What Order Should You Play the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Games In?

• Play the games in order of release to get the experience intended by the developers and minimize frustrations around dated game design.
• In order of release, the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games are: Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear Sky, and Call of Pripyat.
• Install the Zone Reclamation Project and Sky Reclamation Project mods to update the games to more modern standards, if you like.

What order should you play the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games in?

Play Shadow of Chernobyl first for a great intro to the series. First released in 2007, Shadow of Chernobyl was the first game in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. Naturally it’s a good place to start, since you’re getting the same introduction to the series as players in 2007. Not only that, but you’ll be introduced to the radioactive Zone and its dangerous inhabitants the way the developers intended—with fresh eyes and an open mind. Since it’s the first game to be released, it’s also the most dated, so it might be a bit clunky if you’re used to modern gaming standards. But that’s alleviated some by updating the game with mods. Story-wise, you play as the amnesiac “Marked One,” who wakes in the Zone with a message on his PDA that reads only, “Kill Strelok.” Who is Strelok? Why do you need to kill him? Play the game to find out! Note that each S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game is currently only available to install and play on PC. All 3 are available to purchase on Steam.

Play S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky next for a deeper RPG experience. Clear Sky was released in 2008 and is the second game in the series. The game features more RPG-like mechanics than its predecessor, like custom gear and enemy factions you can align yourself with. It also features enhanced graphics and mission design, so playing this one next makes for a smooth progression in terms of quality-of-life upgrades and basic gameplay systems between games. Some players also say the first couple hours can be aggravating, which means that starting here might put you off the series before you can see what it’s really capable of. Clear Sky is actually a prequel to Shadow of Chernobyl, so chronologically it comes first, but we still recommend playing it after Shadow of Chernobyl to fully pick up on the story beats. Clear Sky has you playing as Scar, a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. attempting to stop a band of mercenaries from reaching the center of the Zone, where the Chernobyl reactor waits, and from which only the mysterious Strelok has returned alive.

Play S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat to get up to speed with the series. Call of Pripyat, released in 2009, is the final game in the original trilogy, and takes place after the events of Shadow of Chernobyl. It’s also the most polished of the 3, with the best graphics and most satisfying gunplay. That’s why we recommend jumping into it last, since it’s the latest, chronologically, and it might also be hard to go back to the other 2’s relative clunkiness after experiencing Pripyat’s polish. Call of Pripyat is also the only game of the original trilogy that can be played with relative comfort without any added mods. Call of Pripyat has you control Major Alexander Degtyarev as you search for a number of mysteriously downed helicopters that were headed toward the center of the Zone.

Play S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Anomaly or Gamma for a hardcore survival game. Anomaly is a fan-made S.T.A.L.K.E.R. mod that strips away the story and reimagines the games as an open-world survival RPG, similar to Escape from Tarkov. Gamma is a sort of expansion of Anomaly that bundles a number of mods into the game to make it bigger, better, more polished, complex, and harder. Either mod is great for those who don’t care so much for a story experience and just want to blaze their own trails in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. world. Note that while S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games are already fairly difficult, these mods have even less handholding for new players. We recommend playing at least some of the original trilogy to familiarize yourself with the franchise before you dive in.

Using Mods

Install the Zone Reclamation Project mod for Shadow of Chernobyl. Modding your games makes for smoother gameplay. The Zone Reclamation Project (ZRP) is a community-made mod for Shadow of Chernobyl that fixes tons of bugs and adds plenty of quality-of-life improvements to the game. The first game is pretty clunky on its own, but ZRP makes the experience breezy with quicksaves, retooled levels, and even handy “cheats” that let you skip over the more needless tedium of the game. Make sure you pick up version 1.07, which is the most stable to date. Of course, if you want the “true,” vanilla S.T.A.L.K.E.R. experience, feel free to do without mods to test your mettle in the Zone. For added improvements, pick up an FOV switcher mod to change the game’s field of view, and a weapon texture mod and reshade pack to update the game’s visuals.

Install the Sky Reclamation Project mod for Clear Sky. Sky Reclamation Project (SRP) is essentially the same as ZRP, but for Clear Sky. It bumps up the graphics, sound, and overall experience without tampering too much with the actual gameplay. Alternatively, you might grab the Clear Sky Complete Pack, which is a tad easier to install and does much the same thing. Call of Pripyat also has the Pripyat Reclamation Project mod, but we think the third game in the series is polished enough to play without mods.