S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat Review

Call of Pripyat is much more like the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl should have been. It brings together the improvements from Clear Sky, the new feel of the original and focuses on the core experiences of the series. The series prides itself on thick atmosphere, broad exploration, high difficulty and a changing population. This time Call of Pripyat includes three new areas located in the Zone, and none of them actually feature the iconic Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant from the previous titles. These new areas make it feel like you are new to the Zone again where everything is a potential risk. Every step you take or direction you travel holds new landmarks or buildings to explore. It is actually a great strength for the game because it does genuinely feel like a unique experience once again. The incredible atmosphere of the original returns along with some more underground locations largely absent from Clear Sky. The biggest changes to the Zone are actually the new locations themselves.

Visually impressive anomalies litter the landscape - and yes you can climb this

The new levels in Call of Pripyat are much bigger and more open than either of the previous games. Rather than including bottlenecked areas that facilitate travel between smaller levels they have three large open levels. You must use a guide, another Stalker, to take you to each area for a modest fee. In this way you are even more in control of your destiny and how you complete quests. Each major Guide destination is at the middle of the levels so there is also less foot travel involved. Thankfully an improved PDA also marks interesting locations on your map should you fail to stumble across them. These locations might be large anomalous areas or just places of importance home to Stalkers or mutants. The first level feels quite similar to the opening swamp level in Clear Sky, but it’s also much larger and more interesting. Also gone are the annoying “defend” quests from Clear Sky that simulated the constant battle of supremacy. Anomalies have also been given an overhaul damaging the landscape impressively.

The Anomalous areas have been changed to be dominating visual landmarks, not just dangerous places in the open landscape. They are also the only place to find the valuable artifacts that you can use or sell. I highly recommend increasing the view distance in game so you can spot points of interest from a larger distance but the location names may entice you towards them. Coming across each anomaly is exciting as you prepare to search for artifacts or investigate other dangers surrounding them. Your return journey will likely take you to new places of interest, another stash or even another side mission. The great thing about the side quests is that virtually none of them have a time limit forcing quick completion. You can accept a few of them and then finish them at your own pace, or just when you happen to be in the area. Some areas are more dangerous because of enemies or the anomalies but they may very well be the shortest route. It’s definitely worth checking out these anomalous areas if only for the valuable artifacts.

Artifacts hold much the same significance as the preceding games, giving protective effects with a radiation penalty. They are mostly useful for exploring anomalies but later can be used more passively. Getting an anti-radiation artifact still brings much joy as you can take advantage of helpful effects while roaming about the Zone. Artifacts will return to the anomalous areas after deadly emissions and scanners can be set up in these locations to inform you of their existence. This combined with the A-Life system means you can continue to play indefinitely. Artifacts are still one of the better ways to generate funds now that damaged weapons can’t be sold. Scavenging from dead bodies will net you some income too, or at least reduce how much ammo and food you need to purchase.

It just wouldn't be the same without radioactive machinery and a stormy night

The basic shooting and scavenging Gameplay hasn’t changed much so those put off by the combat and difficulty won’t see marked changes. Thankfully the enemy Stalker grenades don’t land at your feet anymore so it makes the game a bit fairer. If you do not notice enemies and you are in their direct line of fire in the open you will die very quickly. Your death also depends on your armour protection, artifact bonuses and the type of enemy attacking. I found shotguns quite useful and often carried an assault rifle and shotgun in my primary weapon slots. When against Stalkers range and line of sight is important, with mutants the action is often up close with you backing away from melee attacks. Zombies return but their accuracy is poor so they are only threats in larger numbers. Thankfully enemy Stalkers will die quickly if you aim well just like the previous games. If you aren’t crazy about Stalker combat you can take up a neutral position and focus more on the exploration of new areas and occasional mutant battles.

The new areas also have quite a number of detailed buildings and even more underground sections including caves, tunnels, basements many with secret stashes or dangers to uncover. I recall briefly looking for a hidden stash near a pipe; I turned around and noticed a huge crevasse below my feet. Peering inwards I saw a moving fire anomaly coming from below further sparking my interest. I then decided to abandon my stash hunt and investigate the hazardous world below. It’s these types of moments that seem to occur much more than the previous games. This is partly due to the buildings having more dimension than you might see from first glance, whether above, below or inside. It’s also clear a lot of work was put in designing some unique buildings that are waiting to be entered. There is some reusing of buildings during the Pripyat section, but many of those aren’t enterable and serve more as a visual background. The great thing about the open landscape is that it’s going to offer more surprises on replay.

On the story front, your journey into the Zone is as the secret agent, Major Degtyarev, posing as a Stalker in order to find out why some military helicopters have crashed. Each helicopter is marked on your map and you can investigate them at your own leisure. Visiting each fills in the story gaps but the story presentation is not going to impress. As the game continues getting to these helicopters becomes a little more difficult. It might be the presence of a mine field, mutants or radiation that makes things challenging. You can quickly complete these main quests or leave them until you have exhausted your interest in the rest of the Zone. I visited most locations in the Zone and was rewarded with a suitable in-game achievement (among others), but there were still more quests to be done. Make no mistake the rest of the Zone is very dangerous and much more interesting than the major story quests. These dangers come from the landscape and the changing population of mutants.

This cave holds more dangers than this flying fireball anomaly

There are quite a good number of mutants, the Bloodsuckers return in fierce numbers and will encircle you. Mutant rats will frequent the underground areas and hunt in numbers. Zombies will stagger about waiting for a bullet or even just sit down in the middle of nowhere. Some new mutants enter the fray requiring different tactics alongside the standard mercenary types that roam the lands. I recall waiting a few hours game time for one new mutant to appear in the dark of night as a storm closed in around me. In the first two major areas most Stalkers are neutral towards you unless you act aggressively. You can certainly help the wounded Stalkers and gain their support so that they will later defend you and help you travel to locations. Pripyat is even more hostile, just about everything wants to kill you in the abandoned city and there aren’t free roaming neutral Stalkers like the other areas.

Stalkers will roam about in groups and you are allowed to converse and trade with the leader of each group while not in combat. They may offer some new insights, quest help or even quick travel to a nearby location. You can even catch a free ride should they be headed in your direction. Unfortunately it doesn’t take long before you see answers to questions being repeated by different Stalkers, but at least it offers more interaction with your Zone buddies. New dialogue options open up as you start or finish different main quests. You can’t actually join a faction this time and there are no faction wars but you can still do quests for each faction. For some this may be a step backwards but it fits with the story and ensures you aren’t restricted or hunted down because of your allegiances.

The user interface works better and the new icons are helpful

Call of Pripyat successfully increases user friendliness without sacrificing the hardcore game style the series is known for. The interface clearly shows, using small icons, the health of your equipment, environmental damage and applied stat boosts. The game now even supports a serviceable auto save system. This removes the need to constantly tap the F5 key prior to dangerous areas. Auto save functions around major quests events and travelling between levels. Early on this actually helped me a few times when I simply wasn’t used to quick saving as I had done in the previous games. Although to be fair the auto save system seemed to get less helpful as the game progressed, perhaps due to my unorthodox quest progress. It still manages to greatly improve those opening few hours where you may die and have forgotten to save because you were caught up in the engrossing atmosphere.

Ironically in this very open world they have attempted to increase the player direction when you get together with other Stalkers. Certain quests will trigger fast travel and you and your friends will instantly travel to a set location in the Zone. After which you engage in a more scripted mission, but not necessarily a linear one. After the mission is completed you can return slowly back across the Zone or talk to your quest buddy who will let you quick travel back. There aren’t many of these and I didn’t mind too much about being fast travelled to a quest location. Unfortunately one of these spawned me in just as the scientists I’d been sent to protect were being eaten by a group of mutants, mission failed.

The iconic Bloodsucker returns, this time living up to his namesake

The final area, Pripyat, is open and not as rushed as the original game but it has more directed missions and is a little smaller than the other levels. There is no trader or technician per say so you will need to head back to either of the previous two levels to sell or upgrade weapons. You should have enough money by this stage so this isn’t really an issue. You will need to return as part of the main quests anyway but the Pripyat area seemed mostly about a few linear objectives in comparison to the previous areas with open quests and neutral areas. Yes there are anomalies with artifacts and some open buildings to explore but it wasn’t quite as satisfying or lengthy as the previous areas. It also makes sense that the game story finishes at Pripyat, but that doesn’t mean you have to leave.

After you finish the main series of quests you can choose to remain the Zone indefinitely and return to your current quests or just continue to explore the Zone. The ending isn’t bad; it’s not quite as well put together as the original but it’s better than Clear Sky. The last few quests in particular show how poor the story presentation can be. It would have been much better to spend more time on fewer missions than have a string of rather poorly presented linear missions. A nice touch was a story board end that outlined some of the major events during the game and what some characters had done after the game events. It certainly helps bring out some RPG elements and is a direction that could be improved in the future.

These cute little guys will try valiantly to gnaw your face off

Naturally being a derivative of STALKER the game is a little unpolished in places. Human animations are still fairly stiff and the AI can do some bizarre things. For example the AI would sometimes engage a “pacifist” mode and simply ignore the fact that it was being shot at by others. Or it would group up strangely in the frequently repopulating areas. The world repopulates with mutants and Stalkers in familiar spots, sometimes a little too quickly but the variety helps. Bodies are dragged off and Stalkers scavenge from the dead to restock their supplies. The AI quirks stand out but the A-life system ensures you are having a pretty unique experience in the changing Zone.

Aside from a few of these AI bugs I had no problems with saves, crashes or quests malfunctioning. There were points where I needed to re-read quests to figure out something I was doing wrong as they certainly don’t hold your hand. The game has been out for many months in Russia giving them a good chance to patch it up and the extra time has paid off. Some of these bugs will be nothing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fans haven’t seen before but there wasn’t anything major that prevented me from progressing at any point. Although I experienced a lot of the Zone there was still quite a lot more to see but it definitely seemed the most bug free of the series.

An abandoned factory in the Zone, that light is strangely inviting

It’s hard to compare Call of Pripyat with the previous two games in the series and come away with anything other than praise for it. GSC has tapped into the core gameplay elements that work so well for the series and capitalized on them. Almost all areas of the gameplay and interface have been improved. Gone are the bad bugs and the linearity from the ending of Clear Sky has been largely reduced. The thick atmosphere and exploration qualities are back bigger than they ever were. Clear Sky weapon and armour upgrades return with more useful drugs even allowing you to survive an emission without retreating to cover. The game is so open and vast in nature that not all of the details can be covered in review that would do it justice.

The open nature of the levels lends itself perfectly to the improved Zone gameplay with fewer load times and more freedom. There is naturally optional backtracking and more points of interest that may interrupt you in the middle of a quest. Sure Pripyat hasn’t been used as well as it could have been but it doesn’t radically damage the game when the first two levels are so incredible. The only thing I missed a little bit from the original was the impressive pre-rendered cut scenes and the well defined endings. Critically for me, the Zone itself feels like a new undiscovered area that dragged me in just as viciously as any Vortex anomaly could ever do. So grab some Vodka, a pistol and some bandages – it’s time to head back into the Zone.