Even although S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy – Enhanced Edition launched on May 20 offering free "fully remastered and optimized" upgrades for all homeowners of the unique trilogy, developer GSC Game World has been beneath siege by a review bomb marketing campaign after gamers found the Russian voice performing and "Soviet-era" landmarks had been quietly eliminated.
S.T.A.L.Ok.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy – Enhanced Edition contains remastered variations of Shadow of Chornobyl (2007), Clear Sky (2008), and Call of Prypiat (2009) with upgraded visuals, subsequent-gen console optimizations, and expanded mod assist. However, shortly after release, all video games plummeted to a "mostly negative" ranking on Steam as gamers flooded the review part to complain about blurry visuals and register their dismay that the video games had been now "blurry, censored, and revised, [with] added advertisements."
"So I own the originals and played them to death. If I get an enhanced edition I want to be excited when I boot it up, to see something different that makes we want to re-engage with the game. This isn't it," explained one player. "The graphics aren't upgraded enough to get excited about, I have mixed feelings about stripping out the Russian references – honestly I see the original games as products of their history and although I understand the sensitivities of the developers I'm not sure whats to be gained by retconning them.
"So it's free so I've nothing to complain about, nevertheless it's not a big step up from the unique and to be sincere, in order for you an enhanced version you’ll be able to simply mod the factor to your hearts content material or play anomaly. GSC needed to do a lot more right here and a few beauty tweaking doesn't actually cut it."
GSC Game World is a Ukrainian video game studio based in Kyiv, although some staff are currently working out of Prague after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, temporarily halting the development of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 as a result. At least one former GSC developer, Volodymyr Yezhov, has been killed in action.
While not formally acknowledging the negative reviews, GSC has today posted an update and a patch that it says will fix crashes on unsupported PC hardware and some consoles, address save issues, and repair "lacking geometry on a number of ranges."
"Stalkers, we care about your suggestions and are engaged on fixing the most important points," the team said. "We actually need to make your comeback to the Zone particular." It then said it would "proceed to work on enhancing the trilogy."
The "lacking geometry," players believe, refers to the missing Soviet relics found across all three games. It's not clear if GSC chose or was compelled to revise Soviet iconography, but PC Gamer was able to confirm that the monument/sign outside Chornobyl itself, which reads "ChAES in the identify of VI Lenin," had at least been deleted. All that was left was "the two concrete blocks it used to stand on."
The update made no explicit mention of the missing audio or the blurry textures.
"THEY LISTENED! THEY LISTENED! THEY LISTENED!" cried one delighted player on Reddit. "EE nonetheless has some points however goddamn it, so glad they really work on fixing the game and don’t ignore the suggestions."
One player said: "That's a million time[s] higher answer than simply eradicating it with out a hint. That's each applauding the present decommunization efforts whereas not censoring something that existed earlier than it."
"This is a good first step. Hopefully we see another fixes to notable issues like the common blur subject and gadgets not showing in marked stashes," added one other.
Read more on how S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has changed everything for the studio amid the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, in addition to a critic, columnist, and marketing consultant with 15+ years expertise working with some of the world's largest gaming websites and publications. She's additionally a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.