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

Written by Jason Cisarano  on February 27, 2007

Final Glimpse: The wait is nearly over, but what happened to the game along the way?

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If you haven't seen the screenshot with the ferris wheel, then you must not follow PC gaming. It's generally shown from a low angle, silhouetted against a foreboding sky, and except for the lightningish arcs of energy crackling around its base, seems a faithful representation of its real-life counterpart in the Chernyobyl exclusion zone. And so far, it's the most recognizable icon of a game that prides itself both on attention to detail and free-form gameplay, but mostly on the fact that it's set in the fallout of the worst nuclear disaster in world history.

Of course the game is S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, and Ukrainian developer GSC Game World is finally winding up a production cycle that began way back in 2001. With all that time in the works, there have been plenty of press releases and plenty of promises, and of course there have been changes over the years. Now that the beta testing is underway and a lot more information is out there, we'll take a look at the available information and see how GSC's ambitious claims still seem to be part of the final release.

Anyone who's been following the game at all (or read the current title, for that matter) knows that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is set in the fallout zone of the 1986 Chernobyl reactor explosion. Dangerous levels of radiation have saturated the real-life area, and tens of thousands of people were evacuated in the middle of the night from Chernobyl and the nearby city of Prypiat with just three hours' notice. For S.T.A.L.K.E.R., GSC has always intended to recreate this area, and for the most part, seems to have succeeded. Real-life landmarks such as the ferris wheel are recognizable in the game, and the reactor itself is almost indistinguishable from on-site photographs.

Even though the game has been in development for so long, it doesn't appear that GSC has let the current technology pass them by. Besides being true to life, the environments in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. are looking good. Recent screenshots from high-end systems show dynamic lighting and shadows, plenty of texture detail, and just generally good-looking environments. GSC's proprietary X-Ray engine might even be capable of some next-gen fanciness like image-based lighting, a technique which ramps up the realism of reflections on metal surfaces and the like by projecting images of the surrounding environment onto the surface. So far, though, the characters in those same scenes frequently look a bit blockier and stiffer than what players are seeing these days in games like Splinter Cell: Double Agent.

Where the earliest screenshots and concept art showed futuristic-looking vehicles and weapons alongside technology that could have come out of an Alien movie, the current game seems firmly grounded in the horror story of the real Chernobyl tragedy with a few twists to make it a game-worthy world. First, GSC's alternate reality adds a second disaster, some twenty years later when an unknown eventЧperhaps another explosionЧscatters more radiation even further from the reactor core. After this disaster, strange things started happening in the Zone. Mutated animals and humans began appearing and preying on anyone who entered the Zone. At the same time, stalkers began reporting a variety of strange anomalies, some capable of burning a man alive or electrocuting him, while others seemed able to alter gravity itself.

The origin of all this strangeness is still unclear, but the game lore expands on a conspiracy theory based on a real antenna at the Chernobyl site that was supposed to have been beaming some sort of Уpsychoactive waveФ toward the west. There aren't many details on how this latest tidbit will figure into the game, but the secrecy surrounding the project may help explain some of the military presence guarding the Zone. The antenna was supposedly part of an experiment to control and influence the human mind, and apparently the game will include some sort of psychokinetic attacks, at least by some monsters.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has always been advertised as an FPS in which the player can roam freely and define his own play style, and by all reports these features are still present in the beta. The game opens with some severe limitations on the player, arming him with only a pistol while requiring that he retrieve an item belonging to another stalker being held prisoner inside the Zone. Having only a pistol means that going in Rambo-style may not be the best option, so the player may choose to go into stealth mode, р la Sam Fisher, or enlist the aid of other stalkers to carry out an assault. Being frequently outgunned and outnumbered will mean that the player will generally have to think through a situation before acting.

The devs originally suggested that the single-player campaign will play out differently for each player as the world is not based on a series of scripted events, but on the original УA-lifeФ simulator (more on that in just a minute) built by GSC. Based on the latest info, we won't see completely free-form gameplay in single player. Instead, the game is organized RPG-fashion around a main storyline with primary quests. Other quests will crop up along the way, and the player will always be free to explore on his own. The storyline in the main quest shouldn't be too limiting, thoughЧit is reported to have seven or eight different endings.

A few gameplay elements definitely didn't make the final cut. Drivable vehicles are out, although it looks like the player will have to keep an eye out for patrolling enemy helicopters. Enforced sleeping and eating cycles are also outЧapparently clicking on food or a sleep button every few hours wasn't as much fun as it sounded in theory. Food and vodka remain only as remedies to combat and radiation damage.

Even though S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is an FPS, it has always sounded a lot like an RPG, and a lot of RPG elements still seem to be part of the game. There won't be any sort of experience point system or level system that characterizes a traditional RPG (GSC chose to allow players to develop their own skills with mouse and keyboard), but there will be a certain amount of customization available. While the player won't be able to learn any special skills, abilities will come through the use of artifacts found in the zone, some of which enable faster healing or protection from attack. The game also implements a standard grid-style inventory system that will be familiar to RPG gamers. Only two primary weapons are within easy reach at any time, however, and switching to a weapon buried in inventory will take some time, meaning it's best not done in the middle of a fight. Conversations with NPCs will also be very RPG in that they will rely on traditional dialog trees to allow the player to choose his next line.

The biggest claims GSC has made along the way have always involved the game world and the unique virtual life system the call A-life. From the very start, they promised a huge game world that the player could roam at will, and it looks like the playable area of the game will be quite largeЧsome thirty square kilometers divided into eighteen or so levels each a few kilometers across. This is still a fair size, since crossing a single level on foot will take at least a few minutes. The roaming element remains in that the player will always be able to go anywhere on the map, as long as he has the means (e.g. some areas are high in radiation and therefore require special gear).

And it really seems like the A-life system will help create a convincing world with a life of its own. Original claims for A-life bragged that the animals in the Zone would have life cycles and their actions would be driven by needs like hunger, fatigue, personality and morale, and in the beta they seem to exhibit these behaviors. Some run in packs and will fight others when conditions are favorable. The dynamic day/night cycle also adds life to the game. Beta testers report that the day/night cycle is present both in the single- and multiplayer games, and that it does add to the atmosphere. While this and the animal life simulation seem interesting, it's not clear yet whether A-life will live up to the the claim that it will add depth to the main storyline. Early claims stated that the system would also control human NPC action as they cooperated or fought with one another and that this could result in interesting background incidents and tasks involving the player. It was said that A-life would even allow for non-scripted wars between the various factions present in the Zone. That sounds exciting, but it also sounds exactly like the sort of grand claim that devs would drop during the production cycle.