One of Stalker's most legendary mods has joined GOG's one-click install program, making it easier than ever to die horribly in Chornobyl

Stalkers crowd around a campfire, one playing guitar.

(Image credit: GSC Game World)

Someone jammed the Stalker tap in the 'on' position and now no one can turn it off. After Stalker: Call of Prypiat released in 2009, we were stuck waiting 15 years for another entry in the series (and it was just as wonderful and busted as ever), and now we seem to be awash in Stalker stuff: big updates for Stalker 2, remasters of the entire original series, and now: Stalker Anomaly has hit GOG's one-click modding program.

It's a great time to be alive. If you're not up-to-date on your Stalker mod projects, first of all: shame on you. Second of all: Stalker Anomaly is a standalone mod that acts as a kind of proto-Stalker 2—it stitches together maps from across the three original games into one great omni-map and lets you run wild across it, poking and prodding at sandbox mechanics like its buffed-up A-Life system and faction warfare.

So imagine one of the original games with the 'written narrative' slider turned way down and the 'emergent storytelling' slider cranked up. That's not to say there's no plot—Stalker Anomaly has a campaign all its own—but make no mistake: the emphasis is very much on the sandbox here, on those systems which make the games themselves so memorable and unique.

It's harsh, survival-focused, and a little bit legendary. Not for nothing did so many fans compare Stalker 2 to Anomaly when it released last year, rather than to the previous games in the series (though they did a lot of that too). It's assumed a kind of sainted spot in the Stalker pantheon ever since it released, thanks to the way it drills down into all those wonderful systems that make these games so strange and unique.

Approaching Stalkers sat outside a train carriage in Stalker Anomaly. — (Image credit: Anomaly Developers)

I'm a fan, if you can't tell. Perhaps you will be too? Fortunately, it's now incredibly easy to find out, so long as you own either Call of Prypiat – Enhanced Edition or its original version on GOG. It works like any other mod in the platform's program: add it to your cart and install it like you would any other game, and you're off to the races.

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.

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