As far as first-person survival horror games go, none are as atmospheric, intense, or downright stressful to play as the Stalker series.
Set in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone – after a second nuclear accident in 2006 devastated the area – this is a series where if the radiation doesn’t kill you, the tentacle-faced mutants almost certainly will.
The release of Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl has taken everything players loved about the original games and dragged them into the modern day. While the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout is filled with humor, Stalker instead chooses to be bleakly realistic (well as realistic as a world full of radioactive monsters can be), and it’s that unerring commitment to realism that makes it such a captivating series.
Anyway, now the radiation of fan expectation has fallen to safe levels (and we’ve had a few days to play it, thanks to its day one release on PC Game Pass), it’s the perfect time to rank every Stalker game from worst to best.
5. Stalker Mobile (2007)
Designed in the inimitable style of a Java game from the pre-smartphone era, the only mobile game in the Stalker series is actually quite a good one. The gameplay follows a similar path to the main series, as players kill mutants, collect gear, and complete missions across the barren wasteland of the Zone.
In practice, everything does feel understandably rudimentary, given the hardware it was designed for, and the player has limited options to keep the game feeling fresh and exciting. That said, the old-school pixelated art style could easily be mistaken for a deliberate design choice, and it’s beloved enough that a fan recently released an unofficial PC remake of the entire thing.
4. Stalker: Clear Sky (2008)
Clear Sky is a direct prequel to the events of Shadow of Chernobyl. Players control Scar (who plays a major role in Stalker 2), and the story centers on the titular Clear Sky group as they conduct research in an attempt to better understand exactly how the zone functions. Though it is most well remembered for being far too difficult, Clear Sky was a game that did a lot of things right.
The intricate decision system was very impactful, and the choices you make along the way really make a tangible difference in how the end of the game plays out. Factions would go to war independently, with the strength of each faction having a direct effect on how well-equipped and stocked they were. Weapon customization also got a significant upgrade from the first game, and anomalies moved towards the system, as seen in Stalker 2.
Technical issues were noticeably prevalent here, though, and Clear Sky didn’t manage to reach the same heights as the more beloved games later in this list.
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3. Stalker: Call of Pripyat (2009)
Pivoting over to the direct sequel to the first game in the series, Call of Pripyat was a game of remarkable depth, despite feeling a little dated even when it was first released. It introduced a lot of the quality-of-life and gameplay features that many who joined the series late wouldn’t even think of, including equipment repair, sleeping, and the ability to recover stamina when not sprinting. It also added a lot to the faction system, and the Zone felt more full than ever.
The story wasn’t quite as compelling as the original, but there was more than enough radioactive meat on the bone to keep the player interested from start to finish. Sadly, while the scale and scope of the game were impressive, the environment was less interesting to explore, and vast expanses of empty space were frustratingly common. That said, there is more than enough here to recommend jumping back in, and it serves as a nice setup for the newest entry in the series.
2. Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl (2007)
The game that started it all is still one of the very best in the series. It’s difficult to explain how groundbreaking the original Stalker felt when it was first released, but its influence is considerably more widespread than it’s given credit for today. The real strength of Shadow of Chernobyl lies in its narrative and focus on world-building, ably assisted by the 1979 film Stalker, on which it is loosely based.
The setting of that film is considerably more vague than the game, and the developers did a brilliant job of rendering a bizarre and horrifying world that really felt as though it could be real in the “right” circumstances. It does lack some of the tangible gameplay advances that Call of Pripyat offers, but it remains well clear as an overall package thanks to the incredible atmosphere and enthralling storytelling.
1. Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl (2024)
The most recent game in the series has benefitted massively from technological advancements over the past 15 years. Heart of Chornobyl takes everything included in the earlier games and runs with it, giving players access to advanced crafting and customization, realistic survival mechanics, and more weaponry than ever. The faction system is broader and more advanced than ever, and there are several directions the player can take the story in (though it’s worth noting that there are fewer endings than the original).
The graphical updates are clear, and the Zone is oddly beautiful, even if it feels like it can kill you at any minute. Emissions and weather effects feel genuinely dangerous, and it does an excellent job of fully realizing the world that the lore of the previous games laid out. Gunplay, and combat more generally, feels very realistic, and a bullet jamming can often spell the difference between life and death. Life in Chornobyl is tough, and no game makes that as obvious as Stalker 2, which rightfully secures its place as the best game in the series to date.
That’s the complete list! Make sure to check out our complete guide to the best multiplayer games on PC Game Pass if you’re in the mood for some company after the isolation of the Zone. We’ve also compiled an immense list of the best PC games ever so you can ensure you’re spending your time wisely.
