S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was surrounded by plenty of anticipation, but what the with the lengthy development time and word leaking that certain parts of GSC's original vision for the game were being cut, concern that it wouldn't live up to hopes and expectations began to mount. However, the game turned out to be nowhere near as bad as some feared and was generally well received when it finally materialised.
Stalker: Legacy of Times was an attempt to create a STALKER-inspired game on CryEngine 2, however, its dev team announced its official cancellation.
Anomaly Developers has released a new version of its standalone mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R., STALKER Anomaly.
Enemy respawns in open world games are tricky to get right. If they are too frequent it feels 'gamey' and it may render a player's in-game actions irrelevant. However too few respawns leave an open world empty, devoid of threat and frankly rather boring.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Lost Alpha expertly shows how to handle respawns by striking a near-perfect balance via a hybrid spawn/respawn system. We investigate how this works and how it has made S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Lost Alpha one of the best semi-open world games around. Ubisoft 'et all should take note.
