GSC confirms S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Prypiat

By Robert Purchese Published 1 May, 2009

Plus: sequel and console P.O.R.T. promised.

GSC Game World has announced a second standalone expansion for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. called Call of Prypiat, which will be released on PC this autumn.

The developer also revealed to Russian magazine Igromania that a console port of the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game is under way. Plus, GSC president Sergei Grigorovich said during an online-conference that "we will certainly develop S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2". Both translations are courtesy of nV News, although there's no further detail offered for either project.

Call of Prypiat takes place in the faithfully-recreated eastern part of the eponymous city, which was abandoned after the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.

The story picks up after the conclusion of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., following a government airbourne military manoeuvre to assume control of the nuclear power-plant zone. Alas, something goes wrong and you, a Ukrainian special agent, are sent to investigate.

Call of Prypiat has a tweaked A-life system based on player feedback from the first two S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games. And GSC has decided to hand-make around 70 new quests to abolish the random-generation feel of them.

Nuclear blowouts have become more frequent and deadly forcing players to keep an eye out for nearby safe-zones, and explorers will face two new monsters: the Burer, a telepathic dwarf, and the Chimera.

The interface has been revamped, we're told, and the sleep function - created by the mod community - has been added. Players can also free-play after the conclusion of the story.

More importantly, however, GSC Game World has returned to the original tone of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: a sparse, scary and lonely land with no place for large groups and gunfights.

The first screenshots can be found in our S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Prypiat gallery. Looks like Newhaven.

Head over to our S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky reviews to catch up on perhaps the most atmospheric openworld PC shooter there is.

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 (32) Latest comment 3 years ago

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

  • Eraysor #1 3 years ago

    Just make it less bug-ridden for once.

  • ChthonicEcho #2 3 years ago

    How about dropping STALKER, and developing an original, new, creative game? No? Guess not.

  • Katsumoto #3 3 years ago

    Stalker was for me one of the best games this decade. The first one, anyway. Hopefully they've listened to the negative criticism re: Clear Sky, and listened again to the positive criticism re: Shadow of Chernobyl. Sounds promising, anyway! Shitty name, though ;).

  • Corbbuli #4 3 years ago

    Excellent news - imho Stalker was the best FPS ever since System Shock 2.

  • polaris70 #5 3 years ago

    What Fallout 3 should've looked like..

  • RESIDENT_nEVILe #6 3 years ago

    Absolutely loved Stalker. Hope it survives the porting intact, as it would make a great and expansive console shooter.

    Just make sure it works out of the box this time guys :)

  • sneetch #7 3 years ago

    *Briiing!* *Briiing!*
    *Briiing!* *Briiing!*

    "Hello?"

    "Hi, this is Prypiat."

    And so it begins...

    I hope they work this one out, I - sort of - liked the first one the initial stage was too slow but once I got through to 100 rads it was much better. I eventually just stopped playing. Now that I think of it, I'd just gotten to a building with poltergeists. Hmmm, might fire that up again.

  • Evolution #8 3 years ago

    How about dropping STALKER, and developing an original, new, creative game? No? Guess not.

    ...Is that a joke? How exactly was it not creative?

  • The_Inquisitor #9 3 years ago

    As a console only gamer, this is something that I have always wanted, but never seriously thought would happen.
    I just hope the port lives up to the original. Is it confirmed that it will be handled in house though?

  • Gnort #10 3 years ago

    Call of Priapism?

  • ChthonicEcho #11 3 years ago

    @Evolution

    That's strange. I could've sworn I commented on an article about the upcoming expansion pack and the sequel to STALKER.

  • MattyD #12 3 years ago

    FLASH TO BANG! This 'news' has been circulating the tinternets since the new year. It's also been discussed openly and at great length on GSC's official forums.

    Also, you spelt 'airborne' incorrectly.

  • dirtysteve #13 3 years ago

    Im playing Clear Sky now. It's a great game, although almost crippled with frequent crashes.
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/09 @ 16:25

  • TSYNDMonkfish #14 3 years ago

    The first one was top class, Clear Sky was great also but the end was a bit of a let down.
    Still, iI'll deffo get this as soon as its out.

    Love to see a STALKER MMO also.

  • Baranga #15 3 years ago

    @ ChthonicEcho

    Yes, because there are so many open-world shooters as good as Stalker. An improved Stalker sounds great.
    So, how about not dropping Stalker, but continue to build on this amazing foundation, eh?

    Or how about a new Cossacks?
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/09 @ 17:31

  • ChthonicEcho #16 3 years ago

    So, how about not dropping Stalker, but continue to build on this amazing foundation, eh?

    You fancy repetition, I fancy new things I haven't seen before. To each their own, eh?

  • Metalfish #17 3 years ago

    Creative =/= new, Echo. I wouldn't want them to stop the series just yet, personally, I think they're close to the game they wanted to release during development hell. Starting something new will probably give up something even buggier :p

  • hoonatic #18 3 years ago

    ＜i＞As a console only gamer, this is something that I have always wanted, but never seriously thought would happen. ＜/i＞

    Hmmm - let's wait for it to actually arrive shall we?
    I mean, The Witcher hasn't turned out so well has it.

  • ChthonicEcho #19 3 years ago

    I wouldn't want them to stop the series just yet, personally, I think they're close to the game they wanted to release during development hell.

    Try the famous mod for the original STALKER. Oblivion Lost, was it? Everyone lauded it for making STALKER the way it was planned to be.

    I'm one of those people who are tired of this ceaseless tide of remakes, sequels and prequels. BioShock 2, STALKER 2, Call of Duty: MW2... The game developers behind those companies are too talented to rehash their gems time and time again. It's a safe strategy for the company, but I don't to play the same game with slightly altered gameplay, gimmicky additions and a weaker storyline that tries to justify continuation of the original title.

  • JeffGerstmann #20 3 years ago

    very sad to hear you are playing as a Ukranian agent, thats a superhero IMO. Practicly ruins the game for me. That feeling of being your average Joe was what made this game compete with the original Half-life for me

  • shotgun44 #21 3 years ago

    I honestly can't see what Echo has said so wrong!? My computer was too shit to run this but its sat at home still so I might fire it up when I upgrade!

  • ChthonicEcho #22 3 years ago

    Some people are simply not willing to use their noggin. Especially CuntFapula, who's now on my ignore list.

    The undeniable fact is, a sequel is the same game as its predecessor with a handful additions or changes, which are often gimmicky (Big Sister in BioShock 2, anyone?). Another undeniable fact is, that will not stop you from enjoying a sequel. That's not what I am contesting. There are plenty of sequels I've enjoyed, even those that were near-identical to their predecessor (Half-Life 2: Episode One and Two come to mind).

    But if I were given a choice whether to play a sequel or a new game, I'd pick the latter. Why? Because chances are, the new game will have a new universe I'll enjoy exploring, a whole new roster of characters, a new arsenal... STALKER isn't a game made for sequels, either. They've created a dead end for themselves by restricting action to one place and one short-lasting event. You can squeeze out only so much out of that.

    Look at Half-Life. It takes place in a large number of locations, it has a progressive storyline. Same thing with Gears of War - many locations, one long-lasting event. Call of Duty 4? It may be a sequel, but it takes place in a different time, which changes many things; the only thing that makes it a true sequel are core gameplay mechanics.

    No need to tell me that sequels can be better than a new IP, either - I am aware of that. I am talking about STALKER specifically, and a new IP made by GSC would undoubtedly be better than another expansion to STALKER, where they would desperately fish for ideas to extend the lifetime of the original game. The sequel? I doubt it's going to be something grand, and I'll change my mind only when I actually play STALKER 2 and am proven wrong.

    In the meantime, you can wait for the review of Call of Prypiat on Eurogamer, which will have a 7 at the end.

  • UncleLou #23 3 years ago

    Weird, seeing how ChthonicEcho made his points quite clear, did't imply things you never said (as opposed to you - in fact, your reading comprehension seems quite limited), and generally comes across as quite reasonable, while you called him a "sad, whiney bastard". All a matter of perspective, obviously.

    As for the news, I am a bit torn - Shadow of Chernobyl was pretty much the best game I've played in the last 10 years, but after SoC, SoC with OL, and the somewhat lacklustre CS, my enthusiasm for the series has waned a little. Not much doubt that I'll buy that one, too, but GSC is threatening to become a little bit of a one-trick pony.

  • karstux #24 3 years ago

    I think GSC is limited by their own technology at the moment. The STALKER codebase is probably a poorly organized mess. I once read that during development of the first game, another team was planned to take over at some point - but didn't, because the source code doesn't contain any comments at all, and no one but GSC could make sense of it. I'm a developer myself, and I think this is plausible. The huge amount of bugs in both games is quite indicative of that, too. A well-organized, stable code-base would have matured by the second game, but obviously it didn't.

    Judging by the SDK, their game asset toolchain sucks too. Hence, we're only seeing derivatives instead of new content and concepts.

    I also think the original STALKER was one of the greatest games of the decade, but I seriously wouldn't expect any more from that studio...

  • Evolution #25 3 years ago

    @ChthonicEcho

    I do applaud your attitude towards creativity, but this isn't a case of an unimaginative license getting yet another game in the series with a new gimmick (ala Sonic). Of course an endless supply of unique and interesting games would be perfect, but unrealistic. I still think there are avenues for them to explore there, whether they can make it as interesting as the first game I don't know, but the potential is there.

  • Snooz #26 3 years ago

    Being a total fanboi of the original and the mod I still didn't finish the mod-version since the game really is very linear. I think this game would have been way better executed if there was better planning through out the process (yeah, hindsight), still I loved it for it's moments of wonderful atmosphere and sometimes long lasting gunfights.

    @karstux: Totally agree, I'm not into coding or anything but this game must have been a mess through out the project, seeing videos on Youtube showing what was left out from the original keeps me thinking that a lot of work was wasted due to bad planning and communication.

    Also Call of Prypiat seemes like they've finally taken a look at the OL-mod and moved all the gameplay over to prypiat which was extremely rushed in the original. I don't mind more versions of the same game as long as it feels new and is better than the predecessors, but if they fail this time too then it's time to do something else.

  • Snooz #27 3 years ago

    Wow, you just won that argument!

  • UncleLou #28 3 years ago

    Why of course ChthonicEcho and me are idiots. Why else would we argue with you?

  • Snooz #29 3 years ago

    @countFap:

    That was sarcasm and you are a textbook case of an ingore-button-worthy person.

    Heres a summary of the situation:

    ChthonicEcho is talking about GSC assumingly 3rd try at doing pretty much the same and then comparing it to other games like Bioshock that as the original stalker was pretty much finished (I havent played it though). [Edit] Stalker did not (as american movies do) leave many clues for a sequel. So they just do a same story, same setting but different guy, just like FEAR, aswell.

    Then he points to games that have done sequels well like HL2 and the episodes because the story never comes to a totally closed end with no opening for sequels, but rather the good old cliff hangers and the story progressing to new areas and gameplay.


    Btw, the port is mentioned in the text, also under the headline at the homepage.(might have been update though)

    Still I'd prefer a good stalker 'sequel' that finally does it well rather than hoping for a new original franchise that could turn out to be another haze.

    Nothing of the above makes ChtonicEcho (or UncleLou) an idiot nor hypocrite. Read his posts again and see what he means.
    Edited by 2 at 04/05/09 @ 14:29

  • UncleLou #30 3 years ago

    I know it was sarcasm- but it doesn't change the fact I won the argument.

    Hehe, you have not even understood anything anyone else wrote, let alone "won" an argument. And you're not even good at insulting people. You can't argue, you can't troll. All you can is make yourself look like the childish fool that you are.

  • mikeck #31 3 years ago

    Just downloaded the original from Steam this evening, and have just spent the last four hours straight playing it...great game so far. Love the concept, love the atmosphere, and am having a blast. I understand that it was buggy when first released, but so far I've had no problems at all, and am fully immersed into the game.

    Am looking forward to moving onto Clear Sky and then seeing what this third installment will be like...

  • THE_BEST_EG #32 3 years ago

    Game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Prypiat now passes already Beta-test, with those that b to catch possible bug.