blake++ » Reviews » S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
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6 people found this review helpful
Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 23.5 hrs on record
Posted: 14 Jul, 2023 @ 10:58pm
Updated: 14 Jul, 2023 @ 10:59pm

STALKER: Call of Pripyat is the best entry into the series (so far), taking the lessons learned from the SoC and CS to create a masterpiece of a third. The core STALKER formula is expanded on in new and interesting ways while cutting out the fluff, resulting in a tight experience that's totally unforgettable.
I played this for 14.5 hours straight in a single day. It's that good.

I used mods in this playthrough that had a minimal impact on the experience (FoV switching). You can view my full settings list down at the bottom of this review.



Pros:
  • Apex of STALKER so far; Gunplay and exploration is at its peak
  • Some stalkers roaming the lands can fast travel you for a fee to various areas within your map
  • Map is big but not too big; game consists of 3 huge open areas with costly travel between them; different resources in different areas result in interesting decisions and requires the players to plan their travel between maps
  • Strong intro: Great explanations of what's going on, game teaches you via sidequests on the nature of the Zone is and you really get a feel for what you're stepping into. Great intro to STALKER
  • Other STALKERs will loot bodies of STALKERs that are killed. Makes the world feel very lived in
  • Sidequests have CUTSCENES. Crazy
  • Achievement system is super cool with the rewards it gives you and it helps you feel like you're really making a difference
  • Technician system as a whole is just really solid. Feels good to upgrade your weapons and keep with one or two weapons for a while
  • Progression over time is incredible. Pripyat in general is pretty awesome, but I'd appreciate more roaming enemy squads
  • NPCs that you help out come back to help you out. Really helps make the world feel lived in
  • Music is really additive to the experience. Audio isn't the greatest so the light music and ambience helps supplement it and adds to the atmosphere

QoL Improvements over Previous Games:
  • Clean UI that is minimal but remains rooted in STALKER; best UI of the series
  • Hotkeys for items is intuitive and smart; nice that they show you the amount you have
  • Map is very clear to understand with large labels for areas as well as a filter system that is unintrusive
  • Can communicate in a chat with numbers for responses
  • Sleeping, personal stashes, special item orders through NPCs, different STALKERS with different info on the zone's aspects. It's so good.
  • New kinds of medecine do different things like increase carry capacity or improve blood coagulation temporarily. Huge improvement
  • Ammo highlights itself and what weapons it goes with in your inventory
  • Two weapon slots that you can put anything in. No more weapon swapping on the fly :D
  • Items need to be of a certain condition to sell. Repairs can be done through technicians, but if it's too damaged it may not be worth repairs to sell. It's good to remember how much weapons can sell for in new condition so you can decide if the repair is worth it. It's a very cool system that prevents the player from farming money this way (although I was still able to make a large portion of my money this way)
  • Stamina regen feels REALLY good; def better than CS and slightly better than SoC. Travelling via walking feels good
  • Mutants are generally much more healthy; they are much more fearsome and more of a threat
  • Game encourages you to talk to NPCs via highlighting people with actual stuff to say and info you can obtain via these NPCs. You can ask them specific questions relating to your current quests and they'll have good, okay, or bad answers. The world feels much more lived in with this
  • Prefilled stashes. You don't need to know the location first.
  • Dedicated anomaly zones that ease movement through the Zone as well as makes it easier to find and collect artifacts
  • Quests that are far away will bring you there themselves instantly when you ask, and then you have the option of staying there or going back with them
  • Plenty of spots for cover from emissions that are reasonable

What I Disliked:
Bugs/Glitches:
  • Intro movie voice and subtitles don't match up. It's jarring.
  • Using fellow STALKERs to fast travel you within an area with bring you to that area no matter what state it's in. I got fast travelled into a Chimera :(. Realistically, they should've stopped shortly before the Chimera
  • Cutscene dialog is really stilted still
  • Controller mutant in a Lab spawned behind a locked door. It was very difficult to kill him and i had to shoot a lot through a locked door. And it was still able to damage me despite being behind the door
  • Fighting burers in Lab X8 is awful. There's this one room which contains documents that has them, but if you're not in the room with them, they rapidly regenerate health. It seems like an impossible fight until you rush them. Really stupid
Normal Stuff I Disliked:
  • Horror is turned down :(
  • Missing the artifact obtaining puzzles from Clear Sky
  • Weapon comparison system is weird and I had to look it up to understand how it worked exactly; it also doesn't function all that well
  • Specific quest was time-limited without it being obvious that it was time limited (weapon transaction one)
  • I miss there being a few more random STALKERs who would just try to kill you. There's no bandits or direct enemies that are human, which hurts the experience a bit. I still get into plenty of firefights though.
  • Getting to some stashes (top of fuelling station) is absurdly hard.
  • Ladders are still bad
  • Game needs ability to hold your weapon "at ease" instead of just totally holstering it. Would increase immersion
  • Final sequence is okay, but it lacks the flair of the previous 2 games endings. At the very least it isn't brutally hard like SoC was. It wages on being too easy, but I was also maxed out on literally everything lol.

The Ways I Cheated:
I looked up stuff! Sue me! I looked up:
  • What to do with notes I picked up (do I sell, do I keep (some of this stuff is legitimately impossible to predict))
  • About any side missions I missed so I could finish them (it was one, obvious if I just paid attention)
  • Looked up where to find certain artifacts (necessary for a certain side mission)
  • Saved a ♥♥♥♥ ton during a section to keep a squad alive for an achievement (this was stupid)
Otherwise, this game really rewards you for being an astute player. Listen to NPCs, follow leads, do things.

Ending Gear/Setup:
  • Fully upgraded Tide, Predator, Zulu's RPD, Exoskeleton
  • Two Bubbles, Firefly, Goldfish
  • Artifacts Found: 41 (I think I never got Flame or Moonlight)
  • Stashes Found: 35
  • Mutants Killed: 254
  • Stalkers Killed: 257
  • Zone Time: 18 days
  • Emissions survived: 25
  • Missions Completed: 89
  • Money: 311k
  • Playthrough Hours: 23

Achievements:
  • Weapons Systems Expert
  • Detective
  • Friend of Freedom
  • Friend of Stalkers
  • Courier of Justice
  • Hi-Tech Expert
  • Trafficker of Information
  • Keeper of Secrets (technically cheated ig)
  • Leader
  • Mutant Hunter
  • One of Ours
  • Research Assistant
  • Seasoned Stalker
  • A Wealthy Client

Endings:
  • Wiped out bloodsucker lair
  • Garry Bad Ending (died during Mysterious Weapon quest I think)
  • Oasis
  • One Shot
  • Night Hunt
  • Good ending for Zulu, Vano, Strider, Sokolov, Noah, Cardan, Strelok, Kovalsky
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blake++ 14 Jul, 2023 @ 11:01pm 
Mods Used:
- FOV Switch to 90
- Warning : The above FOV switch tool makes one of the later anomaly detectors really hard to read on high FOVs (specifically 90 made it difficult to read). This can impact gameplay slightly. It's generally recommended to go to 75.


Settings:
-Quality at max; maxed out all advanced settings; disabled 60hz freq lock, no antialiasing, no VSync
-Lighting at Enhanced Dynamic
-Disable crosshair
-Master Difficulty