I hate that I love Stalker

Every title falls short in ways that make the game less enjoyable by the time I reach end game but no other title scratches the same itch that stalker does.

Stalker: SoC is the closest to perfection just based on atmosphere alone. SoC also comes with a ton of aggravating features and bugs. The end game is also very rushed and makes the later maps feel kinda pointless sometimes. By the end I was glad I experienced it but relieved that I didn’t have to waste ammo on bullet sponges.

Clear Sky has everything in place to be a better version of SoC but the action packed gameplay and broken mechanics made it feel too far gone from its predecessor. I still love the graphics in that game though.

CoP is great with a lot less of the atmosphere I loved from the beginning. There’s also other things missing that I can’t quite place but overall it was just good enough. The quests definitely take the cake for the series, though. I thought they were well executed.

Stalker 2 is a great introduction to the series and there’s a lot to love, but it didn’t quite scratch the itch I wanted from a stalker game. I’m not going to go into detail because this sub is a mess with S2 still kinda fresh. I’ll say that it didn’t quite live up to the expectations of someone that loved the unique mechanics of the first three titles. I share the same sentiment about S2’s end game as I do with SoC; It feels all over the place and rushed. That’s not including the insane amount of bugs that still happen in late game missions.

That brings me to my current play through of Anomaly…and it’s not the peak stalker experience that everyone says it is. I believe Anomaly suffers from the same problem that every stalker title has: the beginning and mid sections of every game are fantastic and atmospheric with a noticeable drop in quality towards the end. Anomaly is no exception. If you’re really immersed in the universe then it’s fun roleplaying an average joe in Chernobyl. After the new paint wears off you start noticing how bland the missions are and how useless some of the mechanics are. Why do I need a gun repair kit to replace a broken gun barrel when I already need gun smithing tools and a vice? It’s over complicated and doesn’t match well with progression when you’ll be rich by the time you’re repairing weapons. (I recognize this is a mod. It still falls short in a lot of areas)

Stalker is one of those games that sticks with me because no other game is close enough for me to move on. There’s times when I hate it and times when it’s all I want to play. I feel like I’m dating a manipulator that shows me the best of what they can offer before ripping it away.

Anyways…I have to escort a loner to Jupiter before I lose him again. Peace.