RIP S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

[The Cheshire Cat]

For those of you that haven't heard, GSC, the studio that made the STALKER series is shutting down. It's apparently some sort of shady business involving the CEO or possibly corruption in the Ukrainian government.

In either case, this is really sad news since STALKER is one of the best and most unique FPSes available. If you've ever had any passing interest in the series, pick it up on Steam now, since with the studio's closure it's uncertain whether or not it will continue to be available to buy.

Call of Pripyat is the most polished one, so if you're curious what the whole STALKER thing is about and don't want to juggle around mods, try that one first. SoC and CS both take some modding to render playable, but fortunately there are "Complete" mods for both that handle basically everything you might care about.

[Sephorus]

Wait, seriously? Liked what I saw of the series, as little as it was. Might have to snag it now if it's questionable to purchase later.

[Warp Factor]

I've only played significant amounts of Shadow of Chernobyl, and can say it's not the most accessible game out there but it's so worth it. I've heard mixed opinions on Clear Sky, and that Pripyat is excellent. So yeah, definitely pick up at least SoC, and the others if you like that. Utterly unique stuff.

[Sephorus]

I'll keep that in mind should I see the series in the Steam holiday sales, although this whole thing might just drop the price a bunch anyways.

[Warp Factor]

I doubt the price will change, after all VtM: Bloodlines is still $20 and it's in the same boat. I'm pretty sure the publishers behind the Stalker games are more cooperative with Valve though (THQ is, at least), so we'll likely see them on sale more often than Bloodlines.

[Warp Factor]

BTW, the entire Stalker franchise is 75% off on Steam today.

[Dedlok]

www.shacknews.com/article/73504/stalker-2-canceled-ideas-funneled-into-survarium

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 canceled, ideas funneled into 'Survarium'

Despite assurances of continued development just last month, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has been officially canceled. The silver lining to this cloud is that the team is pouring many ideas from the now-canned project into Survarium, a free-to-play MMO that the team calls "more ambitious."


Developer GSC Game World made the announcement through a series of tweets on its Twitter account. It has also already set up an official site and Facebook account for Survarium. The first tweet read, "despite no official continuation of Stalker 2. it looks like the ideas and spirit will live on in the team's new game - 'Survarium'."

Since then, other tweets have revealed a new studio (Vostok Games), which contains the entire team from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, to work on Survarium. The studio calls it "more than just an MMO," with the option of player versus the game world as in S2. The company promises a developer diary for Survarium later tonight, and a Q&A tomorrow to shed more light on the project.

So why is the project being dropped? "All those asking about funding etc. That is not the issue," a tweet reads. "We were unable to secure the IP rights to continue with the Stalker franchise."

More details are forthcoming, but in the meantime the newly formed Vostok Games has released a short video explaining the changes. At least, as much as possible in such a cheeky way.