STALKER: Call of Prypiat sits in an awkward middle ground whenever I consider the STALKER IP as a whole. Replaying 2024’s vanilla console ports back-to-back gave me an opportunity to appreciate how GSC Game World expanded and evolved their original concept into something more mechanically satisfying, but also less mysterious and terrifying as a result. It’s by far the most polished of the “Legends of the Zone” trilogy – and narratively significant given the number of returning characters in STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl – but while I enjoyed replaying it the most, it never sticks in my memory quite like Shadow of Chornobyl.
Great side stories but a plot that goes nowhere until the finale
If you’ve only played the 2007 original, or if you’re looking to fill in some gaps after playing the 2024 sequel, 2009’s Call of Prypiat is an expansion-sequel that both confirms the canon ending and expands upon it.
It follows on directly from Shadow of Chornobyl but is set within entirely new regions within the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, a twisted alt-history version in which secretive science experiments have gone horribly wrong spawning terrifying mutants, lethal energy emissions, and deadly anomalies. Found within those anomalies, however, are mysterious artefacts that draw scientists, stalker factions, mercenaries, and loners to the Zone, despite the risks and a military blockade. You take control of SSU Major Alexander Degtyarev, infiltrating the zone under the guise of a common stalker to investigate the failure of the military’s “Operation Fairway” – the latest of several attempts to send the troops to claim and hold the Chornobyl NPP after the way was opened by protagonist of the first game, Strelok.
Despite the interesting setup and an opportunity to play as a faction that were mostly nameless hostiles, there are surprisingly few story-beats to spoil. Call of Prypiat’s central mystery can feel like an afterthought compared to the numerous optional quests you can tackle for factions or individuals on the side.
It lacks any stylish CG cutscenes, relying instead on Fallout-style narrated slides; there are crude in-game cutscenes that should have been left as radio transmissions; and the bulk of the primary quest boils down to investigating a handful of crashed helicopters and gathering documents. It only picks up in the final hours that see you battle into the titular city, before events escalate towards a dramatic extraction. That said, the canonical ending is significant and connects the aftermath of STALKER: Shadow of Chornobyl to the state of the Zone seen in STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl, but you won’t find a strong narrative hook until you’re well past the mid-point.
Instead, the highlight of Call of Prypiat are the multi-part faction quests or individual quests that influence optional ending slides and determine who you can recruit into a team to traverse a deadly underground tunnel leading into Prypiat – one of many missions you’ll undertake alongside fellow stalkers that serve as terrifying reminder of the rudimentary AI and how much work it takes to keep them alive. The storytelling is still limited to sifting through dense dialogue trees – much of it hilariously voiced if you’re playing in English – but you’re given more opportunities to role-play by siding with different sub-factions, remaining as neutral as possible to avoid conflict with roaming stalker groups, or simply shooting your way through potential roadblocks.
That abundance of secondary quests, many with multiple outcomes, provide plenty of exposition detailing the history of the Zone and the factions within it – albeit not the extent I’d recommend playing this without playing Shadow of Chornobyl first. Most quests also feel smartly integrated into the hub-and-spoke structure of the three large regions you visit, with key NPCs, merchants, and technicians found in or near a relatively safe central point, with successive quests send you towards increasingly distant and dangerous locations.
Mechanical polish and less jank come at a price
That more sensible world structure, interior locations that loop back to the entrance, and generally less backtracking are examples of the improvements that make Call of Prypiat more satisfying to play than its janky predecessors.
With a first-person shooter core, you’re still dealing with high-damage gunfights, lethal mutants, radiation, and anomalies that can kill in seconds during the early- to mid-game (even on the lower difficulties). However, many mechanics introduced in Clear Sky – like equipment repairs, tiered gear upgrades, and a less punishing weight limit – return. It keeps the detector system for finding artefacts but reverts to Shadow of Chornobyl’s more abundant and powerful artefacts that you’ll juggling between frequently. Oh, and you can finally sleep (without modding the game) to pass time and not have to venture out after dark unless a quest demands it.
Call of Prypiat still feels closest to a tactical-shooter, rewarding the use of cover, flushing enemies with grenades, and landing headshots, but low-tier and damaged firearms are still woefully inaccurate in a distinctly video-gamey fashion. Similarly, low-tier or damaged armour provides little protection from bullets, claws, radiation, and anomalous energies. It’s frustrating at first but pushes you to engage with the satisfying progression system in which you’re only ever as good as your gear and equipped artefacts. Gear is still best scavenged from fallen stalkers or stashes doled out as quest rewards, but more reliable artefact hunting opportunities in discreet anomaly fields ensure that you can generate a steady stream of trade fodder to purchase and upgrade gear, while holding on to the rarest artefacts to buff your resistances based on the circumstances.
Dynamic quests, which were always prone to bugging out, are abandoned for structured, polished, and more thoughtfully distributed secondary quests. It’s now far more plausible to tackle multiple quests simultaneously, as significant locations are evenly spread out around the local hub, and it’s often safe to travel between them so long as you travel by day, stick to the main roads, or pay roaming bands of stalkers to fast-travel there with you – a mechanic you can exploit when hunting mutants or should you want to trigger faction battles and loot the bodies afterwards! Time-of-day progresses slowly, and daily emissions are rarely an issue unless you find yourself heavily overburdened with loot and the nearest safe zone occupied by mutants.
Call of Prypiat ramps up the challenge once you depart for the titular city, eventually locking you into the endgame and leaving you with limited access to only a medic and technician who can potentially die during scripted missions. In contrast, The Zaton swamp and Jupiter Plant regions feel weirdly safe. There are still quests that lead to frantic firefights with well-armed mercenaries or Monolith soldiers, mutant hunts in dark abandoned structures, and some that force you to traverse areas riddled with anomalies, but you’re never that far from safety if you need to beat a hasty retreat or restock before tackling another objective.
It feels like a far cry from how terrifying it was to explore the distant X-labs or any of the endgame regions from the Red Forest onwards in Shadow of Chornobyl, as fast-travel and repair technicians were not an option, leaving you scrambling to scavenge gear in decent condition to survive. By diminishing that sensation of being truly lost and vulnerable in the Zone for much of its playtime, and by polishing off many rough edges that contributed to janky but emergent gameplay moments, Call of Prypiat’s most memorable moments are limited to those scripted by the developers.
Is it still worth playing?
Despite ending on a negative point, I’d still readily recommend STALKER: Call of Prypiat as a companion piece to Shadow of Chornobyl, especially for those looking to pick up the sequel, or for those who want a more refined gameplay experience that better realises its hybrid survival-shooter/RPG ambitions.
As for where to play it? The PC version is frequently discounted, offers mouse + keyboard support that works better with the gunplay and inventory management, and offers extensive modding support. If you’re looking for longevity, there are mods that simply offer unofficial bug fixes, quality-of-life changes, and balance tweaks – but you’ll also find mods that entirely overhaul the visuals, extensively alter the gunplay and difficulty, or change the entire game into a freeform Stalker life-sim detached from the existing plot.
Some PC players might argue an un-modded STALKER playthrough is missing the point, but I’ve found the “Legends of the Zone” trilogy an unexpectedly great console port if you’re looking for a vanilla experience to play on the couch. The originals still hold up when it comes to generating a terrifying atmosphere and a cohesive sense of place, and the visuals were slowly refined with each standalone expansion.
Even 16 years on, there’s still something terrifying and uniquely STALKER-ish about watching an approaching emission storm turn the sky red as you explore the eerily quiet and dilapidated streets of Prypiat, listening to the distant snarls of mutants or zealous chants of Monolith soldiers, and hoping that a nearby shelter is as empty as it looks. I can’t wait to see what the promised current-gen updates entail as any excuse to return to the Zone will be welcome.
STALKER: Call of Prypiat was played on Xbox Series S|X. It is also available on PC, Xbox One, PS4/5, and Nintendo Switch.
