S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky

 PC
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 47 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 47
  2. Mixed: 22 out of 47
  3. Negative: 1 out of 47
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  1. GameCritics
    40
    But Clear Sky takes everything that I loved about Chernobyl—the mature storyline, the nerve-wracking underground laboratories and the rewarding combat—and muddies them with a litany of bugs and bad design to the point that it overwhelms its more redeeming qualities.

Awards & Rankings

58
#58 Best PC Game of 2008
14
#14 Most Discussed PC Game of 2008
14
#14 Most Shared PC Game of 2008

User Reviews

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User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 887 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 550 out of 887
  2. Mixed: 234 out of 887
  3. Negative: 103 out of 887
  1. Kirase
    Feb 21, 2012
    3
    Dont waste your time with clear sky version 1.5.10, it is close to unplayable:

    Installed Game, patched it to 1.5.10, installed clear sky    Dont waste your time with clear sky version 1.5.10, it is close to unplayable:

    Installed Game, patched it to 1.5.10, installed clear sky complete 2009 mod. Game refused to start. Googled for that problem. Known bug. Googled for hotfix. Downloaded and installed it. Game started finally. Played 3 hours. Game crashed. Savegames corrupted and completely destroyed by the crash. Started game once again from the start. Experienced frequent game crashes at least once per hour. Played like 20 hours. Reached yantar region. Main storyline quest bugged. Googled for that problem. Known bug, can not be fixxed. 2 current savegames again useless. Noticed that older backup savegame is 2 days old. Stopped playing game. Go to metacritic and write 03/10 review.

    Seriously just wait for some more patches or modifications that take care of above mentioned problems. Current clear sky version is not enjoyable.    … Full Review »
  2. chris
    Dec 31, 2009
    3
    Delivering really neat visuals in the way of changing weather and alternating between day and night seamlessly is not enough to make this Delivering really neat visuals in the way of changing weather and alternating between day and night seamlessly is not enough to make this game good. So let me explain a scenario that enlightens you about the nature of the firefights in this game (half of the game, with the other half being walking). You quick save right before you make your attack on two enemies sitting down beside a campfire back facing you. You shoot one in the head, this makes him decide to stand up. As you shoot him in the head point blank a few more times his friend has started filling you with lead at a rapid rate. After emptying the whole clip into this one guys forehead he may or may not die, but I guarantee you will die from this experience, many times. And you know the great thing about this is? (notice the sarcasm plz) Even though you quick saved with your enemies completely unaware of your presence when you quick load they are alerted, and sometimes not even in the same position! Its ridiculous. You can empty a whole clip from about 100 yrds into a bad guy with single shot firing and not even kill him. Yet somehow they can shoot you from 400 yrds and take half your health each shot. If you want to be frustrated I suggest many other things instead of spending $5 on this game. Here are some suggestions. Buy 2 decks of cards and try to stack them all into a pyramid. Get five ones turned into change and throw it all into a pond that freezes over in the winter, then when it freezes cut a hole in the ice and try to swim to the bottom and collect it all.… Full Review »
  3. revani
    Jan 1, 2013
    7
    (I will talk about the latest vanilla version, from steam)
    I had the game in '08, a cracked version. I played for about an hour. I couldn't    (I will talk about the latest vanilla version, from steam)
    I had the game in '08, a cracked version. I played for about an hour. I couldn't play more because of the bugs in the main quest. It's OK for a game to have bugs, but in main quest? Was CS not tested at all? After the discount in steam (new year sale), i bought the game, hoping to be able to play it this time. And having played the game for 21 hours, it was OK. There were crashes at least two times than SoC, but it was bearable. Being a member of a faction is very fun too, I really wanted that in SoC. Although faction quests and other side quests are very repetitive, I fought for factions for more than 5-6 hours. There is a point in faction wars in which you cannot do anything anymore, but before reaching there, it's very fun. So far so good, right? Let's talk about game mechanics. I'm not a very good FPS player but I have a habit that whenever I play an FPS game, I select the hardest difficulty level. But guess what? CS is hard. Really hard. Of four difficulty levels, I selected 4, after playing for 20 minutes at most, I had to change to 3, then 2. But it's not because I was acting stupid, I always play RPG-like FPS games slowly, have more equipment, better weapons and armor, then go. After the enemies started throwing grenades, I realized that was not my fault. That was the AI. They hit you. Hard. And when they throw a grenade, it lands at most 50 centimeters from your feet. Then boom, quick load. The loading times are much longer than Max Payne 3. I think they should change the loading strategy if you're loading the same map. Steam tells me I played 21 hours and i think about 1 hour of it is loading. And about storyline. I read some comments about how bad the story is, but I liked it. I don't want to give spoilers but come on people, the last part was really good (and hard).
    Overall, it's a good game, not as good as SoC but good enough for it's price (currently $2.5). The AI could have been better, game logic could have been better, side quests could have been more interesting. But still, it's a S.T.A.L.K.E.R., the essence is still there.    … Full Review »
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