History VideoGame / STALKER

** The Cutter is a specially modified [[AKA47 Viper 5 (MP5)]] chambered in .45 ACP. IRL, there is no version of the [=MP5=] chambered in .45 ACP (its closest equivalents are two versions chambered in 10mm Auto {[=MP5=]/10} and .40 S&W {[=MP5=]/40}), though its successor, the UMP, has a version chambered in that specific caliber.

** ''Call of Pripyat'' allows you to upgrade longcoat with chainmail lining. However, it is a Tier 3 upgrade, and you need SEVA hazard suit just to provide traders with Tier 3 instruents.

** The "Find the weapon of the Dutyer" sidequest in ''Shadow of Chernobyl'' consists in finding a specific unique weapon and bringing it back to its owner. The quest provides a marker which leads to the Bandit Base in Dark Valley, but the gun is carried by a unique bandit named Friar, who wanders through the gameworld and can also be found in several other levels. He seems to most often spawn in Agroprom Underground, ''in the other side of the map''.

** The Cutter is a specially modified [[AKA47 Viper 5 (MP5)]] chambered in .45 ACP. IRL, there is no version of the [=MP5=] chambered in .45 ACP.
** The SUSAT scope was designed to use in conjunction with [=L85=] rifles, and not supposed to be installed on weapons without proprietary mounts (like LR-300 and SG 550).
** Some of the gun modifications in ''Call of Pripyat'' will not work as described. For example: barrel modifications will affect accuracy, but will not increase rate of fire.

** Averted in other cases, however. It's entirely possible to miss the Bandit's armory in their Dark Valley hideout (and [[BoozeBasedBuff its thirty-plus]] [[HilarityEnsues bottles of vodka]]) while you were busy killing everyone inside, and you'll only have time to safely root around in Freedom's armory if you chose to side with Duty and eliminate them ''after'' the battle. On the other hand, both of them are filled less with medkits or food and more with loads and loads of guns and ammo that you may not have use for. Freedom's armory does have quite a few rifle-launched grenades in it, however, which are almost impossible to find otherwise.

** Borov, a Bandit leader you have to kill in ''Shadow of Chernobyl'', reveals in his journal that he ''really'' hates leading around a bunch of ChaoticEvil bastards who'd stab each other for fun and profit and will eventually get him killed, either by them, or by someone pissed off at the bandits enough. Guess what happens...

The first proper sequel, ''S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2'', was [[http://www.1up.com/news/stalker-2-announced-gsc-game announced]] at [=GamesCom=]. However, on December, 2011, it was announced that GSC had been forced into closure, though the team promised that the development would continue. The game was indefinitely put on hold in January 2012. In its stead, a majority of the development team broke off to create a SpiritualSuccessor, called ''Survivarium'', but the rights of the franchise remains with GSC. Another outfit, West Games, which also claims to employ some of the original team, announced their own follow-up called ''STALKER Apocalypse,'' but [[http://www.pcgamer.com/areal-devs-are-back-want-money-for-stalker-apocalypse/ questions surrounding its legitimacy]] quickly came up, including some calling it an obvious scam. GSC, meanwhile, [[http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-12-10-its-a-hard-time-for-ukraine-but-a-good-time-to-be-a-proud-ukrainian has reopened]]. Work on ''S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2'' has been put on hold due to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in early 2022.

GSC announced in May 16th, 2018 that they were working on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 once again and were planning to release the game in 2021. Not much is known about the game, other than that the X-Ray engine used by previous installments in the series has been replaced with Unreal Engine 4, since most of the devs who had experience working with X-Ray had moved either to Vostok Games or [=4A=] Games after the collapse of GSC. After a long period of silence, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was finally announced as a temporary [[UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS Xbox Series X (and Series S)]] exclusive on July 23, 2020.

The first proper sequel, ''S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2'', was [[http://www.1up.com/news/stalker-2-announced-gsc-game announced]] at [=GamesCom=]. However, on December, 2011, it was announced that GSC had been forced into closure, though the team promised that the development would continue. The game was indefinitely put on hold in January 2012. In its stead, a majority of the development team broke off to create a SpiritualSuccessor, called ''Survivarium'', but the rights of the franchise remains with GSC. Another outfit, West Games, which also claims to employ some of the original team, announced their own follow-up called ''STALKER Apocalypse,'' but [[http://www.pcgamer.com/areal-devs-are-back-want-money-for-stalker-apocalypse/ questions surrounding its legitimacy]] quickly came up, including some calling it an obvious scam. GSC, meanwhile, [[http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-12-10-its-a-hard-time-for-ukraine-but-a-good-time-to-be-a-proud-ukrainian has reopened]], and has released ''Cossacks 3'' in 2016.

*** You can find a VSS in perfect condition right after the beginning of the game, provided you know where to look. It's on top of one of the burnt-out houses in the burnt farmstead. There's also an SVD up for grabs leaning against one of the trees on the northwest edge of the map.

Similar to ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'', a FanRemake of ''Shadow of Chernobyl'' titled ''Videogame/LostAlpha'' has been released. Like ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'', ''Lost Alpha'' is big enough in scope that it's a standalone game all on its own. It is available for free on [=ModDB=] [[http://www.moddb.com/mods/lost-alpha here]]. See also ''Call of Chernobyl'', a mod for ''Call of Pripyat'' that merges all of the games together into one large non-linear sandbox. It can be found [[http://www.moddb.com/mods/call-of-chernobyl here]].

** [[RasputinianDeath Some mutants also can soak up a lot of damage before finally going down for good]]. The Pseudogiant, for example, while it was only fairly durable in ''Shadow of Chernobyl'', takes ''ungodly'' amounts of punishment to take down in ''Clear Sky'' and ''Call of Pripyat'', and can take ''two'' shots from an RPG-7 in the face, [[OhCrap while at the same time whittling away your health faster than the blink of an eye]]. If you don't have an RPG-7 or Gauss Rifle with you, you better hope you have enough ammo and medkits if you're going to kill this thing, otherwise you'll have to run away, hopefully avoiding its stomp attack which has a damaging area of effect and which can briefly stun you. This makes the Pseudogiant a BossInMooksClothing, barring the [=SoC=] variant.

[[caption-width-right:250:[[Literature/NineteenEightyFour If you want a picture of the future, imagine an elephant's foot trampling a human face. Forever]].]]

** ''S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Complete'' is a mod designed to massively overhaul and modernize the graphics and also make adjustments to the gameplay, without drastically altering the story or mission flow like other major mods such as ''Lost Alpha'' or ''Oblivion Lost''. However, it hasn't been updated in a while and is built upon an outdated version of the Zone Reclaimation Project, leading to it having quite a few bugs of its own. It also makes the game much easier (weapons are more accurate and deal less damage, the player has a higher carry weight, and NPC's eyesight and hearing range have been reduced significantly).

*** A series of repacks and modifications built upon ''Call of Chernobyl'' have been released over the past few years, some of the most notable ones being ''Last Day'' and ''Anomaly''. One of the most recent releases is ''Demosfen'', which brings in several new maps, changes to existing ones (to name one, the Bar is huge now, with a very detailed underground), tons upon tons of new artifacts, and a trove of quests and missions to pursue, but you'll need some knowledge of Russian to play it, as there is no proper English translation for it just yet.

* HyperspaceArsenal:
Averted... yet, somehow, played straight. You can only equip one sidearm and one primary weapon. However, you're able to carry up to 59.9 kg of anything (including additional guns) in your backpack, however going above 50kg reduces your sprinting ability to next to zero. Break it with a piece of bread and you're totally immobile.

** In ''Shadow of Chernobyl'', one Duty sidequest requires to steal a grenade launcher in Freedom headquarters, but an alternate way of completing the quest can be learnt from the headquarters' cook by sharing drinks with him. While the Marked One's lines simulate ebriety during the dialog, you'll be completely sober when going bac to the game.

* {{Hypocrite}}: [[spoiler: The Duty faction constantly preaches that they're striving to create a world free of the Zone's corruption, but in ''Call of Pripyat'', you're able to find the corpse of their original founder. His PDA reveals that Duty's original purpose was literally no different from that of any other opportunistic Stalker hoping to make their fortune in the Zone. If you choose to send this PDA to the leader of Freedom in the train station, he'll gladly call Duty as nothing more than a bunch of frauds.]]
** Depending on your perspective, this may be a case of MotiveDecay or BecomingTheMask, as [[spoiler: Duty]] does seem dedicated to what they claim their mission is. If you give the PDA to the Duty commander, though he's obviously going to make sure it never sees the light of day, he's also genuinely shocked and appalled at what it says.

** The FN F2000 in all three games. A balance of above-average firepower, precision and reliability, comes out of the box with a grenade launcher and a scope integrated ''and'' uses the common 5.56x45mm ammo. You get it in ''Shadow of Chernobyl'' by looting the bodies of Monolith troops in [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon the Sarcophagus]] (or, iwth a ''lot'' of luck, in a stash in the Red Forest) and in ''Clear Sky'' after crossing all of Limansk-13, right before reaching [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon the Chernobyl NPP]]. It loses this status in ''Call of Pripyat'', where you can get one at the beginning of the game if you can collect enough money to order an assault rifle from Nimble (not that hard if one takes the time to go artifact hunting) and some luck.

* GameplayGuidedAmnesia: Justified in ''Shadow of Chernobyl'', as the player character has amnesia - amnesia given to him by [[spoiler:the ultra-psychic HiveMind of Soviet scientists, too]]. Also averted, in that you have the option of skipping the tutorial entirely by telling Sidorovich that you still remember how to survive in the Zone.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Completing Trapper's mutant-hunting quests in ''Call Of Pripyat'' [[MultipleEndings unlocks an ending]] describing how Yanov has become a safer place for Stalkers thanks to your efforts. In-game, however, [[TheFarmerAndTheViper Yanov ironically becomes even more dangerous]] as completing all the hunting missions causes [[DemonicSpiders Chimeras, Burers and Pseudogiants]] to spawn randomly throughout the area. [[SarcasmMode Yay.]]

* PermanentlyMissableContent:

** Taken a step further in some {{Game Mod}}s, where the addition of an artifact turns the weapon into a less-powerful gauss gun by flinging the bullet with tremendous energy (but shearing off a lot of metal in the process).

* AdamSmithHatesYourGuts: The MISERY mod of ''Call of Pripyat'' makes the purchasing of items and the repairing of weapons and armor ''three times more expensive'' than the vanilla version of the game. As if the mod wasn't already NintendoHard enough...

** Annoyingly, in vanilla ''Shadow of Chernobyl'', nobody knows how to repair ''anything''[[note]]all you have is an exploit that allows you to use artifacts to become immune to a certain kind of damage, which then both heals you and repairs your current armour when you receive that particular damage. This exploit proved so popular that [[AscendedGlitch it was actually deliberately left unfixed]], and is in fact commonly considered to be a valid tactic by the community (what with there being no other way to repair armor in the vanilla first game); but with guns, no luck[[/note]], so you have to throw your rifle away and get a new one after using it for firing a few dozen magazines. Unless you use a GameMod that allows certain NPC's to, like in the two following games, repair equipment for a fee that is determined by how effective the weapon or suit is. A leather jacket and Makarov pistol won't cost more than 100 Ru each to fix, while you better expect to pay through the nose to get an exoskeleton, VSS or G36 to pristine condition.

* ChromosomeCasting: There ''are'' female stalkers in the Zone. You just never see them, due to time constraints and developer laziness. [=PDAs=] often refer to girlfriends in the Zone, and with mods, you can encounter some women Stalkers.

* CriticalEncumbranceFailure: In the basic, non-modded Shadow of Chernobyl game, you can carry up to 50kg before being weighed down. If you pass that weight limit, then your endurance starts to drain very fast while sprinting, but you can still move around up to 59.9kg. The instant you hit 60kg or more however, you won't be able to move until you drop some weight. Can be really bad if you're in the middle of a firefight, or trying to run away from an unexpected enemy that showed up just as you were looting that last body.
** Hilariously, you can work around this weight limit, provided you have a lot of patience and cleared most of the area of enemies. Most dead humans can be lifted and moved around, and while you have a weight limit, you can put as much loot as you want into the dead body, then drag it slowly back towards a merchant or NPC with a decent amount of money. Then once you're within speaking distance of said merchant/NPC, grab all the loot from the dead body, and sell it all in one fell swoop (provided they have enough money). Again, a weight increase mod may be a faster/better solution, but if you don't want to use one, this is one way to grab the loot from those 6 bandits/mercs you just killed (and friendlies if they were fighting and died to said bad guys).

* DummiedOut: ''Shadow of Chernobyl'' contains unimplemented code for a variety of features that never made it into the final game, including unused areas, weapons, the ability to drive vehicles, and a Faction Wars system, much of which can be found in the ''Oblivion Lost'' [[http://www.3dnow.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1616 beta build 1935]]. The Faction Wars system was finally implemented in ''Clear Sky'', and it and ''Call of Pripyat'' include some weapons that had been originally cut from the first.
** Several maps were cut from the game, with quite a few having made it late in development and being playable in the aforementioned development build:
*** The map "Darkscape" was cut from the final game when driving mechanics were also cut. It was meant to be a linear gauntlet level with mostly uninterrupted road, giving the player the opportunity to actually drive their vehicle for extended periods of time, while avoiding the pursuing military.
*** Significant portions of Yantar are missing in the final release, with the initial map being massive. It was likely cut simply for being too large and uninteresting, especially as story rewrites cut down the amount of quests in the game significantly. It has since been restored in both the Lost Alpha mod and the Oblivion Lost mod.
*** A map called "Generators" was cut from the game without having a clear purpose, much to the chagrin of players given its incredible, otherworldly design. It was placed somewhere near the CNPP but it got canned with the story rewrites. Once again, most mods restore it, although its remote location and lack of relevance to the rest of the Zone means that it won't be visited much.
*** Another map, "Dead City," was cut when the game's story underwent rewrites. It was going to be a plot critical location where [[spoiler:Marked One would rescue Doc, who would inform him that he is actually Strelok and set him on the journey to unlock the true ending]], and the city was split between Mercs and Bandits, both of which were hostile to the player. Strangely, despite being completely modeled, textured, mapped, and having been given proper spawns, the map was never used in any of the games. It was also home to several named [=NPCs=], all of whom got cut with the map. Modders, however, typically add the map back in.
*** Some of the remaining code could cause serious issues; for example, the Yantar lab was still technically affiliated with the Duty faction in the final game, and this could cause a vital NPC to become hostile to the player after waking up from the Blowout if the player was Freedom-affiliated at the time.
** Many types of mutants were cut from the game at various stages of development:
*** The ones that were nearly complete were the burers, cats, and chimeras, all of which had their models, textures, and relevant scripting. There's no word on why they didn't make it into ''Shadow of Chernobyl'' (altough WordOfGod says that GSC couldn't get the burers' AI to work quite right before release), but the burers and chimeras were re-added for ''Call of Pripyat'', while the cats haven't been seen in any vanilla entries.
*** Zombies were originally going to behave more like [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Romero Zombies]], being shambling, desiccated corpses that required headshots to put down completely. They had a unique variant called the Izlom, a horribly distended zombie that would [[RunningOnAllFours run on all fours]] towards the player, giving the Zombies are faster variant to keep players on their toes. When re-added by mods, it becomes clear why they were cut: Izloms didn't fill any unique role that boars, fleshes, and pseudo-dogs didn't already, and the slow bullet sponge zombies were pathetically easy to fight or bypass.
*** Early on in the development cycle, Lab X-18 was going to be inhabited by two races of mutant dwarfs, with the final boss being a "dwarf king." Said mutants were modeled and textured but ultimately never coded properly, and their basic design and combat functions were repurposed for the burers.
** A shocking number of weapons were cut from the game, at various stages in development, including a double-barrled hunting shotgun with ludicrous damage, a minigun, the FN P90, two heavy machine gun variants, the Browning High-Power Pistol, the MAC-10, and several enhanced variants of weapons that were already implemented. Of these, the hunting shotgun returned (with a serious damage nerf), as did the heavy machine guns and the Browning High-Power Pistol.
** The Faction Wars mechanic that had been cut from ''Shadow of Chernobyl'' was reimplemented in the sequel, ''Clear Sky.'' However, it was notoriously buggy in the best of times and outright unstable at worst, and ultimately it didn't create the more lonesome, atmospheric gameplay experience that the games were angling for, leading to it being dropped for ''Call of Pripyat.'' As with almost all of the cut content, it is often re-enabled by modders.
** Several mods unlocked the original game content - and eventually releasing an official "development build" patch (at least, for the Russian version). You think the game wasn't NintendoHard enough? ''You'll have to fight your way through a zombie assault right after exiting the bunker [[WithThisHerring with a knife and a handgun]]''.
** ''Lost Alpha'' is a complete reconstruction of Dev Build 1935, with some additions (such as a major story rewrite and a complete retooling of most of the levels to be larger, due to the presence of vehicles). It is released as a free stand-alone game that doesn't require a ''Shadow of Chernobyl'' install to play.
* DwindlingParty: In ''Call of Pripyat'', once you finally reach Pripyat, you'll rendevous with a platoon-sized group of allied military Spetsnaz soldiers, who serve as your allies for the 3rd and final act. Over the course of the Pripyat missions, this force of a few dozen special forces soldiers will gradually be whittled down by Monolith ambushes and mutant attacks to just 3 to 6 soldiers, plus you, Strelok, and the last member of your 4-man party (the other 3 members having left on their own to pursue their own agendas).

** One of the first mods released by the Russian community (later translated into English) was actually called, when translated, 'Wear Your Goddamn Helmet, Man!', and causes Degtyarev to [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin actually wear whatever headgear he has equipped]].

* HyperspaceArsenal: Averted... yet, somehow, played straight. You can only equip one sidearm and one primary weapon. However, you're able to carry up to 59.9 kg of anything (including additional guns) in your backpack, however going above 50kg reduces your sprinting ability to next to zero. Break it with a piece of bread and you're totally immobile. Certain [[GameMod mods]] can allow you to change the weight limit to however many kg of equipment you want to carry, allowing you to become one heck of a pack-carrying camel.
** Also played straight with the various storage crates which can be used to stash extra inventory, all of which have a seemingly infinite amount of space, able to store dozens of guns and outfits, thousands of rounds of ammo, weeks worth of food, and artifacts galore with room to spare. Justified for gameplay reasons; you need ''somewhere'' to store all that stuff and it's more convenient than just dropping it on the ground.
*** [[spoiler: However, be aware that recklessly storing your equipment may come back to bite you in the ass. One quest in ''Call of Pripyat'' involves having ALL the equipment in one of your storage crates stolen. You can find and get it all back later on, but depending on how much you can carry and how many things you have, you're going to have to make multiple trips at full load or leave some behind.]]

* InfiniteFlashlight: Applies to all games, to both the headlamp and the night vision goggles. They never go out or even dim - at most, a low-tier NVG set will sporadically flicker a little. A few game mods aim to fix that by making them run on limited batteries; MISERY is one example.

** The Lightened [=L85=] in ''Shadow of Chernobyl'' is dropped by Master, the target of the assassination given by Snitch in the Bar. Master has an Exoskeleton, but is neutral by default and you have the OneHitKill attack of the knife. Kill him, grab the gun and run away before Master's unique shotgun and Exoskeleton-toting buddy reacts. This peculiar [=L85=], in addition of being lighter (hence the name), deteriorates ''far'' less than the vanilla version and has an integrated suppressor, meaning it doesn't get damage and accuracy penalties for being silenced. If used with pragmatism (or a mod that restores repairmen), it will carry you almost to the end of the game if you don't feel like swapping to to the [=F2000=] or a 9x39mm weapon.

* InfinityPlusOneSword: The Gauss Rifle, a hilariously powerful experimental semi-automatic rifle that can OneHitKill literally any enemy in the game and can only be obtained from Monolith troopers at the very end of the main story. Balanced out slightly due to ammo being virtually impossible to find before the PointOfNoReturn and very low rate of fire. Game Mods often gimp it to be only useful against humans and weaker mutants, and it was changed to just that in ''Call of Pripyat''. In that same game there's only one though and if you sell it, [[PermanentlyMissableContent you are not getting it back]]. It doesn't fall under TooAwesomeToUse territory in ''Call of Pripyat'', however. Cardan will offer six homemade batteries for 2000 rubles each [[spoiler: after you show him the rifle and complete the little miniquest in the lab located in the Iron Forest area in Zaton, which is located at the very southwest corner of the map]], and you can repeat the process for as long as you have the dough.

* InformedEquipment: For some odd reason, player characters ALWAYS wear fingerless gloves in the first person, regardless of armor equipped. This becomes quite noticeable because armor you pick up later in game shows you in third person that you're wearing a full-body radiation suit or gloves that aren't fingerless.

* MeleeATrois: Every faction, be it military, Duty, Freedom, Monolith or Mercs want to kill someone else. There ''is'' balance, as the two main rival Stalker factions (Duty and Freedom), tend to occupy only the regions their bases are, only doing some raids on more neutral zones, and the military only patrolling the border, with the occasional raid on a strategically important location. Then there are Mercs and Bandits who attack almost everyone on sight (except ''Call of Pripyat'' but that [[EverythingTryingToKillYou won't last long]]). Monolith stick to their own zones (except in ''Shadow of Chernobyl'', where they frequently go against Freedom) but are hostile to everyone who steps on their turf. The zombies are self-explanatory. The Loners are notoriously attacked by bandits, the military and some Merc squads, being a full turf war against the former two in ''Clear Sky''. The only faction that doesn't have some sort of war going against someone are the Ecologists, who only have occasional tangles with the Mercenaries.

* NightVisionGoggles: Two kinds are present: the crappy one with low resolution that flickers every once in a while, and the good one that doesn't distort the image and is one hundred percent stable. The low-tier are most often green, while the decent kind is blue in vanilla (green as well in ''Call of Pripyat''), but mods often change it to IR black-and-white. In both cases, [[InfiniteFlashlight the batteries are eternal]].
* NightOfTheLivingMooks: Game mods often restore the DummiedOut zombie enemy, which acts like a stereotypical Romero undead. However, they possess much more health than [[TechnicallyLivingZombie zombified stalkers]], and are able to take several headshots.
* NintendoHard: A common reviewer complaint, as the game combines "survival horror"-style management of scarce resources with the unforgiving "tactical shooter"-style action of games like ''Ghost Recon''. To quote ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'', the average player will likely find themselves pressing quicksave and quickload more often than the Fire button. Meanwhile, some of the more well-known modifications have been released with the express purpose of making the games ''[[UpToEleven even harder]].'' MISERY mod, anyone?

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Zombified stalkers are ''not'' Romero-style undead cannibals, but rather men who've suffered irreversible brain damage from exposure to psi-emissions. They still retain enough intelligence to fire and reload guns (with reduced speed and accuracy compared to a normal stalker), but they are unable to heal themselves and still shamble about, mumbling incoherent fragments of sentences. If you have mods that reactivate the dummied-out code for them, you can encounter more "traditional" zombies, but they're much more resistant to damage than regular zombies, requiring several good hits to the head (and then some) to take them down permanently.
** And some mod zombies are actually semi-transparent glowing ''[[Fanfic/HalfLifeFullLifeConsequences zombie ghosts]]''. Technically, they've been warped further by the Zone and are in some sort of odd quantum state, similar to some anomalies, but they're just harder to kill.

* PlotPoweredStamina: Upon starting the game, the Marked One is never asleep or unconscious for more than a few minutes until the end of the game. Degtayrev at least has the choice to sleep (in order to advance the game clock) but staying up for in-game weeks at a time never has any detrimental effects. Most mods restore the need for sleep.

* RealIsBrown:
** Surprisingly subverted for the most part. While the Zone is a land full of SceneryGorn, there are a few colorful, lush places that help minimize the use of brown backgrounds that usually equate to the despair and hopelessness in a mainly abandoned locale, mixing it with SceneryPorn.
** Played straight with the Misery Mod of ''Call of Pripyat'', with a very predominant use of brown in almost all the locations not taking place underground. The color only serves to add to the SceneryGorn and horrors coming from an [[NintendoHard already brutally difficult mod.]]
* RealityIsOutToLunch: The Anomalies.
** As well as some of the monsters and nontraditionally anomalous locations. In few other games can you say that you just fought through swarms of mutant hamsters and traversed an endlessly looping room to find a magic oasis in the middle of a radioactive concrete bunker, only to be bitten to death by imaginary dogs.

* RedSkyTakeWarning: The anomalous blowouts in ''Clear Sky'', that become more frequent in ''Call of Pripyat''. The moment the sky turns red with white highlights, you better be already in proper cover, very close to it, or have Anabiotic medicine handy; otherwise, have fun reloading a save. They're a scripted event in ''Shadow of Chernobyl'', though mods like ''Oblivion Lost'' restore the random ones.

* RightHandedLeftHandedGuns: Every single rifle has its ejection port on the left side. Worse with the world models -- they have ejection ports on left and right sides of the receiver. There are several mods that address this.

* SayMyName: One of the cutscenes (most obvious in mods that add in the need to sleep) is of Strelok approaching the nuclear power plant... and him turning around when a voice screams "STRELOK!".

** To a marginally lesser extent, the [[MoreDakka PKM light machine gun.]] It weighs almost as much as the RPG, cannot be properly aimed with (without mods), is highly inaccurate, mostly due to the "no aiming" thing, and upgrading just one tier is likely to set you back 20,000 rubles. Add on to that the fact that it fires the 7.62 PP rounds, which can only be found in one faction-neutral location in Clear Sky, and only from the military quartermaster (limited supply) or looting the corpses of zombies which have it in Call of Pripyat, and the thing is the definition of CoolButInefficient. To put the icing on the cake, it's [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a light machine gun,]] and chews through the ammo that you worked so hard to get like a starved dog. But ''man'' does it lay down the hurt!

** With certain mods, you can sell weapons to neutral or friendly stalkers, and they ''will'' equip it if they don't have a primary already. Try giving an Abakan and some ammo to a rookie loner that has only a puny Makarov [[GoodFeelsGood and see if you don't get a smile on your face]]. This can lead to some pretty awesome moments, as well: as mentioned above, Petruha and his buddy Awl wind up in trouble at a Boiler anomaly in Call of Pripyat. Save Petruha and they'll most likely wind up dead anyway because they've got awful equipment, but if you take the time and money to kit them out with some decent gear, you'll probably find them later kicking all kinds of ass.

* WideOpenSandbox: For the most part. More restrictive than ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'', but has more overall quests, an active ecosystem, and, occasionally, people fighting desperate battles against each other/mutants. It's really brought out in game mods, which restore most of the ecosystem and AI battles.
** That said, in the first game up until you reach the CNPP itself there's literally nothing stopping you from turning around and walking all the way back to the starting village if you want to. The third lets you turn around and head back to the beginning area at pretty much any time.

* WizardNeedsFoodBadly: It may not be obvious at first, but hunger is a real meter in all three games[[note]]''Clear Sky'' dummied it out, but basically every bug-fixing modpack under the sun adds it back[[/note]]. If you're running low, an icon of a spoon and a fork appears on the HUD, and the longer you ignore it the worse it gets until you eat. Go hungry for too long and you'll lose out on stamina and suffer DamageOverTime just like being heavily irradiated. In ''Call of Pripyat'', drinking vodka increases hunger, and you can starve to death if you hit the bottle too hard.

** "Real" zombies and their cousins, Izlolms (hunchbacked mutants), do the same thing. At least, when restored by third-party mods. Snorks count a bit, but run on all fours, since their bodies cannot support a straight posture.

* GreyAndGreyMorality: The Duty and Freedom factions, neither of which are particularly good ''or'' particularly bad despite being diametrically opposed to each other.

* GuideDangIt: ''Call of Pripyat'' demonstrates this trope with the "tools" you need to find in order to be able to upgrade your weapons and armor. Gear has 3 tiers of unlockable upgrades, and there are 2 main technicians in the game who can upgrade your gear, which means that there are 6 of these tool sets available in the game. For each technician, you need to find tools for basic work, tools for fine work, and calibration tools. The game tells you at the start that these exist, but it doesn't tell you ANYTHING about their location. Even if you were to come across them, they don't look like anything out of the ordinary, and can EASILY be mistaken as just some some random metallic rubbish lying around, like an old tin of tuna or similar. Seeing as COP takes place in 3 separate, large, open environments, which each have multiple well detailed areas and buildings to enter, many of which are filled with garbage due to being abandoned and rotting, finding these tools becomes highly unlikely without using a guide. Considering these tools are essential in upgrading your weapons and armor, which are extremely important in a game like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. where character upgrades exist in almost no other way, this can cause players a lot of grief, as they end up using under-powered equipment against difficult enemies.

** This evolves to multilingual bonus with a non-English version of the game. In the same city, one can hear Russian-speaking stalkers passing by, some others talking to you in English, while important {{NPC}}s just have French dialogs. There is even some 'blatnoy jazyk' (Russian criminal cant) while listening to some bandits.

* TakeYourTime: For the main quest. Side quests WILL fail if you take too long (which includes not returning quickly enough to collect your reward). With early missions, {{NPC}}s might go do it themselves if you hang around.

* DifficultButAwesome: As opposed to what you'd normally think, the higher difficulty options are actually this. The way the game handles difficulty is that, in lower ones, characters take less damage across the board. Meaning, while you're more durable yourself, your enemies are also bullet sponges. This is opposed to the higher ones, where everyone is a GlassCannon. Stay calm, aim well, and the higher difficulties can be arguably easier than the lower ones because of this.

** The Zone Reclaimation Project ([=ZRP=]) is largely a bug fix mod designed to address the numerous issues not fixed by the final official patch. It also has a number of optional quality-of-life changes, including equipment repair, sleeping bags, improved [=NPC=] navigation, the ability to equip friendly [=NPC=]s with better weaponry, etc. Overall it's the best way to play a more polished version of the game without drastically changing the gameplay or plot.

** Due to said mechanics, .45 cal submachine gun from ''Call of Pripyat'' is actually got better all-around effectiveness than any assault rifle, due to good accuracy, high rate of fire and very high damage.
** 9x39mm, relatively low-powered subsonic round in RealLife, hits like a train and penetrate heaviest armor.

** The RG-6 GrenadeLauncher. It's a weapon powerful enough to take on most any enemy in the Zone, as it shoot six grenades in quick succession. But there are several drawbacks: 1) very slow reloading, 2) the grenades have a rather steep arc, which forces you to aim carefully, 3) the splash damage can induce collateral damage, 4) rare and expensive ammunition, and 5) the weapon itself is extremely rare and expensive to maintain. You're probably better off using your under-barrel grenade launcher instead, if you can find it. Or better yet, the [=OTs-14=] Groza's or FN F2000's integrated under-barrel grenade launchers. Or...
** Underbarrel grenade launchers shows, that grenades actually aren't so powerful without ability to fire away few at once, and very short range makes UBGLs nearly useless in many situations.

*** Between the Rookie Village and the crashed truck in the Cordon, there's a box that, when broken, yields 400 9x18mm rounds, way more than you need early on. At the entrance of the vehicle graveyard near where you enter the Garbage from the Cordon, a similar thing happens: two boxes on top of a tower with a broken ladder can be shot open, containing over a thousand high quality 9x19mm rounds, just in time for the player to score a [=MP5=]. Keeping this ammo equals never having a dry sidearm, and seeling it earns you a tidy little profit early on.

* GunsDoNotWorkThatWay: Standard [=PM=] pistol wouldn't be able to use extra-powerful rounds designed for improved [=PMM=].
** There is no version of Desert Eagle in .45ACP. And it would be impossible to chamber one in 9x39mm.
** SUSAT scope was designed to use in conjuction with [=L85=] rifles, and not supposed to be installed on weapons without propieritay mount (like LR-300 and SG 550).
** Some of the gun modifications in *Call of Pripyat* will not work as described. For example: barrel modifications will affect accuracy, but will not increase rate of fire.

* PostApocalypticGasmask: The entire series.

* RareGuns: While AR-15 platform isn't rare at all, LR-300 is a geniunely rare speciemen.

** British [=L85A1=] rifle is realistically depicted as very unreliable.
** 9x39mm rifles, while correctly depicted with much steeper bullet trajectory, got substantial power buff. In RealLife, SP-6 round were rated to penetrate light pistol-proof armor, while in the game they can perforate heaviest armor up to exoskeletons.
** Drug "Vinca", which appears in ''Call of Pripyat''. The in-game description lists it as "Ukrainian Vikasolum, the artificial equivalent of Vitamin K. The drug increases the blood's coagulation rate, causing small wounds and lacerations to close up faster." Guess what? Although the drug's in-game effects are (understandably) stronger than one would expect, the drug is real, and the effects and description are 100% accurate to its actual purpose.

* GunsDoNotWorkThatWay: Standard PM pistol wouldn't be able to use extra-powerful rounds designed for improved PMM.

** SUSAT scope was designed to use in conjuction with L85 rifles, and not supposed to be installed on weapons without propieritay mount (like LR-300 and SG500).