GSC World announces S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky

Good news for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fans! GSC Game World has just announced a prequel to the PC first-person shooter.

The prequel, dubbed S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, is set a year before the events of the original video game. A group of stalkers reach the heart of the Zone, which happen to be the source of the disaster, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Unfortunately, they unleash a chain of events that lead to another disaster which leads to a ginormous explosion of anomalous energy found in the first game. The domino effect brings about changes in the Zone, with some known levels disappearing and others popping out of nowhere. Stalkers within the Zone died or got stuck in some levels.

The Zone becomes an unstable area altogether and the changes in the terrain brings about a war between the Factions. The Factions War breaks out, with the different groups vying among themselves for new territories, artifacts, and power. This time, players get to fill in the shoes of a mercenary caught in the Factions War. As the mercenary, players will get to meet the main character of Shadows of Chernobyl, Strelok, presumably before he got amnesia.

More info about S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky and the first screenshots after the jump!

Good news for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fans! GSC Game World has just announced a prequel to the PC first-person shooter.

The prequel, dubbed S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, is set a year before the events of the original video game. A group of stalkers reach the heart of the Zone, which happen to be the source of the disaster, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Unfortunately, they unleash a chain of events that lead to another disaster which leads to a ginormous explosion of anomalous energy found in the first game. The domino effect brings about changes in the Zone, with some known levels disappearing and others popping out of nowhere. Stalkers within the Zone died or got stuck in some levels.

The Zone becomes an unstable area altogether and the changes in the terrain brings about a war between the Factions. The Factions War breaks out, with the different groups vying among themselves for new territories, artifacts, and power. This time, players get to fill in the shoes of a mercenary caught in the Factions War. As the mercenary, players will get to meet the main character of Shadows of Chernobyl, Strelok, presumably before he got amnesia.

We’re sure you’re excited about the announcement so we’re going to jump to the additional 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

We also have four “work in progress” screenshots so be sure to check them out as well. We’ll be back with more info about S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky once they become available so keep checking back. Estimated time of arrival, by the way, is Q1 next year.