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S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl tells a story about survival in the Zone – a very dangerous place, where you fear not only the radiation, anomalies and deadly creatures, but other S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s, who have their own goals and wishes.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Data as of 2026-05-20.
What reviewers agree on
26 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“First playthrough review time. This is a shooting and adventure game in a very dangerous place. The world has many strange things like monsters, traps, and people who want to fight you. You walk through many different…”
“S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is straight up one of the best post-apocalyptic RPGs ever made, and if you don’t see it, you’re probably used to games holding your hand like a lost kid. This thing doesn’t care about…”
“5 Out of 6 This is one of those exceptinal vintage games that transports you to another realm. I enjoyed every minute of it. Challenging and fun.”
18 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl . Wow! I didn't expect this, but I was pleasantly surprised by the game. It's a very stylish and atmospheric shooter with amazing music and interface. . Controls: WASD - move Ctrl - crouch…”
“Cool atmosphere, game play feels awful though. Been told that to fix it you can just mod the game into oblivion but that feels like it defeats the purpose and I don't feel like doing that. Tried to look up just some…”
“got jumped by some zombies and a snork, killed them and then ran into a controller, killed him too, after i finish with this game ill try and give S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 a crack, seems fun. i love the way this game looks, its…”
8 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl . Wow! I didn't expect this, but I was pleasantly surprised by the game. It's a very stylish and atmospheric shooter with amazing music and interface. . Controls: WASD - move Ctrl - crouch…”
“fun game good visuals and atmosphere not bad story nice sound design and ambience for the later game get the VSS Vintorez rifle and try to find a lot of 9x39 ammo. It one shots on headshots and has perfect accuracy,…”
“I have sunk hundreds of hours into post apocalyptic games including Fallout and Metro series however the sheer amount of apathy shown to me by the Zone while exploring it and then feeling warm and cozy at one of the…”
7 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“First playthrough review time. This is a shooting and adventure game in a very dangerous place. The world has many strange things like monsters, traps, and people who want to fight you. You walk through many different…”
“S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is straight up one of the best post-apocalyptic RPGs ever made, and if you don’t see it, you’re probably used to games holding your hand like a lost kid. This thing doesn’t care about…”
“5 Out of 6 This is one of those exceptinal vintage games that transports you to another realm. I enjoyed every minute of it. Challenging and fun.”
7 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“fun game good visuals and atmosphere not bad story nice sound design and ambience for the later game get the VSS Vintorez rifle and try to find a lot of 9x39 ammo. It one shots on headshots and has perfect accuracy,…”
“Very fun and good story, but don't forget to download ZRP”
“Один из лучших саундтреков в истории игр, просто хороший сюжет, ахуенные локации, порой интересные квесты Определенно одна из игр”
14 of the 103 reviews raise this · 14 of them still recommend the game.
“I like it lots, but i tried using a medkit without taking it from the corpse's inventory and the game crashed,”
“This game should of been my childhood game, yet it never was unfortunately, as this game was never bundled alongside all other games I got from my father. This is literally my first time ever playing a S.T.A.L.K.E.R.…”
“Eastern Europeans can't make a game that works consistently”
6 of the 103 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“A gun in your hands doesn’t shoot straight, but that same gun in the enemy hands does. It takes 10 rounds from 3 meters away to get a head shot while the bandit 30 meters away behind a bush fires one burst that brings…”
“Cool atmosphere, game play feels awful though. Been told that to fix it you can just mod the game into oblivion but that feels like it defeats the purpose and I don't feel like doing that. Tried to look up just some…”
“I cannot put into words how much i love this game, its very janky, buggy sometimes even downright annoying, but if you look past all the jank. Theres a genuine masterpiece, i have wet dreams of what this game could have…”
3 of the 103 reviews raise this · 2 of them still recommend the game.
“A gun in your hands doesn’t shoot straight, but that same gun in the enemy hands does. It takes 10 rounds from 3 meters away to get a head shot while the bandit 30 meters away behind a bush fires one burst that brings…”
“SoC is probably the most atmospheric game I've every tried. It's seriously amazing. Despite some bugs, somewhat impossible missions, and some backtracking, this game still holds up even after 19 years, it's honestly…”
“Even if i had to tweak it a little for bug fixes, its still the best Slav jank game (besides the difficulty and unfairness) that ive played besides Metro 2033 saga. sometime later i will play it again”
Counted across 103 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 94.7% positive rating · as of 2026-05-20
“The Zone does not care about your feelings. You will get lost, die to an anomaly you didn't see and spend 20 minutes looting a body only to realize you're overencumbered again. And somehow that's peak gaming. Shadow of Chernobyl is janky, moody and occasionally sends a…”
— a player, Steam review · 42 hrs played“Don't let the Steam tracker fool you, I have THOUSANDS of hours in this game. An absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ masterpiece by GSC studios before they disbanded, and Evgeniy Grygorovych (Sergiy Grygorovych's brother) decided that beating his brothers dead horse was the best way for him to…”
— a player, Steam review · 0 hrs played“Great game. ran it mostly vanilla besides the ZRP and a IRL gun name mod. Had a blast. super immersive for 2007 not as go fetch as the sequel clear sky pretty streamlined story that is fulfilling and makes you sad it's over. Also the theme song as you enter barkeep after a…”
— a player, Steam review · 43 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live count fetched 2026-07-11 11:39 UTC · history via SteamCharts.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-07-24). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chornobyl Enhanced Edition is now on Steam!
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy Enhanced Edition is now available on Steam! Shadow of Chornobyl, Clear Sky, and Call of Prypiat get a refresh with enhanced graphics, next-gen console optim
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Enhanced Edition, coming May 20
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. trilogy on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation will receive a free upgrade to S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy Enhanced Edition on May 20, 2025. New shaders, lighting, textures, gamepa
Console release and weeklong Steam deal for all S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fans
Winter is a tough season, especially in the Zone. And even though some winter days felt like late March, stalkers are jubilant to welcome the advent of spring. The season when everything is new, the w
Gamescom is coming, as well as the demo of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2
Deadly anomalies, dangerous mutants, anarchists, bandits, free stalkers, players and partners are heartily invited to join us and play the demo of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl at gamescom 2023
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-20.
| Genres | Action, RPG |
| Player tags | Atmospheric · Post-apocalyptic · Open World · FPS · Survival · Action · Survival Horror · Shooter · RPG · Horror · First-Person · Singleplayer (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Multi-player · PvP · Online PvP · LAN PvP · Steam Cloud · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English * , French * , Italian * , Spanish - Spain * , German * , Russian * , Ukrainian * , Polish * , Traditional Chinese * |
| Estimated owners | 1,000,000 – 2,000,000 (SteamSpy) |
| Official site | https://soc.stalker-game.com/ |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Supported OS: Microsoft® Windows® XP(Service Pack 2)/Microsoft® Windows® 2000 SP4 Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.0 Ghz / AMD XP 2200+ Graphics: 128 MB DirectX® 8.0 compatible card / nVIDIA® GeForce™ 5700 / ATI Radeon® 9600 Memory: 512 MB RAM Sound: DirectX® 9.0 compatible sound card Hard Drive: 6 GB free hard disc space