Stalker's world is very atmospheric and is excellently designed to feel a lot bigger and more complicated than it actually is. I think I missed a lot of content in the game, which seems somehwhat deliberate as the game does a great job of crafting a world that appears as though it does not care about the player. It is easy to make a game that feels like it hates the player, or one the revolves entirely around the player, but one that acts like it truely does not care whether the player achieves their goals or not is impressive.

The last few hours of the game are terrible, up untill this point the game had been challenging but fair and allowed for careful planning and rewarded a slow and tactical style of play. However the final sequence of the game forces you to play more aggresively as you're either being chased by helicopters or slowly losing health due to radiation. This seems like a massive design flaw and leaves the game on a downer note.