Read about factions and multiplayer

The various S.T.A.L.K.E.R. factions are set to play a bigger role this time around. What benefits are there in joining a faction? Will the player be able to leave a faction or switch allegiances?

Clear Sky will have a more elaborate A-life simulation, there will be much great "freedom". There will be a faction war in The Zone, a struggle for territory. The player will be able to choose a faction he likes best and lead it to victory, weakening the other factions in the process. The stronger your faction becomes, the better ammunition the fighters will have. At the same time, we made behavior of regular stalkers in the game more live-like. You will be able to speak with practically every stalker, trade with him, or get a quest. But if you have a hostile attitude towards a faction then technics won’t take flash cards you’re your information about improvements.  As a result you can`t rely on upgrades for you weapon.

It is hard to improve your damaged relationship with the faction but it is possible with help of such “peacemakers”. For a settled amount some characters can offer to go to bat for you. They forget your old sins and than you have to win their confidence and do the missions. When your  friendship becomes stronger you can then try to join the faction. If you be succeed in this you can tune your PDA to the clan`s frequency and receive messages form your friends and listen to the clan`s talking.

In the process of the game the protagonist can join Clear Sky, Duty, Freedom, bandits and neutrals.


How will the factions tie in with the main storyline?

The opposition of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. clans occurs in the background of the key story events. The new Zone has been seething with cataclysms and the main player’s task will be to reach The Zone centre and find a way to calm things down. As the player goes towards his goal (by accomplishing key story missions), he’ll be witnessing a lot of action happening around him: factions fight for the new territories, fields of artifacts, important information and so on. At this point the player is given a chance to join a faction of his choice and help it win in this opposition of clans.  


A criticism of SOC was that a lot of time was spent travelling between locations. How have you addressed this? Can we expect to see vehicles in Clear Sky?

Vehicles will still not be part of the game: the terrain of the Zone isn’t suitable for driving, while at the same time plenty of invisible deadly anomalies don’t help making the drive a fun experience – running into an anomaly at 40 miles/hour would make the player die without even understanding what happened. Still though, following the feedback of fans, we decided to add a new type of character – guides to the game. Guides will be taking the player (for an agreed monetary reward) to remote corners of the Zone instantly. That’ll facilitate the playthrough.  


What multiplayer additions have been made in Clear Sky? Will there be new game modes?

Indeed, we’re introducing Capture the Artifact mode, in mechanics similar to classic capture the flag type of game, however with the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. environment: radiation, anomalies, dynamic day & night shifts etc. Clear Sky will feature a batch of new multiplayer maps, and it’s still up to 32 players online or over LAN in a game.  


What visual enhancements has DX10 support allowed you to make? What kind of rig will players need to take advantage of the improvements?

When integrating the DX10 features in the game, we were primarily thinking of enhanced atmosphere and believability of the game world. As a result, we brought on board a handful of effects to ensure extra game immersion effect: volumetric light with sun shafts, physically correct volumetric fog, so as realistic rain effect with dynamic surface wetting effect and water streaming down surfaces feature. DX10 is very costly in terms of computer resources required, so this graphics module in Clear Sky is orientated on users with high-end machines. You can find the exact specs announced on www.stalker-game.com


Do you have any plans to bring the S.T.A.L.K.E.R franchise to consoles?  

We have some ideas, but nothing announced yet. At this point, we’re playing with the technology to see what things can work for us. Keep an eye on our news.