The original legendary Stalker trilogy, still an open-world FPS icon, gets "refined for console" in surprise Xbox and PlayStation release

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The original three Stalker games made a surprise appearance at today's third-party Xbox showcase – surprising to those who hadn't seen the leaks, anyway – with a "refined" trilogy bringing the games to consoles for the first time.

Stalker: Legends of the Zone Trilogy comes with Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear Sky, and Call of Pripyat. The whole trilogy is available today for $39.99, or you can get the individual games for $19.99 each. The trilogy was revealed at the Xbox show but is also available on PlayStation. (As it happens, the games are cheap on Steam right now, too.)

While this trilogy hasn't officially been described as a remaster, original developer GSC Game World, which collaborated with Mataboo for the ports, says the games have been "refined for console" in several ways. 

"Stalker has been a PC franchise for a long time, so the key priorities were concentrated around adapting the experience for consoles as a whole (including, but not limited to, native controller support for console interfaces),” explains Zakhar Bocharov of GSC. "We created everything from scratch, ensuring that the game was both easy to control and comfortable to play."

Bocharov adds that, "despite the new release date for [Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl], we decided to keep Stalker: Legends of the Zone Trilogy in early 2024 to give the players some time to complete the originals before hopping into the sequel. Stalker 2 is a direct continuation of the plot and a standalone title, but obviously knowing the previous events and characters would help you to enjoy certain story moments, nods, and Easter eggs better."

Indeed, Stalker 2 is now set for September 2024 following another delay, with GSC admitting the FPS was "below the expected standards" and in need of more time. 

The original Stalkers, some of the earliest standout open-world FPS games, and with unique horror and RPG flare that helped earn a cult classic status, still hold up pretty well. "Considering the cult status of the series and knowing that Stalker 2 is coming to Xbox, it was logical to let players experience the original games," Bocharov said. 

In the shadow of war, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl aims to deliver on 20 years of promise.