The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Series

This is the unedited version of an article i'm working on for my resume:


The Cult of Raskolnikov


                First off, let me start out by asking how many of you played S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl and enjoyed every minute of it? How many of you would spend hours making sure it didn’t crash anymore, just so you could make it to the Red Forest or perhaps to the Garbage for the first time? How many of you endured the herculean task of learning the game’s “rules” just so you could survive in that radiated wasteland in and around Chernobyl? How many of you…ok I suppose that’s too many questions. My point to you is this, that the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (to be referred to as SOC for the rest of this article), perhaps even the series itself, is somewhat of an acquired taste.  If you go onto GSC Game World’s forums you’ll find the people that love it, the people that don’t quite understand it, and the people that hate it because they can’t deal with the crashing or the sometimes-laughable-story and npc acting. That’s not to mention they still have yet to create a face that perfectly synchs with the voice. Again, my point to you is, SOC, is a game of acquired taste and usually causes A Raskolnikov within those that love the game and or series.


                Those of us that ran out and purchased the game didn’t exactly know what we were in for. For myself personally, the opening cut scene told me this was a good buy. For others, it may have been the fact that Vodka happens to cure radiation, I mean, who knew? So we embarked on an adventure. Although, that adventure had some uncalculated road bumps such as: bugs/crashes/ and a story about as convoluted as LOST. Those that endured were awarded. Those that didn’t wasted around fifty to forty dollars. Once the game finally began though, some of us perhaps starting it for the second time, (a patch rendered our save games about as useful as a baby seal walking into a club), we were rewarded with something no one saw coming. That reward was an FPS/RPG hybrid for one, (albeit it had its flaws).  The other reward was a game saturated in Russian culture, and for any history buff or fanatic of the Chernobyl incident, this reward warranted the purchase of SOC. From the fantastically stark rendering of the Garbage and Red Forest to the camaraderie presented by NPCs, everything screams, “I am Russian!” What does this mean though? What is Russian? For someone that’s never been to Russia, this is your multicultural game. This is like owning a painting by Jan Van Eyck, Sandro Boticelli, or Bosh, if you own it, you know it. Owning it also makes you that much more cultured and intelligent. If you don’t, you’re clearly inferior. Now I’m not saying that by owning this game you will become the “go to guy” or the “aristocrat” of Russian culture. I am merely saying that those of us that endured the hardships, played the game, reveled in its convoluted story with seven or eight endings have been endowed  with the knowledge that not all games are made equal. That not all games need to be the prettiest, or the best coded for that matter of fact. They need to have atmosphere and personality. That’s what makes this game/series so intriguing, so worth dishing out the money for it, because once you’ve experienced it, there is no turning back.


                Where does that leave SOC “noobs?” Should they perhaps pick up the prequel Clear Sky? Well like the title of this article, “The Cult of Raskolnikov” (Raskolnikov being from the book Crime and Punishment, written about Fyodor Dostoevsky. Raskolnikov means “to split”), it could go either way. If you don’t want to see some of the magic ruined, by all means, only enjoy SOC. If you want the full story though, some more Russian culture, and perhaps some more headaches go for it. For a noob though, you should at least play SOC. If you enjoyed it then you should move on to Clear Sky. Clear Sky is not for the faint of art, nor is it for the people blind to change. You need to be open minded and realize that yes the developers tried to fix some things that weren’t broken. Yes they tried to add some things that don’t necessarily work.  The end result may not be a masterpiece that measures up to the prestige of SOC with SOC, but it is a game that stands on its own merits. Other than more graphical fidelity it does expand one’s understanding of the overall story along with Russian culture.  Clear Sky though, in retrospect, compared to SOC, is a bit of a disappointment. It caused some members of the cult to leave and some members to just complain, a lot. Then again, there were some adventurous types that decided the game would be better with mods, or at least more stable with the F32 mod.  The point is the Clear Sky is what made the cult that follows SOC be labeled as the Cult of Raskolnikov, because there was a split, a divide, a widening chasm in the community of players; some people hated the new direction and some people were just fine and content that there was more of this brilliant series out on the shelves to buy.


                Now this “Cult of Raskolnikov” doesn’t meet weekly, monthly, or yearly. We don’t meet; we just know we’re all part of a special community. That community is no better than those than worship Gears of War or Halo 3.  We simply, merely, have a different viewpoint on games. Most of us that play games such as SOC or Braid see them from the stand point of art. Some others see them as a new way to tell a story, effectively a new type of literature. Then there are those that see them only as a medium of entertainment, and that’s fine.  My point to you is, that even like the cults of Halo 3, Braid, Half-Life 2, and Gears of War we argue, we’re divided, and we’re passionate. There is a certain perk to understanding the merits behind SOC and even Clear Sky. One must view the game as an art form and appreciate from that viewpoint first before dissecting the game mechanics. Otherwise, I mean let’s face it, we would have to worship this game for its mechanics only, which most can agree aren’t the best in the world. In the broader scope, my point to you is that if you’re not part of the “Cult of Raskolnikov” you owe it to yourself to join or take a quick plunge. Why? Because it’s kind of like Half-Life 2 or the first Halo, if you don’t own it, you’re not a gamer.