S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky. Official announcement.

News by GamesIndustry International Contributor

Published on July 12, 2007

Kiev, July 11, 2007.

GSC Game World announces S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky for PC, the official prequel to the most atmospheric game of 2007*- Survival FPS S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl.

The story of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky brings the players one year prior to the events of the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game in 2011.

A group of stalkers has for the first time reached the very heart of the Zone - Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, and brings about a cataclysm on the brink of a catastrophe. An immense blowout of anomalous energy changes the Zone. There are no more reliable and relatively safe roads. The entire levels vanish in the outbursts of anomalies. Stalkers and even expeditions die or end up sealed on the lost territories. New areas, which remained unknown since the time of the Zone emergence, appear on the Zone map. The Zone continues to shake with blowouts. The Zone is unstable. The anomalous activity is at its maximum.

Changes of the Zone map known to stalkers shake the fragile balance of forces in the Zone. Among the groupings, there flare up hostilities for the new territories, artifact fields and spheres of influence. There are no more old enemies or friends - now everyone is for himself. The Factions War has started between the groupings.

The protagonist is a mercenary who appeared at the edge of the opposition between stalker factions, Strelok and even the Zone itself. The main character will have to play the key role in the events, which led to creation of the Zone up to the point from which the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game begins.

What's waiting for stalkers in the opened depths of the Zone? Which new challenges bear in the new territories? Why blowouts continue shaking the Zone? Why did the Zone change? How to remove its instability? Which faction will take the upper hand in the factions war? Why did Strelok end up in the death truck? What happened to Strelok prior to that? Was there any other choice to make? These and many other questions will get answered in the official prequel S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky.

Experienced stalkers and newbies! Get ready for the new challenges in the exclusion zone in Q1 2008.

Game features:

Atmosphere of the Exclusion Zone Research of new depths of the Zone - Red Forest, Limansk, Pripyat Undergrounds and more. A-Life-driven Factions War Possibility to play and lead any faction to victory Advanced A-Life system Varied behaviour of NPC stalkers in the A-Life world Advanced spectacular storyline scenes Improved AI of computer-controlled characters Skirting around dynamic obstacles by NPCs Use of grenades by NPCs Fast Travel Improved concept of detectors, artifacts and anomalies New system of upgrades for weapons and armor Weapons and armor repair Reworked HUD and PDA New version of the game engine - X-Ray 1.5. DirectX 10 renderer Improved DirectX 9 renderer - parallax bump, soft particles, depth of field, motion blur, eye adaptation effect. Cutting-edge and detailed game graphics (normal map) Inverse kinematics New animation engine

Basing upon the publications in games magazines:

- GameStar: "The most atmospheric shooter ever!"

- IGN.COM: "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a true classic."

"S.T.A.L.K.E.R. truly shakes up the shooter genre, making everything else feel like a treadmill in a shoebox."

"S.T.A.L.K.E.R...will do for the genre what GTA did for action games... one of the most immersive, free-form and downright creepy shooters ever made."

- GAMESPOT.COM: "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is definitely a game that deserves to be played.

For first-person shooter fans looking for the next big thing in the genre, it's difficult not to be impressed by the game's unique and evolving world. Meanwhile, fans of role-playing games will appreciate the open-ended nature of the gameplay and being able to explore different paths through the zone. This is a bleak game, but in a good way, as it captures its postapocalyptic setting perfectly. It's also an excellent combination of combat, horror, and exploration."

- PC Jeux: "You have no excuse not to play S.T.A.L.K.E.R."

- EUROGAMER.NET: "If there's one thing that Stalker does brilliantly, it's lure you into exploring areas with the promise of loot and unveiled mystery.

...This is more like an antidote to the Americanised way of doing things. It's a warped behemoth from the Ukraine, and one of the scariest games on the PC."

About GSC Game World:

Founded in 1995 in Kiev, GSC Game World is the leading Kiev-based computer game development company in Ukraine. Up to 1997 GSC Game World was preoccupied with creation of multimedia encyclopedias and edutainment programs, which gained wide popularity in Ukraine and Russia. Since 1997 the company has been putting its efforts purely into game technology and computer game development. The very first commercial game project of GSC Game World was the critically acclaimed and hugely popular historical real-time strategy game Cossacks: European Wars, released in 2000.

The launched projects developed by GSC Game World, among others, include Cossacks: The Art of War, Cossacks; Back to War, American Conquest, American Conquest: Fight Back, Codename: Outbreak, Alexander (based on the recent movie by Oliver Stone), Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars, STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl.

Official web-site: www.gsc-game.com