It felt, ironic given the desolate setting, like a far richer game world than either of the previous titles. There were hidden side-quests, there were weapon and armour modifications that could be made cheaper by getting the tech drunk on vodka, and more advanced by scouring the world for tools: tiny objects among the vastness of Stalker's levels. There were set pieces that could play out in a number of ways, depending on your dialogue choices. While Call Of Pripyat is much the same open-ended shooter with RPG elements, it is more open ended than ever before, and exhibits even more of the RPG elements that made the previous games so interesting. Six months later the English language version finally landed and, lo, it was good. I patiently waited, becoming increasingly optimistic about it.

The news from Russian and German versions of the game was that it was good. (GSC talk about a genuine “Stalker 2”, which would make these games expansions of a sort.) As it turned out, no, they wouldn't quite return to same themes and standard of Chernobyl, but, instead, would take the same world, engine, and characters, and do something a little different.

It wasn't clear whether GSC would be able to return to their original form for the third sequel/expansion in the series. Bugs, malformed features, and peculiar game design made it seem like a dismal rehash of the original Stalker game. While by no means it bad game, Clear Sky, Pripyat's precursor, was a deeply flawed experience. Jim: There was an element of uncertainty about Call Of Pripyat. What ever could such emanations mean? What kind of place will be whisked away to if we open this particular portal? Let us dare to find out.

The third window on our advent calendar is making strange buzzing and throbbing noises.

Call of pripyat third person