Our Ukrainian friends haven’t ignored some of the more glaring issues with vanilla STALKER either. The game’s dodgy interface is getting a rethink, the PDA is being redesigned to make mission markers a little more obvious and your screen is generally being cleared of unnecessary clutter. “Another notable direction we’re working in is to make the behavior of rank-and-file Stalkers a bit more lively and fun,” adds Bolshakov. “Neutral Stalkers will pay more attention to a passing player, and have a chat with him. So you can trade and discuss more topics.”

A bunch of new monsters, meanwhile, will crop up in the underground system, with a few new roaming beasties on the surface to boot. GSC is also pumping up their menagerie’s AI, physics-object manipulation and psychic abilities. As for graphics, well, they’re working flat out to provide a DX10 version, but don’t want to 100% promise it - as it stands, the engine is enormously tweaked from what we’ve played before. Oh, and they’re thinking of adding vehicles to multiplayer as well. There are tons of tweaks going on.

Aside from interface niggles, our primary problem with the original STALKER was simply that we rarely felt truly engaged with current affairs in the Zone. Both scripted and AI-driven Stalker confrontations would kick off - but there’d rarely be a genuine sense of occasion, nor any ascertainable meaning behind exactly why so many identikit men of similar background and appearance were so angry with each other. Now, though, it feels that a gameplay model has been found to add some drive, a feeling of Stalker brotherhood and - most importantly - keep unnecessary scripting at bay.

But - and you knew this one was coming - just when does GSC Game World expect Clear Sky to tumble off the production line? Frankly, they’re not the gaming world’s most renowned timekeepers. “STALKER was just one big lesson,” smiles Bolshakov. “We’ve mastered it. The prequel’s release is set for the first half of next year. There won’t be any delays.”