GSC RELEASES FREE EARLY BUILD OF ITS POST-APOCALYPTIC STALKER

Even with my main PC being the epitome of mid-level 2003 tech — hardly strong enough to power through most current indie games — the one game I’ve done my best to struggle through in the past few years is GSC’s post-apocalyptic wanderer Stalker, and it’s always responded in kind with some of my most compelling in-game anecdotes (particularly that corker where I was desperately low on health and managed to lure a group of alert soldiers to my version of a giant red X, where I silently rolled a live grenade directly behind the lot).

While GSC isn’t quite to the point of giving the game away for free (though it is offered at a bargain price on Steam), they have seen fit to give away an early 2004 build of the game.

As I make my own way through the download, RockPaperShotgun (my leading source for All Things Stalker), are reporting that the build is considerably larger and more free-ranging than the eventual release, truer to promises the developer was touting in press rounds at the time, and includes vehicles — which would be eventually stripped as it reigned in its scope — to better navigate the terrain, and significantly more difficult.

Grab the direct download here (or, alternately, the torrent here) and let us know how it feels to you.

‘xrCore’ build 1935, Oct 18 2004. [GSC, via ShackNews]