Last year, developer GSC Game World released the long-awaited S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl to almost universal praise for its concepts and design mentality, but also frustration with its bugs and lack of polish and tuning. A year later and already we are greeted with the prequel, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Clear Sky. A year between releases is a far cry from the seven years of development weathered by Shadow of Chernobyl. Clear Sky is basically a second chance for GSC Game World to make S.T.A.L.K.E.R. into everything they wanted it to be. Clear Sky, however, only manages to highlight the harried development of this series, showcasing a conflicted approach to the design.
Stalker: Legacy of Times was an attempt to create a STALKER-inspired game on CryEngine 2, however, its dev team announced its official cancellation.
Anomaly Developers has released a new version of its standalone mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R., STALKER Anomaly.
Enemy respawns in open world games are tricky to get right. If they are too frequent it feels 'gamey' and it may render a player's in-game actions irrelevant. However too few respawns leave an open world empty, devoid of threat and frankly rather boring.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Lost Alpha expertly shows how to handle respawns by striking a near-perfect balance via a hybrid spawn/respawn system. We investigate how this works and how it has made S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Lost Alpha one of the best semi-open world games around. Ubisoft 'et all should take note.
