STALKER is one of those game series which has got a huge number of mods for. STALKER: Anomaly is one of the most popular and comprehensive ones. There isn’t even any need for the vanilla games to play it, just download and play. To add on to that, it’s also free. Hardly a bad deal in my opinion.
Anomaly is a combination of all STALKER games, cut content and ideas that never made it. It follows a storyline similar to vanilla if story mode is chosen and does away with the pre-made player character. Can it stand on its own? It lacks the charm of the vanilla games, so I would recommend playing them first. Even if you don’t, you will still have a fun time with Anomaly.
Story
I noticed quite a few similarities between the story of anomaly and vanilla, so I didn’t feel the same need to follow the main quest as before. I honestly can’t remember much about it. I should mention that I didn’t to complete everything. Furthermore, I stopped playing in the middle of the second of 3 “main quests”. I already had the best gear; an incredible amount of money and it was a slog to keep going, so I stopped playing.
Obviously, that’s just my experience, yours may differ. Still, I would not recommend Anomaly for its story.
Mechanics and gameplay
As this is technically a mod, you can change almost every aspect of the gameplay to fit your playstyle. Personally, I didn’t bother with that and just stuck with vanilla Anomaly.
The first new addition that can be seen is the inclusion of a character creator that allows you to play as any faction and start in many locations. There you can also choose story or warfare and others part about your playthrough.
The largest change this mod brings is the combination of all the maps and more. This made the play area so massive that I didn’t manage to explore it all. Also, the FPS aspect is majorly improved, to the point that I’ve seen some complaints that it’s turning into a mil sim.
The warfare mode is worth mentioning. It can be a little unfair. By that I mean I was fighting off waves of hundreds of monolith forces while watching all other locations being overrun. Still, it was fun.
Overall, Anomaly is better than any of the STALKER games in terms of gameplay.
Graphics/Artstyle
Graphics are also pretty good. Still looks like STALKER, but its obvious effort has been put in to make it look as good as possible.
Atmosphere/Immersion
I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I wasn’t as immersed in Anomaly as in the other STALKER titles. It felt as if I was a player in a game, rather than a stalker in the zone.
Music
Didn’t listen to soundtrack that much. Seems like mostly dark ambiance, just as before. I don’t have a favourite.
Final thoughts
I can’t wait for all of my STALKER reviews to be outdated the moment STALKER 2 comes out.
Anomaly is a combination of all STALKER games, cut content and ideas that never made it. It follows a storyline similar to vanilla if story mode is chosen and does away with the pre-made player character. Can it stand on its own? It lacks the charm of the vanilla games, so I would recommend playing them first. Even if you don’t, you will still have a fun time with Anomaly.
Story
I noticed quite a few similarities between the story of anomaly and vanilla, so I didn’t feel the same need to follow the main quest as before. I honestly can’t remember much about it. I should mention that I didn’t to complete everything. Furthermore, I stopped playing in the middle of the second of 3 “main quests”. I already had the best gear; an incredible amount of money and it was a slog to keep going, so I stopped playing.
Obviously, that’s just my experience, yours may differ. Still, I would not recommend Anomaly for its story.
Mechanics and gameplay
As this is technically a mod, you can change almost every aspect of the gameplay to fit your playstyle. Personally, I didn’t bother with that and just stuck with vanilla Anomaly.
The first new addition that can be seen is the inclusion of a character creator that allows you to play as any faction and start in many locations. There you can also choose story or warfare and others part about your playthrough.
The largest change this mod brings is the combination of all the maps and more. This made the play area so massive that I didn’t manage to explore it all. Also, the FPS aspect is majorly improved, to the point that I’ve seen some complaints that it’s turning into a mil sim.
The warfare mode is worth mentioning. It can be a little unfair. By that I mean I was fighting off waves of hundreds of monolith forces while watching all other locations being overrun. Still, it was fun.
Overall, Anomaly is better than any of the STALKER games in terms of gameplay.
Graphics/Artstyle
Graphics are also pretty good. Still looks like STALKER, but its obvious effort has been put in to make it look as good as possible.
Atmosphere/Immersion
I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I wasn’t as immersed in Anomaly as in the other STALKER titles. It felt as if I was a player in a game, rather than a stalker in the zone.
Music
Didn’t listen to soundtrack that much. Seems like mostly dark ambiance, just as before. I don’t have a favourite.
Final thoughts
I can’t wait for all of my STALKER reviews to be outdated the moment STALKER 2 comes out.