"He wasn't even a real dictator, just a bitch-ass kleptocrat"

Damn, that's a good line.

The decision to not put a stat system in STALKER is, for my money, the single best design decision in the game. In (for example) Fallout, you're incentivized to go out of your way and kill anything that moves because you gain EXP for it. No such incentive exists in STALKER, meaning it's completely reasonable for you to decide that a certain fight isn't worth wasting ammo on, or that a certain mutant is too tough for you to handle and not worth confronting for any of the (strictly material) gain to be found near its nest. You can choose not to help NPC's in distress because you cannot spare the supplies, or don't want to risk dying for them. Conversely, if you do decide to help them, it's because you made a conscious moral decision to do so, not because you were chasing a reward and wanted to watch a leveling bar go up.

I think this is the single biggest reason why STALKER is so immersive: the lack of RPG systems puts the player in the mind of an actual survivor, one who sometimes has nothing to gain and everything to lose by coming out of his hiding spot to engage in risky, dangerous combat.

Really love the history/politics bits inbetween, some of these topics are very underappreciated and not a lot of western people are aware of any of it
and congrats on the 10K!!!!

"Russia. Named after a popular Counter-Strike strategy."
That earworm is going to stick in my head for a long time. :D
Great videos!

This unique mix of cultural context and historical background as it relates to the identity of the game as well as its development is goddamn captivating. Even more so with the current situation in Ukraine. Of the video-essay videogame YouTubers (who'd have thought that'd be a popular genre?) I am consistently most excited when you drop a new video. When the Kyiv/Kiev thing became more widely publicized as a part of the conflict (I would describe general ignorance in America to the details of politics in eastern Europe) and became a sort of point of insistence in support of Ukraine, I had a moment of "why did I already know that was a thing?". Because of these videos. You are a fantastic communicator.

You know, i wouldn't mind listening to some more history related videos if you made them

LOL! I was there at Stalkerfest, when Grigorovich did his remarkable cover of Sweet Dreams! Thank you for such an insightful, multilayered, and well-directed nostalgic review!

This may be the best stalker review ever, not only did I get a genuinely good review I got a history lesson on current and previous events in Ukraine and how the game effected Ukraine culture.

"Everybody's looking for something..."
And i'm looking for the 3rd part of this.

"Over the years this will change."
Yeah, you could say that.

The one thing that made the series unique is how they shied away from a theme park approach (a bit less so in Call of Prypyat). Unlike Fallout and other classic post-apoc games, there's an implicit understanding from all the ambiance, the fireside conversations, the random comments that the Zone is just a place- there's still a real world out there, and the stalkers are ultimately misfits, who can't find their place in the new society, so they constantly risk their lives for a chance at striking riches, and then going back and finding their place in the "normal world".

This bleakness, this understanding that the world is an uncaring, crumbling, but incredibly dangerous place, it is the main cultural heritage of the late 80s/early 90s generation that witnessed the Collapse in their childhood, and grew up with Independence. For those of us who grew up listening to Skryabin (Ukrainian take on Depeche Mode), watching music videos against backdrops of industrial ruins, those who spent their childhood playing tag and "war" on abandoned construction sites, the series is a memory of that worldview- but also, the inherent resilience and the will to survive despite everything.

Ukraine's modern history is a mess, we were really on the cutting edge of the new trend of corporate feudalism, as that is essentially what our oligarchy and political system was. And yet this very flaw is what made us so different from the Eastern horde, cultivating the (often illusory, but enduring) belief that our individual opinions and actions mattered. And that endures even now.

I sincerely hope the upcoming sequel  continues to reflect  these themes, and doesn't lose that unique, authentic feel, despite the temptations to add new, more contemporary themes.

As a native ukranian i want to give you a huge thanks. Never before have i seen someone dig all the way down while reviewing a game. Stalker means a lot for the 90s and 00s generation of ucranians, and when mixed with a good socio-political analytics, your video becomes an introduction to our culture as well. Amazing job done here, im recommending you to all my friends/relatives!

Thank you for the ending, as a post Soviet shit hole resident, now I'm more depressed

Good thing that i am not the only one who thinks that ukaraine is just another kalpa of TES

Man I think I like every video you have done, the format of an walk through, review and then irl dev or historical information, all mixed together just works.

Ummm your videos are art or something

Pro tip: you can jump to dodge a Pseudogiant's attack

It breaks my soul that there arnt anymore videos in this series after this one. Hands fucking down some of the finest Stalker content produced.

Watching these videos and the reference to history in the wake of CURRENT EVENTS... makes it a little different

Classic Warlockery, using the video game medium to deliver interesting bits of eastern European history and lore.

You're a fantastic storyteller with one of the most underappreciated YouTube channels of all time.

Looking forward to your next video.

Ironically enough, the section that reminds you of half life contains a half life reference, a dead stalker named Gordon Freeman.