Two new free-to-play S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games (FPS)

[PiLhEaD]

Both are fairly new releases (sort of)

Wind of Time

Lost Alpha: Directors Cut (LADC)

Both can be found on ModDb, but for LADC there's also the official web-site - links above.

I can heartily recommend both, particularly Wind of Time - which is a fresh new story-line set in the STALKER environment, and looks to be very well engineered. (Just be aware the English translation is a first edition - better will come.)

As with all STALKER games, these are both worth taking your time to enjoy, and where exploring for the sake of exploring often reaps you unexpected rewards.

You will not complete either game in a single session, so don't try - there are many many hours play in each of these.

For those new to STALKER games - they are worth taking the time to get in to, as they are as much about the sense of being in a real living space as they are about completing story-line quests. Oh and just to warn, STALKER games are never a CoD on-rails gun-fest, and there can feel to be a lot of 'just walking around' to be done, interspersed with sometimes quite sudden death - but I'd urge anyone new to these games to persevere.

For anyone wanting to dig deeper, a good starting point is the GSC Forums - for news, help and advice, where Lost Alpha can be found in the 'Shadow of Chrenobyl' pages, Wind of Time in 'Call of Pripyat'.

Cheeky Breeky Stalker!

 

[askavir]

STALKER series are some of the most atmospheric games I ever played.

Loved Call of Prypiat. With a few mods, its still quite playable today.

Tried Lost Alpha some time ago, looked great.

 

[PiLhEaD]

STALKER series are some of the most atmospheric games I ever played...

Then do try Wind of Time - hugely atmospheric and very well paced - I'm really enjoying it!

 

[starman]

Reminds me of a holiday resort somehow..

 

[Necronaught]

Reminds me of a holiday resort somehow..

Lol Pripyat actually is a tourist destination.

 

[Chevy66]

Are there any new areas? I know the zone like the back of my hand (including the previous version of Lost Alpha), It'd be nice to get lost somewhere for a change

 

[PiLhEaD]

Are there any new areas? I know the zone like the back of my hand (including the previous version of Lost Alpha), It'd be nice to get lost somewhere for a change

Yes a few new and heavily revised areas in Wind of Time, and I'm not near the end yet! But the storyline is completely new so this compensates greatly for reused areas, as you pretty much have to relearn all you knew before.

No new areas in LADC over Lost Alpha, as far as I've seen so far, but I've barely scratched the surface on this one.

Of course Lost Alpha was a huge change from Shadow of Chernobly.

 

[Chevy66]

Yes a few new and heavily revised areas in Wind of Time, and I'm not near the end yet! But the storyline is completely new so this compensates greatly for reused areas, as you pretty much have to relearn all you knew before.

No new areas in LADC over Lost Alpha, as far as I've seen so far, but I've barely scratched the surface on this one.

Of course Lost Alpha was a huge change from Shadow of Chernobly.

I'm giving it a try, the translation is pretty bad, but that's not a big problem

 

[Lobstris]

Dunno why but the Lost Alpha 1.4.x versions just give me a BugTrap crashes in the OpenAL.dlls. The 1.3x versions work fine.

 

[PiLhEaD]

Just finished Wind of Time - very good, but far too difficult in the last section, I had to 'adjust' (ahem) the suit I was wearing to get through it.

Also there seemed at least one 'magic conversation' - difficult to get to and if you take the wrong option you're dead/stuck - this sort of stuff kind really offends me esp. with STALKER, which has always been a game you could mostly play by using logic, rather than by learning levels, imho.

Also, GSC's forum has gone off line. Either they forgot to pay their bills, got hit by ransomeware, or Putin's decided to 'annex' the rest of the Ukraine... edit: ...and they've put another 50p in the meter, and it's all back....

 

[PiLhEaD]

I've just been dipping my "Cheeki Breeki" toe back into STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl - the 'Complete 2012' modded version. This doesn't change the game, but really smooths out some rough edges.

Although the graphics are looking a bit tired, the gameplay remains excellent, and the sense of being in a living/breathing environment, where no two visits will be the same, is phenomenal - it has some palpable sense of 'being there' - I guess Far Cry 'n' and Fallout 'n' are similar, but there's something 'else' that ShoC offers - for me at least - ymmv!