Hey guys the whole Stalker Series is on sale right now! If you were thinking about taking a trip to the zone, now's the time! Stalker SoC - af.gog.com/game/stalker_shadow_of_chernobyl?as=1672895661 Stalker Clear Sky - af.gog.com/game/stalker_clear_sky?as=1672895661 Stalker CoP - af.gog.com/game/stalker_call_of_pripyat?as=1672895661
i was an russian country kid, and i can tell you the stalker and metro games catching the atmosphere on point! its like these feeling fellow americans have, when they see limenal spaces about empty oldschool american schools, diners or other public buildings. its this feeling of familiarity, that you cant discribe
Yes! There's just something about the imagery of an abandoned Pripyat that just does something to me. Very hard to explain, but there's definitely something about it that I just love.
I grew up in a similar looking city, so for me it was like "Hey, that looks like my house over there..." And I walk outside my house and it's same atmosphere, except for gopniks instead of anomalies...
For me it's the same. Living in a former soviet satellite state (Lithuania) I see so many things in these games that make me think of the whole atmosphere which I also - can't put into words. Since I was a kid and even now the thing that makes me think: "That's stalker right there " are vehicles. Going to some rural areas I often see tractors, trucks and so on. Some are also derelict. These kind of things - to this day in stalker - look so on point that it's like you're really there. For me that's why fallout series never captivated me. Even though it's post apocalyptic and so on and it's set in reallife locations in the US (and yeah I know that's number one reason why I don't like those games as much - I'm not from there) but it just has this way too over the top (and I know - that's the point) look and feel. It's hard to explain...
Yah its prob one of my favorite places of all stalker games, its hard to see because all bushes, you never know if some lurker going to jump on you, i love swamp atmosphere especially at evening sunset, prob i love it since in my country we have swamp path ways also for tourism purpose and i love going in there especially at summer, at Autumn its quite creepy and depressing just like in stalker.
@@AvalancheReviews Make sure to acknowledge that Anomaly, Dead Air, and many other popular mods often use Misery Mod as its framework, which was professionally developed over many years to bring more functionality and a hardcore experience to the series. There's an interesting lineage of mods which led to Anomaly that often goes like this: Call of Chernobyl, Misery, Call of Misery, Last Day, Anomaly, Dead Air. Those are at least the most popular ones and each one directly builds upon the last, though Dead Air and Anomaly have diverged for the time being in their goals, with the developer of Dead Air placing special focus on graphics and indeed the mod is probably the best looking STALKER experience you can have and I definitely recommend it (but it will be brutal).
This game's release was a pretty big deal for us gamers in Russia. I was so hyped and managed to get the disc on day 1 and enjoyed it immensely as a kid. Looking back on it its amazing i loved it so much considering that the release version was crashing like crazy. Now i would rank it the lowest out of the trilogy but thats because other two games are legendary while this one is merely amazing.
Yeah I can understand that. All 3 games are so damn good, that it makes for some pretty stiff competition. Now that I've replayed it, I might put it above SoC as far as the shooting and exploration goes. I think the weapon modding is another big feature too. Really enjoyed finding a gun and trying to level it up as much as I could.
I remember playing Clear Sky for the first time about a year and a half ago. It was also the first stalker game I played out of the trilogy. When I killed Strelok's hitmen at the tunnel to the center of the zone (which Strelok just destroyed), it was getting dark. So I thought I should check for some place safe. Then I've heard screaming for help over the radio at the entrance to red forest. When I got there, I saw last guy with a flashlight just getting killed by Bloodsucker. The guy dropped dead and that thing just ran back in the forest. At that moment I was scared to move. By the time I've reached Limansk, it also got really spooky. Night came around so I've fought through the whole city with my nightvision on. Reminded me of Modern Warfare games. It was something unforgettable. Then I've realized that the night was not scripted (I thought it was).
While I consider CS the weakest in the Trilogy, it did introduce a lot of interesting features. The most fascinating addition in CS were cover animations for NPCs. Seeing them hiding behind fences, pipes, or anything that can be considered cover made firefights more organic. They would also occasionally throw (Homing) grenades at the player to flush them out. What's even more odd about the cover animations was that it was never used again in CoP.
The grenade spam in vanilla CS is CRAZY. And the fact that the enemy's throw 100% accurate is annoying as hell. But CS is still my favourite in the series.
@@nyuszicsibI remember playing one of the first missions in the swamp clearing bandits, hiding behind a barrel, get up from cover too peek and I see one grenade land right on the barrel, I crouch and hide and see a second land right at my feet. Love this game
I've seen channels like GManLives (gggmanlives as he was called back then, MandaloreGaming and Robin Seplut (Cats) rise and I really hope to see your channel grow even more, because your content is just amazing. Each new video is just a win. Your Stalker SoC video let me dwell into it again after so many years. Feels like a lost home to come back to
I'm really enjoying this series dude. It's not often that people talk about any of the stalker games besides SOC. So thanks for the educational review. Happy hunting to you as well comrade!
It would crazy for me not to use this platform to get a few more people playing these games! Here's hoping I've made a few potential Stalkers with these videos.
On release, this game was grenades galore, you couldn't come within 15 feet of even the lowliest bandit without needing to dodge two or three pineapples.
This game series is an experience, man. I'll go ny entire life loving stalker and having a fondness for urban exploration because if this series. Thank you for doing this game justice. Love your content and work man!
I learned about Stalker from the movie and director Tarkovsky. I was very into sci fi and fell in love with the Solaris novel after seeing his film. It’s probably better than Stalker and the story is fantastic. It’s Silent Hill 2 in Space. Anyway, I saw Stalker afterward and I was really impressed, especially after hearing he had to film the entire thing twice after it burned or something. Watching these vids of yours I’ve started reading Picnic and I’m totally curious about these games. Thanks man! Hope you get your ass to Japan ASAP.
Dude hell yeah!!! If you enjoy Roadside Picnic, I'd say the next book should be Metro 2030. It shares that same sort of grounded scifi feel and Roadside, but takes place in a more global post apocalyptic type of deal. Very very good read......and the video game it spawned is actually really close to the source material. We'll be covering that pretty soon actually.
@Brupcat Thanks man I’m a huge Kurosawa fan, basically the reason I came to Japan (been here ten years). Haven’t heard of any of those so I’m super excited!
I like CS. It’s quite fun, except when I realized no one would help me take control of Bandit HQ in Garbage, and especially when I got stuck with that damn machine gun in the military base in Cordon.
35:40 The Yakuza series revisits the City district of Kamurocho over every single entry, and you can kind of watch the city grow and change over the course of the series.
Clear Sky is the one Stalker game I never really got into and haven't finished. I see you suffer from serious reloaditis. I suffer a milder variation of it, having to reload weapons way too often.
I mistakenly played COP first, the CS and then SOC. Thankfully before i played SOC it had been a while since i played a stalker game so i forgot almost everything. still wish i played them in order.
50:07 - no dude, you absolutely right here. IMO, pretty much all franchise games (or whatever you call it in english), with few exceptions, should be played in order of their release - due to both game mechanics AND story-line (i mean nobody should watch original Star Wars trilogy already knowing the main plot-twist in Empire Strikes Back). plus, personally i don't understand people who skip previous games of any game series, just because "they're old, and new ones are better just because they're new". i mean, yeah, sometimes old games are painfull to play due to uncomfortable controlls, but still it is really dumb to ignore older titles. it's like reading a book starting with the middle of a story.
That's a big compliment! Getting someone to sit down and watch an hour long video about something they already love is no big deal, but getting them to do it for stuff they don't is pretty damn cool.
... '' The 100 Rads bar is the place for you. We are always happy to serve new customers.'' Dude I love the world building and immersion of STALKER and its influen ces origins. Back to your OG video on STALKER, yes movie buffs are fascinatied by this movie, ( I have studied 2 film making degrees ) and both Roadsside Picnic the book and the STALKER film are heavily taught both in Cinema Worlds papers, Script Writing Papers and distantly in some Documentarian papers. Besides Morrowind, this was the 2nd most immersive game I have ever suck countless 100's of hours into.
It was crazy to me when I found that out. I thought it was just for us Stalker nerds. That film did such a good job of showing emotion just in shot composition, set design and color palette. I love how every piece of Stalker media is fucking great. Like imagine if the Resident Evil movies were held in the same regard as the games. HA!
I'm loving this series at the moment. I played the first Stalker years ago and it's one of those games that I "sort of" want to revisit but I'm not sure I have the patience or time right now. Last video satisfied that thirst pretty massively and now I'm onto this one! It's really cool how long form videos can scratch that itch - thanks for making it!
I get that same effect from other content creators. Instead of re installing Fallout 2, I'll go watch some long lore video and then I don't really need to play it as much.
@@AvalancheReviews It's funny how games can become more than just our individual experience playing them. At this point I feel like I could talk about Pathologic 1 for hours despite never having played it for one minute haha
This was my first stalker game when it came out back then. I thought it was a great introduction because right off the bat no tutorial you just learn. Had to read the small guide the game came with in the box to get through the great swamps but my learning didn't feel rushed, the zone frustrated me severely the first few times I tried to play, but as I became more aware of the anomalies and radiation I felt more at home. SoC felt so much easier after CS
As always, highly enjoy your in-depth retrospectives. Even if I've never played the game you're talking about, I still find it entertaining listening to you dissect its many features. I could listen to you read a whole book series bro haha. Keep up the good work man! ✌👍
Strong wavywebsurf vibes from your manner of speaking and overall presentation. Great content! I've been playing the series for ten years, but I still consume all this information on UA-cam during my lunch breaks. I honestly enjoy hearing anyone's retrospective on the series. Just nice to hear people talk about it in general.
Saving my watch of this vid but I wanted to tell you that your SoC video was just the speech I needed to commit to a full stalker playthrough! I've quit probably 5 different times on different versions (SoC ZRP, Anomaly, CoC, Dead Air, ect..) but now I'm 10 hours in, just got to the Abandoned Factory and loving every second!!! Thanks for making all these vids, I'm really enjoying everything you make so far.
Stalker is one of those games that somehow I just can’t get myself to really commit to. But boy, do I love watching well researched videos about this series 👍
Completed this game pretty soon after the launch. To this day I dread and admire CS. If I remember correctly, it took 3 patches and 2-3 attempts from the beginning for me to finish this. I was so impressed that I just had to finish it, even though it has been one of my most frustrating gaming experiences. I love the game, but still have not been able to give this a second run because of all the game breaking bugs around Red Forest
For me this was the best stalker game. I didn't finish cop yet but back in the day I finished soc and cs and I enjoyed cs the most even with its game breaking bugs. Now I just started a new campaign of cop for the 20th time and I really hope this time I can get through it without quitting again. Wish me luck comrads
I’m currently doing my first play through of anomaly (first look at any Stalker), but the weather and lighting absolutely blow my mind. They’re both significantly better than most games that come out now
Thank you avalanche for this kind of videos, Stalker series prob one of my favorite, it will bring new players to this game since prob younger gamers never heard of it and played, also people who dont own pc but xbox can watch the videos about stalker series and get idea what kind of game it is and what to expect in stalker 2 since its coming to xbox.
I first played thru this entire series back in 2007 using touchscreen laptop that didn't even have a GPU in it - and I beat all 3 of them on MASTER difficulty! I never will forget the times. Me and my cousin had heard about these games from G4TV and had hooked both of our non-gaming laptops up at our Mamaw's kitchen table, pirated what we could from Limewire and a week later had finished all campaigns. Haha, I proudly own the GOG collection today of course as does my cousin
I’ve always really wanted to play this series, just found the time to watch the previous review and this one. Great videos! I always really love your reviews and format. STALKER is a series I’ve always wanted to try and hopefully I will be soon. Looking forward to the next one!
I strongly recommend Sky Reclamation Project for first time players. Shadow of Chernobyl was the second best looking game of 2007 and Clear Sky is the same for 2008. Call of Pripyat has worse lighting than Clear Sky, alas. Also, once again, Russian weapons are not inherently inferior to for example German or British weapons.
@@AvalancheReviews Well *Looks at the PKP and PKM and AK-12 2020* it isnt about the personal opinion. Those easy examples are either the best in class by far (LMG) or top tier. I dont like many Belgian rifles but that doesnt mean they are bad. They are great :P Otherwise good reivew. I posted it on r STALKER.
This was actually my first, and only until now, stalker that I played and I loved it, I haven't felt out-of-loop when playing without knowing the story of "previous" installment.
@Avalanche Reviews I mean it was hard for me to get into SoC but CS just clicked with me almost instantly. I tried SoC for 8 hours and just couldn't work it out, don't remember exaclty why but I will surely replay Stalker series since I only finished CS so might as well start from the beginning, sort of. :D Anyway, great video, it reminded me of this great game and how it was to play it. I will definitely try it with Arsenal mod.
Homie, I just left watching your latest stream to watch this. I hope your Halloween was sick and I wish a happy Thanksgiving to my favorite Cuban Viking and his wife and cat.
The Red Forest was my favourite in this one... I was scared shitless. The atmosphere was awesome... the ending of clear sky sucks, however. Still have to play the third game.
Fantastic video I think you really covered what Clear Sky brings to the table, far too often it is underappreciated. Can't wait for the Call of Pripyat one!
36:10 I remember playing Clear Skies on launch and having to face 859823590 Bandits with shotguns in the swamps and then face that damn machinegun emplacement.
That same thing at 38:00 happened to me once in red dead 2, shot a guy and he dropped his pistol which hit his buddy next to him in the leg. Was absolutely blown away to see that, which to me makes it all the more crazy that it happened in some 2008 game. They really did make gold with these games.
Not sure if you’ve heard/considered it mate, but Stalker:Anomaly is my favourite mod for these games. Turns them into a gaming experience unlike any other, with an incredible sandbox set up and no fat/filler getting in the way. Super easy to set up too, I’d suggest it!
Loving these STALKER videos man great stuff, looking forward to the next one. I've been playing a lot of Into the Radius in VR recently, another game inspired by Roadside Picnic and the film, but think I'll give Clear Sky's a go after. I love Shadow of Chernobyl but for some reason never tried the other two games in the series
There's an old 'S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Mobile' game for Java phones that came out in 2007 after SoC. I heard about it years ago in Russian videos, and it definitely exists, but I never found away to actually get it. As far as I remember, it covers the story of how Strelok came into the zone, initially as a soldier, and how he actually became a stalker and got his group together. Definitely basic considering the platform, but interesting nonetheless.
You see I've got a theory about how strelok's PDA changed it's mission, maybe in a last ditch effort to make sure all of his work was for nothing scar changed his PDA with strelok's and I also think that their original orders were to kill eachother, I really hope he makes it to stalker2.
Damn, the Red Forest at night? What a trip! Liminsk was a bitch to get through. Can’t believe you didn’t mention how hard the last part to kill Strylock was!! It took me forever to get through that part!
I saw that CS had gotten a developer patch quiet recently. I didn't look to see what it was but i assume it is weapon stuff because I'm playing with no mods and am not really having any trouble. I used the starting pistol for the majority of the swap area to conserve other ammo and was actually feeling that gunplay was better than the first game. Made shots i would have never had hit in SoC. im not very far into the game atm but so far I'm really enjoying it. more so than the first. its also noticeably better looking than the original. Which is impressive considering they came out roughly a year apart. Just like to say I'm a huge fan of your content. These videogame deep dives you do are arguably my favorite on UA-cam. You, Josh Strife, Salt Factory, and YourFavoriteSon are Incredible at making this kind of content. The way you simply talk about the game in a very organized structure makes it enjoyable to watch and helpful when considering what game to play next.
One silly little "anomaly" that always made me smile about the Stalker games is the randomly generated names of various generic NPC's which generally tend to be hilarious
I saw a NPC with the surname "simulator". I later read online that it was supposedly a mistranslation, the word should be "faker" or "fraud". Don't know if it's correct but it's hilarious.
@@koli4213 Just like with X-Ray engine bugs, the names give the Zone a truly unique silly vibe, a nice contrast to the usual grim atmosphere of death, mutants, and anomalies
Greeting Stalkers! Hope you guys enjoyed this one. If you're looking to catch up, I'll have the link to my last Stalker video here. Along with a link to the Arsenal Overhaul mod. Which is my absolute fav mod for Clear Sky. If you know of one a little better, feel free to clue me in. There are a million mods for any of the Stalker games. So I'll be counting on you guys to do a bit of my homework for me. Shadow of Chernobyl video - ua-cam.com/video/WUGBKayTLC8/v-deo.html Arsenal Overhaul - www.moddb.com/mods/arsenal-overhaul-clear-sky
I "finished" Clear Sky, I got to the final level but had an irrecoverable crash that defied all my efforts to remedy it... Clear Sky's version of the X-Ray engine sucks.
Great review man, I really dig this kind of reviews which really understand the game and the love it deserves. But clear sky has very steep beginning difficulty, and last time I played it few years ago it did break near the end, so I couldn't not finish it. This game is great and I am really happy to see some more of a optimistic review so it makes me want to play it again, as I invested so much time in these games, but it has it's flaws.
Another fantastic video! So glad I found this Channel. Can't wait for CoP review :) I played all 3 games vanilla (except CS) recently but still couldn't bring myself to complete CS. I got to the bit where Strelok blows the Limansk Tunnel and just gave up. I'm not sure why I don't enjoy CS but I just can't like it. Although I wouldn't be an idiot to deny that the story and lore setup is absolutely fantastic! I want to ask a question if that is okay; Do you plan on doing reviews of mods such as Anomaly? A lot of people (including myself) have settled on Anomaly as the only way to play Stalker after beating the vanilla games and I would love to see your opinions of it!
I am really considering it. It's so massive that I wouldn't be able to cover everything, but it really would seem like a waste not to talk about it. Let's see if i can get it acting semi stable with Provak's weapon mod, and then maybe I will.
@@AvalancheReviews I would advise against Provaks if you do decided to try it. It's old, outdated and the Mod author has given up on it so it's incredibly unstable. Might I suggest Boomsticks and Sharpsticks instead? :) If you need any help with modding it at all then I'm happy to help. I have a pretty stable load order set up that I'd be happy to share a pastebin link to :)
@@sentinowl9207 In vanilla they have better buffs. Only the full-empty is worth wearing in Anomaly, the rest I sell. I really like the fact that you have to use a container to carry radiated artifacts though.
I remember the lazer guided bullets in this game, annoyed me so much I modded the ammo to be more "realistic" with bullet drop, it took a full 30 mag of FMJ just to make a Exo user bleed and shotguns were less effective after 50 yards. Changed the whole firefight aspect of the game and made it more enjoyable. It also made the scopes actually useful and the ranges acurate so you had to compensate and use the marker's instead of zoom then point and shoot, if they were 400 meters away then you had to use the 4 in the scope.
I had a much worse experience with Clear Sky. I bought it on launch and it was unplayable and crashed on startup. Thankfully that was eventually fixed and I was able to play through it to the end. I remember enemies being extremely tough to kill (yes, I was playing on Master.) Then I came back to it years later and experienced the same problem -- turns out there is literally an RNG system that rolls a die every time a bullet you fire hits an enemy, and if you get unlucky, your bullet "misses" aka disappears out of thin air. That's why it seems to take 60 AK rounds to kill the average enemy. It's not like they have 60 rounds worth of HP, but rather, only maybe 30% of your rounds are registering. Clear Sky is muuuch better with mods that remove this mechanic. Otherwise, you'll be 100% dependent on high damage weapons like the VSS.
love your style of presentation. the chapters feel very well connected and you smoothly transition to topics. cant wait for your CoP retrospective. i am currently playing Anomaly i would love your opinion in a video like this on it too
I still yet to beat shadow, I will definitely give it a go once I finish off cyberpunk 2077 finally. I've been struggling to get through new games lately due to not getting invested mentally.
Yeah I dropped Cyberpunk after like 30 or 40 hours. It wasn't horrible or anything, I just didn't have the drive to finish. It was a fun 40 hours though.
Alot of litle issues like the sky blending with the back drop can be fixed with console commands. Your framerate also tanks because you are most likely using in engine MSAA which kills FPS
I didn't remember Clear Sky's story was this involved, I remember this is the game I liked the least, for... various reasons, but, I might replay again to experience the story, taking into consideration I played more than a decade ago when it was vanilla, whatever problem I had might have been fixed.
As someone who watched a lot of lore and story recaps to start with Stalker Anomaly I rly do appreciate your videos. I hope you make one for the 3rd entry too? :D Just as you describe, I have never before felt so much while playing a game and just traversing from A to B. This is something special and mods just bring it to new heights, even tho my mod folder now contains almost 30+ immersion enhancing little addons :D **EDIT** You will cover all of them haha! I appreciate you ;)
I remember some weird bug (or DRM?) that forced me to play with disc in the DVD drive, otherwise Hog in the Army Warehouse won't talk to me. Nobody mentioned this issue anywhere else... nothing funny playing with jet engine by your knee. Game itself? More linear with some short stops on each map to catch artifacts (that hidden elite detector in the Swamps cave helps) but still nice. Only now I've learned that you don't need to break through the MG fire, just return to swamps and take new route up north. Which wasn't there before they started shooting at you...
btw it was Clear Sky that was blessed with great madness inducing plague called REBORN mods. Don't touch them unless you want to experience something out of this world
How have I never heard of this mod? Looks kind of cool actually. Oh and, I never heard of that bug either. Although I do have some vague memory of that mission being bugged for me. Maybe that way why?
Hey guys the whole Stalker Series is on sale right now! If you were thinking about taking a trip to the zone, now's the time!
Stalker SoC - af.gog.com/game/stalker_shadow_of_chernobyl?as=1672895661
Stalker Clear Sky - af.gog.com/game/stalker_clear_sky?as=1672895661
Stalker CoP - af.gog.com/game/stalker_call_of_pripyat?as=1672895661
i was an russian country kid, and i can tell you the stalker and metro games catching the atmosphere on point! its like these feeling fellow americans have, when they see limenal spaces about empty oldschool american schools, diners or other public buildings. its this feeling of familiarity, that you cant discribe
Yes! There's just something about the imagery of an abandoned Pripyat that just does something to me. Very hard to explain, but there's definitely something about it that I just love.
I grew up in a similar looking city, so for me it was like "Hey, that looks like my house over there..." And I walk outside my house and it's same atmosphere, except for gopniks instead of anomalies...
For me it's the same. Living in a former soviet satellite state (Lithuania) I see so many things in these games that make me think of the whole atmosphere which I also - can't put into words. Since I was a kid and even now the thing that makes me think: "That's stalker right there " are vehicles. Going to some rural areas I often see tractors, trucks and so on. Some are also derelict. These kind of things - to this day in stalker - look so on point that it's like you're really there.
For me that's why fallout series never captivated me. Even though it's post apocalyptic and so on and it's set in reallife locations in the US (and yeah I know that's number one reason why I don't like those games as much - I'm not from there) but it just has this way too over the top (and I know - that's the point) look and feel. It's hard to explain...
🤔
Hopefully you will be able to play it again soon
I always find myself playing as CS in anomaly, technologically advance swamp slavs just hits me in the right way.
Great work as always
I just started a new game of Anomaly and chose Clear Sky!
Yah its prob one of my favorite places of all stalker games, its hard to see because all bushes, you never know if some lurker going to jump on you, i love swamp atmosphere especially at evening sunset, prob i love it since in my country we have swamp path ways also for tourism purpose and i love going in there especially at summer, at Autumn its quite creepy and depressing just like in stalker.
@@AvalancheReviews Make sure to acknowledge that Anomaly, Dead Air, and many other popular mods often use Misery Mod as its framework, which was professionally developed over many years to bring more functionality and a hardcore experience to the series. There's an interesting lineage of mods which led to Anomaly that often goes like this: Call of Chernobyl, Misery, Call of Misery, Last Day, Anomaly, Dead Air. Those are at least the most popular ones and each one directly builds upon the last, though Dead Air and Anomaly have diverged for the time being in their goals, with the developer of Dead Air placing special focus on graphics and indeed the mod is probably the best looking STALKER experience you can have and I definitely recommend it (but it will be brutal).
This game's release was a pretty big deal for us gamers in Russia. I was so hyped and managed to get the disc on day 1 and enjoyed it immensely as a kid. Looking back on it its amazing i loved it so much considering that the release version was crashing like crazy.
Now i would rank it the lowest out of the trilogy but thats because other two games are legendary while this one is merely amazing.
Yeah I can understand that. All 3 games are so damn good, that it makes for some pretty stiff competition. Now that I've replayed it, I might put it above SoC as far as the shooting and exploration goes. I think the weapon modding is another big feature too. Really enjoyed finding a gun and trying to level it up as much as I could.
I remember playing Clear Sky for the first time about a year and a half ago.
It was also the first stalker game I played out of the trilogy.
When I killed Strelok's hitmen at the tunnel to the center of the zone (which Strelok just destroyed),
it was getting dark. So I thought I should check for some place safe. Then I've heard screaming for help over the radio at the entrance to red forest.
When I got there, I saw last guy with a flashlight just getting killed by Bloodsucker. The guy dropped dead and that thing just ran back in the forest. At that moment I was scared to move.
By the time I've reached Limansk, it also got really spooky.
Night came around so I've fought through the whole city with my nightvision on. Reminded me of Modern Warfare games. It was something unforgettable.
Then I've realized that the night was not scripted (I thought it was).
While I consider CS the weakest in the Trilogy, it did introduce a lot of interesting features. The most fascinating addition in CS were cover animations for NPCs. Seeing them hiding behind fences, pipes, or anything that can be considered cover made firefights more organic. They would also occasionally throw (Homing) grenades at the player to flush them out. What's even more odd about the cover animations was that it was never used again in CoP.
The grenade spam in vanilla CS is CRAZY. And the fact that the enemy's throw 100% accurate is annoying as hell. But CS is still my favourite in the series.
Loved the grenades! The only game that forced me to keep moving, forced me to use grenades to survive, or i'll just go out of ammo.
"occasionally" is a strong word for myself when clusters of them chucked 5 grenades nearly in beautiful synchronization
@@nyuszicsibI remember playing one of the first missions in the swamp clearing bandits, hiding behind a barrel, get up from cover too peek and I see one grenade land right on the barrel, I crouch and hide and see a second land right at my feet. Love this game
@@aspiringadonis1253 Classic experience. :'D
I've seen channels like GManLives (gggmanlives as he was called back then, MandaloreGaming and Robin Seplut (Cats) rise and I really hope to see your channel grow even more, because your content is just amazing. Each new video is just a win.
Your Stalker SoC video let me dwell into it again after so many years. Feels like a lost home to come back to
Actually, Scar survived and will appear in Stalker 2. Great to see this continue of this story.
I love stalker as a franchise, they did a great job making the whole world etc.
The mod world for it is even better. Anomaly is such a wonderful LARP.
You're damn right it is!
I'm really enjoying this series dude. It's not often that people talk about any of the stalker games besides SOC. So thanks for the educational review. Happy hunting to you as well comrade!
It would crazy for me not to use this platform to get a few more people playing these games! Here's hoping I've made a few potential Stalkers with these videos.
Major agree, I'm so happy to see this because COP and CS get side lined so much
On release, this game was grenades galore, you couldn't come within 15 feet of even the lowliest bandit without needing to dodge two or three pineapples.
This game series is an experience, man. I'll go ny entire life loving stalker and having a fondness for urban exploration because if this series.
Thank you for doing this game justice. Love your content and work man!
I learned about Stalker from the movie and director Tarkovsky. I was very into sci fi and fell in love with the Solaris novel after seeing his film. It’s probably better than Stalker and the story is fantastic. It’s Silent Hill 2 in Space. Anyway, I saw Stalker afterward and I was really impressed, especially after hearing he had to film the entire thing twice after it burned or something. Watching these vids of yours I’ve started reading Picnic and I’m totally curious about these games. Thanks man! Hope you get your ass to Japan ASAP.
Dude hell yeah!!! If you enjoy Roadside Picnic, I'd say the next book should be Metro 2030. It shares that same sort of grounded scifi feel and Roadside, but takes place in a more global post apocalyptic type of deal. Very very good read......and the video game it spawned is actually really close to the source material. We'll be covering that pretty soon actually.
@@AvalancheReviews Thanks dude Metro looks really good! Will grab that book too. Appreciate it man can’t wait for your next videos.
@Brupcat Thanks man I’m a huge Kurosawa fan, basically the reason I came to Japan (been here ten years). Haven’t heard of any of those so I’m super excited!
“Stable as Hell” is a statement I never thought I’d hear.
Especially with a Stalker game.
I like CS. It’s quite fun, except when I realized no one would help me take control of Bandit HQ in Garbage, and especially when I got stuck with that damn machine gun in the military base in Cordon.
Same.
35:40 The Yakuza series revisits the City district of Kamurocho over every single entry, and you can kind of watch the city grow and change over the course of the series.
Clear Sky is the one Stalker game I never really got into and haven't finished.
I see you suffer from serious reloaditis. I suffer a milder variation of it, having to reload weapons way too often.
Honestly, it's a life threatening case of it. HA! I can't stop myself.
I blame cod 1 for my severe case of reloaditis
I mistakenly played COP first, the CS and then SOC. Thankfully before i played SOC it had been a while since i played a stalker game so i forgot almost everything. still wish i played them in order.
Stalker Clear Sky is probably my favourite game when it comes to graphics - so incredible atmosphere, colors and effects
Ah yes falling asleep to the latest new Avalanche Reviews video until he release another 🍻
>stalker retrospective playlist
>3 videos
>1 video hidden
*LET MEEE IIINNNN*
Some secrets in the zone were never meant to be solved.......
50:07 - no dude, you absolutely right here. IMO, pretty much all franchise games (or whatever you call it in english), with few exceptions, should be played in order of their release - due to both game mechanics AND story-line (i mean nobody should watch original Star Wars trilogy already knowing the main plot-twist in Empire Strikes Back).
plus, personally i don't understand people who skip previous games of any game series, just because "they're old, and new ones are better just because they're new".
i mean, yeah, sometimes old games are painfull to play due to uncomfortable controlls, but still it is really dumb to ignore older titles. it's like reading a book starting with the middle of a story.
Im the only one who did not play STALKER but likes to watch this videos?
Great video. 👍
That's a big compliment! Getting someone to sit down and watch an hour long video about something they already love is no big deal, but getting them to do it for stuff they don't is pretty damn cool.
... '' The 100 Rads bar is the place for you. We are always happy to serve new customers.'' Dude I love the world building and immersion of STALKER and its influen ces origins. Back to your OG video on STALKER, yes movie buffs are fascinatied by this movie, ( I have studied 2 film making degrees ) and both Roadsside Picnic the book and the STALKER film are heavily taught both in Cinema Worlds papers, Script Writing Papers and distantly in some Documentarian papers. Besides Morrowind, this was the 2nd most immersive game I have ever suck countless 100's of hours into.
It was crazy to me when I found that out. I thought it was just for us Stalker nerds. That film did such a good job of showing emotion just in shot composition, set design and color palette. I love how every piece of Stalker media is fucking great. Like imagine if the Resident Evil movies were held in the same regard as the games. HA!
I'm loving this series at the moment. I played the first Stalker years ago and it's one of those games that I "sort of" want to revisit but I'm not sure I have the patience or time right now. Last video satisfied that thirst pretty massively and now I'm onto this one!
It's really cool how long form videos can scratch that itch - thanks for making it!
I get that same effect from other content creators. Instead of re installing Fallout 2, I'll go watch some long lore video and then I don't really need to play it as much.
@@AvalancheReviews It's funny how games can become more than just our individual experience playing them. At this point I feel like I could talk about Pathologic 1 for hours despite never having played it for one minute haha
You’re doing yourself a massive disservice if you haven’t played at least Call of Pripyat with mods.
This was my first stalker game when it came out back then. I thought it was a great introduction because right off the bat no tutorial you just learn. Had to read the small guide the game came with in the box to get through the great swamps but my learning didn't feel rushed, the zone frustrated me severely the first few times I tried to play, but as I became more aware of the anomalies and radiation I felt more at home. SoC felt so much easier after CS
As always, highly enjoy your in-depth retrospectives. Even if I've never played the game you're talking about, I still find it entertaining listening to you dissect its many features. I could listen to you read a whole book series bro haha. Keep up the good work man! ✌👍
Babe wake up Avalanche put out a new video on STALKER
Hurry!! Get up babe!!
Strong wavywebsurf vibes from your manner of speaking and overall presentation. Great content!
I've been playing the series for ten years, but I still consume all this information on UA-cam during my lunch breaks. I honestly enjoy hearing anyone's retrospective on the series. Just nice to hear people talk about it in general.
Saving my watch of this vid but I wanted to tell you that your SoC video was just the speech I needed to commit to a full stalker playthrough! I've quit probably 5 different times on different versions (SoC ZRP, Anomaly, CoC, Dead Air, ect..) but now I'm 10 hours in, just got to the Abandoned Factory and loving every second!!! Thanks for making all these vids, I'm really enjoying everything you make so far.
Stalker is one of those games that somehow I just can’t get myself to really commit to. But boy, do I love watching well researched videos about this series 👍
Completed this game pretty soon after the launch. To this day I dread and admire CS. If I remember correctly, it took 3 patches and 2-3 attempts from the beginning for me to finish this. I was so impressed that I just had to finish it, even though it has been one of my most frustrating gaming experiences. I love the game, but still have not been able to give this a second run because of all the game breaking bugs around Red Forest
For me this was the best stalker game. I didn't finish cop yet but back in the day I finished soc and cs and I enjoyed cs the most even with its game breaking bugs. Now I just started a new campaign of cop for the 20th time and I really hope this time I can get through it without quitting again. Wish me luck comrads
I’m currently doing my first play through of anomaly (first look at any Stalker), but the weather and lighting absolutely blow my mind. They’re both significantly better than most games that come out now
Thank you avalanche for this kind of videos, Stalker series prob one of my favorite, it will bring new players to this game since prob younger gamers never heard of it and played, also people who dont own pc but xbox can watch the videos about stalker series and get idea what kind of game it is and what to expect in stalker 2 since its coming to xbox.
I sure as hell hope so. I would love to get a few more people into these games.
I first played thru this entire series back in 2007 using touchscreen laptop that didn't even have a GPU in it - and I beat all 3 of them on MASTER difficulty! I never will forget the times. Me and my cousin had heard about these games from G4TV and had hooked both of our non-gaming laptops up at our Mamaw's kitchen table, pirated what we could from Limewire and a week later had finished all campaigns. Haha, I proudly own the GOG collection today of course as does my cousin
I’ve always really wanted to play this series, just found the time to watch the previous review and this one. Great videos! I always really love your reviews and format. STALKER is a series I’ve always wanted to try and hopefully I will be soon. Looking forward to the next one!
Come for the cheeki, stay for the breeki.
Exactly how I like it
I strongly recommend Sky Reclamation Project for first time players. Shadow of Chernobyl was the second best looking game of 2007 and Clear Sky is the same for 2008. Call of Pripyat has worse lighting than Clear Sky, alas. Also, once again, Russian weapons are not inherently inferior to for example German or British weapons.
I've never liked Russian made rifles. Never shot anything else Russian made though.
@@AvalancheReviews Well *Looks at the PKP and PKM and AK-12 2020* it isnt about the personal opinion. Those easy examples are either the best in class by far (LMG) or top tier.
I dont like many Belgian rifles but that doesnt mean they are bad. They are great :P
Otherwise good reivew. I posted it on r STALKER.
How I usually describe the trilogy: SoC is a bit like Half-Life, CS remind me of a Call of Duty campaign, and CoP is basically Far Cry
But all of those games in an open world setting (sort of, if we exclude the loading passages)
Does anyone else suddenly get the urge to collect bandages when you hear the name of stalker clear sky?
This was the most difficult to get into. I started and quit four or five times. BUT, once I got outta the swamps and got my footing, it was EPIC.
20:21 is where my general interest went to awe. A shotgun with range in a videogame? What sorcery!
This was actually my first, and only until now, stalker that I played and I loved it, I haven't felt out-of-loop when playing without knowing the story of "previous" installment.
Hey, if it works for you. I feel like I would want to know so much more than what CS told me. Then again, maybe that's the appeal.
@Avalanche Reviews I mean it was hard for me to get into SoC but CS just clicked with me almost instantly. I tried SoC for 8 hours and just couldn't work it out, don't remember exaclty why but I will surely replay Stalker series since I only finished CS so might as well start from the beginning, sort of. :D Anyway, great video, it reminded me of this great game and how it was to play it. I will definitely try it with Arsenal mod.
Not gonna lie, your video's just keep getting better. The narrating is great.
Homie, I just left watching your latest stream to watch this. I hope your Halloween was sick and I wish a happy Thanksgiving to my favorite Cuban Viking and his wife and cat.
And a very happy thanksgiving to you man!!!
The Red Forest was my favourite in this one... I was scared shitless. The atmosphere was awesome... the ending of clear sky sucks, however. Still have to play the third game.
I was exactly the same, I hated bit also loved getting ambushed by bloodsuckers near the bridge to limansk and foresters cabin
It seemed like the area was so much larger than it was. I was genuinely scared to explore some parts of it.
Just bought this game on sale on steam, I've always wanted to play a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game. It will be my first
just got this today in charity sale for £2
Fantastic video I think you really covered what Clear Sky brings to the table, far too often it is underappreciated. Can't wait for the Call of Pripyat one!
I'm really excited to see your review on Call of Pripyat now
36:10
I remember playing Clear Skies on launch and having to face 859823590 Bandits with shotguns in the swamps and then face that damn machinegun emplacement.
That same thing at 38:00 happened to me once in red dead 2, shot a guy and he dropped his pistol which hit his buddy next to him in the leg. Was absolutely blown away to see that, which to me makes it all the more crazy that it happened in some 2008 game. They really did make gold with these games.
I love it when devs allow cool stuff like that to happen randomly. So damn cool!
Videos never miss- good work man
Not sure if you’ve heard/considered it mate, but Stalker:Anomaly is my favourite mod for these games. Turns them into a gaming experience unlike any other, with an incredible sandbox set up and no fat/filler getting in the way.
Super easy to set up too, I’d suggest it!
I've been playing it, and it is incredible!! I may do a video on it honestly.
another great video brother can’t wait for the next one
Loving these STALKER videos man great stuff, looking forward to the next one. I've been playing a lot of Into the Radius in VR recently, another game inspired by Roadside Picnic and the film, but think I'll give Clear Sky's a go after. I love Shadow of Chernobyl but for some reason never tried the other two games in the series
There's an old 'S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Mobile' game for Java phones that came out in 2007 after SoC. I heard about it years ago in Russian videos, and it definitely exists, but I never found away to actually get it. As far as I remember, it covers the story of how Strelok came into the zone, initially as a soldier, and how he actually became a stalker and got his group together. Definitely basic considering the platform, but interesting nonetheless.
You see I've got a theory about how strelok's PDA changed it's mission, maybe in a last ditch effort to make sure all of his work was for nothing scar changed his PDA with strelok's and I also think that their original orders were to kill eachother, I really hope he makes it to stalker2.
That would be awesome to see!
Damn, the Red Forest at night? What a trip! Liminsk was a bitch to get through. Can’t believe you didn’t mention how hard the last part to kill Strylock was!! It took me forever to get through that part!
The best thing about Clear Sky was the Ak that shot Sniper Rounds. So much damage...
I saw that CS had gotten a developer patch quiet recently. I didn't look to see what it was but i assume it is weapon stuff because I'm playing with no mods and am not really having any trouble. I used the starting pistol for the majority of the swap area to conserve other ammo and was actually feeling that gunplay was better than the first game. Made shots i would have never had hit in SoC. im not very far into the game atm but so far I'm really enjoying it. more so than the first. its also noticeably better looking than the original. Which is impressive considering they came out roughly a year apart.
Just like to say I'm a huge fan of your content. These videogame deep dives you do are arguably my favorite on UA-cam. You, Josh Strife, Salt Factory, and YourFavoriteSon are Incredible at making this kind of content. The way you simply talk about the game in a very organized structure makes it enjoyable to watch and helpful when considering what game to play next.
2:19 that dude is sporting a serious mullet
i've been waiting for this vid. great uploud. CS is my fav in the series. but i am biased since it was the first game i started with.
One silly little "anomaly" that always made me smile about the Stalker games is the randomly generated names of various generic NPC's which generally tend to be hilarious
I saw a NPC with the surname "simulator". I later read online that it was supposedly a mistranslation, the word should be "faker" or "fraud". Don't know if it's correct but it's hilarious.
"AA gun"
Niki Spaghetti
Andre Fist
I might be in the minority saying that I don’t like the silly names and that it kinda takes me out of the game but it does have a charm to it lol
@@koli4213 Just like with X-Ray engine bugs, the names give the Zone a truly unique silly vibe, a nice contrast to the usual grim atmosphere of death, mutants, and anomalies
Very very excited to see you play Call of Pripyat. And hopefully on to stalker anomaly after that! Great video.
I'm working on CoP as we speak. I think it's gonna be a big one!
@@AvalancheReviews awesome, can't wait.
ohh I liked CLEAR SKY a lot!
also, I always thought CALL OF PRIPYAT
was too short
or at least it felt that way..
CS, with certain mods is easly my favorite STALKER game
Running into a herd of "Snorks" does indeed sound bad
There's a sex joke in there somewhere.
Great series of videos
"go install clear skies"
No sir, I don't think I will. *fires up coc*
Just try it, ffs
1:19 oh hey Robin Atkin Downes
Is that actually him? I can't find Stalker listed in his Wiki.
Beat me to it haha, probably could be a case of non-union work so he went uncredited.
@@AvalancheReviews It's on his IMDb if you want to check it out, seems he was also in the first game.
@@AvalancheReviews I recognize that voice anywhere....often by his scream alone
HOME SWEET HOME !
the bloodstalkers of the undergrounds scared me and im use to survival horrors
oh dang going deep on clear sky, man i really hate the turtorial challenge back then when i played this as a kid
Greeting Stalkers! Hope you guys enjoyed this one. If you're looking to catch up, I'll have the link to my last Stalker video here. Along with a link to the Arsenal Overhaul mod. Which is my absolute fav mod for Clear Sky. If you know of one a little better, feel free to clue me in. There are a million mods for any of the Stalker games. So I'll be counting on you guys to do a bit of my homework for me.
Shadow of Chernobyl video - ua-cam.com/video/WUGBKayTLC8/v-deo.html
Arsenal Overhaul - www.moddb.com/mods/arsenal-overhaul-clear-sky
Are u going to check out Chernobylite as well i wonder how u will analysis and break it down by paragraph
You must be excited for Stalker 2!
hey, whats the third hidden vid in the "Stalker Retrospective" playlist ?
You should definitely make a video about Lost Alpha after you finish off the COP.
And the Gunslinger ofc!
Though it's considered the weakest in the STALKER series, I prefer Clear Sky for removing the "hunger & thirst" system and the clans system.
I "finished" Clear Sky, I got to the final level but had an irrecoverable crash that defied all my efforts to remedy it... Clear Sky's version of the X-Ray engine sucks.
Great review man, I really dig this kind of reviews which really understand the game and the love it deserves. But clear sky has very steep beginning difficulty, and last time I played it few years ago it did break near the end, so I couldn't not finish it. This game is great and I am really happy to see some more of a optimistic review so it makes me want to play it again, as I invested so much time in these games, but it has it's flaws.
Thanks for the vid
Another fantastic video! So glad I found this Channel. Can't wait for CoP review :)
I played all 3 games vanilla (except CS) recently but still couldn't bring myself to complete CS. I got to the bit where Strelok blows the Limansk Tunnel and just gave up. I'm not sure why I don't enjoy CS but I just can't like it. Although I wouldn't be an idiot to deny that the story and lore setup is absolutely fantastic!
I want to ask a question if that is okay; Do you plan on doing reviews of mods such as Anomaly? A lot of people (including myself) have settled on Anomaly as the only way to play Stalker after beating the vanilla games and I would love to see your opinions of it!
I love Anomaly!! Only downside is that they nerfed all the artifacts
I am really considering it. It's so massive that I wouldn't be able to cover everything, but it really would seem like a waste not to talk about it. Let's see if i can get it acting semi stable with Provak's weapon mod, and then maybe I will.
@@AvalancheReviews I would advise against Provaks if you do decided to try it. It's old, outdated and the Mod author has given up on it so it's incredibly unstable. Might I suggest Boomsticks and Sharpsticks instead? :) If you need any help with modding it at all then I'm happy to help. I have a pretty stable load order set up that I'd be happy to share a pastebin link to :)
@@robink.9966 How did they nerf the Artefacts compared to vanilla? They're objective improvements imo
@@sentinowl9207 In vanilla they have better buffs. Only the full-empty is worth wearing in Anomaly, the rest I sell. I really like the fact that you have to use a container to carry radiated artifacts though.
installing all 3 right now
CS is my favorite of the trilogy.
I should replay Clear Sky. My memories of it are over shadowed by the other two games.
I just finished watching all the other stalker videos you have
Time to watch em all again! Only this time, with slightly better editing.
I remember the lazer guided bullets in this game, annoyed me so much I modded the ammo to be more "realistic" with bullet drop, it took a full 30 mag of FMJ just to make a Exo user bleed and shotguns were less effective after 50 yards. Changed the whole firefight aspect of the game and made it more enjoyable.
It also made the scopes actually useful and the ranges acurate so you had to compensate and use the marker's instead of zoom then point and shoot, if they were 400 meters away then you had to use the 4 in the scope.
Finally, the one i played.....and then got spooked and quit
.....bruh
I got spooked by how shitty the game was and then never played if again.
@@joeywalker2061 imagine having a wrong opinion, couldn't be me
You forgot about that great tutorial section ;)
I had a much worse experience with Clear Sky. I bought it on launch and it was unplayable and crashed on startup. Thankfully that was eventually fixed and I was able to play through it to the end. I remember enemies being extremely tough to kill (yes, I was playing on Master.) Then I came back to it years later and experienced the same problem -- turns out there is literally an RNG system that rolls a die every time a bullet you fire hits an enemy, and if you get unlucky, your bullet "misses" aka disappears out of thin air. That's why it seems to take 60 AK rounds to kill the average enemy. It's not like they have 60 rounds worth of HP, but rather, only maybe 30% of your rounds are registering. Clear Sky is muuuch better with mods that remove this mechanic. Otherwise, you'll be 100% dependent on high damage weapons like the VSS.
Clear sky gave us:
Bandit radio
Automatic best of the series.
Cheeki breeki my friend!
May your cheeki's be very breeki!
love your style of presentation. the chapters feel very well connected and you smoothly transition to topics. cant wait for your CoP retrospective.
i am currently playing Anomaly i would love your opinion in a video like this on it too
Hell yeah, been waiting for this one
Hope it was worth the wait
I played CC first then COP. Now I am back trying to finish SOC.
I still yet to beat shadow, I will definitely give it a go once I finish off cyberpunk 2077 finally. I've been struggling to get through new games lately due to not getting invested mentally.
Yeah I dropped Cyberpunk after like 30 or 40 hours. It wasn't horrible or anything, I just didn't have the drive to finish. It was a fun 40 hours though.
Alot of litle issues like the sky blending with the back drop can be fixed with console commands. Your framerate also tanks because you are most likely using in engine MSAA which kills FPS
I didn't remember Clear Sky's story was this involved, I remember this is the game I liked the least, for... various reasons, but, I might replay again to experience the story, taking into consideration I played more than a decade ago when it was vanilla, whatever problem I had might have been fixed.
As someone who watched a lot of lore and story recaps to start with Stalker Anomaly I rly do appreciate your videos. I hope you make one for the 3rd entry too? :D
Just as you describe, I have never before felt so much while playing a game and just traversing from A to B. This is something special and mods just bring it to new heights, even tho my mod folder now contains almost 30+ immersion enhancing little addons :D
**EDIT** You will cover all of them haha! I appreciate you ;)
I sure as hell will!! I'm finishing up the script for CoP as we speak.
Hey friend! Great video! I love stalker series. But tell me,what mods are you using in this gameplay?
Thanks!!!
I'd rather snort asbestos in the middle of the zone than hunt for artefacts in this game.
Great video! Tho may I ask what mod did you use for your gameplay of CS??
I remember some weird bug (or DRM?) that forced me to play with disc in the DVD drive, otherwise Hog in the Army Warehouse won't talk to me. Nobody mentioned this issue anywhere else... nothing funny playing with jet engine by your knee.
Game itself? More linear with some short stops on each map to catch artifacts (that hidden elite detector in the Swamps cave helps) but still nice. Only now I've learned that you don't need to break through the MG fire, just return to swamps and take new route up north. Which wasn't there before they started shooting at you...
btw
it was Clear Sky that was blessed with great madness inducing plague called REBORN mods.
Don't touch them unless you want to experience something out of this world
How have I never heard of this mod? Looks kind of cool actually. Oh and, I never heard of that bug either. Although I do have some vague memory of that mission being bugged for me. Maybe that way why?