FAQ

General

Gameplay

Technical

System requirements

Game release



General

What is the background story of the game?

The background story for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is built as a hypothesis of real events to have taken place in the 1980's. Back in Chernobyl there functioned an immense antenna, which, as acknowledged by many specialists, radiated psychoactive waves. On some of our photos, taken during the trips to Chernobyl the body of the antenna can be vividly seen on the horizon.

According to the unverified rumours, the emission was directed onto Western Europe - as a part of a long-term military experiment on psychotropic influence on humans. Those are semi-documentary facts and rumours.

The storyline of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is built around similar experiments, propped by conspiracy theory and opposition of special services. With our game we as if think up what could happen in reality.

This is a story of post-nuclear world with its own laws and characters.

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What does S.T.A.L.K.E.R. mean?

This is left to be disclosed only in the game ;)

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How big will the open levels and the whole game world be?

Some of the 18 game levels will be really huge, more than two kilometers in a diameter, and the other just a tad smaller.

The whole game territory covers more than 30 square kilometers in the form of an elongated rectangle split into 18 parts, with the passage from one to another unconstrained.

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How was ground surface of the Zone created? I'm interested in geodesic part of the question. What information and materials were used? Or was just video filming used?

We used photo and video footage, which were taken during our research trips to Chernobyl, and a lot of other materials, including maps and buildings' layouts.

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How similar will the Zone in the game be to the real Chernobyl Zone?

On one hand, it has been noted that people who have worked in Chernobyl experience strong feelings of deja vu from seeing the screenshots and the trailers.

On the other, anomalous content has dramatically altered the appearance of the whole territory. The game's Zone replicates about 60% of the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl NPP in location and appearance of structures, as well as in atmosphere.

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How do you know what Chernobyl really looks like?

The developers took three trips to Chernobyl, from which have remained hours of video recordings, thousand of photos, as well as invaluable personal experience, the sense of abandonment and hidden danger spreading to whole Chernobyl exclusion zone.
Materials of this trip and a set of photos can be found on site GSC Game World.

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Will S.T.A.L.K.E.R. offer a non-linear game design?

We rejected the linear play from level to level in favour of such freedom of actions and movement as was seen in "Elite", "Daggerfall" and "Fallout".

The players will travel the vast territory of the Zone, occupying 30 sq. km. Exploring the Zone, earning money through quests, and gaining experience in combat, stalkers will move along the unconstrained "non-stiff" story line towards the game end.

An entire world of the Zone will open up before the player. He will be able to plan his development and travel deep inside. Every time the game starts, the player will get a new Zone. Only the important points (dealers' locations, army posts, scientific camps and so on) will remain unchanged. Anomalies, artefacts, monsters will be randomly generated at start. Soldiers patrol the Zone perimeter. Stalkers traverse the Zone in parallel to the player to collect anomalous formations, trade, communicate and fight with each other. Mutants increase their population, migrate through the Zone, devour each other, stalkers, soldiers, take rest and sleep.

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And who is the enemy? How many types of enemies can the player encounter?

Any creature in the game can be a friend or an enemy - weather a monster, a soldier, or another stalker. There will be an abundance of different kinds of monsters, mutants, and some completely strange creatures, stalker clans set on accomplishing their own secret goals, single stalkers, and military divisions guarding the perimeter of the Zone, or entering in search of artifacts.

The exact information about the creatures and their number will most likely have to be uncovered already in the game. By the way, the winner of the "Monster Ball Contest" is among the creatures.

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Will the contest stories enter the game?

Fragments of the stories will enter the game as background of the main storyline, and virtually all the colourful heroes will enter the game as unique characters with their own stories and character peculiarities.

When the player begins the game, part of unique characters will randomly get into the Zone and the player is to find out how the life in the Zone will develop.

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How will saving work and will there be different difficulty levels?

We plan several difficulty levels. The difference between difficulty levels will boil down to complexity of accomplishment and monster aggressiveness. You will be able to save at any point.

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How many endings are planned?

We plan seven drastically different endings to the game. The way it will end depends on what is the player's way to complete the game.

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In what language will old inscriptions be in the Zone (e.g. signs, tablets)?

In Russian and in Ukrainian. We even use the real photos from Chernobyl

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What is the main focus of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., single or multiplayer play?

The main focus is, of course, on single player play, but multiplayer will also be taken good care of.

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Some screenshots show the stalker from the back. Does this mean that there will be a third person view?

No. The game will only feature a view "from the eyes" - a first person view.

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What kind of music will S.T.A.L.K.E.R. have?

The soundtracks in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. are going to be dark ambient, slow and creepy kind of music. You can listen to an extract of one S.T.A.L.K.E.R. soundtrack on this web-site.

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Are the faces in the game made from real people?

Some are made from real people, and some are compiled from several persons with additional processing.

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Will I be able to impose my photo as a texture on a model's face?

This feature is not implemented at this point.

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Gameplay

What type of gameplay will STALKER feature?

The main motive - maximum freedom. The player is given a whole world, a gigantic territory inhabited by various creatures, controlled by unfamiliar laws, hiding in itself death, as well as glory and riches.

The player is given a minimal set of equipment and an introduction to the story. Then - independent exploration, struggle. The gameplay will be such as the player chooses to make it. Some will prefer silent stealth operations with lengthy ambushes; some - lightning fast attack. Some prefer to trade and explore, while some become warriors.

Freedom of action is the basis of the game, which cannot be played the same twice.

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If it is an action/RPG, why will you be unable to improve your character's skills then?

This is a role-playing game without growing experience of your character, without changing characteristics and levels. We'd like the player to work out his personal mastery, moreover S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is an action/RPG, where much is dependent on skills of the player himself.

To our mind, the changing characteristics, levels and character experience destroy realism we try to create in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. With the rest, it is virtually a normal RPG - players travel the Zone, collect artefacts, weapons, reveal anomalous zones, communicate and trade with each other. The player develops economically, just as in "Elite". He earns money, buys new equipment, weapons. Owing to that, new parts of the Zone are revealed to him. I.e. those, which you won't initially reach with a pistol and simple detector.

What refers to characteristics, an experienced player will already act quicker and smarter than a newbie. We come out of presumption that the player plays as stalker - a mature, thoroughly prepared person, living in the Zone. He can be compared with a soldier who is trained to accomplish a mission. The soldier is trained for the task, but when on a mission, everything depends on himself. In the course of accomplishing the objective he cannot improve his skills drastically.

That is why, unlike other games, the player, for instance, does not start playing as a character whose submachine-gun-holding hands tremble or who cannot hit a rat with his sword 9 out of 10 times, and within the next 10 years of the game time he becomes a demigod hitting a bird in the sky with his eyes closed and evading machinegun volleys.

Classic system of skills is justified in third-person-view games, when nothing depends on the player's actions, like in Diablo, for instance. The player can only click on opponent - then dice are cast and, basing on skills, mathematical calculations are done.

In S.T.A.L.K.E.R. this is the player's mastery which grows, and not abstract skills of a model on the screen. If the player has mastered weapon peculiarities, knows weak spots of the enemies, knows equipment and Zone anomalies, has an excellent reaction and accuracy etc - he gets an appropriate result. The hero of the game is the very player - everything depends on him solely.

These are the reasons why there will be no upgradable characteristics. The only possibility is their decrease under certain conditions.

And additionally, to our opinion, a true role-playing game is not determined by presence of growing characteristics, experience and levels, which are nothing more but the elegant gameplay elements, whose goal is to keep up the interest in the gameplay.

Experience, skills and characteristics can be added to any game, but it will not become a role-playing title due to that. It will only be a role-playing game when there are interrelations between the characters, when the player has a possibility to choose a role for himself in the new world, that role dependent on his actions and decisions.

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How many hours will it take an average player to complete the game?

30-40 hours, if you never stop to think.

Or 70-100 if you indulge in world exploration, get down into development, look for secrets, take part in the story line.

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Will there be a change of seasons, or will the game be limited by 90 virtual days and nights? If there will be no change of seasons, which season will the game be in?

There will eternal autumn in the game. Only weather will change.

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What are the weather effects and how does the day-night cycle work?

Day & night shift dynamically in real-time. Days go by, and after a period of good weather may come thunder and storm. Check out some of the game trailers to see how it works.

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How about weapons? How many weapons are planned for the game?

We plan over 40 types of firearms, cold steel and artefact weaponry. Weapons will correspond the time stretch from the 1970s to the early 21 century. I.e. you will see both time-proven Kalashnikov submachine guns, and models of weapons just planned to be added to arsenals, such as FN 2000 assault rifle.

Weapon types (excluding artefact ones) are going to be quite traditional for games: knives, pistols, shotguns, machinegun pistols, assault rifles, sniper rifles, machineguns, grenades, grenade launchers.

As the game is set on the territory of CIS, in Ukraine, the weapon models will, accordingly, be those produced in USSR/Russia. Though the best western "pieces" will not be omitted too.

All the weapons are close in looks to their real prototypes. We will try to maximally accurately render the parameters of weapon shooting and the comparative efficacy of various models.
Though we do not target to become a virtual special forces simulator. I.e. certain simplifications will also take place. Talking about interesting peculiarities, we will have quite a worked out physical model of weapons, owing to which piercing of various surfaces, shock waves, splinter and pin-point explosions as well as other goodies will be implemented. Weapons will wear out through time.

What's going to be the artefact weaponry is something for the players to experience as they play the game through.

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Will weapons be modifiable?

The majority of weapons will be modifiable. For instance, by adding a silencer, barrel-attached grenade launcher or sniper sight.
Also, weapons will require care and repair.

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How many firearms will have silencers? Will they be separate weapon accessories, or will they be already attached?

Yes. Some parts will be obligatory elements of the design (for example, a VSS/VAL firearm complex), and some will be hinged accessories, as with AK or "Groza".

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Will the sniper sight shake?

Yes. Impaired health (or surplus of alcohol in blood;) will aggravate the situation.

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Will it be possible to sneak behind an enemy and kill (or stun) him silently?

Your enemies possess realistic sight and hearing. If you silently approach from the back, you will not be seen, except if the monster has eyes on the back of the head, or a sixth sense.

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Will it be possible to hide corpses?

Yes.

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What will be the armament of MI-24 helicopter?

Same as the real one - machine gun and rockets.

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Will anomalies affect the projectile trajectory?

No, this is too difficult. In addition, the player will hardly notice it.

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If the player kills another stalker (1 out of the 100), will a new stalker spawn in order to keep up the number?

He will, but not immediately. It is possible to kill off most competing stalkers for a while, but their number will gradually be replenished by the newbie stalkers.

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The web-site says Controller takes the troops under control. Can he take the player under control? How will the troops behave being controlled by the monster?

a. Controller can take any unprotected human being under control, regardless be it a soldier, stalker, NPC or the player.
b. Zombied soldiers attack common stalkers using fire arms.

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Will wounded monsters hide and flee?

Yes, they will. All characters have morale parameter. It changes depending the character's condition, number of friends and enemies, and even what weapon the enemy has.

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Now here is the question. How will the gaming space be confined? Will you confine it within a rampart, concrete wall, dreadful anomaly, invisible barrier or any other thing?

We try to use most "natural" barriers as ponds, walls, metal heaps, steep slopes, military posts.

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Will there be radiation?

Yes. There also will be the radiation sickness some stages of which will be incurable.

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Will there be some sort of statistics or any ratings as, for example, psychopathic killer or hardened veteran, etc.?

There will be a stalker rating. It will affect the attitude of others towards you. Possibly, the newbies will be given nicknames.

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Can I finish the game without taking even a single shot? Will players be able to pick their style of play through?

You can complete the game without shooting human characters, but you will hardly be able to play through without a single clash with mutants. The probability to encounter aggressive mutants is too high.

It is up to the player who to become. Whether he turns into the enemy number one in the Zone or a noble rescuer, or maybe an invisible stalker, agitatedly rumoured by Zone explorers. Immense equipment variations, countless alternatives of behaviour in tough situations, where the decision will determine game characters' life, as well as the changing world.

All these possibilities will enable players to select their own personal style of play through, choose their own life in the world of the Zone, independently of storyline or scripts.

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Will it be possible to kill, but without revealing your identity (I mean, if you are a Dark Stalker, who kills everybody, but nobody sees you?)

Yes. The player himself is free to choose any share of stealth and action in the game.

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Will there be a possibility to use walkie-talkie or it is the sole privilege of the military?

You will be able to overhear the communication of soldiers, military stalkers and receive distress signals.

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Will there be a possibility to control flying vehicles?

No. We had it in the initial concept, but rejected subsequently. (see above).

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Will there be cigarettes and beer? If so, then which effect will they produce onto stalker?

No cigarettes and beer. But vodka – yes.

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Will there be a possibility to keep a diary?

All the information gets automatically added into the diary.

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I can't digest gore. Can I turn it off or manually adjust the level of blood?

Firstly, we made sure the game is not very gory.
Secondly, bleeding is part of the gameplay. So you’ll have to get used to it, same as in real life.

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Will there be such a system for damage and shoot off of the limbs as in SoF?

a. Limbs shoot-off is not planned (it may change though).
b. Amount and type of damage will depend on where the bullet hits, i.e. in the head, limb or torso.

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Would be nice to know, how will damage be visualized?

The game engine calculates hits at any of the bones of the skeletal character model, and the marks from the shots appear in the appropriate places.
Critical hits are also in place.

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How can the player restore his health?

Food. Medicaments. Bandages to stop bleeding (you can be tracked down by your blood traces; you can also track your enemies by the blood stains).

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Will you implement the damage of protective suits through cutting and bullet hits and, therefore, decrease of their protective abilities (chemical protection, radiation protection, etc.)?

Yes. Most equipment can be damaged or broken.

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How interactive will the game world be?

All game objects are subjects to a realistic physics model, but you can't destroy buildings uncontrollably, if that is what you mean.
Probably you would in further games, when gaming computers will allow it.

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Will the stalker piss (and more)? :-)

No, these moments will be left behind the scenes.

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Will there be casual non-military clothing in the game? (Except jeans and leather jacket. For instance training suit?)

Yes. It remains on you when you remove the armor.

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Will there be a bicycle in the game?

No, there is neither a bicycle, a motorcycle, nor a Segway. :)

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What currency will be used in Stalker world?

The Soviet ruble.

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How real will prices be? (How much will AK-47 be?)

The scale of prices is about realistic (calculated in our money, of course), but the specific prices will be balanced.

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Can I kill the dealer?

No. The player automatically hides weapons when in the dealer's bunker.

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Will there be ratings, such "mad killer", or "old wolf"?

There will be ratings changing accordingly to actions accomplished (by you and NPC stalkers).

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Will trees burn?

No. Trees will be indestructible.

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Will the stalker have a house, outside of the Zone, where he can rest and store possessions? Will there be any inhabited villages?

There will be something of this kind, but inside the Zone. There will be no city or population outside of the perimeter.

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Is it possible to shoot down a helicopter with an RPG? With a machine gun? Can it get into an anomaly?

It will be possible with an RPG, but probably only by accident, with a machine gun. The helicopters will.

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Will we be able to get away from a chase? (it is not realized in other games)

Yes. It will be possible to hide, or to lead the chaser into a trap, by making an ambush. Anything you can imagine.

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Do the different clans fight each other?

Yes, since there are things worth fighting for.

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Will I be able to kill through glass or a car door?

Yes, in general it is difficult to hide behind a car. In real life a bullet from Kalashnikov's automatic rifle of calibre 7.62 punches through even a block of cylinders.

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Would also be great to know what, how and where we will be eating?

The food can be bought from the dealers. It will be various tinned food ("Tourist’s breakfast", tinned meat), loafs of bread, sausages etc.

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What about enemy AI? Will they have a notion of morale, and fleeing from the battle field? What about teamwork? Will they be prone to error, like live people?

Yes, the AI is sufficiently developed for this. All characters have a "moral" attribute, which changes depending on the character's condition, the number of friends and enemies, and also the enemies' weapons.

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Will monsters fight each other?

Yes, like in real life, some animals live by hunting and eating others.
Stalkers fight with monsters and soldiers, and some kinds of mutants fight among each other, like competing stalker factions.

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If I kill all mutants on the level what is going to happen when I return to that level in a while?

Mutants multiply and migrate from other locations. They will gradually repopulate the levels, finding territories appropriate for them.

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Will it be possible to "pay off" a monster by throwing it something interesting, or will it chase the stalker until the end (of the stalker or the monster)?

A monster will only chase someone while it sees sense in it.
If it encounters something more interesting, it will leave you be.

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Is it possible to play for the military, or for clan "Duty", or will the player be a singleton?

Yes, it will be possible to join clans, but it is unlikely you can make deals with the military.

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Is it possible to hide in grass by crouching?

Yes, and your enemies will use this ability against you.

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Will it possible to go prone and move in that position?

No. It was decided to refuse from this, since the highly complex landscape geometry does not allow us to implement it efficiently and at the same time, without glitches.

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Will it be possible to shoot through doors/boxes/thin walls?

Yes.

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Is hand combat implemented? Maybe it is possible to at least kick, or hit with the butt-stock?

Knife strokes are enabled.

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Will it be possible to get NPC as teammates and give them orders?

Everyone is on his own.

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Is it possible to counteract psychological attacks, or even take other beings under control?

There will be methods of defense, but currently we do not plan to implement control over others.

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I'd like to have binoculars? Or a photo camera would be better.

There will certainly be binoculars. Use 'make screenshot' button as a photo camera.

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Will it be possible to climb up a tree or climb over the fence? Or to use ivy as a cord ladder, (something like HeavyMetal 2)?

No.

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Will it be possible to blow up (explode) any at least wooden door in the game or to shoot a lock with a gun?

Yes, it will be possible, but not for all doors.

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What multiplayer modes there will be in the game?

Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Artefact Hunt - a unique mode borrowing a lot of the Zone specifics.

We do realize the value of good multiplayer implementation and will not spare our efforts to deliver that. Multiplayer will be one of the strong sides of the project.

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Technical

Which platforms will the game be released on?

PC only at the moment.

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How many players will be able to play in multiplayer at once?

Up to 32 players in a game.

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Will it be possible to play via modem?

It will not be built into the game directly, but establishment of Windows TCP/IP connection will be covered in the manual supplied with the game.

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When is data about buildings' interiors loaded? When I enter them or before (together with data about building exteriors)?

Interiors are loaded together with the whole level, so no load-ups.

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How will level transition work?

Through a load when crossing the level boundary.

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What technology was used to made water surfaces?

Pixel shaders.

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Will the game engine support custom mods and maps like the Quake and Unreal engines do?

It will certainly, since mods are a token of the game's longevity.

After the full version of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. comes out, we will offer the players a free download of the tools to create their own levels and objects for play.

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System requirements

What are the recommended system requirements for the game?

AMD Athlon 64x2 4800+ or Intel Core 2 Duo, 1Gb RAM, 3D Hardware Accelerator Card Required - 100% DirectXR 9.0c compatible 256MB (Geforce 7800, for example).

It should be noted that at the start of the game development our initially targeted system requirements were much lower. As a result (and due to the lengthy game development) the game can be played well on lower-end systems (the game ships with two renders - DirectX 8 and DirectX 9 one).

Additionally, the game allows to scale various options for optimal performance. For the maximum quality and performance, the more powerful system you have, the better.

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Game release

When is the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.? Who publishes it?

The game is planned to ship in Q1 2007. The worldwide publisher is THQ.

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In what languages will S.T.A.L.K.E.R.be released?

It's all standard with the localisation. The game will be translated into all the main languages - English, Russian, French, Italian, Spanish, German.

Further on the localisation list may be expanded. Possibly in order to get an extra colouring of the Zone, the character voiceover will remain in Russian.

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