Welcome to STALKER! Which GAME and MOD should you Play?

Install Raid for Free ✅ IOS/ANDROID/PC: clcr.me/CheekiBreeki and get a special starter pack 💥 Available only for the next 30 days!
For the best possible experience make sure to use the desktop version.
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STALKER has a very rich history of modding and any new player interested in the franchise will definitely get lost and not be sure what to play and where to start with.
I think it was long overdue that I do a small history of Stalker Games / Mods and give my advice to new players, so here we go. Enjoy!
RECOMMENDED MODS for the best "vanilla" experience:
ZRP for Shadow of Chernobyl:
www.metacognix.com/files/stlk...
SRP for Clear Sky:
github.com/Decane/SRP
PRP for Call of Pripyat:
www.moddb.com/mods/pripyat-re...
For an "updated" experience of SoC try OGSR:
www.moddb.com/mods/ogsr-mod-r...
You can add Gunslinger on top of it for an even better immersive experience.
Comprehensive Mod List:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
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00:00 The New Player dilemma
01:44 Sponsor
03:28 The OG Trilogy
04:20 STALKER Modding History
07:18 Anomaly, EFP & GAMMA
08:56 So, Where do I start?
10:02 The Best Experience
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Song: Dreamer by Hazy
/ hazy_music
Music provided by www.plugnplaymusic.net

[@CheekiBreekiTv]

Install Raid for Free ✅ IOS/ANDROID/PC: clcr.me/CheekiBreeki and get a special starter pack 💥 Available only for the next 30 days! For the best possible experience make sure to use the desktop version.

[@blooocki]

For people that might think that shadow of chernobyl is dated, they should try OGSR. It's a standalone port of Shadow of Chernobyl to the 64bit xray engine. It also has cut content and some Fan made dlc that fits perfectly into the universe. But OGSR might spoil you, for me it was the best Stalker experience

[@jojolafrite90]

No, thanks.

[@battledsoda6744]

Which staler is the newest and is a open world survival experience and how do i get it

[@FR4M3Sharma]

@@battledsoda6744 Bruh

[@battledsoda6744]

@@FR4M3Sharma it wasn't clear what so ever he went into a fucking history lesson then was like "its all up too you" like gamma not on the steam store anomaly not there so by all means if you know a web site that is legitimate please be more helpful than this video

[@OperatorDrewski]

You're the reason I discovered GAMMA Cheeki! Will be sending this vid to some of my buddies who want to get into stalker hehe.

[@nathanwilliams4954]

The obligatory "wow other youtuber that I watch commenting on a video I'm watching" comment

[@jesselll5165]

the Chad Drewski

[@BIDP-]

10:14 :Because I know people won't watch the whole video, and evidently haven't based on the comments

[@AndreasJepsenMusic]

My man

[@uglytuco3079]

You're the reason I discovered ANOMALY. which lead me here.

[@Theinvalidmusic]

As a self-confessed STALKER grognard, this is absolutely spot-on. I think the main worry of a lot of the purists is that the old STALKER experience kind of just gets forgotten about, and Anomaly becomes the new default. I think it's important that we still keep the old STALKER alive, but attacking the newbies or asking them to play all three original games unmodded isn't the way to do it. Your suggestions are absolutely the right middle ground.

[@eelyy212]

It's more so because anomaly is super boring to most people.. and doesn't reflect the originals gameplay

[@crudefredo9148]

@@eelyy212 as someone that has played all three stalker games and anomaly unmodded then replaying all of them with mods and addons, i enjoyed all of them but I’m kinda surprised hearing that people think anomaly is boring that was personally my favorite.

[@eelyy212]

@@crudefredo9148 its not for everyone. i REALLY try to get into it but ive never been able to enjoy it that much if at all, and i feel like most people would like the originals more than anomaly

[@samithonjames370]

@@eelyy212 Dude anomaly has more players than all 3 games combined and still has consistent updates. It doesn't reflect the original gameplay because the original gameplay is clunky outdated garbage with terrible assets and horrible balance. Get over yourself.

[@eelyy212]

@@samithonjames370 anomaly is ridiculously boring.

[@MKPwrz]

I went straight in with GAMMA. First 3 hours was confusing but I chose to be confused starting with GAMMA and don't regret it Coz I love the game and I like my story in the form of breadcrumbs / lore. I can choose to delve deeper when I want but the gameplay keeps me playing. But I bought the trilogy to support the company

[@CheekiBreekiTv]

Thats the spirit!

[@blooocki]

You shouldn't forget the story is not actually there. Its watered down, retcons a lot of stuff and misrepresents the factions a whoooole lot.

[@Ticklety]

I'm so happy for you to get a sponsor! I've been rooting for you since your early Anomaly guides and playthroughs. It's so nice to see you grow! Keep it up Cheeki Breeki!

[@datmanbrooksiehd875]

I started with Gamma 3 days ago and I am completely immersed in the amazing world. But I want to learn more of the lore to make the journey more meaningful. I just bought the original games and am starting my new journey today. I will pick back up on Gamma after!

[@fallenghost1760]

GAMMA: Stalker hardcore Mode focuses on survival elements EFP: Stalker hardcore Mode focuses on shooter elements with optional survival

[@LordTrashcanRulez]

Never played EFP but if it's anything like your average sandbox stalker mod, it wouldn't be good Gamma and anomaly are not hard-core, they just have terrible mechanics

[@tmm8837]

@@LordTrashcanRulez that's your opinion, most people don't share it

[@artudela0066]

@@LordTrashcanRulez lol u stay true to ur username

[@LordTrashcanRulez]

@@tmm8837 fun fact, game design is objective, not subjective. The mod is objectively bad, having only 5 mission types is not bad, it's terrible. Not to mention the balance there sucks so you can get a very hard mission that pays like crap, or a very easy mission that takes 5 minutes tops to complete and pays handsomely. This is bad game design, it's not subjective, it's objective. To whoever said that I'm bad at anomaly, I have two things to say. 1. Good job creating such a unique counter argument, I'm sure that it took you more than 3 seconds to make it. 2. I'm not bad at anomaly, I play it well, I'd go as far as say I'm starting to notice how crap its difficulty is. You don't have to be bad at something to say that it sucks mechanically

[@Killa-rd6hj]

I really wanna try efp might download yet another anomaly folder. I’ll have efp anomaly and gamma hahaha

[@technootism6280]

I recently started playing STALKER SoC because of you and honestly, It's been a long time since I had this much fun I'm having right now playing through it, the map is immersive and it truly feels like the world around you is alive and real, the game has a great story and a pretty decent variety of weapons for a 2007 game + It's always on sale for like $4.99

[@awizardwithwords994]

This rabbit hole is actually pretty hilarious. I've never even heard of the series before that drewski video that blew stalker up big time, but it's kind of amazing to see this huge history that I wasn't apart of. I just started with anomaly around 2 to 3 months ago, and man, even with my constant crashes and issues since I can't stop modding it like it's skyrim, I still cant keep myself away. Pretty much have been playing non-stop since I downloaded it. Great video!

[@CheekiBreekiTv]

Oh yeah the rabbit hole goes deep! Glad to see you're enjoying yourself!

[@DonnyKirkMusic]

There are a lot of awesome games that are just outside the spotlight of the mass-market! Souls was also a series that was like that; when Demon's Souls came out people compared it to the King's Field series, which was a really obscure series at the time. People really only played those games when they'd go see what was in the Bargain Bin, or during rentals when Blockbuster was still around. Now, that series is a big money-maker and is beloved by players. Sometimes these games take a while to catch on, but I can see how real-life events caused STALKER to become more popular. STALKER has true bleakness that is reflected in the war that is going on in Ukraine, it took certain events in real-life for people to see that its not just some grimdark series on the sidelines, it really tried to say something even if most stuff didn't pan-out, and the game released in a terrible state causing game reviewers to either love it, or hate it.

[@user-cf5qd6zd7z]

@@CheekiBreekiTv How is it these days? How can I play the SoC story with the best graphics possible?

[@TheMasterGamer21]

I was always of the opinion that you are free to play or not play as you please in regards to Stalker. But you will definitely miss out on a lot of lore ,fun and of course other amazing mods if you only play Anomaly. God I remember the first time I played Stalkersoup back in 2012, was like a whole new game for me.

[@reter312]

which is now stalker OP 2.2 with even more stuff in it

[@rabidredpanda2888]

@@reter312 op is such a trip

[@reter312]

@@rabidredpanda2888 yeah, in both positive and negative way

[@creriey4945]

No no you miss out on a lot of fun by playing the OGs. Unless if you somehow have unlimited time in your life.

[@penguinwolf3330]

@@creriey4945 How? you miss out by not playing them.

[@zen_7748]

I absolutely recommend playing the first 3 games. The events of those three games are actually canon. As much as I love the hell out of Anomaly/GAMMA, the original games deserve exposure for being the reasons why the latest sandbox S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games and mods exist. Anomaly may be the smoothest in terms of experience, but it would never have existed if Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear Sky, or Call of Pripyat never existed.

[@brucemohamed5316]

is anomaly gamma a stroy games or what ?

[@OXY187]

@@brucemohamed5316they are not story games.

[@trianqren127]

Being a slav and seeing the world discover this amazing series brings tears to my eyes

[@DrasticTimesInc]

I know a good number of people in USA who have been aware of the stalker games since they came out. I mean- it's not anywhere near the number who know call of duty, but I'm sure that's the case everywhere, since console gaming is easier to get into/cheaper

[@phinexxbubble709]

great series indeed, greetings from germany

[@NemyacX]

​@@DrasticTimesInci hate console peasants

[@bastos283]

It's an upside down concept for a land of opportunities, so we all feel invited to enter a world of nuclear suffering that can provide us some fun. Thank you, slavs.

[@anomalousdugout9557]

Being introduced to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise through Anomaly is like starting to read a book from the very last chapter: you may enjoy the finale, but it has little chance to make sense and will always feel incomplete without the groundwork provided by the previous chapters.

[@mubasharhassan1211]

Thats my boi, good to see you over here.

[@ViroRads]

Brother Dugout bringing some well appreciated sense here.

[@Kuro-UWU]

yep, agreed

[@amisteryfella]

More like reading another book from the same universe, but your nostalgia is more important so what can I say

[@Phvpark]

its more like watching Fantastic Beasts but not Harry Potter, watch the new Star Trek reboot but not the older series. you lose some context because the world already has been introduced in the past but isnt important for the current plot, if you want you can hunt for information on previous games but its not necessary and you better just watch a summary of the other history.

[@ryon5174]

Relatively new Stalker here (1 month actually) Knew the series thanks to Anomaly, wanted to try it, friends told me to play the original three, and that’s what I did As for mods the only things I really had were ZRP, SRP, and PRP, and weapon reanimation mods so it doesn’t deviate so much from the vanilla experience Recently just finished Call of Pripyat too, and I have to say Shadow of Chernobyl still is my favorite due to it being the most simple of the three

[@CheekiBreekiTv]

Oh so you did it perfectly, your friends give you good advice! Time to dive into the mods now :D

[@ryon5174]

@@CheekiBreekiTv yeah, I'm in Anomaly now and a lot of mods I have for it are qol - you're kinda responsible for getting me to know what mods to get, lol

[@mubasharhassan1211]

@@ryon5174 hey yo good to see you here vanilla friend

[@gabrielrodriguez8539]

From all 3 games, the I actually changed a bit when it comes to graphics/gameplay was SoC, I installed the Autumn Aurora 2 mod, which was beautiful. The rest were only the basics: Atmosfear + Absolute Nature + Gunslinger.

[@ryon5174]

@@gabrielrodriguez8539 I didn’t really change anything in terms of graphics for me, I was pretty satisfied with all of the vanilla graphics and the lighting really helps with it The only thing I really dealt with was the weapon animations and OWR for SHOC/COP and FWR for CS covers that for me Gunslinger I might give a try but I’m not a fan of the mod turning my hud off by default when on master, it’s sort of the same reason why I could never get myself to play Metro on Ranger Hardcore

[@leptir1]

So happy you got a sponsor!! Cheeki, I say it every video, I'll say it again. You're a blessing to the community and to someone like me, making my STALKER journey for the first time. Thanks for everything, and I can't wait for more lessons from the zone ;)

[@CheekiBreekiTv]

Ahahh thank you for the kind words! As I say at the end of the video this channel has been a passion project for a while, I'm dedicating as much of my free time as I can to it. All the people watching and commenting on the videos have been extremely supporting and one of the main reason I'm still at it today, and now having a first sponsor is actually a big achievement at least in my eyes! Anyways, thanks for being here!

[@themineingmaster]

Keep it up bro! so glad you got a sponsor bro, happy to see your channel grow!

[@fransvandenheuvel7161]

Congrats on the sponsor! Been watching you for a while and it's nice to see your efforts giving fruit. I remember telling you you were in a good spot for it a while ago, I'm glad to see it happen.

[@clydefrog8711]

I consider myself a hardcore fan of Stalker and have been playing it for years, yet all I've played is Misery, Anomaly, and now Escape from Pripyat. It's amazing how many mods there are. I'll never forget misery back in the day, especially the cats before 2.2 (I think) lol

[@champagnesupernva9131]

well then play also the ogs

[@nyarukochin4130]

Congrats on the sponsorship, Cheeki! The channel is really growing! Looking forward for the growth even more when S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 comes out.

[@losthero0]

Was trying to figure out which game to get during the steam sale, thanks for clearing up lots of unknowns and concise overviews along with mod histories!

[@UnityAmongstChaos]

100 percent agree, I played the first game years ago and got back into it with GAMMA. The subreddit for STALKER in particular is literally the most negative gaming space I have personally visited on Reddit. So many people hating just because someone hasn't played the original trilogy, or is asking questions about the games/modpacks, etc. For being a legitimate "STALKER" a lot of them sure haven't fucking touched grass.

[@CheekiBreekiTv]

Yeah it quieted down a bit and mostly reasonable people ended up on top with all the crazy negative posts downvoted after a while, but the very first hours after the Drewski video were crazy. Never seen so much negativity on the subreddit. Made me honestly worried for the community when Stalker 2 is gonna come out.

[@reter312]

there are a lot of people just jealous of this whole success that stalker is having with many people coming in the zone, they wanna be the "veterans" just because they played many years before anomaly went popular, i'm one of these people but i'm just happy that stalker is getting so much attention and modding support thanks to newcomers, there's no reason to hate them really, my only worry is that they could twist the actual lore of the game (just like the hd models pack i hate), that and the graphic mods that actually are going to give the white tarkovish unrealistic feel, that's bad

[@okkydirgantaraohara126]

This. I visited the subreddit just to see if there is somekind of guide to Anomaly and every thread I see have at least 1 reply like this "maybe play the OG trilogy first". Like, no and go fuck yourself. We are asking something and you tell us to do something else.

[@vividzx8034]

I hate those people man like the stalker community should be happy that we got a bunch of rookie stalkers interested in the zone.

[@NexusWarior211]

They don't like you because another 500 people came before you asking the exact same question, what i gathered so far is that the new crowd are braindead sub 80iq zoomers who don't know how to use google. The hate is well deserved, take the hit and move on.

[@Bednar121]

I'm really happy that You made this video. I've recently pulled a random person from the Internet into STALKER, and I've tried explaining to her how she should begin her adventures in the Zone, but Your video did a much better job of that (I of course sent her the video, duh) :D

[@KayCypher]

Dude that's the best video I've ever seen, I'd upvote twice if I could. I'm also very happy you finally got a sponsor because you 100% deserve it! I'll keep following you till the end of time, I wanna be here for the whole journey to 25k followers and then 1 million and every milestone in-between. Keep having fun, take care, see you soon bruh =)

[@robotchicken18000]

Thank you for everything you do on your channel. I'm a fan of the first hour since the E3 2001, and I find your videos very interesting and relevant. I'm French and I can say that the community is very small.people here know more about the Metro series.but this is changing with the arrival of stalker 2 and the dayz rp servers modded on the term stalker.

[@CC_CHI_D]

Your videos are always top notch mate, it’s good to see you get a sponsor congratulations mate 😊

[@justcreastive5513]

Trop fier que tu es un sponsor, bien jouer, ça fait un moment que je te suis, c'est vraiment inspirant !

[@zagalote4159]

lets go cheeki, thanks for this video! Bless up!

[@MGoogle3146]

I love your content dude, very clear and well made. Thanks for this.

[@kasp5625]

Thanks for the video, as a new Stalker player i was thinking about this for many months but didnt know where to start

[@touchtablet3364]

I was trying to find out the mods, the differences, which ones are recommended, after pages and pages of reading being lost, I just found your video. And thank you very much for your explanations, I see it more clearly and I can better (re)launch myself in this incredible adventure! Good luck to you, thank you again from France!

[@davethewave7201]

I dont understand why so many people say Shadow of Chernobyl looks outdated, first time i played it and finished it was end of 2023 to start of 2024 and it looked preety good, maybe I just have low standards but its fine

[@iCoreV]

I've been playing call of pripyat and exhausted all the mods that could function on my old potato and stumbled upon your vid after starting shadow of cheronbyl and these mods have helped me enjoy the vanilla experience more ty

[@Rugrat]

Great vid mate and well done on the first sponsor cheeki breeki 😁👍

[@dimaz3]

If you want to try anamoly , get Dark Signal , gameplay is real close to vanilla with a nice graphics boost and plenty of QOL upgrades.

[@CheekiBreekiTv]

Yeah Dark Signal is one of these mods I havnt had time to try but keep hearing good thing about, def need to try it out!

[@LunaWusHere]

GAMMA was so confusing for the first few hours but god damn its so much fun. Its like a Stalker RPG, but you're not the main character. You're just another Stalker in the Zone, surviving day to day untill the Zone inevitably claims you. 10/10 everyone should give it a try.

[@nahuelguallart7489]

bro i havent see the video yet but already liked it because it was what i needed 3 months ago. this will help all the new stalkers so much

[@derpanzermacher9094]

I played the original trilogy about 6 years ago for the first time and found them to be very interesting lorewise, but as you mentioned slightly dated, which is fine with me as I play other games which are even older than them (I'm in my 30s so some games I play are older than some fellow S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s But mods like Anomaly, EFP and Gamma also have a big merit in my eyes. The original 3 games were other people's stories, whereas with Anomaly for example I'm free to make my own stories. Making different characters in different factions you can make your character have their own goals and impact on the world, even if it's limited to just your playthrough. Whether you're a Merc trying to make it rich, a scientist trying to understand the Zone, or a faithful warrior of the Monolith, you can mold the Zone with your actions. And that's (personally) why I keep returning to the game.

[@ight_of_heart]

Good job, this kind of video was much needed

[@arthurmedeiros4521]

Thanks a lot man! This video is exactly what I needed!

[@xfreii9180]

Awesome Cheeki Breeki! Love your content bro

[@mrredisa.d.d.8566]

Great video. 👌 And since you mentioned it @12:07 : you should make a vid on the 2 groups in the community (east & west). You could answer common questions like 'will they ever get along?' And 'should they?' 🤨

[@nislaav6712]

Thank you for shining light to new players in this community!

[@CoBrosAnimations01]

Memories of the Zone for Shadow of Chernobyl is a great honorable mention. That was my first STALKER experience and honestly my favorite. There's a great guide for installing it too on the steam community

[@ArguellesMJ]

Just getting into the game, this helped. Thanks!

[@RomanStabbyStab]

I started with Clear Sky couple years back, just completed a playthrough of it recently. Now playing GAMMA and I am absolutely addicted with it. Stalkers atmosphere is just too perfect to pass up on experiencing.

[@senshi_dev_art]

I learned about Stalker and i started with Anomaly, i then went deep into the lore, learned the most i could to enjoy the universe of Stalker even more and now i am deep into GAMMA with a few adjustments and addons added by myself to grant me the experience i want, i simply love Stalker games regardless and the community, as intense as it can be at times, is one of the best community i have found for a very long time.

[@igorsantos7677]

Thank you friend, that's exactly what I needed!

[@Turfut730]

thanks Cheeki, very good vid I'll link my friend to ! Indeed, health and good vibes of the community is important : ) Cheers

[@clamflex5209]

This video saved me alot of time and researche, really appriciate it, good work

[@evangreenberg9680]

Congrats on the sponsor :) I only got into stalker in the last year in part because of your vids and started w a lightly modded SOC. It’s been a blast and actually just started CS like 3 days ago

[@CheekiBreekiTv]

Ohh I'm curious to know what you think about CS! It's definitely is a different experience

[@evangreenberg9680]

haven’t made it out the swamps yet but I like the faction war system! added a few visual mods this time and really enjoying it so far!

[@la912]

This is exactly what I was looking for, thanks!

[@avienated]

Thanks a lot for this video! I bought all 3 games (Kinguin has good prices for the steam versions). I'm done with Shadow of Chernobyl with ZRP, starting Clear Sky with SRP now =)

[@pontinhos8510]

congratulations on the sponsor bro! nice video as aways

[@piggosalternateaccount4917]

Excellent video, so glad to see you're just gettin biggera nd bigger

[@TheFarmgineer]

Love the videos, mate!

[@jivkodjamiarov8508]

Мr. Cheeki, you are great! Thank you for this video and for the amazing channel that is helping me to navigate the Stalker rabbit hole.

[@srbonito]

Great job cheeki, you rock hermano.

[@hagashi1]

Congrats on the sponsor man. Glad to see it.

[@TheMeerviin]

For me personally the best way to enjoy stalker series now is to play Clear Sky LFO which brings lots of new things while still being close to vanilla experience, after that Radiophobia 3 and Gunslinger for CoP. Still everyone should enjoy these games the way they like it. Great video btw

[@TheFaithfulVegan]

Genuinely, thank you for this

[@fishgaming280]

Huge congrats on getting a sponsor mate!

[@mnemonik61]

Good advice! And congrats on your new sponsor. 😀 As "the STALKER guy" in my circle I've answered this question many times, and have landed (more or less) where you have. I do believe new players should start with SoC and CoP at minimum with the *RPs; I personally played CS after CoP and that seemed OK, since I found CS' faction wars tiresome enough to largely ignore when playing. If I know my audience is into game modding or loves the sweet graphics I'll advise them on visual / QoL mods, especially for SoC since they're getting harder to find standalone on ModDB.

[@zealot4043]

I had always heard of stalker and never really consumed any content on it picking up the og 3 playing shadow of chernobyl amd had a blast despite the age, the atmosphere is i credibly terrifying i love it

[@TheDarthwario]

This video is extremely helpful. I came here to explore the games that inspired Tarkov, and you got me going in the right direction for the Stalker series. I have now started Stalker with ZRP.

[@TheDarthwario]

I already owned Stalker from back in the day but now bought the rest. They're on sale at Steam right now.

[@chowder5202]

So helpful, thank you!!

[@Sashikow0]

In the future I'd really like to see a critique of some of the more story driven stalker mods, explaining the way in which they build upon the pre-existing lore and tell a compelling story (I really want to see how they build upon the existing world of stalker in their own unique way). I'm from the western audience who's only played the trilogy (+anomaly) and hasnt explored much into the story driven mods, I only recently started playing spatial anomaly alongside gamma :3

[@GugureSux]

Old-ass STALKER fan here. Long story short: there are no story mods for STALKER. Nada. And the new "generation" of STALKER plebs just jump straight to mega-mods like CoC or Anomaly, that remove any and all resemblance of story and campaign.

[@OXY187]

Goldsphere, Wind of Times, Trapped, OGSR, Oblivion Lost…and dozens of more. They are better than any sandbox mod or modpack.

[@taylorindustries]

I love stalker mods that add new maps to the game. If you ever played stalker soup/solyanka then there is alot of maps there. There are hundreds of mods that are not known and you need some digging to find. Its always fun finding something and seeing it work.

[@chilbiyito]

Wavey's gaming adventure also uploaded a similar video coincidence?

[@davdefen]

stalker Soup gang

[@NoisieBastrdd]

great video, my man

[@solidv2]

This is the video I was looking for! I'm stalker educated now !

[@colbyboucher6391]

Personally: Autumn Aurora is the smoothest way to play Shadow of Chernobyl itself. Clear Sky LFO. And of course Gunslinger for CoP. All the freeplay mods are cool but they're not Stalker so much as big survival sandboxes that happen to run on Xray and use Stalker's assets.

[@nsa_8611]

thank you man, it help me a lot to get rid confusing :(

[@rockinrickyfox5664]

Im happy to hear youve got a sponsorship cheeki

[@czechslavicvideos]

I always love watching people explain something about STALKER. Reminds me of the old days when I started playing 😌

[@iota13]

Anomaly and then Shadow of Chernobyl with only Autumn Aurora mod is how I started with Stalker, easy to install and SoC-AA plays and looks great.

[@MuzluPattes16]

I did not know there were mods which contained all the levels from the 3 original games and finished the original games first before messing with mods. I don't regret it. Without finishing the original games and seeing the story, I wouldn't have liked the mods either. The original games have such great atmosphere and story that while playing the mods such as anomaly, I can see the referances and always compare them to the original. I recommend everyone to play: 1-SOC, 2-Clear Sky, 3-COP first and then start playying either by modding the original games or installing anomaly mod pack since it still has that original feeling. Mess around with the difficulties and different factions in anomaly then you should probbably play the heavily modded packs like gamma.

[@deadshot4245]

Drewski showed me anomaly 2 years ago. i never even noticed the stalker series in stores as a kid i remember seeing the games but never actively investigating them. greatest overlooked trilogy of all time. my answer is play all of them non stop

[@confusedturtle55]

As someone who had basically no knowledge of the story or environment of stalker beyond the Ssethtzeentach video, and just jumped right into anomaly, I loved it. Barely knowing anything about the story and world made it feel super authentic and organic to just wander the world, knowing no more than my character!

[@Krahamus]

Try a modpack for an anomaly called gamma, its megapack of 368 add-ons, its very modular and you can enable disable what ever you want to fit your gameplay style, by default is much harder than anomaly since vendors dont sell weapons or armor, so you need to fix everything yourself, besides condition now you have gun parts that wears of and needs replacement, saves can be done near campfires, i personally disabled all these things because i like anomaly style gameplay, besides that graphics are much better, sounds, ui, you have now limb health besides normal health etc..

[@yourmanjimbo1302]

Do play the originals at some point as well, glad you're enjoying anomaly.

[@johnc0de]

Great work!

[@deadwaste1]

I'm playing call of pripyat vanilla right now, and it's aged, quite a bit, level design and questing, it's gunplay and monster slaying and artifact hunting haven't and are fantastic. Shadow of Chernobyl is still the best in everything bar polish.

[@yourmanjimbo1302]

Yeah, COP is the best vanilla Stalker experience for the gameplay.

[@guidonitti]

I've been a Stalker since December 2021. I strongly recommend first playing the original trilogy, not to understand especially the story, but to understand the gameplay, the way of how the Zone works. If you have to use mods for fixes, like i used for Clear Sky, use them. But first and foremost, play the 3 original games vanilla. After that, you can use all the mods you wish; you can play Anomaly, Gamma, Escape from Prypiat. What i am trying here is those ones who are new in this world to not have an unenjoyable experience when playing the Standalone mods. Have a nice hunting, Stalker☢️ Regards from Argentina

[@frankshooter]

gracias por el tip paa, empecé en Anomaly y la verdad q estoy re perdido. Voy a hacer eso, me voy a bajar los primeros juegos y voy a ver q onda. Saludos desde los campeones del mundo's country 🇦🇷

[@Rayitolaser569]

@@frankshooter Estoy igual que vos JAAJAJAJA, queria empezar con el primer juego pero esta re bugeado, mejor proba ponerle el starter pack, que es un mod que saca una bocha de bugs y encima mejora la experiencia sin sacar ni agregar nada del vanilla. Por que siempre somos lo Argentinos los que llegamos ultimos jajaja, saludos.

[@frankshooter]

@@Rayitolaser569 Jajajajaj, toda la razón. dale ahi me baje los primeros 3 juegos. les bajo los parches y a viciar 🤑👍🏻

[@iWillAvert]

I saw Drewski's video about Anomaly and that's how I originally got into the STALKER series. This is all pretty recent. I started with Anomaly, and much like you said I was COMPLETELY lost as to what was going on, but it really only took looking through the PDA and doing a little bit of research to learn what I ultimately needed to know for it. It was definitely an experience on it's own but it got me deeper into the game enough that I have now bought the 3 original games. I'm glad I saw this video because now I know about the specific mods for the original games that fix a lot of issues. I started Shadow of Chernobyl last night for the first time and got to the Railway bridge and basically gave up there for the time being because I cannot for the life of me figure out where my shots are going. I can sometimes be at 20m and go for a pistol chest shot and the NPC wont even react, as if I did nothing at all. Same issue with the AKS-74U and whatnot. I'm hoping the mod you mentioned for it will fix the gunplay at least a little bit because that is what is kind of gatekeeping me from playing the game. If I can't hit you without basically being on top of you that's absolutely ridiculous. After that I jumped straight to Call of Pripyat since I know that's the original game that Anomaly ultimately came from and that is definitely a better experience from the get-go but still has a learning curve with the gunplay. Personally I find that to by far be the weakest point of the original STALKER games. Especially when coming from something like Anomaly or GAMMA, dated is an understatement. It was dated even for it's time. To be honest, I was actually surprised at exactly how different Anomaly/GAMMA is compared to Call of Pripyat. The similarities are obvious, however the differences are even more glaring. I look at Anomaly/GAMMA as completely different games that are just based in the same universe because ultimately, that is what they are. The experiences really cannot be directly compared. Personally from my experience combined with what you mentioned in the video, I would say starting with something like Anomaly is probably fine assuming that if you do have a question, you just look hard for the answer and don't bother actually asking it yourself. It is really unfortunate that it seems the STALKER community has some of the worst gatekeeping of any series that I know of. Either way, I'm loving the series so far, even the original games I'm seeing and enjoying the vision they had for it. I do MUCH prefer Anomaly/GAMMA because of the open world aspect, as well as the SIGNIFICANTLY better gunplay. While I do find myself immersed in the stories in games, I do actually prefer the concept of being far from the center of attention with the ability to essentially craft my own story rather than having to follow a specific narrative. After watching this though, I'm going to try installing ZRP, SRP, and PRP to the 3 original games and probably leave it at that, and then give it a try. Still gonna hop on GAMMA in the mean time as well now that I've gotten the hang of it lol. TL;DR: The original games are pretty cool and if you're into lore, absolutely play them. If you prefer a more free and open world style of game, go for Anomaly. Play it as is, and decide if you like how it is, then think about mods or modpacks you might want to add on. Ultimately, you don't really NEED the full lore behind the original games to understand what's going on in Anomaly though it definitely would not hurt. It just takes some research both on the internet and within your PDA and you'll be fine.

[@CheekiBreekiTv]

Have fun with the original games! You'll see how interesting the lore is, and in the end it will make any Anomaly/GAMMA/EFP... run you do even more enjoyable!

[@iWillAvert]

@@CheekiBreekiTv It definitely is nice having SOME direction thanks to the storyline that's for sure. Again my only real complaint, at least with SoC, is the gunplay but from what I've now read, ZRP does help with that. When I first started with Anomaly I was shocked at just how fast they throw you to the wolves with absolutely no guidance in sight.. that is unless you start as a Loner and do the sort of tutorial quest there, which itself is hard as hell when you're new! 😂

[@ecayeta]

IIRC, the difficulty is tied in with weapon damage for everyone, so you have to play on the highest difficulty to get highest damage output out of your weapons.

[@iWillAvert]

@@ecayeta I have recently gone back and tried them again. Beat SoC and am working on Clear Sky now. I figured out the gunplay a bit. Damage was never my issue. It was getting my shots to land anywhere even remotely close to where I am aiming. The RNG based bullet trajectory is the absolute worst. It took a bit of practice but in SoC I managed to get a hang of it. It seemed pretty consistent that with high accuracy weapons, shots were either on target, just above, or up to the right. Clear Sky is a different story.. so far it just seems completely random. I have struggled to predict where my shots may go. I went back and played around in the start of CoP to find that it is mostly "fixed" I would say. I actually feel like I have control over where my bullets go. Anomaly/GAMMA did it a lot better for sure. I have high hopes for Stalker 2 as the trailers have reminded me more of the modded variants in terms of mechanics.

[@mattfrancis4569]

thanks im new to stalker love from the uk this really helps

[@Nordspets]

Thank you Cheeki for making this video! I just got into the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Iceberg starting of with GAMMA and have watched a lot of beginner guides , including yours, to get into the game and all the lore around it and i found it extremely hard, but i guess that is part of the experience. What I have been missing in GAMMA is the story and to get into that and dive deeper in the lore this video came just in time! Now I’m going to start of with the original triology to get a better grip on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. before i move on to Anomaly and GAMMA.

[@GugureSux]

I would not recommend using mods like Analmeme nor Gamma as your first mods either. There's tons of mods for each of the three main STALKER games as well.

[@SCHMOBEX]

i did it completely different the first time i heard about it was on Splattercat´s channel a few years back when he wanted to show stalker off, at first i wasnt interested but when i saw his coverage of GAMMA i knew thats something i would like then i started watching a VOD of his stream and became even more interested thats when i came across channels like yours or drewski and started watching the lore videos (full history, factions, mutants etc) after that i finally downloaded GAMMA and started playing it. i must admit at first i was a bit overwhelmed but when you get a feel for it the game explains itself, im now in my 3rd playthrough attempt and im having tons of fun. however im likely not going to play the older ones since i dont like playing dated games that i dont have at least some nostalgia about. plus the guys in the GAMMA discord are really helpful and dont seem to look down at newer players when you have some admittedly stupid questions like why the freedom guys dont like me after i shot some of them a few hours earlier lmao

[@igorortega6494]

yes, thank you to tell me what to do man :)

[@nay8101]

Thanks for this video, as a lifelong gamer who missed STALKER completely, this is a massive help!

[@jackmiller8851]

congrats on the sponsor mate, after finishing your invictus run of GAMMA i look forward to your next hardcore series.

[@CheekiBreekiTv]

Thanks!

[@warlee6969]

Man, I love your attitude

[@CrumpetGaming]

Discovered anomaly thanks to you Mr Breeki, and now I'm totally hooked on GAMMA. It's been a wild ride. played the original SoC back when it released but I think it's time for a revisit now before stalker 2 releases

[@CheekiBreekiTv]

These comments always make me happy. My pleasure :)

[@CrumpetGaming]

@@CheekiBreekiTv Keep doing your thing good sir!

[@dd805100]

if you play anomoly first and are willing to read even a little bit here and there of the wiki which you'll inevitably end up at anyway with questions about gameplay. This doesn't take that long you'll figure out the story :there is also one or two youtube channels out there that summarize the lore really well in videos i would imagine also if Stalker 2 ever releases half of its sales will be people who only played anomoly and then went from there this is llike Tarkovs phase when it really started to blow up and people wanted to gate keep it. History repeats my friends great video too.

[@robsenb16]

Playing vanilla SoC at least once a year since day one and it is not that bad. I still like it. It is like the baseline of Stalker

[@FxTurN]

Yo, c'est vraiment cool ce que tu produis. Je prend parfois plus de plaisir à découvrir ton contenu que celui des jeux en eux mêmes. La narration est bonne, tu arrives à créer une très bonne ambiance avec le mélange astucieux de musique mélancolique ainsi qu'une voix douce mais assurée qui pourrait rappeler celle d'un stalker expérimenté voulant bien nous partager un peu de ses tuyaux... J'avoue comme ça on dirait que je veux te pécho mais c'est pas le cas, je veux juste te donner de la force pour continuer à produire ce genre de contenu. Ciao !

[@CheekiBreekiTv]

Merci! Ca fait toujours très plaisir de lire ce genre de commentaires :)

[@stinkystealthysloth]

One thing to consider might also be that the standalone mods are free, so that's great if you're a kid/ on a budget, but you can of course still supports the devs any time when you're able/if you're interested by buying the original titles.

[@KhalMika]

This is exactly what I've been looking for! I discovered what Gunslinger is, and I wanted to know if there was something like it but for the other 2 games

[@Kjngo]

Im kinda like igor but i have started playing anomaly 2 weeks ago and was really confused(started as bandit, that wasnt the best idea) went to darkscape got ptsd, then quit. After i saw your gamma videos i downloaded it and i really loved it, i will definitely play the trilogy and the other mods.

[@PARAN0IDxGERBIL]

I started a long time ago with clear sky and the arsenal overhaul mod and had a great time that kicked off years of passion and enjoyment. I think after I tried SoC with misery? Or autumn aurora or something like that. Then I did CoP with misery. Now I’ve been playing Gamma a lot for a long time. Never played any of the games vanilla If I had to recommend an experience to a new person I’d say to definitely start with CoP and gunslinger. That would give them an OG experience but with all sorts of modern prettiness that will allow them to get sucked into the atmosphere and not be put off by old aesthetics

[@ahealthkit2745]

I first bought COP, later got SOC and CS. Love the lore, love the inspirations that made the series, love the Metro series. I played Metro 2033 first, then COP! Been a huge fan. Anomaly is cool but won't run on my pc without repeat crashes. Honestly, been playing a lightly modded version of SOC that runs buttery-smooth and has pleasantly nice graphics.

[@malloperator]

I remember getting back into STALKER because of Nikolai’s videos, I remember when there was no Anomaly and only a few quest mods to compliment AO3 for CoC.