E3: New Stalker game uncovered

By Robert Purchese Published 12 July, 2007

Prequel in early 2008.

GSC Game World has whipped the radioactive cover off its expansion to the sprawling first-person shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

It's dubbed Clear Sky and will take place one year before the original story, back-filling the iconic character Strelok's history and the emergence of the Zone. With plenty of new nuclear beasties to say hello to.

Clear Sky will also include belated support for DirectX 10 and improved performance from the DirectX9 renderer. The AI has been bumped up, too, on top of a new animation engine and game engine.

As you explore the Zone you'll become part of the war between the different factions, and be able to join and lead any of them to victory. You'll also be treated to a new upgrade system for weapons and armour, enjoy a worked HUD and PDA, and be given the benefits of Fast Travel. Phew.

It looks like it will be a polished-up and improved addition to what we claimed to be one of the scariest and ambitious games on the PC this year. All that and Clear Sky is promised for release in the first quarter of 2008 - which we hope it sticks to.

Head over to our S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky gallery for the first screenshots.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (20) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Hunam #1 5 years ago

    The screen shots look sexual, mmm.

  • Turambar #2 5 years ago

    Will they be fixing the bugs in the first one?

  • richardiox #3 5 years ago

    Can't wait for this. Looks very impressive initially, will look great with DX10 support for those with Vista and should look and play much better with DX9 thanks to the improved renderer and the X-Ray engine version 1.5.

    When's it due, didnt notice anything in the news article?

  • Eraser #4 5 years ago

    the link to the gallery links back to this article :(

  • pigwhistler #5 5 years ago

    hopefully it'll come out when they say and i wont have it on pre-order for nearly four years....

  • spliffhead #6 5 years ago

    Don't you mean first quarter 2018?

  • Varsity #7 5 years ago

    "Will they be fixing the bugs in the first one?"

    Yeah, there had better be a backported patch for the original.

  • Skeletor #8 5 years ago

    Talking about fast travel...the German press over at gamestar hints at vehicles!
    They also report that it'll be much more "action oriented" - no quests and inventory any more.

  • PlugMonkey #9 5 years ago

    Is there a demo for this around anywhere? I'm not sure if my PC will run it or not, and don't really want to have to buy it to find out.

  • Nobuo #10 5 years ago

    "Is there a demo for this around anywhere? I'm not sure if my PC will run it or not, and don't really want to have to buy it to find out."

    Dunno about a demo but the game has a DX8 rendering mode which makes the game very playable on surprisingly low spec machines. When you turn on the DX9 lighting though the game runs like an absolute dog. Makes a slideshow out of my X1800.

  • magicpanda #11 5 years ago

    Cant wait for this

    There's already a mod to activate vehicles, they left the code in the game but never implemented it.

    [link url=http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=3lXfJkn-Ank
    ]http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=3lXfJkn-Ank
    [/link]

    http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=792YKOV_DsU

  • kangarootoo #12 5 years ago

    I liked this game a lot, but I had no cocking idea what was going on by the end.

    For me its not so much a case of backfilling the history of an iconic character, as telling me even the smallest detail about him (other than that he wore green wellies).

    It felt like there was some mini novel somewhere that I should have read before playing (maybe there was, I borrowed the disc from a colleague and didn't see the box contents).

  • PlugMonkey #13 5 years ago

    Cheers nobuo!

  • Machetazo #14 5 years ago

    Any other "STALKER project"s yet to be announced? Also, the screeny link just refers you back to the article, atm. If my PC will play nicely with this expansion, them I'm very eager to give it a try. :)
    Edited by 1 at 12/07/07 @ 16:47

  • spongebob #15 5 years ago

    What about the console version(s)?

  • stoopidgreg #16 5 years ago

    that link at the bottom just links back to the same page, not the gallery

  • dave06 #17 5 years ago

    i doubt stalker will appear on console, it just doesn't feel like something that could work on either of em ......especially the ps3. because its shite :)

  • YourMessageHere #18 5 years ago

    "a new animation engine and game engine" - what's wrong with the Xray engine? A few performance tweaks here and there and you've got one of the prettiest, most capable engines I've ever seen. I hope that's all they mean.

    I think I remember one of the devs saying they'd not do a console version, but I may be imagining it.

    Still, more Stalker is very welcome.

    @kangarootoo (SPOILERS etc.)

    Hey, it's not that complex. Did you at least get to the point of working out that the player themselves is Strelok? Also, you may have gotten one of the totally unrevealing ending, if you get the door code thing from the room in Pripiat, stay out of the end of the reactor level and instead go through the codelocked door instead you'll get a more full explanation.

  • Pablo2k5 #19 5 years ago

    rdexter said... "They should bring all this to the consoles. Don't want to updgrade my PC."

    Erm... tough.

    There's a few games on the consoles I'm not prepared to buy a console for. They ought to release them on PC too, but I doubt they ever will.

  • IN4ARIOT #20 5 years ago

    Loved S.T.A.L.K.E.R. glitchy bits an' all , even started looking at videos of Pripyat and Chernobyl because the story got my curiosity sparked so much . Hope the new game ties in real events again to put more meat on the bones. I agree with HybridR the engine's fine as it is , the grittiness adding to the charm, depth and original look... I would also like to see the bits cut from the original put in a GOTY edition purty plzz... (Stadium anyone?)