“‘Enhanced’ is pushing it.” New STALKER remasters launch to ‘Mostly Negative’ Steam reviews as players bemoan blurry visuals, controversial changes

by

After the unexpected unveiling of remastered versions for each STALKER original game last week, developer GSC Game World has made them available on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5. Despite initial expectations, responses to these updated classics have been more critical than anticipated.

To put it simply, these enhanced editions of STALKER games – Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear Sky, and Call of Pripyat – are predominantly receiving negative feedback on Steam at the moment. Specifically, they have a “Mostly Negative” rating with only around 36-38% of reviews being positive. While Shadow of Chernobyl received more reviews initially due to being the first game in the series, these issues apply across all three games.

As an analyst, I’ve observed a recurring issue in the STALKER remasters, which appears to be a peculiar bug. This bug seems to cause the games to render at a resolution lower than the one set, then incorrectly upscale it. The outcome is visually impaired with blurry, muddy graphics that persist even when I adjust settings such as AMD FSR Super Resolution and depth of field off.

During my quick examination this morning, I didn’t encounter the issue personally, however, it seems to be impacting a wide variety of systems, including gaming handhelds such as the Steam Deck. Unfortunately, there’s no way to enable high-quality Supersampling Anti-Aliasing (SMAA); you’re only given the options of low-end Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing (FXAA) or Morphological Anti-Aliasing (MLAA), which are acceptable but not my preferred choice.

A significant modification causing controversy among players is the thorough elimination of all elements connected to Russia or the Soviet Union, such as Russian voiceovers and translations, the use of Soviet rubles within the game, and even replicas of Soviet signs, statues, and landmarks from the real-life Chernobyl Exclusion Zone found in the initial versions.

The continuous war of aggression by Russia against Ukraine has put a significant strain on GSC Game World, a Ukrainian game studio. Given their direct exposure to conflict, it’s logical that they would aim to remove Russian elements from their games. However, STALKER’s eerie atmosphere is deeply connected to its use of Soviet iconography and decaying technology, and the omission of iconic phrases like “Cheeki breeki iv damke!” leaves a strange emptiness.

Perhaps a more welcoming choice might have been made if the replaced historical imagery was swapped with alternatives, but unfortunately, this hasn’t been done. Instead, it appears that it has just been eliminated – which was not discussed in the FAQ section of the remasters, where Good Shepherd Collection explicitly stated their commitment to preserving the original experiences.

Enhanced Edition biggest change from r/stalker

In addition, players have encountered issues such as less-than-desired frame rates for visual enhancements that aren’t overly extensive (although they are aesthetically pleasing), and problems with settings adjustments not being saved. This has resulted in annoying in-game glitches like environmental hazards becoming invisible and enemy corpses disappearing rapidly, which is problematic in a game where scavenging plays a significant role.

Other complaints include a new font for text that seems to be widely disliked, the lack of ability to assign functions to mouse side buttons (which is puzzling), and UI elements that overlap when playing on ultra-wide monitors (this issue is particularly frustrating for ultrawide monitor users like myself).

While there are certainly some issues that need addressing, such as the persistent blur for many players and the similarity of content changes between versions, it’s important to acknowledge the positive aspects of these remasters. The visual enhancements are appealing, the controller support is a welcome carryover from the original Xbox and PS5 ports, and the Steam Workshop integration offers excellent opportunities for modding. However, with all these caveats in mind, it’s hard to wholeheartedly recommend these remasters. It appears that the Xbox and PS5 versions have fewer technical problems overall, but they still share the same content changes.

One beneficial aspect of the Enhanced Editions is that they’re complimentary for those who already owned the initial games, and even offer gratis versions of the classic releases if you purchase them after their release (without any additional cost). This is advantageous since, until GSC Game World makes substantial upgrades with the remasters, I believe it’s preferable to play the original games instead.

Additionally, you might find the Radiophobia 3 mod appealing if you prefer a remake-like experience. Notably, last year’s highly praised sequel STALKER 2 is currently discounted to $37.49 at CDKeys and is also available on Xbox Game Pass.

Read More

2025-05-20 22:09