Playing STALKER is an amazing experience but nowadays, there are three games in the series and it might be a little bit intimidating to choose the best STALKER game to start with.
One wrong decision and an engaging and twisted plot can be replaced with a boring story that is so easy to predict.
However, you are not alone. Personally, I almost had started with STALKER: Call of Pripyat first when I was about to begin playing the series, but I was patient enough to make a research and find out the right order to play STALKER games. And after you read this article, you will be lucky to do it the right way too.
This article contains all STALKER games in order with a brief explanation of why you had better start with it and what you can expect from every part of the series.
So, want to know what order to play STALKER? Let’s dive in!
1. STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl
The first STALKER game in order you should start with is Shadow of Chernobyl. It is also the first game of the franchise that was released in 2007.
STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl takes us to The Zone in the year 2012 where we play as the “Marked One”, a stalker who struggles with amnesia. And our main objective is to kill another stalker in the area named Strelok.
Along the way, we also recall mysterious memories of the “Marked One” from his past and bring his identity together. This really makes the game thrilling.
2. STALKER: Clear Sky
The second game in the order is STALKER: Clear Sky which is actually the second part of the series; and for now, it makes clear that the STALKER games should be played in the order of their initial release.
STALKER: Clear Sky tells us a story that happened a year before the events featured in the Shadow of Chernobyl and answers a lot of questions that most people have after finishing the first part.
During the game, you play as a Scar, a man who survived a high energy emission and got rescued by a faction of Clear Sky, helping the faction to succeed with their goal.
Although some “experts” may say that you obviously should start playing STALKER: Clear Sky first rather than Shadow of Chernobyl because it uncovers the earlier events and sheds some light on what is about to be further, I believe this is not a wise decision.
After you end the Clear Sky, the plot of Shadow of Chernobyl becomes predictable and kind of boring, because the key feature of the whole STALKER series is its twisted plot.
Thus, it will be a way more thrilling experience if you start with the first game.
3. STALKER: Call of Pripyat
The last STALKER game in the order is Call of Pripyat. It is set right after the end of the Shadow of Chernobyl.
The government of Ukraine decides to discover the territory in order to find unusual artifacts and sends five helicopters to the Zone, but the mission goes wrong and all of them crash. Then they send you, an SBU agent and a former stalker, Major Alexander Degtyarev, into the Zone to investigate the accident.
During the game, you will be revealing secrets from the previous chapters and by the end, everything will be clear.
In conclusion, STALKER is a beautiful game with one of the most fascinating stories in the gaming industry.
And although it would be hard for a newcomer to find the right part to start with, after reading this article, everybody can play STALKER games in order and enjoy the twisted plot to its whole potential.