The store sums up Clear Sky with a choice: pick your path carefully, or play all sides like a true mercenary. That choice runs through the faction wars, and several achievements contradict each other, so one run cannot cover everything. This page explains the system, the rival pairs, and how to plan runs. Achievement names and conditions come from the official Steam list; 21 of the 43 are hidden there, and this page does not guess their conditions.
1 How faction wars work
Factions struggle over territory: they attack to take ground and then defend it to keep it. Joining a faction lets you fight in its war, and helping your side beat its rival is exactly what the Garbage Hegemon and The question of Ideology achievements ask for. The store frames it as directly influencing the balance of power within the Zone.
2 Who you can join
GameRant lists five joinable factions and describes each by its main rival. Joining one side of a rivalry makes the other side hostile.
| Faction | Main rival | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Clear Sky | Renegades | Researchers; your starting allies |
| Loners | Bandits | Free stalkers; traders and little conflict |
| Bandits | Loners | Criminals focused on profit and territory |
| Duty | Freedom | Military discipline, heavy armor |
| Freedom | Duty | Anarchists based in Dark Valley; lighter gear, snipers |
The Military, Mercenaries and Renegades cannot be joined and act as opposing forces.
3 The two big decisions
After the Swamps, the achievement list points to two rivalries where you pick a winner.
4 An honest warning about the system
The faction wars are the most criticized part of Clear Sky. In its 2025 revisit of the Enhanced Editions, Klardendum called them poorly executed, said they never really function, and felt they clash with the atmospheric exploration the series is known for. Community mods such as The Faction War on ModDB rework the system for players who want it to behave differently.
In practice, treat faction wars as optional content that pays off in gear and access, not as the heart of the game. If you want to experience every side, GameRant suggests playing twice and choosing opposite factions.
5 Achievements that conflict
Garbage Hegemon and The question of Ideology also appear to require working with a side. A solo run and a joining run therefore need separate saves or separate playthroughs.
6 All visible achievements
| Group | Achievements and conditions |
|---|---|
| Story and difficulty | See the Clear Sky (finish on any difficulty), Mom, I'm going to the Zone (Novice), Lucky son of a gun (Stalker), Stalker with a scar (Veteran or Master) |
| Factions | Swamp Lord, One of us, Forever aloner, Garbage Hegemon, The question of Ideology, Friend for an hour |
| Collection | Modifier (18 flash drives), Meat constructor (all meat artifacts), Artifact sommelier (each artifact), Gun Baron (all unique weapons) |
| Money and gear | Drag and sell (100,000), All the money in the Zone (250,000), Gunsmith (5 weapons at maximum), I am machine (+60 kg capacity) |
| Oddities | Stalkerstrike (50 headshot kills), Overloaded but not overcame (10 km overloaded), Mock of a stalker (die from 5 different anomalies), PseudoFlash (drink 100 energy drinks) |
The 21 hidden ones include names such as Taxi!, Stashfinder, Trophy Hunter, Boss Helicopter and The lost city. Their conditions are not shown on the official list, so check a dedicated achievement guide if you want them.
7 Planning your runs
Join factions, win both rivalries, and gather flash drives, artifacts and unique weapons while you explore.
Leave the Swamps and finish without joining anyone for Forever aloner.
The list names Novice, Stalker and Veteran or Master separately and does not say a harder finish also counts for easier ones, so assign a different difficulty to each run unless you confirm otherwise.
Faction wars let you join Clear Sky, the Loners, the Bandits, Duty or Freedom and fight over territory, with Loners against Bandits and Duty against Freedom as the key choices. The system is widely criticized, so treat it as optional content that affects gear and services, and save before committing. Of the 43 achievements, 21 are hidden, and Forever aloner conflicts with the joining achievements, so plan at least two runs and spread the difficulty achievements across them.
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