S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chornobyl FAQ S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chornobyl - Enhanced Edition Game Walkthrough Wiki

1 Is this the trilogy or one game

This is the question worth answering first, because the store page opens in a way that can mislead.

The description begins by announcing that the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Trilogy returns, upscaled and enhanced. Two sentences later it states what this particular product is: Shadow of Chornobyl, the first chapter of the Legends of the Zone Trilogy.

2 What kind of game is it

A survival first person shooter set in the exclusion zone around the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. You play The Marked One, and the game is described as a dark science fiction saga where your decisions determine your destiny.

The survival half of that label is not decoration. Anomalies, invisible radiation, starvation and mutants are all named as things that will hunt you, and you are told to manage resources carefully across an arsenal of more than thirty weapons.

Progression is non linear and leads to multiple endings, so it is closer to an open ended immersive game than to a corridor shooter.

3 What Enhanced changed

GSC Game World lists the changes explicitly, and they are mostly presentation with one genuine quality of life addition.

Full gamepad support is the one that changes who can play it. The original was a keyboard and mouse game from an era when that was assumed, so this opens it to controller players and handheld PCs.

4 Violence and alcohol notice

The developer supplies a content notice and it is specific rather than boilerplate. The gameplay revolves around shooting and eliminating enemies, both human figures and mutated creatures, with blood and violent scenes depicted. Enemies may sometimes explode as a result of weapon effects or anomalies. The player character can also consume alcohol throughout the game.

That last point is a mechanic rather than flavour in this series, so it is honest of them to list it. Treat this as an adult game and decide accordingly.

5 Price, platform and languages

Single player only, with Steam Cloud, save anytime and adjustable difficulty. Ukrainian full voice acting is worth noting given where the studio is from and what the game is about.

6 Steam Workshop and mods

Steam Workshop is listed as a supported feature. For this series that is a bigger deal than it would be for most games, because the modding community around the original has been active for well over a decade.

The sensible order is still to play it unmodified first. Many well known mods change difficulty, economy and even the structure of the Zone, and you cannot judge whether you liked the game if you never played it.

7 System requirements

The minimum targets 1080p at 60 frames per second on the low preset with a Core i3-7100 or Ryzen 3 1300X, 8 GB of memory and a GTX 960 or RX 560, needing 12 GB of storage.

The recommended tier targets the same resolution and frame rate at maximum settings with a Core i5-6600K or Ryzen 5 1600X and a GTX 1060 or RX 580. Stating the preset, resolution and target frame rate for both tiers is unusually clear, and it means the numbers are actually usable.

8 Is it hard, and is that the point

It is demanding, and much of that is deliberate. The Zone is designed to punish carelessness rather than slow reflexes: walking into an anomaly, ignoring a radiation reading, or fighting a battle you had no reason to start.

Adjustable difficulty and save anytime are both listed, so the harshness can be managed. What cannot be turned off is the atmosphere, and that is what people play this series for.