Description

Year 2012. Six years passed since the time of the Second catastrophe to have made the April events of 1986 fade.

The game is set in the Chernobyl exclusion zone which turned from a destiny-breaker place into a threat to all mankind. The Zone is reluctant to open up its mysteries and needs to be forced to do it. It is a rare hero who can reach the very heart of the Zone onto find out what danger awaits him there.

A danger which, compared to marauders and enemy groupings, all monsters and anomalies, will seem a mere preparation to the meeting with something more fatal and threatening.

But for now... get ready, hero. Collect artefacts and trade, grope your path and keep an eye on the rear, catch roentgens and fight - only make sure you survive! And then, perhaps, if you are persistent and truly lucky, you will find out why all this had fallen on you.

Key features:

Living-and-breathing world: virtual monsters and stalkers migrate around the Zone, similarly to the player they are preoccupied with day-to-day things - feeding, fighting, looking for prey, trading, sleeping, taking rest Freedom of movement around the storyline, limited only by the player's will and abilities The world of post-Soviet environment Authentic objectives of the Chernobyl exclusion zone - the power engineers city of Pripyat, Chernobyl NPP, Chernobyl-2 complex of over-the-horizon detection and more Atmosphere of eerie mystery and constant danger Multiple game endings System of weather effects and dynamic day & night shift Photo-realistic graphics, adding to the game atmosphere immersion Realistic ballistics, extensive arsenal of real weapon prototypes Unique multiplayer modes implemented within the game entourage - artefacts collection, anomalies, radiation, weather effects, day & night change etc Extensive map editor possibilities for multiplayer gaming

Gameplay

 

Freedom of action and movement

The key game motif is great freedom of choice how to play. You are entrusted an entire world, a huge territory populated by various creatures, impacted by unknown and bizarre laws, bearing as death, so as glory or richness. On top of that, you are given a minimal set of equipment and the story intrigue.

From that moment on it is your independent explorations and fight. The gameplay will be reactive to the way you construct it: prefer noiseless stealth operations with multi-hour ambushing? Instant assaults? Perhaps you like to explore and trade? Or maybe deep in the heart you are a warrior?

Freedom of actions is the basis for the game you can't play twice in the same way.

 

A living, breathing world

So you got used to the fact the game world is static? Forget it! You are no longer a release for triggers and script scenes.

In S.T.A.L.K.E.R., while moving along the road you never know what awaits you behind the corner. There may be a camp of friendly stalkers, or monster den, an insane sniper or bloodsucker, a wounded stalker or lurking murderer.

The world lives its own life, it has a lot of events happening independently of your actions. You are to choose whether to calmly observe the happenings or become their active participant.

 

A-life

What makes the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. world alive? It is the system of life simulation (otherwise known as A-Life), a groundbreaking AI system of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. which is responsible for controlling all of the game characters and events in the Zone.

Over 1000 stalkers go accomplishing their tasks, exploring the Zone, combating, taking rest, eating - they truly live in the Zone. Monsters get in packs to attack stalker camps and fight with each other. On the global level the AI controls even the wars of factions.

Creating background events? Generating an unlimited number of secondary tasks and random quests? The A-Life takes care of it all. Owing to the efficiency of our innovative A-Life system your playthrough of the game will not only be every time new, but also completely different from other players.

 

Day & night cycles in real time

As you learn to live and survive in the Zone, the time flows concomitantly. Day gets changed by night and the bright sunny weather is ousted by stormy skies.

As never before, the time of the day in the game impacts your gameplay - while you and all other stalkers get to see worse at night, most of the weapons can see perfectly well during the night; beware of monsters preferring to sit underground at day, but crawl outside at night; venturing night sallies into the Zone, do your best to find rare artefacts visible in the dark only - don't lose your chance to get maximum out of the game.
Thus, exposing yourself to the greater risk of travelling at night, you can get bigger rewards as well. It is for you to decide though.

 

Equipment & weapons

Travels into the Zone go hand in hand with great danger. This is why we couldn't send you into this survival school without the proper equipment.

We have prepared a whole set of protective suits, detectors, stalker-friendly foodstuffs, medkits, bandages, means of radiation protection and other survival stuff.
Among all, you can acquire a selection of weapons in the Zone, ranging from knife, pistols, rifles up to a weighty grenade launcher.

Ammunition? No problem, and that of different types. We adjusted the pieces for you, so be sure, they behave very true-to-life in the game: weapons fire with realistic force and along the correct trajectory, they wear out and misfire now and then.
If willing, get your gun improved with upgrades: silencer, barrel-attached grenade launcher, sniper scope - ask at the dealer's closest to you.

Well, it looks like you're briefed now and are ready to feel the Zone on your own back. Go ahead...and you'd better return live!

 

The world

 

As a player you are free to explore the entire world of the Zone. No physical restrictions. No time limits. You will become a Stalker - a cross between a mercenary and treasure seeker, who is also seen as a plunderer, a scavenger, a loner and, as food. Your task is to locate and retrieve artifacts from anywhere within the Zone.
It's a bit like picking red hot embers out of an infernal oven. And that's the easy part.

Once you've found a few artifacts, you have to find a dealer who you can trade with.

A) They're not on the High Street.
B) They don't belong to any bona fide business association.
C) They'd just as soon cut your throat as cut a deal.

Assuming you can negotiate with them, you'll walk away with some cash.
Now you can buy weapons, ammo, protective suits and other essential stuff which will enable you to complete more onerous tasks in more inaccessible areas.

Though you work mostly alone, you can, through your behaviour, gain mutual benefits from other Stalkers. You can meet and exchange information or trade goods. But, behave like a badass and retribution will be swift.

All your actions have consequences and will impact on the world around you. Not only that, this world exists whether you are there or not. Time passes, the weather is notoriously changeable, anomalies assault the landscape, players and characters interact and feed off each other.
Things are never as you left them, or, how they seem.

The longer you survive, the more you learn about the ways of the Zone. You develop your skills and improve your reputation, you also find out how not to die of starvation. With luck and intelligence you may gain the respect of other Stalkers.

However, that still leaves the military, the mutants and the unfathomable upheavals of the blowouts to contend with.

Good luck. Or do we mean Goodbye?

 

Engine

 

X-ray Engine is a powerful cutting-edge DirectX 9 engine, unique and yet unparalleled in many respects.

Render

DX9 renderer with one of the best in the world implementations of Defferred Shading, allowing us to draw a vast amount of dynamic light sources with correct materials and light 'feedback', without limiting ourselves to Defferred Lighting, but truly using the deferred Shading. Ultra realistic game graphics with desalination of up to 1 000 000 polygons on screen. Vast open space territories up to 4 sq km and detailed indoor environments. Dynamic lighting and soft shadows, destructible light sources. Parallax/normal mapping. True per-pixel dynamic lighting. Floating point HDR, Shader Model 3.0 Real-time dynamic day-night cycle. Dynamic outdoor lighting (ambient occlusion, IBL, dynamic Sun and Sun-shadows). Dynamic weather effects as rain, wind, fog, etc. Wide screens support. A lot of postprocess and post render effects. Powerful FX system.

AI

A-Life

Innovative life simulation system controlling all the in-game characters. Over 1000 characters populating the Zone. For the first time ever the player is immersed into a living non-scripted world, where A-Life events may develop without getting linked to the player's actions. Full life cycle of A-life-driven NPCs - task accomplishment, combats, taking rest, food, sleeping. Full life cycle of A-life-driven monsters - hunting, attacks on stalkers and other monsters, taking rest, food, sleeping. Global A-life level - war of groupings, monster migrations. A-life belongs to the gameplay - unlimited number of random quests - rescuing stalkers, destroying stalker renegades, protection of camps, assaults on camps, eliminating animal lairs, search of hidden stashes and treasures and much more. NPCs traversing the entire Zone, crossing to other levels, entering and leaving the player's visibility zone.

NPC AI

Non-scripted AI. Characters traverse game objectives freely - they patrol, guard key spots, oversee the territory and take rest. Realistic sight and hearing of NPCs, which allows using several ways to accomplish the game. Variety of tactics to complete game scenes - rush, stealth, sniper fire and their combinations. Adequate NPCs' reaction to the player's actions. NPCs use planning to make decisions (Goal-Oriented Action Planning), which allowed us to create multitude of behaviors and make them considerably more varied (combat, for instance). Combat - assault actions, defensive actions, enemy search, escaping from fire, movements among covers, reaction to grenade, finishing the injured enemies and much more.

Physics

Powerful physics engine supports hundreds of physics objects on level Ragdoll Destructible objects, bullet ballistics, skeleton animation, etc. Physics as base for game play features like monster levitation, real bullets and grenades ballistics, blast wave, realistic ammo piercing characteristics for various materials and surfaces.

Sound

Environment effects 5.1 Sound support

MP

Playing over LAN and Internet Up to 32 players Three game modes - Death Match, Team Death Match, Artefact hunt Real physic - ragdoll, real bullet ballistics.

Unique features - day and night cycling with influence on game tactics, ranking systems, upgrades for weapons, different ammo types for deferent weapons, anomalies, artifacts.

 

Multiplayer

 

Immerse into captivating networking battles within the spooky and dangerous world of the Chernobyl Zone over LAN and Internet. There are 10 maps at your disposal, join in other players in a game supporting up to 32 combatants.

Opt for one of the sides - stalkers (weapons/equipment set in general ex-USSR countries-manufactured) or mercenaries (weapons/equipment set in general NATO courtiers-manufactured) and battle in one of the 3 multiplayer modes available.

Death Match. Game mode with everyone playing for himself. The task is to kill more enemies than the others, until the limit of time or frags is reached.

Team Death Match. Game mode with the players split into two teams, which have different weapons. Task - player's team must kill more enemies than the opposite one, and/or reach the set time/frag limit.

Artefact Hunt. Game mode with the players split into two teams. The main objective is to find and deliver artifact to the team's base. Artifact appears randomly in pre-designed places on the level. The team which brings more artifacts wins.

STALKER's network game includes an abundance of equipment, grenades and armament different in firing rate, damage inflicted and accuracy. In order to have the possibility to equip with the best items, the player should have enough money and corresponding rank.

The game rules are similar to ****c game modes, however the unique S.T.A.L.K.E.R. atmosphere makes its MP stand out from the rest.

 

The unique MP features include:

Ranks. The player starts the game as Novice. While playing he may get promoted to another 4 ranks - Experienced, Professional, Veteran, Legend.
Each new rank provides access to new set of weapons, equipment and ammo.

Weapon upgrades. Most of the weapons are upgradeable - silencers, sniper scope and barrel-attached grenade launcher are available.

Different ammo types. Each of the weapons provides for standard and special ammunition which affect the piercing power and damage. Special bullets will enable combating against better protected opponents.

Real bullet ballistic. Realistic ballistics is calculated for all the ammo with such parameters as weight, speed, environment resistance taken into account. This will allow attaining greater uniqueness for each of the weapons.
For example, the Russian Vintorez has its bullet lose speed with distance and fly along parabola. While firing sniper rifles, make sure you forestall your fire.

Artefacts and anomalies. Be careful while moving along the level as deadly anomaly may await round the corner. Radiation will not allow campers to sit and wait for long.

Dynamic day & night shift. Time of the day gets changing in real time which impacts the game tactics. As night settles in, it is sure to make, for instance, the life of snipers much tougher, so that you could stealthily sneak up to the enemy.