"S.T.A.L.K.R.: Call of Pripyat" is the culmination of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, offering a refined and immersive experience in the Zone. The game features improved graphics, AI, and gunplay, creating a more realistic and challenging atmosphere.

The Zone, perfected.

Immediately after finishing Clear Sky, I started Call of Pripyat. I already knew this game had a reputation of being easy, and I quickly found out why. From the very start of the game, you can get extremely good gear, namely an AK-94 Abakan from the Mercenaries at the Waste plant in Zaton, and if you know already, Strelok's SGi in a stash under the cement factory in Yanov. On top of that, you can just as easily acquire an G36 from Black once you go to Jupiter, either for the main quest or the scientist's sidequest.

Regardless, its difficulty talks amount to just this. The enemies can still (and will) two tap you even with the highest degree of armor, they are intelligent enough to flush you out most of the time (although CS' grenade spam is no more) and the new sound and visual detection mechanics make using nightvision almost a necessity. This, on top of the expanded upgrading system which is really fun to mess with, less, but more dynamic and explorative sidequests that don't just hand you a marker and require you to explore, the new weapons (or at least, Clear Sky weapons that were more common, like the Beretta pistol early game) make CoP one of the best STALKER experiences.

Sure, it's three maps (plus Pripyat underpass and lab X-8), but those three maps are far more fleshed out in both size and content than SoC's larger map. Without a doubt, the best thing about it is the movement speed, as you're definitely faster in both walk and sprint, making traversal not as a chore as you'd expect, especially considering most stalkers you're on good terms with can serve as fast travel points, not just guides, which in this game are used to travel between Yanov, Zaton and Pripyat, doing away with the connected maps, unfortunately.

But in exchange, you get so much, even the minor addition of being able to sleep is a godsend and allows you to take a break instead of being on the road 24/7. It is a real fun, fleshed out game that still looks great and, unlike its two predecessors, doesn't really require an unofficial patch to clear the jank. Although PRP is a suitable contender for that role, allowing you to tweak the game similarly to ZRP for Shadow of Chernobyl. Changing FOV was also a bit harder, requiring me to grab a specific .dll, but I did wish the default FOV was higher.

But all this is just minor nitpicks that are easily fixable. The end result is STALKER at its finest officially, behind Anomaly/GAMMA, obviously, and quite possibly the looming new king STALKER 2.

stalvber