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Early version of S.T.A.L.K.E.R released

Published on 3rd March 2009 by Joe Martin

GSC has released an early, but playable build of the original STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl for fans.

GSC has today announced that it has released an early, but playable build of the original STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl for fans of the series who want to take a look at how the game might have been.

The original STALKER was long stuck in development hell and went through many, many different iterations and versions, with the final release being more simplified and scaled down compared to the original vision. The initial idea was for the world of STALKER to be a much more open, free-roaming world, but many areas were cut from the game at the last minute.

While the full game was released in 2007, this build released by GSC today is from October, 2004 and is listed at Build 1935. It includes some areas that weren't seen in the final game, as well as some features that were culled from the released version.

You can download the game from the GSC forums, but the developer is providing no support for the game at all - so expect it to be a little bit buggy. Much like the original release of STALKER: Clear Sky - zing!

If you want to compare notes with the different versions of the game then you can check out our review of STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, as well as our initial review of Clear Sky and our post-patch re-visit.

Going to have a go with the 2004 build? Let us know how you get on in the forums.

14 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

Whalemeister 3rd March 2009, 12:34

As interesting as it sounds i really CBA, it's going to have more bugs than Africa!!!

Bauul 3rd March 2009, 12:42

I imagine a Stalker alpha would be fascinating, the game had SO much potential that arguably was never realised.

V3ctor 3rd March 2009, 12:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whalemeister
As interesting as it sounds i really CBA, it's going to have more bugs than Africa!!!

+1000

lool

Krikkit 3rd March 2009, 13:03

Well I've started downloading it, but it'll take a while at ~35kbits/s for 1.something GB...

I'd wait around for a while and see if this pops up on a torrent site later, assuming that's allowed of course.

[edit] Had a read about the thread, doesn't seem to be anything against torrenting it up, so here's one that a forum member made: BTJunkie linkage ;)

Double edit: Getting good speeds from the torrent at ~120kbit/s, much better!

p3n 3rd March 2009, 13:51

This have less horrible RPG shite and more FPS? :>

Xir 3rd March 2009, 18:42

Oh how great that I just paid money to get the original STALKER :(

azrael- 3rd March 2009, 18:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krikkit
Well I've started downloading it, but it'll take a while at ~35kbits/s for 1.something GB...

I'd wait around for a while and see if this pops up on a torrent site later, assuming that's allowed of course.

[edit] Had a read about the thread, doesn't seem to be anything against torrenting it up, so here's one that a forum member made: BTJunkie linkage ;)

Double edit: Getting good speeds from the torrent at ~120kbit/s, much better!

There's also FlashGet... :)

Cupboard 3rd March 2009, 19:23

Whilst this does seem great, and no doubt I will have a go and enjoy it, if they can't get a bug free game out for retail, how is this going to even load?

MiNiMaL_FuSS 3rd March 2009, 20:50

so is this the original alpha that was leaked and played by many year before the game actually came out ?

Neophyte4Life 4th March 2009, 03:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by V3ctor
Quote:
Originally Posted by Whalemeister
As interesting as it sounds i really CBA, it's going to have more bugs than Africa!!!

+1000

lool

+ 9^56

I beat the first one and found it somewhat entertaining. Clear Sky on the other hand was a pain in the a**. I even discovered THE UBER bug that prevented me from beating the game even after applying patches and starting over several times........

Krikkit 5th March 2009, 10:20

You'd be surprised how playable it actually is - for an early Alpha release, I've not had it crash on me (unless I've done something stupid, like walking into a bit of the map which is clearly unfinished). The only trouble is that it's still in Russian for the most part, so it's not like you can actually play any missions...

Krayzie_B.o.n.e. 27th October 2009, 02:05

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is my favorite series behind only Half Life. Yeah I hate the buggy release but after 3 or 4 patches the game play and environment is awesome. I love the X-ray engine, to me it's the best. I'll download this roach motel just to get my fix. I'm jonesen to get back into the zone.

littlephoenix 27th October 2009, 04:39

i never got into stalker something about the game, but i do love Far Cry 2, seems as though the game is built a bit more solid with its AI, i even like half life over stalker, but thats just me,
i will give the new stalker a try and see if they fixed the bugs i disliked

gavomatic57 27th October 2009, 12:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krayzie_B.o.n.e.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is my favorite series behind only Half Life. Yeah I hate the buggy release but after 3 or 4 patches the game play and environment is awesome. I love the X-ray engine, to me it's the best. I'll download this roach motel just to get my fix. I'm jonesen to get back into the zone.

Couldn't agree more. I'm loving the Complete Mod 2009 for Shadow of Chernobyl. The engine has so much potential and the atmosphere is without equal. Didn't like Clear Sky as much...mainly because I knew how it was going to end, but it did look very nice.

I also liked Far Cry 2, its another game where you have to absorb yourself into the game world, do lots of exploring and take on missions from time to time.