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

this game is very buggy. without a mod this game is sucks

Great game. Best new mechanic was gun modifications & actual faction quests. Not as legendary, but still almost improving in most things (aside from story) and linear end missions.

I'm not a tech savvy person and I haven't researched how to make this game playable. It's glitchy and buggy to the extreme. Whenever I get around to this game again, maybe I'll change the review.

This game is pretty much just a worse Shadow Of Chernobyl with the highlight of it the entire game definitely being Limansk. The faction system is cool but isn't fleshed out nearly enough to be that interesting. I enjoyed the prequel feel of exploring a map I already knew but at times thought it was a bit lazy. Limansk made the entire game worth playing, the depraved and hopeless feeling of it was palpable throughout the entire experience. It was similar to Pripyat but a much heavier feeling of it being over. I feel like the story could have been much more interesting if we had seen some sign of clear sky in SOC or COP (besides the body armor) but since we don't it's pretty hard to care about the story or lore of a faction in the zone that never shows up again.

Overall Clear Sky is not a bad game but it is certainly the middle child of this franchise. It has neither the amazing story of SOC nor the refined gameplay of COP, regardless of this it's still worth playing just for some of that classic stalker kino.

Worst of the trilogy. After you enter Limansk, it becomes worse by every minute.

The game is very good until Limansk, sadly the AI is far worse than in SoC or CoP, but it helps a lot during the last section. Exploring, artifact hunting and the gunplay is good, the bleeding is terrible (you can bleed out from 3 bullets, and ofc most of the time 1 bandage isn't enough to stop the bleeding).
Enemies love grenades, you won't be able to kill anyone with it though... I wasn't able to finish the game, gave up after the hospital section, it was just too repetitive and unfair (enemies spawning behind you, allies do nothing, etc.).

Overall, I had a good time with the game for the first ~29 hours, after I reached the Red Forest, it went downhill, after Limansk, it just sucked ass. It shows that Clear Sky came out after the first game about a year later, it was rushed.

If it wasn't for the last few missions, I would recommend it. The new zones are far better, than the ones in CoP. It isn't so much worse than the other 2 game and FAR BETTER, than the Heart of Chernobyl.

If you are interested in the story, I don't recommend it, if you just want to explore, I do recommend it, just buy it when it is on sale. The best option is to play Call of Chernobyl, which has every zone from the first 3 games, so you can experience the red forest, limansk and the swamps of course.

It's got the cheeki, but it needs more breeki imo, 7/10

It must be hard to not make a modern stalker not feel like a unity asset dump, og stalker is where its at

Good game with the post USSR vibe

For anyone who's thinking of buying this game, I highly recommend installing the latest version of (at the time of me writing this) The Sky Reclamation Project (SRP) community patch + the Optional Features recommended by the developer marked with an asterisx (*) in the corresponding text file.

And after you've done that, go into gamedata/config/weapons, open every file starting with "w_" with Notepad++ or whatever text editor you use, look for a line called "time_to_aim" and set the number to "0", that'll fix the horrid gunplay.

Trust me, if you play Clear Sky without this, you're gonna have a miserable as hell experience.

With that all said, this isn't as great as Shadow of Chernobyl or Call of Pripyat, but it's still worth checking out.

bro wtf is wrong with this game AI and grenades.they keep spamming grenades man,i was fightting 12 bandits and 12 of them throw grenades at me AT THE SAME TIME.not to mention the shit ass accuracy of your guns and how little damage they deal.youre telling me that a guy wearing trench coat can take on 3 7.62s to the chest?while if i get hit once or twice my HP deplete imediately.i have no comment about the story but the gunplay sucks.save your money for call of pripyat and install gunslinger mod on it

Zombie got stuck in scientist base, cant get in anymore and i have to play trough the game all over again.

Best game ever!

ending was kinda hard but a decent game all around

Good old Stalker now with more anamolies that will crash the game(sometimes)

Clear Sky feels half-baked. It's still plenty enjoyable, especially the middle part - running around grabbing artifacts and causing issues is always a treat - but the gameplay feels disjointed, split between its more atmospheric play and the shooters it's emulating and catching an awkward valley in between them. Its ending was a mighty difficulty spike and oddly paced, rushing you through and through to an ultimately unsatisfying final fight. Worth grabbing on sale for a shorter romp, but it's the jankiest (and, in my experience, the buggiest) of the original STALKER trio.

Played nearly as much of this one as Stalker 2. First one i ever got and it scared the shit out of me as a tween but i got through that because of how badly i wanted to play this game (and metro 2033 first) and it helped me grow as a person.
At the time of the review going back to play it again. unmodded or not. prequel to the first game. feels to me that it has a really good intro to the stalker universe for new players.

Good game, just like it's predecessor. If you love abandoned Eastern European buildings and Swamps, our favorite bandit faction and Russian weaponry then yeah, this game is definitely for you.

With the small exception that Scar is made out of paper, He gets shot by a 9x18mm from so fucking far away and suddenly all my hp is being drained due to bleeding.

На Барахолке не подвал, а лес чудес. Зашел с деньгами - вышел без

Best game out of the og 3. Great map, gunplay, and story.
Cheeki Breeki!

its a fun game it might make you want to punch your screen but its a good game

Got the first 3 games for dirt cheap, but that does't excuse of bad and boring the first game was. That made me not even try to play more of this garbage universe.

very fun gameplay but bad ending

This is a very good game, and I think you should definitely give it a try. The fighting mechanics and graphics were impressive, but the guns were pretty disappointing. Despite that, the story was engaging, and overall, I had a great time playing it. I’m really glad I chose this game for my YouTube channel.

While I enjoyed most aspects of the game, I found that I only liked one or two of the guns I used frequently. The other guns felt ineffective for combat. Aside from that, the game was enjoyable, and I’m happy with my experience.

Sky Reclamation Project + Alternative Ballistics + Stalker Weapon Reanimation pack = peak vanilla+ experience, even stalker 2 doesn't reach this level of fun

Bleeding mechanics suck and the ending mission is bad, but what stalker game doesn't have a bad end mission? Take a TON of bandages for the end so you don't get softlocked. The game doesn't deserve the hate it gets. It's a really solid installment that is better than SoC in almost every way, the upgrade system was well done and the guns feel miles better. Pick this up, don't take it too seriously, and enjoy it for what it is - a game old enough to drive.

i know myself well enough to know when to uninstall a game to save my sanity so i did not finish this game

but everything up to the ending scene is very good and very fun and i hold it dear to my heart

Game gets better as time goes on, the final act is peak I just dislike the sudden ending. Many bugs anomalies but they can be easily avoided by saving a bunch (quick saves are risky, hard save always)

Great game, maybe not as solid as SoC or CoP, but it is still a solid experience. Play it on Master with no crosshair.

6.8/10

Main pros: Fun resource management, fun upgrade system, decently fun side quests and faction mechanics, decent story.

Main cons: EXTREMELY BUGGY; strongly recommend a bug fixing mod. Some examples of problematic bugs include bodies disappearing too quickly, faction wars mechanic breaking, optional quests not appearing, etcetera. Some traders have limited cash, weather emissions have a decently high chance to occur when moving to a new part of the map-- making you take shelter and afk for a fair bit until it's over. Also bullet travel is iffy-- gun play is fun despite being done poorly.

crashes, bugs, death loop saves, yet I still love this game

Clear Sky is the most unfortunate in the whole franchise. Nonetheless, the story is still engaging as it's related to the SoC narrative. If you liked the first game, this one is definitely worth playing, too, because despite the fact it's the most unsuccessful game in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, the game itself isn't bad overall.

Unimpressive, felt slimmed down in comparison to Shadow of Chernobyl. The faction war system added some depth and more dynamics between the factions but it didn't amount to much. The story wasn't great either.

game peak!1
I love this game, It feels like a fan-game for some fucking reason but I don't mind.
You can join factions unlike SoC, repair and enhance your gear!
Don't expect shitloads of loot to be lying around for you to take like in SoC, good gear is harder to come by so the hoarder experience is even more real

the military base part is hard but you got a lot of good kits good for you

haters gone hate, i played SoC, gem just finished it, now playing clear sky. just as good and great addon to the story and lore, dont listen to those nerds, they hate it cause they aint it and are bad at the game, if you like stalker, play it

Although not the strongest in the series, S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky still holds its own as a great game. The updated faction system made it stand out, adding a layer of depth and uniqueness that kept me intrigued.

Revisiting it this year brought back those good memories, and despite its flaws, I found myself completing the whole game again.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky [Prologue]

Gameplay: In this type of game I've never got so involved, but oh what a blast! The game might be a bit old but I loved the combat style and the variety of weapons and factions you can join [In my case "Duty"]. There are some really good items and others worse than a bullet in the leg. The adventure is cool and a bit long, taking me a few days. Honestly, it's a really good game even though it has a few bugs. But anyway, it's still enjoyable.

Map: To say it's long is to stay in the middle, not so small or so big. As far as factions go, I'd say it's better to join Duty than Freedom, just to have better things or more accessibility to all areas in one trip. (Looting Artifacts and Items is immensely long believe me, just search bodies don't pay any money)

Soundtracks: I have to say that this game has a good soundtrack in combat as well as in faction radios, especially Duty and in combat in the swamps.

Note: [How many times have I mentioned "Duty"? I think I've already annoyed some Freedom member... Oops]

This game has some messed up shooting mechanics baseline, but if you install a mod, this game is amazing. Highly recommend mods with this one.

Another excellent game from the Stalker franchise.
You play as the mercenary, Scar, he's bald.
Clear Sky is the prequel to the first game, Shadow of Chernobyl.
The combat in this game became even better, as I noticed the enemies had well made animations for when they got shot.
I think new weapons got added, but I'm not sure.
Overall this game's story was very fun to go through, but it wasn't as crazy as the first game. The ending though was pretty crazy, I liked it.
10/10

Crashes constantly, save files get corrupted and crash to windows. i would not recommend purchasing until its fixed.

love the fast travel system, really needed that ong

To be honest its the most buggy shit that I ever played, but concept and realization of group wars even in 2025 is impressive

Everyone says this one is bad, but it's actually great. Different but just as good atmosphere as SoC, story is meh but it's a prequel. Play with ABR mod.

Gameplay is pretty nice, a decent amount of quality of life improvements from SoC. The subtle changes in setting and the faction dynamics are interesting and there's a lot of cool things to discover in the world. The story isn't earth-shattering but the plot in STALKER games has always been secondary to me so your mileage may vary.

"Cheeki breeki."


New Players:
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Clear Sky, is a semi-open world, FPS that's set in Ukraine in an area known as The Zone, which is the radiation affected area near the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Disaster. It serves as a prequel to the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and helps to set the events that happened before the Marked One goes on his quest to find and kill Strelok.

Review:
I consider Clear Sky to be an upgrade, downgrade of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl. While there are some nice quality of life improvements made such as the ability to upgrade equipment, there were a bunch of other frustrating elements that made it less of an enjoyable experience. It's nonetheless an interesting take on the game that with a bit of polish could've been exceptional.

Gameplay:
It runs pretty much the same as SoC. Most of the original feeling is in the game, with a couple of addons here and there. For starters, some changes to the UI were made along with the ability to upgrade armor and weapons. This was an interesting feature that at times made me wonder whether it was working properly or not. I particularly had issue with the accuracy system as no matter how much I upgraded it, it didn't seem to make much of a difference, so often it felt like money wasted. I also almost never had money to fully kit out my armor either as money runs out extremely fast. The other bummer was finding all of the USB drives that contain access to advanced upgrades. I rarely found these, and honestly, after a while I wasn't bothered looking for them. The upgrades are a great idea, but it just felt pointless mostly to be honest.

The next great idea was the enhanced faction system. Before, back in SOC, you joined your faction and performed their quest line, but this time you get to pick one of multiple factions and do missions related to their controlled area. Complete all of their objectives and get rewarded with money and access to their best equipment. I went with the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. / Neutral faction, which gave me access to the SEVA suit pretty early on. However, after doing their missions, I noticed that their sworn enemy, the Bandits would ALWAYS reoccupy areas I took from them. I at first wasted a lot of time trying to clear the Renegades and Bandits, only to realize that it made no difference at all. This ruined the purpose of doing any faction related quests for me as it would've been awesome if you could actually wipe the opposing faction or at least keep them contained in their main base.

Then there's the artifact system. Again, I like the idea of balancing them and making them harder to find, but by the time I find some of them their purpose is limited. You now have a tracking device to find artifacts, and most spawn in anomaly infested areas, but they don't seem to respawn, meaning artifacts are pretty rare in this game. Two artifacts in particular are really useful for making money, which are the endurance and weight capacity increases. The weight one I found early enough, but the advanced version of it along with the endurance increase I found near the end of the game. By that time, I had little to no need to do any more trader runs to make money as I was satisfied with my kit. Maybe there were other areas I didn't explore, but it would've been useful to have these by the mid-game. Another thing to note is that not all suits can carry artifacts. Part of the reason I stuck with the SEVA was because it could take 5 artifacts, which the Exo-skeleton suit couldn't take a single one.

I also found the AI to be deadlier and stupidly accurate, where even with my upgrades, I always felt under-powered. The AI can throw a grenade from the other side of a cliff and PINPOINT accurately hit you in the face with it, no matter your cover. Whenever you hear anything resembling a grenade prompt, your best bet is to just run in any direction, because they cook it for a few seconds and then it explodes as soon as it hits you. Other times I would just be hit behind cover. At first I thought it was because of the material, but after standing behind a metal barricade, I realized it had to be some kind of bug. Coupling all of this together, and battles can become a massive frustration, especially since you're "supposed" to be equipped.

They've also included a fast travelling system of sorts, which is cool, until you realize that some are only one-way trips. You pay for each fast travel, with the furthest ones, being more expensive. Some traders offer more money for certain items, so it makes sense that you fast travel to whichever trader, make a bag of money and return. It's only then that you realize that your guide won't take you back to the same place you were before, so it end up having to run a bit. This would be less of a problem if you could get your artifacts in order faster.

Finally, the emissions. They don't happen all that often, but my God does it take forever to pass. If you're out in the woods with a warning coming through, you better find cover soon or lose your progress, because nothing will save you if you're outside. Often you'd be told that an emission is coming in 30 seconds, which is more like 2-3 minutes in reality, for whatever reason. During this time, all you can do is stand around, make a cup of coffee, take a bathroom break and return. It's a frustrating mechanic.

Graphics:
This is one aspect that I can say truly was an upgrade without any complaints to it. CS makes use of DirectX 10 and adds some really nice enhanced lighting effects, which makes the environment look a whole lot better and realistic. I find that the gun models are also improved and not so massive as it was before, making things fit way better into your screen.

There were a bunch of choppy moments, but it seems to be related to the shaders loading, which would cause micro-stuttering. It wasn't a deal breaker, but it could never truly fix this. My best experience came from disabling DirectX 10 and using only static lighting.

Story:
As I mentioned before, this is the prequel to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. You play as the mercenary Scar, who has been helping scientists collect their data for whatever means by escorting them through the Zone and fighting off mutants. On one particular excursion, a massive emission goes off which kills the entire team save for you. For some reason, you're somewhat resistant to the emissions, but any one could kill you as well. Something has been triggering the Zone to discharge more emissions than usual and it becomes your job to find out exactly why and possibly find out how you can stop it, considering that your life depends on it.

Conclusion:
Despite all its flaws, I still recommend playing this game. I might not have enjoyed it as much as the OG version, but it's still fun to play and still interesting to see how everything started. If you focus on the main quest, it turns out to be a short game, but if you're willing to help all of the factions, you could squeeze out more hours, but I honestly find it to be a waste of time since the benefit seems to be limited. Nonetheless, you're bound to have fun playing it if you enjoyed the first game.

Clear Sky is a good game and is as good STALKER experience as the other games in the franchise.
You may see people online telling you to skip this game because it is full of bugs, to be honest that is true but this can easily be solved by using SRP (Sky Reclamation Project) mod. If you love STALKER just install SRP and you will definitely enjoy this game!

I love faction wars in this game, but its a little buggy and aim accuracy is a problem here.

Only play with mod fix with this game.

One of the best games I have ever played. I used SRP for bug fixes and the like, easily one of my favorite series of all time now. If you are a fan of games like Fallout, post apocalyptic games in general, this is a MUST play. As soon as I'm done with Clear Sky, I'll be moving on to Call of Pripyat. Also, I mustn't forget about the GAMMA and Anomaly mods too! Great series, great games, great mod support for all of them.

Install SRP with Alternative Ballistics and this game becomes just as good as SoC. Clear Sky best faction, fuck bandits.

There were a lot of things i absolutely hated about this game and i really had to force myself to finish it.

Guns are wildy inaccurate until you fully upgrade the TR-300 or whatever it was called.

The perfect shot grenades the enemy do was the most annoying thing in the entire game.

Does feel like the game is ment to be played on the highest difficulty. There just wasn't enough meds, ammo or money for my playthrough.

Bleeds are awful. It almost feels like bleeds stack and using one bandage simply isn't enough to stop the bleed. This isn't an issue in the early game because bandages are everywhere and you can buy lots with all the money you're making. But towards the end i found myself reloading my save if i got a bleed.

Getting money late game is pretty rough, a lot of the friendlies in the later zones just won't give you random quests.

Exo-suit can't sprint

You don't recover stamina while you are walking, so you either have to chug energy drinks when low on stamina or you completely stand still for 20 seconds. This fucking sucked.

Artefacts sucked. Most of the ones i found gave such high amounts of radiation that it was impossible to equip them. Coupled with the lack of meds, it never felt worth it hunting for artefacts. And on top of that they seemed few and far between.

There was an artefact from a story quest that gave 8+ to endurance, i thought, "oh this is great, i can regain stamina while sprinting". 5 minutes later you have to hand that artefact to an NPC..........

Oh and this game may be called Clear Sky, but you barely even spend time with the clear sky faction. You do some quests for the faction at the start and it's great, but after you leave the swamp you don't even see them again until the end of the game.

It's worth playing if like me, you're experiencing all the old stalker games for the first time. The ending makes sense with what happened to Scar in stalker 2, i thought that was quite well done.

a bad game overall to be honest . the lack of bandages , medkits , even ammo makes it one of the worst games i've ever played. and i didnt mention the bleeding or the radiation effects. but its worth trying.. i guess. i played it because of the story. i wanted to play the series chronologically so i started with Clear Sky.
P.S.: do not play this game unless u have a lot of patience and persistence