PC Gamer - February 2012

MONITOR
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4Just one area The original Stalker was meant to be the open-world representation of Chernobyl, but it was hacked into chunks and linear missions because no hardware at the time would have been able to run it. Even the excellent Call of Pripyat nailed together three different zones, with lengthy loading times bet ween them. Probability: 8/10

threat up, anomalies have to be larger, subtler, more dynamic, and more ubiquitous—areas that move slowly across the entire landscape, anomalies in combination, anomalies that provide a visual or auditory effect (but nothing else), anomalies that kill you oh-so-slowly, anomalies that trigger blowouts… Probability: 7/10

5Relevant multiplayer Remember when the game was going to be about racing other Stalkers to the Wish-Giver? Can we have that back, please? Could we also have that as co-op, because we’re greedy? Can you imagine how much fun minefields are when you’re trying to persuade friends to go first? Probability: 4/10

7Frontier towns The plot of Roadside Picnic has that “one last heist” feel of people going back for a bigger score each time. Yet, without anything to lose, you can’t care about your Stalker. If this is set in Stalker’s future, have settlements grown up where the desperate and greedy go to gamble their lives? Take inspiration from Metro 2033’s cramped stations. Probability: 4/10

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You SuGGeST

linked by portals. We’re not so enthused by that, but we are by the books’ concept of foreign forces getting involved, making the zones more of a melting pot. In general, give us more of a sense of how the world has responded to the anomalies. Are there no politics in Ukraine? No religion? Probability: 7/10

6Increased uncertainty What is key about the Zone world is that nothing is predictable. Even experienced Stalkers can be taken by surprise and killed. To keep the

8Going international The official Death Zone novels, set after the first Stalker game, have the original Zone disappearing, to be replaced with four zones that are

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Stalker Night-
vision goggles,
something to
keep me strapped
in the tree and a
decent alibi.
@Fingerof
kawaii
All the things
they promised
SINCE THE FIRST
DAMN GAME.
@ballyhewe
A repair system
similar to the one
in Fallout.
@Godl1keStev3
A restrained and
unobtrusive DRM!
@Snowwraith
Not always-on
DRM…more large
open buildings to
fight through.
@Frarocchi

9Russian language When we watch a foreign film, we don’t want it dubbed into bad English; we want the original language with subtitles, because emotion is expressed more clearly, and because translations from Eastern Europe are generally awful. This would also make it easier for modders to add new content, as they can just alter subtitles and reuse existing voice files. Probability: 3/10

To have your say follow: @pc_gamer

10Sneaking In such a lethal game, where one bullet or bite can kill, sneaking is essential—but amazingly not present. There have been a lot of stealth mods to fix this, but they’ve all worked by making the enemies into idiots. The modders tell us this is something that only GSC can do. Probability: 20/10