My apologies for the delay, this video took way too long to make. This time I've tried a bit of everything: cut content, lore, story telling, mod showcase and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 speculation. I hope you enjoy.
Quality is always preferably to quantity my dude. And as such I will always be happy to wait until you yourself are completely satisfied with the content you are putting out, as opposed to rushing to get it finished. Oh and I just wanted to say thank you for what you do. It's pretty awesome to essentially have a bridge between the Eastern and Western S.T.A.L.K.E.R fanbases, not to mention I really appreciate the added depth you are able to add to things through your easier (presumably, sorry if I have made the wrong assumption here) understanding of things like the game's design documentation (I did once have a go at translating a piece of them myself, and let's just say that I came away far more confused than I had been before lol). It's really great to hear what was going through the developers minds whilst making this game. Here's hoping that S2 can somehow live up to the titanic legend that the first game has left in it's wake. I'm cautiously optimistic, but at this same time exceptionally nervous lol.
@@WeWillAlwaysHaveVALIS Thanks a lot. I had no idea that I am considered a "bridge" between Eastern and Western S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fanbases since I am a westerner myself, but I like the idea.
@@anomalousdugout9557 Well I meant that in the sense of both that you are combining the lore and theories from both camps and that each side also seems to enjoy your content. Granted my thinking is due to my own interactions with eastern fans as a result of your videos, but I surely cannot be the only one lol. Edit: the only other place where I have managed to do that was on /v/'s stalker thread, and that mostly consisted of memes.
Would be nice if they included them in Stalker 2 as a secret faction, having stalkers talk about them by the campfire being a legend or rumor, being able to encounter them at night randomly and very rarely
with the time skip between call of prypiat and 2 they have more freedom to add whatever they want, so i would say its quite possible, even if thants not the case surely there will be mods
I like your idea of Sin and Dark stalkers, I would like to add that given that they are a cult and not may people know about them, I think that they would take a "Cloak and Dagger" approach, infiltrating other factions and groups, manipulating them for their own convenience. For example: A group of ecologists want to enter a lab to gather some documents, Sin catches wind of their operation, one of their agents infiltrating a Bandit gang tells them to set up an ambush for a "quick and simple robbery", but in reality, the true purpose of the ambush is to divert the attention of the ecologists so that a squad of sinners can break into the lab and get the documents before them.
@@maximilianoalcaraz7351 in one of the mods you had to "wear" other faces, like, you literally had to get one to go undercover, though over time your mask would decay so u gotta change it from time to time. Also other kinds of masks are very popular in zone, and bandits use a lot of them
@@anomalousdugout9557 in CoP they could have inhabited the underground pass instead of having the gas there. would have made for a nice reason for why you didn't see them in the other games. like they were hiding undergound, plus it would have made for a creepy place.
I like the idea of Sin and dark stalkers being separate entities. I see dark stalkers to be humans who “belong” to the zone unlike normal stalkers who belong to the regular world and are only visiting. Not all dark stalkers would be apart of Sin, but Sin would consist solely of dark stalkers. I think characters like Forester or Doctor would be similar to dark stalkers. They’re people who have become one with the zone and therefore have gained special abilities and wisdom. Sin would be a religious cult of these dark stalkers who seek to exclude those who do not belong in the zone. Seeing how the zone is portrayed as a conscious entity many Sin members would use their acceptance by the zone to procure powerful abilities which would corrupt their bodies overtime and make them so visually different from other dark stalkers.
The Hemul Trilogy by Vasiliy Orekhov (some of the best novels from the official STALKER novel series - "Affected Zone", "Line of Fire" and "Firing Sector") treats them as separate entities. Dark stalkers are people who spent too much time too deep in the Zone, and have started to become mutants themselves. They gain a keen sense for anomalies, artifacts and mutants, making them excellent artifact hunters. The price - leaving the Zone causes a slow and painful death. In the novels they are mostly neutral towards all factions, even hosting the most important bar in the Zone in the outskirts of Pripyat. However, while they aren't directly mind controlled by C-Consciousness, dark stalkers usually do whatever they say, fearing the wrath of the "Masters of the Zone". One of the chapters in the novel describes a joint operation by Duty, Freedom, Clear Sky and an unnamed faction that the protagonist is a member of, where the four groups assault Sin's HQ. It turned out that all Sin members were mind controlled by an exceptionally smart and powerful controller.
It's interesting that they are neutral to mutants in Legend Returns. I'm guessing they already have some "smell of death" that makes them uninteresting for those. Would be awesome to see this faction in Stalker 2, along with more lore about them.
I haven't played Legend Returns but in Gamma it'd be nice since those cats/dogs run at full sprint and then break ankle's of everyone around when I try to shoot them
Had no idea what the Sin did besides be a sort of trader cult, so this sheds a much needed light on them for me. Honestly had me hooked at dark stalkers. Much love!
The Sin gives me the perspective of the much more subtle horror in the Zone; what really happened in the Zone? And what happened if we stayed too long in the Zone? And I like how their faction's existence feels natural if they we're implemented, like they're not going to be an obsolete storyline considering there's already a lot of other factions around
I think SIN would be a perfect new foe in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, even if they are not the main one. With the decline of the Monolith in CoP the spot for a fanatic group is bound to be vacant. (Yes the Monolith will be in the game but I have a theory they'll stay close to places like the DUGA radar so that the brainwash they are under doesn't run out). If they are an enemy in a single X Lab, or an urban legend that you rarely come accross via sacrifices or halucinatons that'd already be so damn cool. Even better, imagine having different variety to the faction members (Akin to Lost Alpha/Anomaly) with some being Stalkers that were mutated in one way or another but don't want to hurt anyone they don't have to in contrast to those who have lost their minds (Maybe we can even have some Controllers in the faction haha) Also interesting to think but what if SIN was the original Monolith? I mean, what if before the Brainwash was perfected to turn people into Monolith fighters the members of SIN were the failed results of them?
So this explains all that morbid decor around Army Warehouse with heads and skulls on spikes - always thought those were weird and out of place, they didn't seem like something that Freedom would dwelve in
I think my two favourite renditions are, the black slugs as they are presented in Lost Alpha, and the Dark Stalkers as they are presented in Lost Alpha. The idea of this group of evil, zone growth encouraging stalkers is super cool, and I love the idea that they could be former Secret Service members disillusioned by failure and loss. I also love the idea of the Black Slugs, as a group of heavily mutated political prisoners, who have spread out to encompass half-zombified stalkers and other similar kin, like surviving Monolith members who broke away from the draw of Chernobyl. They could be a faction seeking the aid of non-hostile factions, seeking ways of curing or hiding their mutations so that they could hopefully return to their homes outside of the zone.
Just found this channel and man I am so happy I didn I have become obsessed with Stalker recently after playing Stalker Gamma. There's so many videos on your channel about Stalker Lore and I am about to binge watch all of them!
man your videos are keeping me company for all these nights, i had so many problems in the last months, but your content cheers me up. you’re very talented and i hope you’re aware of that, keep the good work on my friend, and thanks for everything
I think taking both ideas from Lost Alpha and Legend Returns would work best; having a faction of mutated prisoners/locals trying to find a cure and a faction of rampant psychopaths sounds like a lot of fun. If they make the "Black Slugs" the good guys trying to find a cure they could even include the de-zombified Monolith among them considering they would fit very well together, both groups working to solve similar problems. While the "Sin" faction would be the cannibals that hunt down stalkers and try to expand the zone.
My fav cut content.I said many times that i prefer the Sin faction as they are in Lost Alpha but i want them to have evil plans.Or some of them want revenge against the Group who made them this way.But i agree that some of them might accepted their abilities as a gift.I think in S2 GSC is trying to make each person of a faction to have different agenda.So this can happen with Sin too if they decide to include them in the final game.
I'm guessing SIN is less cut content and more simply a proto-version of monolith. They share a lot of design points with monolith and that's why in most mods that bring them back, they end up feeling just like monolith 2.0. And I'm pretty sure that dialogue with the freedomer is just a nod/easter egg to SIN, since the dialogue implies he's joking with Strelok.
To be honest if they would be more developed storywise, could be better than monolith. I still cannot comprehend the amount of monolith members we have to go through in shoc.
This man should be on the top for reccomended, personally i think these videos are awesome and i really enjoy learning about the history behind the game and my playthroughs.
So I can put some remarks. If we'll read design documents wisely, we'll understand that Sin still gonna be stalker group (faction), but Black Slugs and The Dead used to be bandit groups. In that time of development (2002-2003) Zone used to be more dangerous place. And factions were pretty small. The biggest one was Duty (11 people). So, in document about Dark Valley there were description about Slugs and Deads. Slugs were about 3 people: two with pistol and one leader with shotgun. But they weren't added in build. We only can see dead bodies of another group - Marlboro Cowboys in build 1865 (if I'm not mistaken) in the village of old Dark Valley. But your video was pretty good and I enjoyed it.
I read somewhere that sin was supposed to operate from the military warehouses. If that's so that might explain why some duty guys in wild territory say there are freedom incursions even though you never see them.
You single-handedly have made my stalker experience more enjoyable, you provide so much context to the universe of the game that it makes playing in it waaay more fun, thank you so much for your work!
I’ve always considered Omega from the old 2011 S2 design docs to be a successor to Sin’s idea. They took the “wants to expand the Zone and destroy the world” idea and removed most of the insane cult aspect. I hope they show up in the new S2, that’d be cool.
The Sin faction is like the most obscure s*** in STALKER. I encountered them in Lost Alpha and doing quests for them seem pretty fun though at first glance I thought they were bandits. I think the mod that develop them in an interesting way is Legend Returns. Haven't play that mod yet and looks fun from what I've seen.
Anomaly lets you play as Sin and Zombies but there nothing special about them. If Sin was neutral to monsters and resistant to anomalies it would be pretty fun And if as zombies you were super tanky but have no place no resupply, it would make the crafting system pretty much vital to keep going
The whole idea of them being experiment subjects and half mutant makes a lot of sense when you consider the nature of the Burers, dwarf like monsters who wear trench coats and usually stay underground or away from everything else. Since the Burer was technically around since before the first game, it's possible that design choice was intending to tie them dark stalkers, ones who became full mutie. Also consider the gank of Burers in Lab X-8 in CoP, an interest in the labs implies maybe those Burers weren't just there for the heck of it, but were actually dark stalkers scrounging for information (which you do get from there) but was far too late for them and became mutants. Other comments mentioned Renegades who always did seem very out of place in Clear Sky, with little information and a very strange placement in the Red Forest mine, just kinda hanging out with the Compass and some Poltergeists. This is jumping into raw speculation territory but that gives me the impression the reason the Renegades were blocading Limansk was because they were trying to get to a lab located underneath it, and trying to use the Compass to get there faster. There's a building in Limansk that leads down into a basement with a partially opened door where you can see a strange device on a platform in the middle of it. I don't recall if anyone figured out what this is, i dunno if it was an egg or part of a scrapped quest or what, but the mystery of it ties together really nicely with everything else!
Nice theories you got there! The hidden device in Limansk is a teleporter from the Soviet TV Series "Visitor from the Future" from 1985. A small easter egg left by GSC.
That's exactly what happened to me not too long ago in Anomaly. Casually going through Red Forest with a broken Mosin just hoping to survive to get to Forester and out of nowhere getting shot by a squad of Sin hidden in some foliage. I've played hundreds of hours of Anomaly but I never met Sin outside of their storyline.
@@GhostReconerPL I've encountered both Sin and UNISG randomly in my playthroughs, usually just a couple guys. I was surprised to find them in the cordon once
@@GhostReconerPL met them alot in random areas especially around Jupiter and Zaton. They usually get wiped out in the Red forest by other factions. There was also this one time I encountered a 4 man sin squad in the garbage.
Spoiler ahead for the Mortal Sin quest: I know that its more in the head canon category, but during the last standoff between you and Chernobog one of his Bodyguards is named Bes. Anyone who has played SoC will remember Bes from the Garbage mission where you had to help him defend the Vehicle Dump from bandits. Like I said its not Canon but it is interesting they threw Bes in there. Looks like he got a little fanatical in his quest to "fight the lawless."
I wish Legend Returns was completely translated. It has so many cool ideas as it seems. Specially with Sin as shown. Plus Sin is probably one of my three favorite factions. Cool videos as always
Always love a video from you Anomalous Dugout, the quality on this one was superb. Can't wait for more! I am extremely excited for Stalker 2 and the videos you will be making when it comes out!
Considering everything, it would make a lot of sense for the Sin to appear in Stalker 2, as 1. Strelok technically stopped the containment of the zone by destroying the C-Consciousness 2. With each emission and wishing from the Wish Granter, the zone expand, essentially what the Sin wants
It would be interesting to see them get some sort of origin as Monolith rejects, rejects that were deemed too undisciplined, uncontrollable, and barbaric for the faction that they just removed them from their roster.
The guy in the cover of SoC resembles a Sin member a lot, especially when thinking about prolonged exposure to the zone/anomalies/artefacts or scientific experiments...
I like to imagine that the cultists in Tarkov are a bit of an offshoot adaptation of sin and dark stalkers. Especially with how they designed their outfits, fight everyone, have their own mysterious motivations and perform cult rituals.
Man I love Oblivion Lost, it was so dark and it would be the Perfect horror experience, especially with the endings, which none of then were supposed to be good
Apparently The Bandits were originally supposed to be split into different smaller gangs instead of a single unified faction. With the Black Slugs and The Dead being two bandit gangs. In fact I heard a theory that the Renegades from Clear Sky was GSC's possible attempt at bringing back this concept since they and the Slugs share similarities.
May I point out that in anomaly gamma sin almost super stalkers that can take 3 7n1 bullets from a dragunov to the head before diying. Even the strongest monolith with exo can't take more then 1 perfectly placed shot.
Hey big fan of your channel, is the Krug Antenna complex in your opinion linked to the X Laboratories in any way? I find that place really wierd and would like to know if you have any theories on it.
For the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 ideas they could also have Freedom trying to help the Dark Stalkers to find a cure to add to the differences between them and Duty. Like Duty just wants to kill them but Freedom is working to help with the cure
They sound like another stage between Monolith and zombies. Kind of redundant, makes sense that they were removed. It's not just the "half-zombified" bit, but also the whole thing about religious fanaticism. Even if the object of their worship is different, they are similar in practice.
They are not similar in practice. Monolith acts like a professional army with dozens of squads, heavy equipment and unwavering discipline in combat, engaging in full on confrontation with the enemy. Meanwhile, Sin members are much more secretive and cunning in their methods, relying on infiltration and surprise attacks. Their rituals are also very different, much more bloody in the case of Sin.
Legend Returns is such a blast, It's insane that nobody has ever given it the love it deserves with a proper translation... or at least fix the absolute slop that is the current ""Translation"".
So like... How long before Maj Degtyrev becomes like Noah? I always thought it was odd that his rusty tin can of an ark protects him from emissions because it's one of my favorite spots to watch emissions, there's so many holes in the boat you actually have to be careful where you stand or you won't be protected... And Noah is described by everybody else as being hostile so maybe it's just that Degtyrev actually tried peaceful interaction when nobody else has or.... (Personal speculation ofc) Noah recognizes Degtyrev as a like soul, one who can survive the worst the zone has moreRless alive and functionally if not totally sane afterwards... Maybe Noah senses normal humans as "mutants" because they, unlike the very few (Noah, Degtyrev, Strelock, etc), would become either zombies or monolith fanatics or just never be able to adapt to survive emissions... And thus perceives them as being mutants only in the sense that they are 'potential' mutants, and Degtyrev has the right stuff, so to speak, so no shooty, "Sorry about the shotgun blasts mann, I thought you were a freaking mutie." Also, this would make Noah a tad less unhinged than his reputation would suggest. Bigger question... Does Vano have what it takes to adapt to emissions... He is awfully good at avoiding anomalies...🤔
I like the idea of a faction that is completely ignored by mutants and psy-storms and emissions have no sway over them. I’m not really a fan of how most mods have them aligned with Monolith. They would be the perfect counter to Monolith. I see it as a group that can ignore all the same problems Monolith can, but out of nowhere, while everybody else is sheltered, Monolith feels safe…. Until a new faction begins carrying out raids on Monolith. A perfect introduction would be something like a group of Monolith is holding an area that makes a perfect defensive line for them. Have been for months. When your character gets there, you try and offensive, but a psy-storm comes and you’re forced to shelter with the faction attacking the Monolith stronghold. After the storm quits, you gather for an offensive and attack only to be met by no defense at all. Finding it strange, you make your way into the stronghold only to find all the Monolith slaughtered. What looks to be their commanders are put on crosses with strange messages scrawled in blood around them alluding to a new secret faction and a strange branch to the story you can address. I’ve got ideas for this, mainly consisting of controllers that are a bit more focused and powerful than your normal controller. Call them bosses if you like, but taking them down leads SiN to evolve into a more overt faction that is no longer controlled and used as secretive attack forces like with the Monolith raid. Just out doing their own thing and trying to convert living stalkers into zombie stalkers to amass an army to go on a full Zone offensive.
i just want to say that in anomaly they have sin appear after you finish the first main quest so if you want to see them in action you can play anomaly plus its free
Ngl the faction scares me imagine your just an innocent stalker and then you see these... "dark stalkers". To me those arent stalker or dark stalkers theyre monolith but 10 times worst...
ya know I think the lost alpha version of sin could make a great base for the dead faction like both faction originated from being experimented on the dead where the ones that kept there minds intact where as sin were some of the people who where experimented on who went mad I think it be cool
@@anomalousdugout9557 yeah I think it be very interesting to have essentially two factions comprised of similar people with VERY different view points also if you want you could use addons in anomaly to make sin hostile with monolith and chill with mutants Because I agree with you in that they feel like monolith but with extra steps
Would it be possible that the mysterious man in the Stalker 2 trailer could be Sin? He seems to be incredibly reverent to the zone and wears a black suit. Of course he doesn’t have those black eyes but perhaps the developers have changed that idea.
Isn't the common joke 'Poyavilsya nochu v Zone, chiornyi stalker' a description of a story with encounter of a sin member? Ur STALKER-2 Sin concept makes even more sense now.
I got a story you might get interested on. (Anomaly experience) When i was done solving the mistery with strelok after going into the monolith control centre. I was tasked to go back to my commanding general (im a dutyer) and report what i got, after that i went to the bar to go rest but i saw a weird stalker that wears brown trenchcoat and he was talking about "the miracle of the zone" and it was my first taught its one of the sin member also known as dark stalker. I report to my general, and he tasked me to kill some sinners passing the base. *epic combat laters* I had to go to limansk to deal with the sinners and the Urban warfare starts, monoliths,sins, fucking weirdos. Anyway i managed to capture one of the member of the sinner, i interrogated him and tells me about their founding father "Chernobog" And then...we got reports that our scout wasn't returning while they were supposed to come back at 3:00PM. And i was tasked to investigated it, and i found him dying and he tells me some words : "PDA...w-was dropped" "B-bloodsuckers RUN!" and he died. And what a suprise, not 1 bloodsucker but a whole quad of it, luckily i survived the ambush of them mutant vampires. I returned to base and gave the commanding officer the info about the scout, and he decided to launch an attack on the fortified construction site building. Thanks to the retrieved PDA, we blasted their ass of limansk. The end......or is it?
Hello good sir, lovely and informative videos! I have a question that has been bothering me since I played CoP for the first time. That bloodsucker quest with the medic. Felt REALLY out of place considering the other, more "realistic themes(?)" of the game. Was he just somesorta left over vampire-idea from Sin? "Hemoglobin addict" as it was referred to if I remember correctly. Any else feel this way? Am I like... TOTALLY misunderstanding this?
I don't know exactly were the idea of hemoglobin addict came from, but it's possible it was influenced by Sin and other darker themes that were planned by the devs but never made it in the final game. Originally, Oblivion Lost was set to be even more disturbing than Shadow of Chernobyl.
My apologies for the delay, this video took way too long to make. This time I've tried a bit of everything: cut content, lore, story telling, mod showcase and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 speculation. I hope you enjoy.
Quality is always preferably to quantity my dude. And as such I will always be happy to wait until you yourself are completely satisfied with the content you are putting out, as opposed to rushing to get it finished.
Oh and I just wanted to say thank you for what you do. It's pretty awesome to essentially have a bridge between the Eastern and Western S.T.A.L.K.E.R fanbases, not to mention I really appreciate the added depth you are able to add to things through your easier (presumably, sorry if I have made the wrong assumption here) understanding of things like the game's design documentation (I did once have a go at translating a piece of them myself, and let's just say that I came away far more confused than I had been before lol). It's really great to hear what was going through the developers minds whilst making this game.
Here's hoping that S2 can somehow live up to the titanic legend that the first game has left in it's wake.
I'm cautiously optimistic, but at this same time exceptionally nervous lol.
@@WeWillAlwaysHaveVALIS Thanks a lot. I had no idea that I am considered a "bridge" between Eastern and Western S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fanbases since I am a westerner myself, but I like the idea.
@@anomalousdugout9557 Well I meant that in the sense of both that you are combining the lore and theories from both camps and that each side also seems to enjoy your content.
Granted my thinking is due to my own interactions with eastern fans as a result of your videos, but I surely cannot be the only one lol.
Edit: the only other place where I have managed to do that was on /v/'s stalker thread, and that mostly consisted of memes.
Amazing video, don't worry about how long it takes. I really like the scary parts you managed to edit so well! I can imagine such things take time!
Always take your time, the research that you have done takes a lot of effort and it is time consuming. You did a great job man.
Would be nice if they included them in Stalker 2 as a secret faction, having stalkers talk about them by the campfire being a legend or rumor, being able to encounter them at night randomly and very rarely
Yes I think that would be a great addition.
with the time skip between call of prypiat and 2 they have more freedom to add whatever they want, so i would say its quite possible, even if thants not the case surely there will be mods
@@ratel832iirc monolith got disbanded at the end of cop so they’d have more freedom in pursuing their goal of expanding the zone.
I like your idea of Sin and Dark stalkers, I would like to add that given that they are a cult and not may people know about them, I think that they would take a "Cloak and Dagger" approach, infiltrating other factions and groups, manipulating them for their own convenience.
For example: A group of ecologists want to enter a lab to gather some documents, Sin catches wind of their operation, one of their agents infiltrating a Bandit gang tells them to set up an ambush for a "quick and simple robbery", but in reality, the true purpose of the ambush is to divert the attention of the ecologists so that a squad of sinners can break into the lab and get the documents before them.
Yes, I think this approach makes the most sense.
Genius idea man
infiltration and spy seems bit hard to pull off when you have grey skin and pimples all over your face :v
@@maximilianoalcaraz7351 in one of the mods you had to "wear" other faces, like, you literally had to get one to go undercover, though over time your mask would decay so u gotta change it from time to time. Also other kinds of masks are very popular in zone, and bandits use a lot of them
Its a shame that they really didnt add Sin into clear sky or COP, it could have been a really cool and interesting faction in the zone.
I wonder how they could have added them to the CS and COP stories. Maybe replacing the Renegades in the mine in the Red Forest? That could work.
@@anomalousdugout9557 in CoP they could have inhabited the underground pass instead of having the gas there. would have made for a nice reason for why you didn't see them in the other games. like they were hiding undergound, plus it would have made for a creepy place.
@@NotEnoughSound Oh yeah, very good idea!
nah, it was hemoglobin addiction, a real condition. not being part of Sin.
@@lambda-m1676 the insperation for Dracula if I remember history right
I like the idea of Sin and dark stalkers being separate entities. I see dark stalkers to be humans who “belong” to the zone unlike normal stalkers who belong to the regular world and are only visiting. Not all dark stalkers would be apart of Sin, but Sin would consist solely of dark stalkers. I think characters like Forester or Doctor would be similar to dark stalkers. They’re people who have become one with the zone and therefore have gained special abilities and wisdom. Sin would be a religious cult of these dark stalkers who seek to exclude those who do not belong in the zone. Seeing how the zone is portrayed as a conscious entity many Sin members would use their acceptance by the zone to procure powerful abilities which would corrupt their bodies overtime and make them so visually different from other dark stalkers.
Yes, I like this idea as well.
it could even be where the zone pulls monolith recruits from when some are killed
The Hemul Trilogy by Vasiliy Orekhov (some of the best novels from the official STALKER novel series - "Affected Zone", "Line of Fire" and "Firing Sector") treats them as separate entities. Dark stalkers are people who spent too much time too deep in the Zone, and have started to become mutants themselves. They gain a keen sense for anomalies, artifacts and mutants, making them excellent artifact hunters. The price - leaving the Zone causes a slow and painful death. In the novels they are mostly neutral towards all factions, even hosting the most important bar in the Zone in the outskirts of Pripyat. However, while they aren't directly mind controlled by C-Consciousness, dark stalkers usually do whatever they say, fearing the wrath of the "Masters of the Zone".
One of the chapters in the novel describes a joint operation by Duty, Freedom, Clear Sky and an unnamed faction that the protagonist is a member of, where the four groups assault Sin's HQ. It turned out that all Sin members were mind controlled by an exceptionally smart and powerful controller.
It's interesting that they are neutral to mutants in Legend Returns. I'm guessing they already have some "smell of death" that makes them uninteresting for those. Would be awesome to see this faction in Stalker 2, along with more lore about them.
Yes, neutrality with mutants is a nice feature.
I haven't played Legend Returns but in Gamma it'd be nice since those cats/dogs run at full sprint and then break ankle's of everyone around when I try to shoot them
Had no idea what the Sin did besides be a sort of trader cult, so this sheds a much needed light on them for me. Honestly had me hooked at dark stalkers. Much love!
Very nice.
It's a really good day when Anomalous Dugout uploads Lore vids. Great content as always brother!
Thanks!
The Sin gives me the perspective of the much more subtle horror in the Zone; what really happened in the Zone? And what happened if we stayed too long in the Zone? And I like how their faction's existence feels natural if they we're implemented, like they're not going to be an obsolete storyline considering there's already a lot of other factions around
Yes it makes you think what could happen to all the stalkers after staying in the Zone for a while...
I was feeling down today. Thank you for another amazing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. video.
Glad it helped!
I think SIN would be a perfect new foe in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, even if they are not the main one. With the decline of the Monolith in CoP the spot for a fanatic group is bound to be vacant. (Yes the Monolith will be in the game but I have a theory they'll stay close to places like the DUGA radar so that the brainwash they are under doesn't run out).
If they are an enemy in a single X Lab, or an urban legend that you rarely come accross via sacrifices or halucinatons that'd already be so damn cool. Even better, imagine having different variety to the faction members (Akin to Lost Alpha/Anomaly) with some being Stalkers that were mutated in one way or another but don't want to hurt anyone they don't have to in contrast to those who have lost their minds (Maybe we can even have some Controllers in the faction haha)
Also interesting to think but what if SIN was the original Monolith? I mean, what if before the Brainwash was perfected to turn people into Monolith fighters the members of SIN were the failed results of them?
Absolutely, thanks for sharing your ideas.
So this explains all that morbid decor around Army Warehouse with heads and skulls on spikes - always thought those were weird and out of place, they didn't seem like something that Freedom would dwelve in
Yes, I think it might be the reason.
Great video! Sin a very interesting cut content faction. You did great on the in-depth look on them
Thank you.
I think my two favourite renditions are, the black slugs as they are presented in Lost Alpha, and the Dark Stalkers as they are presented in Lost Alpha. The idea of this group of evil, zone growth encouraging stalkers is super cool, and I love the idea that they could be former Secret Service members disillusioned by failure and loss. I also love the idea of the Black Slugs, as a group of heavily mutated political prisoners, who have spread out to encompass half-zombified stalkers and other similar kin, like surviving Monolith members who broke away from the draw of Chernobyl. They could be a faction seeking the aid of non-hostile factions, seeking ways of curing or hiding their mutations so that they could hopefully return to their homes outside of the zone.
Alright, that's understandable.
Just found this channel and man I am so happy I didn I have become obsessed with Stalker recently after playing Stalker Gamma. There's so many videos on your channel about Stalker Lore and I am about to binge watch all of them!
man your videos are keeping me company for all these nights, i had so many problems in the last months, but your content cheers me up. you’re very talented and i hope you’re aware of that, keep the good work on my friend, and thanks for everything
Glad this was helpful to you, thanks.
YESSS I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS
sin is one of the most interesting factions lorewise imo
Your patience is rewarded.
This makes me wanna replay stalker again
Perfect!
I think taking both ideas from Lost Alpha and Legend Returns would work best; having a faction of mutated prisoners/locals trying to find a cure and a faction of rampant psychopaths sounds like a lot of fun.
If they make the "Black Slugs" the good guys trying to find a cure they could even include the de-zombified Monolith among them considering they would fit very well together, both groups working to solve similar problems. While the "Sin" faction would be the cannibals that hunt down stalkers and try to expand the zone.
My fav cut content.I said many times that i prefer the Sin faction as they are in Lost Alpha but i want them to have evil plans.Or some of them want revenge against the Group who made them this way.But i agree that some of them might accepted their abilities as a gift.I think in S2 GSC is trying to make each person of a faction to have different agenda.So this can happen with Sin too if they decide to include them in the final game.
Yes, I understand.
I'm guessing SIN is less cut content and more simply a proto-version of monolith. They share a lot of design points with monolith and that's why in most mods that bring them back, they end up feeling just like monolith 2.0. And I'm pretty sure that dialogue with the freedomer is just a nod/easter egg to SIN, since the dialogue implies he's joking with Strelok.
Yeah, i dont really like them to be honest, the feel redundant
To be honest if they would be more developed storywise, could be better than monolith. I still cannot comprehend the amount of monolith members we have to go through in shoc.
This man should be on the top for reccomended, personally i think these videos are awesome and i really enjoy learning about the history behind the game and my playthroughs.
Thank you stalker.
So I can put some remarks.
If we'll read design documents wisely, we'll understand that Sin still gonna be stalker group (faction), but Black Slugs and The Dead used to be bandit groups. In that time of development (2002-2003) Zone used to be more dangerous place. And factions were pretty small. The biggest one was Duty (11 people). So, in document about Dark Valley there were description about Slugs and Deads. Slugs were about 3 people: two with pistol and one leader with shotgun. But they weren't added in build. We only can see dead bodies of another group - Marlboro Cowboys in build 1865 (if I'm not mistaken) in the village of old Dark Valley.
But your video was pretty good and I enjoyed it.
I read somewhere that sin was supposed to operate from the military warehouses. If that's so that might explain why some duty guys in wild territory say there are freedom incursions even though you never see them.
Yes, their base was in the Army Warehouses.
You single-handedly have made my stalker experience more enjoyable, you provide so much context to the universe of the game that it makes playing in it waaay more fun, thank you so much for your work!
Very nice, thank you.
Very nice man. Quality content as always.
Thanks ITZ.
The brief glimpse of the energy drink be hide the skull in his hand killed me 😅
I’ve always considered Omega from the old 2011 S2 design docs to be a successor to Sin’s idea. They took the “wants to expand the Zone and destroy the world” idea and removed most of the insane cult aspect. I hope they show up in the new S2, that’d be cool.
Very interesting subject. I remember how one character in the stalker 2 trailer talked about saving the zone in a way like he's obsessed
Will you make a video about Last Day/Final Day faction? Another cut faction that is mentioned in Shadow of Chernobyl
Probably not because we simply don't have enough information about them. But who knows, maybe I'll change my mind.
Nice profile pic
The Sin faction is like the most obscure s*** in STALKER. I encountered them in Lost Alpha and doing quests for them seem pretty fun though at first glance I thought they were bandits.
I think the mod that develop them in an interesting way is Legend Returns. Haven't play that mod yet and looks fun from what I've seen.
Oh yes, I suggest you try out playing as Sin in Legend Returns it's quite interesting.
@@anomalousdugout9557 I definitely will when I get the chance to.
Anomaly lets you play as Sin and Zombies but there nothing special about them.
If Sin was neutral to monsters and resistant to anomalies it would be pretty fun
And if as zombies you were super tanky but have no place no resupply, it would make the crafting system pretty much vital to keep going
Yes, it would make for more interesting factions.
The whole idea of them being experiment subjects and half mutant makes a lot of sense when you consider the nature of the Burers, dwarf like monsters who wear trench coats and usually stay underground or away from everything else. Since the Burer was technically around since before the first game, it's possible that design choice was intending to tie them dark stalkers, ones who became full mutie. Also consider the gank of Burers in Lab X-8 in CoP, an interest in the labs implies maybe those Burers weren't just there for the heck of it, but were actually dark stalkers scrounging for information (which you do get from there) but was far too late for them and became mutants. Other comments mentioned Renegades who always did seem very out of place in Clear Sky, with little information and a very strange placement in the Red Forest mine, just kinda hanging out with the Compass and some Poltergeists.
This is jumping into raw speculation territory but that gives me the impression the reason the Renegades were blocading Limansk was because they were trying to get to a lab located underneath it, and trying to use the Compass to get there faster. There's a building in Limansk that leads down into a basement with a partially opened door where you can see a strange device on a platform in the middle of it. I don't recall if anyone figured out what this is, i dunno if it was an egg or part of a scrapped quest or what, but the mystery of it ties together really nicely with everything else!
Nice theories you got there!
The hidden device in Limansk is a teleporter from the Soviet TV Series "Visitor from the Future" from 1985. A small easter egg left by GSC.
@@anomalousdugout9557 Oh nice, yeah didn't know that, thank you!
As a sin member i can really approve this video, your videos They always warm my stalker heart.
Thank you for your videos, you are great guy :)
Very nice thanks.
Sin would have been a nice faction. Imagine you're walking thru the red forest at night and a squad of them jumps you out of nowhere.
Oh yeah, the Red Forest would be even more terrifying.
That's exactly what happened to me not too long ago in Anomaly. Casually going through Red Forest with a broken Mosin just hoping to survive to get to Forester and out of nowhere getting shot by a squad of Sin hidden in some foliage. I've played hundreds of hours of Anomaly but I never met Sin outside of their storyline.
@@GhostReconerPL I've encountered both Sin and UNISG randomly in my playthroughs, usually just a couple guys. I was surprised to find them in the cordon once
@@GhostReconerPL I come across them all the time in Red Forest
@@GhostReconerPL met them alot in random areas especially around Jupiter and Zaton. They usually get wiped out in the Red forest by other factions.
There was also this one time I encountered a 4 man sin squad in the garbage.
Spoiler ahead for the Mortal Sin quest:
I know that its more in the head canon category, but during the last standoff between you and Chernobog one of his Bodyguards is named Bes. Anyone who has played SoC will remember Bes from the Garbage mission where you had to help him defend the Vehicle Dump from bandits. Like I said its not Canon but it is interesting they threw Bes in there. Looks like he got a little fanatical in his quest to "fight the lawless."
I wish Legend Returns was completely translated. It has so many cool ideas as it seems. Specially with Sin as shown. Plus Sin is probably one of my three favorite factions. Cool videos as always
Always love a video from you Anomalous Dugout, the quality on this one was superb. Can't wait for more!
I am extremely excited for Stalker 2 and the videos you will be making when it comes out!
Thanks a lot.
Considering everything, it would make a lot of sense for the Sin to appear in Stalker 2, as
1. Strelok technically stopped the containment of the zone by destroying the C-Consciousness
2. With each emission and wishing from the Wish Granter, the zone expand, essentially what the Sin wants
It would be interesting to see them get some sort of origin as Monolith rejects, rejects that were deemed too undisciplined, uncontrollable, and barbaric for the faction that they just removed them from their roster.
These stalkers were always really interesting because I never understood them, great video!!
I hope you learned something then.
The guy in the cover of SoC resembles a Sin member a lot, especially when thinking about prolonged exposure to the zone/anomalies/artefacts or scientific experiments...
Excellent comme d'hab, j'espère que t'en as encore plein à raconter ;)
Merci !
It's a pity that you're not a Russian-speaking person. I like your work, but I don't know English well. Good luck in your development, friend!
I wish I knew Russian but I'm a westerner. Maybe the subtitles can help you. Thanks!
i really liked the look and concept of the sin
I like to imagine that the cultists in Tarkov are a bit of an offshoot adaptation of sin and dark stalkers. Especially with how they designed their outfits, fight everyone, have their own mysterious motivations and perform cult rituals.
severely underrated
🙂
Maybe in Anomaly is the concept of :"The enemy of my enemy is my friend", thus they are allies.
Or neutral, you let me alone and I let you alone
There's another translation for Legend Return on Moddb, can't post link in YT comment though...
Maybe I missed it, thanks.
Great vid! Very informative, even for an experienced Stalker like myself ;)
Thanks, glad to read that.
Man I love Oblivion Lost, it was so dark and it would be the Perfect horror experience, especially with the endings, which none of then were supposed to be good
Apparently The Bandits were originally supposed to be split into different smaller gangs instead of a single unified faction. With the Black Slugs and The Dead being two bandit gangs. In fact I heard a theory that the Renegades from Clear Sky was GSC's possible attempt at bringing back this concept since they and the Slugs share similarities.
12:52 - so basically the ending of any level from House Of Detention.
FINALLY something about them.
I keep getting SMS on them at my PDA.
PS Playing Gamma and EFP
Blessed Anomalous Dugout upload
It took a while but it's here.
Another banger stalker video, coming right up
Hopefully yeah.
@@anomalousdugout9557 I worded that wrong. I am not trying to rush you, quality over quantity
@@sprypry Oh yes don't worry about it, I just meant that you can't know if it's a banger if you haven't watched it yet.
I would think the artifact named ‘death lamp’ would fit wonderful with the sin faction.
Get this anomaly shiz outta here boy
Tbf it's inspired by the same thing in roadside picnic
Can't wait for the Cos faction video
I'm binge watching every video from your channel, you did a great job! Greetings from Russia!
Your videos are insanely informative 💚 Thank you for everything you do !
I see Anomalous Dugout video, I click. I simple.
Good choice.
May I point out that in anomaly gamma sin almost super stalkers that can take 3 7n1 bullets from a dragunov to the head before diying. Even the strongest monolith with exo can't take more then 1 perfectly placed shot.
Interesting to know.
yeah sin in gamma are pain in the ass to fight against cus I think they had psychic dome around their body protecting them.
Sin is among my favorite factions!
Very nice!
Hey big fan of your channel, is the Krug Antenna complex in your opinion linked to the X Laboratories in any way? I find that place really wierd and would like to know if you have any theories on it.
19:22 the AK is named AntiChrist and the pistol is named Lucifer lmao
What a great video again!
Is a video about final day coming up soon?
Thank you. I don't think Final Day is coming, there is so little known about them.
@@anomalousdugout9557 understandable just one dialogue with barkeep…
The best channel about stalker
Maybe.
I like the idea of the group of dark stalkers who are mutated and want their humanity back, maybe you could bring a quest to bring them the the Oasis?
For the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 ideas they could also have Freedom trying to help the Dark Stalkers to find a cure to add to the differences between them and Duty. Like Duty just wants to kill them but Freedom is working to help with the cure
Oh yes, that would be interesting.
Great vid man love your lore vids
Thanks.
I really want a full translation of Legends Return, it looks like a great mod.
It is a nice mod indeed.
They sound like another stage between Monolith and zombies. Kind of redundant, makes sense that they were removed. It's not just the "half-zombified" bit, but also the whole thing about religious fanaticism. Even if the object of their worship is different, they are similar in practice.
They are not similar in practice. Monolith acts like a professional army with dozens of squads, heavy equipment and unwavering discipline in combat, engaging in full on confrontation with the enemy. Meanwhile, Sin members are much more secretive and cunning in their methods, relying on infiltration and surprise attacks. Their rituals are also very different, much more bloody in the case of Sin.
I think if they were not cut then the games might have gotten M ratings.
Yeah maybe.
4h ago..? what..?
@@chaemoos Some have superpowers.
@@chaemoos Allah power
This game deserves an M rating.
Great video man ! Always love your content. Where are you from though i feel like your accent is familiar ? (your english is perfect dw)
Thanks. It may come as a surprise but I'm French.
@@anomalousdugout9557 Ha je le savais !
Fantastic video thank you for your service to stalker fans
Glad you liked it.
Legend Returns is such a blast, It's insane that nobody has ever given it the love it deserves with a proper translation... or at least fix the absolute slop that is the current ""Translation"".
i really like lost alpha’s sin depiction they’re sympathetic and p cool.
Yeah I agree.
So like... How long before Maj Degtyrev becomes like Noah? I always thought it was odd that his rusty tin can of an ark protects him from emissions because it's one of my favorite spots to watch emissions, there's so many holes in the boat you actually have to be careful where you stand or you won't be protected... And Noah is described by everybody else as being hostile so maybe it's just that Degtyrev actually tried peaceful interaction when nobody else has or.... (Personal speculation ofc) Noah recognizes Degtyrev as a like soul, one who can survive the worst the zone has moreRless alive and functionally if not totally sane afterwards... Maybe Noah senses normal humans as "mutants" because they, unlike the very few (Noah, Degtyrev, Strelock, etc), would become either zombies or monolith fanatics or just never be able to adapt to survive emissions... And thus perceives them as being mutants only in the sense that they are 'potential' mutants, and Degtyrev has the right stuff, so to speak, so no shooty, "Sorry about the shotgun blasts mann, I thought you were a freaking mutie." Also, this would make Noah a tad less unhinged than his reputation would suggest. Bigger question... Does Vano have what it takes to adapt to emissions... He is awfully good at avoiding anomalies...🤔
Honestly I don't know, but definitely something interesting to think about.
Reminds me of the Los Illuminados Cult from RE4
I like the idea of a faction that is completely ignored by mutants and psy-storms and emissions have no sway over them. I’m not really a fan of how most mods have them aligned with Monolith. They would be the perfect counter to Monolith.
I see it as a group that can ignore all the same problems Monolith can, but out of nowhere, while everybody else is sheltered, Monolith feels safe…. Until a new faction begins carrying out raids on Monolith.
A perfect introduction would be something like a group of Monolith is holding an area that makes a perfect defensive line for them. Have been for months. When your character gets there, you try and offensive, but a psy-storm comes and you’re forced to shelter with the faction attacking the Monolith stronghold.
After the storm quits, you gather for an offensive and attack only to be met by no defense at all. Finding it strange, you make your way into the stronghold only to find all the Monolith slaughtered. What looks to be their commanders are put on crosses with strange messages scrawled in blood around them alluding to a new secret faction and a strange branch to the story you can address.
I’ve got ideas for this, mainly consisting of controllers that are a bit more focused and powerful than your normal controller. Call them bosses if you like, but taking them down leads SiN to evolve into a more overt faction that is no longer controlled and used as secretive attack forces like with the Monolith raid. Just out doing their own thing and trying to convert living stalkers into zombie stalkers to amass an army to go on a full Zone offensive.
nice !
i just want to say that in anomaly they have sin appear after you finish the first main quest so if you want to see them in action you can play anomaly plus its free
Yes, it's not the only mod where they appear though.
@@anomalousdugout9557 sorry man my first and only (until I have money) stalker game is anomaly and I haven't modded it yet so my bad
Ngl the faction scares me imagine your just an innocent stalker and then you see these... "dark stalkers". To me those arent stalker or dark stalkers theyre monolith but 10 times worst...
ya know I think the lost alpha version of sin could make a great base for the dead faction like both faction originated from being experimented on the dead where the ones that kept there minds intact where as sin were some of the people who where experimented on who went mad I think it be cool
Absolutely.
@@anomalousdugout9557 yeah I think it be very interesting to have essentially two factions comprised of similar people with VERY different view points also if you want you could use addons in anomaly to make sin hostile with monolith and chill with mutants Because I agree with you in that they feel like monolith but with extra steps
Great analysis!!
Great video man, you're doing great
Thank you.
would be nice mechanic for playable dark stalkers with mutant powers not like super powers but subtle yet useful abilities
Oh yes that would be interesting.
Nice Video
Thank you.
nice, I like it thanks for this video, honestly I think they are canonical.
Glad you enjoyed.
@@anomalousdugout9557 thanks for making it!
Would it be possible that the mysterious man in the Stalker 2 trailer could be Sin? He seems to be incredibly reverent to the zone and wears a black suit. Of course he doesn’t have those black eyes but perhaps the developers have changed that idea.
hey bud glad you did this.
I'm glad as well.
Hello! This video very good! Видео очень крутое! Продолжай в том же духе :)
Thanks!
Isn't the common joke 'Poyavilsya nochu v Zone, chiornyi stalker' a description of a story with encounter of a sin member? Ur STALKER-2 Sin concept makes even more sense now.
i love this faction i wish anomaly devs did more things with them or anyone
I think the other mods I talked about made more.
drain gang
I got a story you might get interested on.
(Anomaly experience)
When i was done solving the mistery with strelok after going into the monolith control centre.
I was tasked to go back to my commanding general (im a dutyer) and report what i got, after that i went to the bar to go rest but i saw a weird stalker that wears brown trenchcoat and he was talking about "the miracle of the zone" and it was my first taught its one of the sin member also known as dark stalker.
I report to my general, and he tasked me to kill some sinners passing the base.
*epic combat laters*
I had to go to limansk to deal with the sinners and the Urban warfare starts, monoliths,sins, fucking weirdos.
Anyway i managed to capture one of the member of the sinner, i interrogated him and tells me about their founding father "Chernobog"
And then...we got reports that our scout wasn't returning while they were supposed to come back at 3:00PM.
And i was tasked to investigated it, and i found him dying and he tells me some words : "PDA...w-was dropped" "B-bloodsuckers RUN!"
and he died.
And what a suprise, not 1 bloodsucker but a whole quad of it, luckily i survived the ambush of them mutant vampires.
I returned to base and gave the commanding officer the info about the scout, and he decided to launch an attack on the fortified construction site building.
Thanks to the retrieved PDA, we blasted their ass of limansk.
The end......or is it?
I have the SIN patches. And a skull ghost balaclava
a video on isg would be nice after this one considering they're talked about together in other videos talking about cut factions
ISG has way less interesting stuff to talk about in my opinion, so I don't plan much on them.
Hello good sir, lovely and informative videos! I have a question that has been bothering me since I played CoP for the first time. That bloodsucker quest with the medic. Felt REALLY out of place considering the other, more "realistic themes(?)" of the game. Was he just somesorta left over vampire-idea from Sin? "Hemoglobin addict" as it was referred to if I remember correctly. Any else feel this way? Am I like... TOTALLY misunderstanding this?
I don't know exactly were the idea of hemoglobin addict came from, but it's possible it was influenced by Sin and other darker themes that were planned by the devs but never made it in the final game. Originally, Oblivion Lost was set to be even more disturbing than Shadow of Chernobyl.
Chernobog! How ya doing Boggy? I don't have any napalm this time but lets see how you like a little bit of Tesla?
Come to me my son, let us embrace at last.
22:11 a deeper iceberg lol
Yes.
About the Freedom guy i think he just messed up with Strelok. A regular jokes among stalkers.