Microsoft and GSC Game World had a surprise for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. today. During the Xbox Partner Preview broadcast, a surprise announcement shadow-dropped the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. trilogy to consoles for the first time. Dubbed S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Legends of the Zone Trilogy, it"s available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 as well as Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 consoles.
The pack contains Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear Sky, and Call of Pripyat, all with native controller support that"s been built from the ground up for consoles by the developer.
“S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 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 GSC Game World Zakhar Bocharov. “We created everything from scratch, ensuring that the game was both easy to control and comfortable to play.”
To start, the console versions of the games features a new wheel for weapon selection and optimized menu navigation systems. "The original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a complex game, so while optimizing the gaming experience, the development team made it an important goal to not lose that unique gameplay loop and the feeling of overcoming The Zone’s iconic and hostile environment," adds the studio.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Legends of the Zone Trilogy is now available for purchase for Xbox and PlayStation consoles with a $39.99 price tag. Individual games from the trilogy are available to buy for $19.99 each. In future updates, the studio is also planning to deploy mod support via mod.io on the new platforms and high-fidelity graphical enhancements for current-gen consoles.
Don"t forget that GSC Game World is also developing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl. The highly-anticipated sequel is slated to launch in September, giving console fans plenty of time to play the original trilogy before jumping into the next-gen experience.