a good person, it is still pronounced "ChErnobyl" in Ukranian even though it is spelled "Чорнобиль"(Ukr) "Чернобыль"(Rus) you fake carebear.
I was playing STALKER in my dark room, and my cousin was sitting next to me. I was going through some basement that was pitch black, exept for my flashlight. It was quiet, and we thought we heard a snork running around in the dark. I was ill-prepared, with a shitty AK-74U and barely any armor, I walked slowly towards the sound, crouching down as I went...
The silence was suddenly broken when my little brother (7 yr) had gone into the room through the open door and sneaked up behind us to ask "WhaT aRe yoU plAYing?!"
Let me tell you that my soul left my body and I suddenly started shooting everywhere, screaming in unison with my cousin and not seeing where the fuck I was going anymore...
Shit was crazy
Your cousin is a future internet troll 😂
With drewskis video on gamma, he unknowingly gave birth to a whole new playerbase of stalker, makes me happy to see GSC finally getting the exposure and traction theyve deserved from creating one of the most unique video games to date.
True. If not him I wouldn't try Anomaly out. I played old Stalker games but Anomaly is like a breath of fresh air. It is amazing. Plus with those mods.
Dude he got me by the balls with those videos
You couldnt be more incorrect. GSC already had good enough exposure from years back, let alone from them making the trilogy itself. I might look like a hater, or an "old boomer" by saying this, but I honestly do not like the mods released these days. They are either the most unacceptably laziest Anomaly repacks (Which I have no idea how the community cannot see, maybe the hurr durr radiation ate their fucking braincells), or just a Gunslinger port. Its very rare to see original, proper mods these days, maybe 1 in 50 mods are original now. The Stalker community has to be one of the most stagnating communities right now, as they have completely locked onto acting like we haven't been already doing mod merging with Call of Chernobyl more than half a decade ago, and just pass off all the Anomaly repacks as genuently original and brand new games (Which A.R.E.A. and GAMMA are, they are repacks, lazy at that).
Wouldnt mind getting something in the magnitude of Lost Alpha, or OGSE, or just OLR, mods that had a tremendous amount of work and dedication in order for them to flrousish, without having to resort to lurking through GameBanana, to see what they could copy paste into their own work.
i tried to play Shadow of Chernobyl years ago on a laptop but it kept crashing so i abandoned it now that i know about the anomaly mod and gamma i can finally return to experience these games and how fun they are
@@kovacsbence5521 i played all of them (even clear sky) when they came out, seen them fade in to memory by the mainstream playerbase, big mods started coming out during the years and every time some youtuber (way before Twitch was a thing) dusted it off and some new videos appeared or footage from the scrapped alpha Oblivion Lost, but it never really had a resurgence until the Misery mod & the Complete mods dropped and they introduced all the items & gameplay improvements that this version profits from(even than the old XRay engine sadly is still stuttering and breaks immersion in the originals no matter how much you mod it), but it was still overshadowed by similar games like Metro & Escape from Tarkov, now finally it gets the spotlight again, all of us who continuously played the franchise during the years might scratch their head and think "this has been out for years, it's not really new" but i can't be mad or anything, i am happy that people get a taste for such a cerebral game, that might look like a shooter but it is so much more.
I hope Stalker 2 gets its release soon and all the new people support the franchise by buying it.
For all its jankiness, every person who’s played STALKER has stories from their time in the Zone. From weird, wild shit that spontaneously happened, to the simple relief of coming across a group of Loners around a campfire.
Fuck the Red Forest. Just... Fuck that place. And all underground areas. The relief of getting through them is a huge release.
I had to bury my two pals after a bloodsucker hunt went awry.
Vadik Anomaly, and Gleb Salesmen, may you find rest outside the zone.
We got tasked to go deal with a bloodsucker in the middle of truck cemetery, nothing eventful, dealt with a few zombies on the way, and we get to the hill this bloodsucker is at. We clean him up pretty well, three slugs and hes down for the count. I then hear a massive roar and gunfire behind me, Both my companions are shooting at a fucking chimera while another seven or so zombies are attacking. Gleb, the fucking unit distracted the zombies while Vadik dealt with the Chimera. By the time i kill the Chimera on Vadik, Gleb died to the zombies, and by the time i kill them, a poltergiest kills Vadik. Im fucking heartbroken, i end up burying both of them with their custom rifles i made for them and all.
Worst of all, on Gleb's body i find a note to his family (it was a note from another stalker, but it was too fitting to not be his) and im even worse off. So i make a stash with both of their gear, and i pull them ontop of a truck so nothing eats their bodies
ok fanboy
@@gabberpietor 🤡
@@gabberpietor shut up dude
I played Stalker Call of Chornobyl once as a neutral. I stashed my loot at the 100 rads bar and tried to establish good relations with everyone (even became neutral with the bandits) One day, for no reason at all Duty turned hostile on me and opened fire whenever I returned from Yantar. I swear it was a programming glitch but I thought "Hey man, life has no guarantees, so whose to say The Zone was gonna be predictable." Begrudgingly and amusingly, I fought my way in the 100 rads bar, shot up the place and moved my loot to dark valley instead. Good times.
*chernobyl
@@LordOfTheReefer That's what Putins regime calls the place. After the invasion I stopped using that name.
@@Toledotourbillion been chernobyl for years now suddenly its racist to say screw off libtard
@@LordOfTheReefer It's not racist, It's standing in solidarity with Ukraine. Get your statement right before making infant remarks.
@@LordOfTheReefer You're a content less channel mouthing off to a guy that actually contributes something to UA-cam. Nice one.👍
As a Ukrainian, thank you, and as fan of Stalker - thank you, im glad you didn't "forgot" about bugs, even if in this kind of videos i always feel like the reviewer get the most bugged version while i get last, you told about them fairly (and maybe even somewhat underestimated them). Anyway, again i want to say thank you, and also sorry for my bad English.
In a world where the tedium of everyday life govern every facet of our existence, the Zone’s simplicity of live or die, sprinkled with a moment of camaraderie with fellow stalkers is a welcoming escape.
nail on the head my friend, come sit by the fire with us while this storm passes over.
Honeslty its kinda fucked up how us the average 9-5 worker/student start prefering simple live or die situations to monotone existance of current life.
i was like "oh this is good, how many million views might this have?". so underrated, great production, fantastic content! keep up
Played it for the first time in 2010
Been hooked ever since
I'm glad people are finally starting to notice this game
"They can allow us to explore incredible virtual worlds, subjectively identify with its narrative themes, or master the depth and flow of its mechanics.."
"We can extend that definition to mean the closing of the figurative distance between the player and the game; the flow state that eliminates all the artificiality, the distractions, and the contrivances to create a sincere and intimate dialogue."
Beautifully said. This video really does narrate my first experiences with the Stalker franchise that initially grabbed me, and has had me playing and replaying, modding, and replaying over and over to this day. Fantastic video dude.
Excellent ! Especially the look into the human side of the game and the sacrifices made by the dev team. We can only for their countries safety and for peace to return to them all. Subbed = )
There are no bugs in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Only anomalies.
Real lmfao the game is 1000% more fun when blaming the zone for strange and unexplainable technical issues
there's no game that got me so inmersed as stalker did , truly a wonderful game i'm happy to have encountered as a kid
I played both back in 2007, MW and Stalker. I played MW first and it instantly became a benchmark for what an FPS single player experience should be. I remember being super hyped for stalker and convincing all my friends to buy it when it comes out, which we all did. All my friends quit the game within the first 2 hours telling me I'm an idiot for suggesting they buy it. In the beginning it was hard for me to defend the game too, especially as a 12 year old coming from COD4. It was clunky, unpolished and simply broken at times with no hand holding or guidelines to what you should do. I still stuck to it for some reason. I guess I was just curious to see what the rest of the game world was like because it was just dripping with atmosphere. It took me almost a year to beat the game, I would just get stuck or sidetracked. It's to this day the most immersive, creepy, weird game I've ever played. Back then I thought COD4 couldn't be topped but today I appreciate Stalker so much more for so many reasons. No bombastic scrippted event can compare to the random nature of Stalker, no playtrough is the same.
Really love the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Trilogy, great video man!
Great video dude. I've been a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fan since 2004 when whispers of Oblivion Lost first started. It's been really cool seeing interest in the games rise over the years!
Yep, nothing really changed i waited for my perfect Stalker game in 2003, I'm still waiting for my perfect Stalker game in 2022.
Sad that they had to dumb down the game for general audience. And ran out of time. I hate the people who think that the Anomaly mod is true stalker expirience. Fuck drewski.
I remember when I was 11 years old and Shadow of Chernobyl came out. It was a love at first sight, I never played a game like this before. The head bob and weapon sway felt so real and immersive. Even shooting a 12 gauge gave a pleasurable feedback. I accidentally shot someone in the Sid's village and the whole camp went hostile. I barely put half of them down and got killed. At this very moment, I realized, this game is no walk in the park. Unlike most games, Stalker does not hold you by the hand throughout the whole game. It feels like you've been thrown into the lake not knowing to swim.
When I got to the first underground level in Research Institute and encountered a Controller for the first time, I shit my pants and uninstalled the game. I thought I am done with it for good. Again, I was 11yo. Didn't I know they'd release a sequel year later, Clear Sky which made me give it another chance. I finished the first game and then the sequel and I loved every bit of it. Call of Pripyat was just a cherry on top. Modding community and a loyal player base has done wonders for this franchise and there has not been a single years since 2007 in which I did not play Stalker.
I can without a doubt say that Stalker is the best game ever made... for the right audience. Nothing ever beats it. Anomaly and its branches are total pinnacle. Can't wait what modding community will do with an upcoming Heart of Chornobyl.
"I was ten years old when I first played CoD 4"
Omg I feel old. When I was 10 I was begging my mom to order the full release of Doom and a fuckin SoundBlaster lol.
Thank you a lot for representing the actual events and history of Ukraine, for love to Stalker series. It is all very important for fans, those who believe in Ukraine and GSC while waiting for Stalker 2. Thank you!
Nicholas,
Be certain that you have created a very good essay and video. Good directing, great commentary, impacting use of the soundtrack.
Yet another jewel by the STALKER fan community.
Well done. Well done.
15:09 its not air. I'm pretty sure it's a church in the swamp. And he's partially flooded.
This was fantastic! Can't wait to see more from you!
Well now I’m definitely watching
half way trough and I think it's already a 10/10 for how well it's edited and structured. You should make more videos.
Thank you for your support. I am staying in Kiev and playing now in Stalker, if have electricity
Excellent essay and an timely reminder of the difficult history that informs the series, not to mention the current hurdles these dedicated people are overcoming to bring us a vision of a unique world.
Slava Ukrania!
I don't remember when I first time heard about Stalker and I fell in love immediately with the climat of the game and the Zone itself.
Great vid
Here before this blows up! Amazing video my man.
If you guys haven't played any Stalker games yet, but still want a free and updated experience to get you know the world and actual lore of Stalker I would suggest you to first try OGSR(Old good Stalker Evolution/Revolution) it a standalone mod of the first game shadow of chernobyl with some restored cut content completely remade in 64bit version of the xray engine.
And if you have played Shoc and not for a while you might wanna try it too, in a new refreshed way with new content and stories to discover.
Also you could see it as a introduction in a slightly less overwhelming experience then anomaly. Since anomaly is filled to the brim with new items and strongly expanded mechanics build upon the original mechanics.
Playing the original STALKER at 11 years old was the most emersive, confusing and terrifying gaming experience of my life. While all my friends were stuck on COD 4 Multiplayer I was grinding it out in the Chernobyl exclusion zone not knowing what I was doing and if all this weird stuff is actually happening in that place. It took me more than a year to beat and the feeling of the first playthrough will never be replicated. Such a unique series. I'm so excited for the sequel yet I'm dreading it at the same time. No game could really scratch that ich for me, not even Metro.
No matter what version you play, what your preferred mod pack is, Stalker is the GREATEST single player fps experience one can come across, simply.
Edit: oh and 23:19... Stalker IS perfect, in all of its glory and imperfections, it IS perfection.
You need to make more videos dude. You got talent and you're already far better than most. Just make sure to decrease the bg music volume next time :)
very nice video, I've never really seen something like your comparison or consideration on how the chernobyl disaster effected ukraine and relating stalker's setting to it and I've seen a good amount of stalker video essays
Anomaly is the most fun I've ever had in a single player shooter.
Thank you so much for taking such an in-depth look into the historical context behind the game, it is such a crucial part of its identity that is so often overlooked. As someone with a personal connection with the tragedy, I've wondered for years whether using Chornobyl as a setting was a morally correct decision from the developers. However, at its core, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a game about people surviving among the ruins of an empire, facing an uncertain future, and forging their own identity in the process. The game is by no means some masterful sociopolitical reflection, but it is so good at capturing the air of uncertainty that defined life in Ukraine in the 90s and 00s. And Chornobyl is the perfect symbol for the downfall of the USSR and the traumatic legacy it left Ukraine with: just like the nuclear particles left by the disaster, the lasting effects of repression and colonialism will take many generations to truly decay.
Didn't expect so much support and depth, warms my Ukrainian heart ❤
if you get the chance, try stalker gamma it uses stalker anomaly as a base, then adds a lot of immersive and lore mods, it also as a lot of emphasis on crafting, since traders don't sell guns because of crackdown of gun smuggling in the zone, so you have to scavenge new guns from either dead stalkers or find them in stashes, and repair them to working order
SDALGER GAAMMAMA OOOOOOO QGAHLOOOOOKZNBSJ BZZZZZUZUJSJAJSJSJS KAHAHAKAHAKHAKHOOO AWOOPOOFNNNMAN
From a gameplay perspective, traders not selling weapons is great as you really feel the progression as you scavenge, repair, and re arm a gun you found in your play through
But lore wise, I find it hard to believe that crafty black market sellers like Sidorovich or Owl wouldn't be able to find a way to get guns off of Corrupt soldiers, Mercs, or even dead stalkers. The Zone is a lawless place and it feels impossible to completely regulate any facet of it
I love that stalker gets so much atention right now, its one of my favourit trilogys and im playing stalker gamma day in day out. Its just perfect
@@kovacsbence5521 Sorry if a popular thing is making you upset so much. Although reading your very emotionally charged comment is deeply amusing :)
@@kovacsbence5521 And to the people reading this later, people complaining about popular (STALKER) mods and whining for the "good old days" has been around forever
It's been there when Call of Chernobyl was obscure to the mainstream, but popular in the fanbase. It was there when Autumn Aurora was popular for Shadow of Chernobyl. It was there when people were battling over OGSE versus Lost Alpha too.
Remember to have fun and don't let people convince you away from having fun how you see fit
How this video has only 40k completely baffles me
what? how come you only have 66 subs? i thought this channel had at least 80k, this video feels professional
i honestly have to give this to you it clear that you have spent hours on editing and i can respect that
Man, you did a great job. You can clearly make a living out of your yt channel i hope the best for you
What was the theme used at 2:28?
Very high quality retrospective video. Respect
I just got into call of pripyat and I've been playing it for bout 3 days
Good hunting, STALKER.
Someone make subtitles for English - United States please.
I can't make sense of Canadian.
mad respect for the developers now they will have first hand experience and will deliver a masterpiece.
🇷🇺
glad i clicked this, great video! im always so on the fence with this game franchise that i have to watch videos praising it to keep me going X D i subbed
This is seriously top quality man. This’ll fly one day
I cant believe this video isnt popping off with millions of views. Excellent work!
Have you taken the one-way trip to Anomaly yet? Fabulous video mate! Keep it up!
You are infinitely underrated my man
Wonderfully put together essay, hope it takes off!
Nice video mate! Which mod are you using for CS?
This video need WAY more views and you more subs, NOW
22:03
Wait, is it not true that damage is buffed overall on higher difficulties?
Damage is higher overall on higher difficulties. Also, your bullets just disappearing is folklore and bullshit, but other than that, it checks out.
This is amazing quality, I can’t believe that this isn’t blowing up mods, keep it up!💪
I see a STALKER video - I click on it and give a thumb up immediately. Great job, thank you very much for this essay!
Also, I personally appreciate your take on the overall context of the ongoing war and the hardship and dedication of the GSC team.
A subjective note regarding other stalkers in the wilderness: I think that it makes perfect sence for those in the field to carry only the essentials (like food, basic medicine and possibly an artifact) as well as only a small amount of money with them - after all, why would you carry all of your stuff on you at all times, especially during long, dangerous and physically demanding raids? Player character with a hypercube inside their backpack is the only exception :p
Also, from a 'realistic' point of view, it makes much more sence to keep the valuables for traders who can buy them for a higher price than a random guy with an MP5 (who is also suspiciously nosy for a stranger...). The point is, at least partially, limited interaction options can be attributed to the pursue of believability and immersion.
"first major block buster title"
Cossacks exists haha
Amazing review. Thank ya mate
Pretty good for a first try, man. Nice job.
This is VERY well made video! Keep it up!
There is something in "Eastern European Jank" games that is missing in games from rest of the world. Lets take 3 games to show what I mean: original Mafia, Kingdom come deliverance, STALKER series. They all made decisions to include things seemingly not important features, effects etc. that other game dev companies would not risk or "waste" resources to include.
Brilliant video!
So glad this masterpiece trilogy is finally getting the true love it deserves. Plus the fact that the developers are in Ukraine just adds to the current global situation.
What a great video man.
A friend of mine just got me into the stalker series and its some of the best ive played
nicely done mate, great comments, wish you more views
This video is great, you should make more like this
great video, thank you
Very nice video and story
When you discovered and enjoyed STALKER, you were affected a little bit with Slavic soul, that's why this game is so immersive....
Dude this is top notch video. Subbed and wish You quick growth
Great video, thanks
the music is a bit too loud in this video
a few years late, but PLEASE play the trilogy vanilla if you can. Just ZRP installed. The slavic jank is worth it.
very well made and helpful video, great job
24:14 dude pulls on the failure button to rack a round lmfao
I know I absolutely loved the stalker games they were absolutely incredible gaming experiences for me when I played them as a teenager many years ago. The fragile nature of our character and the realistic aspects combined with the supernatural ones just made for a very unique experience that I've never had with anything else, the closest game I had that felt like stalker for me was that vr game into the radius that basically is a toned down version of stalker but in very immersive VR.
Ukrainian Stalker’s here!🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦💪🏻
Hello, the video, editing and sounds are really really good, still tho, as a non native english speaker i find it a little hard understanding you sometimes, so just a little advice for the future, maybe talk a little slower and louder so you dont stumble over your words that much (and edit the sound a little quieter in the background so your voice is in the foreground) still tho a really great video and i cant wait for more content like this!
Came for the analysis, stayed for the history lesson. Amazing work!
I like how you called it eurojank while we in europe call it slavjank😁
It is usually games from the slavic countries that have this kind of jank, and i love it.
31:00 i forgot this is a stalker video lol
Really good video..
Дякую за це відео і за підтримку України
good work man! 10+
Great video!
This is a drewski quality video, deserves infinetly more attention.
Honestly an insult to this guy to compare his stuff to that balding conservative larper
That sounds more like an insult
like commented and subscribed 👍
Nice Video
very enjoyable vid. i was surprised when u mentioned immersive sims cus i dont think any stalker video essay has talked about that part of its influence :)
If you want an immersive game, then stop putting pink skins in your game.
-Moon Tzu
Really good video, well done.
Keep in mind that A lot of the assets and ideas were made and later changed back in 2001-2004. Sad that THQ dumbed down the game for the general audience.
5:10 Donbass people have been doing that since 2014
yet another dude that didnt figured out shortcuts for bandages and medkits.
cmon guys.. at least go to settings look for keybinds or something.
I just wait for a mod that will port Stalker 2 to X-Ray engine
Why would you want that?
@@Frille512 To run Stalker 2 on potato?
@@histhoryk2648 The problem is that the xray engine won't be able to run stalker 2
@@Frille512 Anomaly?
@@histhoryk2648 What about it?
Most of my prefered game from remedy or eastern europe. CDproject red and GSC made momerable games
you are in underground complex
emergency light still works and spins seueaking
water somwhere drips and echo goes through entire complex
something heavy fell/stepped on a catwalk
THAT'S immersion
and there's not a single mutant there
if stalker 2 is made for wide audience that will forget about it in a year then it will be trash
the jank has become a core experience of the zone
stalker 2 must be exactly like previous trilogy
Your conclusions on The Fall are incorrect.
O-Consuisness have heard you.