Fun despite flaws, great with mods
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“Even as broken as it is, its fantastic and has identity geared towards factions”
Steam review · 210.4 h played ↗
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Very Positive · 86%Very Positive · 86%GSC Game World2008FPS · Survival · Action
$19.99
Open on Steam ↗US Steam price, checked 2 h ago
The verdict
A flawed, combat-heavy STALKER prequel with great atmosphere, weapon upgrades and faction wars, but grenade spam, bleeding, bugs and a rough finale. Skip it if you're new to the series; use SRP.
Great for
STALKER veterans who want faction wars, weapon upgrades and a hard, atmospheric Zone, and will install community fixes
Main risk
Bugs, pinpoint grenade spam and a brutal linear endgame can make it frustrating or even unfinishable.
What players love
Atmosphere and beautiful visuals
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 positive reviews
“this game has the best atmosphere out of all three”
Steam review · 23.4 h played ↗
Faction war and joinable factions
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 positive reviews
“the war/faction system cranks immersion and the impact of A-life up to 11”
Steam review · 9 h played ↗
Weapon and armor upgrades and repair
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 positive reviews
“the feeling of going from a peashooter to a fully upgraded weapon of your liking feels absolutely euphoric”
Steam review · 67 h played ↗
Improved artifact hunting
Mentioned in ~1 in 19 positive reviews
“They made a proper artifact search system and artifacts no longer just lie on the floor.”
Steam review · translated · 15.5 h played ↗
Lively A-Life and dynamic world
Mentioned in ~1 in 21 positive reviews
“seeing enemy or friendly stalkers in the wild,either walking around or hanging around campfires,fighting eachother or getting mauled by mutants”
Steam review · 67 h played ↗
What players complain about
Bugs, crashes and softlocks
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“Insanely buggy game. My game crashed just as I was exiting agoprom underground and when I tried to reload my save, it had me softlocked”
Steam review · 10.5 h played ↗
Inaccurate guns and bullet-sponge enemies
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews
“A bandit in raincoat should not tank 5 shotgun shells at almost point blank range.”
Steam review · 11.4 h played ↗
Broken, pointless faction war
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews
“AI gets stuck, territories change hands for no reason, and the whole thing feels like an unfinished experiment”
Steam review · 3.9 h played ↗
Awful linear finale
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews
“it features one of the single worst endgame sequences in gaming history”
Steam review · 13.7 h played ↗
Pinpoint grenade spam
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 negative reviews
“Every enemy has an unlimited supply of grenades hidden up his ass.”
Steam review · 3.9 h played ↗
Constant bleeding and scarce healing
Mentioned in ~1 in 10 negative reviews
“You will bleed to death from like 2 or 3 bullets without bandages.”
Steam review · 5 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: Unsupported6 GB
Minimum
ProcessorIntel Pentium 4 2.0 Ghz / AMD XP 2200+
Memory512 MB RAM
Graphics128 MB DirectX® 8.0 compatible card / nVIDIA® GeForce™ 5700 / ATI Radeon® 9600
Storage6 GB free hard disc space
Recommended
ProcessorIntel Core 2 Duo E6400 / AMD 64 X2 4200+
Memory2 GB RAM
Graphics256 MB DirectX® 9.0c compatible card* / nVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800 GT / ATI Radeon® HD 2900 XT
Storage10 GB free hard disc space
ProcessorIntel Pentium 4 2.0 Ghz / AMD XP 2200+
Memory512 MB RAM
Graphics128 MB DirectX® 8.0 compatible card / nVIDIA® GeForce™ 5700 / ATI Radeon® 9600
Storage6 GB free hard disc space
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