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

The Zone does not care about your feelings. You will get lost, die to an anomaly you didn't see and spend 20 minutes looting a body only to realize you're overencumbered again. And somehow that's peak gaming. Shadow of Chernobyl is janky, moody and occasionally sends a bloodsucker to personally ruin your day. The atmosphere is unmatched, trudging through irradiated marshes at 2am while the wind howls is genuinely unsettling. The A-Life system makes the world feel alive in ways modern games still can't replicate. Yes it's old. Yes it will crash. Grab the Zone Reclamation Project mod and thank me later. Good hunting, Stalker. [b][8.5/10][/b]

This game should of been my childhood game, yet it never was unfortunately, as this game was never bundled alongside all other games I got from my father. This is literally my first time ever playing a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game in the series. For a 2007 game it aged really well, all things considered the bugs that breaks some of the side quests, thankfully they are not critical for the main plot, but still annoying when it happens, although with some persistence, you can get the NPC for the quest to work. Certainly there's a learning curve, but playing it on Novice to get to learn the way it plays and all will probably make it easier for me in future titles. Personally I'm having a blast playing this game, coming with the mindset that I probably won't, but I was wrong.

Played this game a bit ago, don't remember much only vodka, bandits and angry Slavic men shouting in my ear.