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in SFW Non-Sexual
Posted
Exactly, the atmosphere is the crux, the glue that holds the whole game perfectly.
I mean, imagine STALKER as "ordinary typical shooter". So, no advanced combat AI, no global open world map and its own AI system and no absolutely amazing, deep atmosphere of the Exclusion Zone thats based on outstanding visuals (X-Ray engine may be old, but one can see how modded visuals look like ... its absolutely NOT far from UE5 at all), and immersive sounds. And not to mention regular emissions and psy-storms ...
If this game was just for shooting and guns, it would quickly fade into oblivion. The first STALKER game I actually played was Clear Sky, so I started with probably "worst title" of them all... only to be immersed into a massive modding scene.
The whole STALKER franchise is a combination of :
1. Outstanding visuals and especially lighting and shadows that put game far beyond typical visuals. Horror and mysteries of the Zone combined with action.
2. Survival skills of the player, some light RPG elements of the game (especially with mods) and hardcore approach
3. Its unique AI and global map and its own AI (there are two AI "routines" in the game ... one that activates when NPCs are in distance from our player, and one when theyre "offline" but still present on map)
But also for guns ... I would say this is mostly in modded STALKER games, especially Anomaly. And Anomaly now got its own sub-mods like GAMMA and others ...