GSC releases 2004 build of STALKER Comments by Oli Welsh

Awesome. Downloading now. I wonder if it supports widescreen.

Can't be any less stable than the retail release...

Fantastic!

It'll be great if the mod community can integrate the lost levels into Oblivion Lost.

Does this build contain vehicles?

Wow, awesome. I wish more developers would do this.

Does the download require STALKER to run it?

At one time, STALKER was supposed to be free-roaming (think Oblivion meets Chernobyl), with drivable vehicles and co-op multiplayer.. Oh, and the game was a race between you and the AI NPC's that also wanted to reach the center of the zone.

Still a good game though, despite all the shortcomings.

@mkreku

You beat me to it! I remember pre-ordering it back when it was still meant to be free-roaming and co-op. With the A-Life in place and the NPC attempting to complete the game before you. I hope the 2004 build is just that... though I remember reading that an AI NPC was found attempting to kill and eat himself because he thought his leg was tasty looking.

Oh I wish they'd kept that game! I never did finish STALKER because it became a bit of a letdown after all the waiting.

The drivable vehicles, cut monsters, random blowouts and expanded A-Life were all reintroduced with the Oblvion Lost mod.
It's well worth playing again with it as it completely changes the dynamic of the whole game.

Does Oblivion Lost still have the insane difficulty level that meant you could bleed to death from a single pistol shot?

Just forget that Clear Sky ever happened though, ok everyone?

Clearly I need to download the Oblivion Lost mod! I can't believe I'm only just finding out about this!

Clear Sky is awesome, and so is this old build.

OL isn't too harsh, it's up to vers 2.2 now I think and they balance and integrate various new mods into it all the time.
In the most recent update they added proper faction wars so you can play with a team of AI guys. The AI gains experience as well so the longer they survive just wandering around doing their own thing (AI hunts for artefacts and better gear to sell in OL so you are kind of competing with them) the higher their rank becomes and the better the gear they carry.

Random blowouts make the game unpredictable as they spawn new monsters and artifacts. You'll stumble across massive firefights where zombies or a boss monster has stumbled into a faction's base. It's quite excellent to watch.

Good fun, makes the game really repayable. I've played through twice with two versions of OL now and it's been quite different both times.

Great games. I never heard of this mod. Sounds sweet.

They never released an SDK which the community have been screaming for for over two years now, but they give this instead? How confusing.

Good stuff, though I think the Oblivion Lost mods have pretty much brought the game up to what it should have been