Developer: GSC Game World
Publisher: GSC Game World
Platform: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PS5
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy Enhanced Edition – Review
The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series has always had a certain cult following since the first game saw its release back in 2007. The title was popular enough to receive a prequel in 2008 and a sequel in 2009. When these titles came out, the gritty open-world action was rather impressive, and the game didn’t hold any punches, providing players with a tough-as-nails survival FPS experience. For a long time, we expected the series to have ended with S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, and that the developers had moved on to other projects. When S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl was released in 2024, we were pleasantly surprised that the series still had such a massive following, granting the series a second lease on life. Today, we’ll be taking a look at S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy Enhanced Edition, which lets us revisit the original trilogy, albeit with some enhancements. For the following review, we’ll be taking a closer look at the trilogy as a whole and how relevant this Enhanced Edition truly is.
Right off the bat, we can tell you that the games in this trilogy aren’t new releases and still have all their original mechanics intact. So, if you were hoping for a huge overhaul in terms of gameplay mechanics, you’ll probably end up disappointed. If you simply want to play these classic titles with updated visuals and easy access to mods, then the Enhanced Edition should be something worth considering. For starters, not only did the textures receive massive upgrades, but there’s also improved field of vision, better lighting effects, higher FPS support, and so on. All of these upgrades and enhancements may sound fairly small on paper, but they are quite impressive when you compare them to the original releases.
There are a few items that could have been fixed, especially when it comes to audio not matching subtitles or the UI of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. We felt that the latter’s UI wasn’t that pleasant to work with on console, and the font was really tiny to read when you’re not glued in front of your TV. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat already performed a lot better in this regard. Even though the UI was clearly geared toward PC play when these titles were originally released, playing with a gamepad is still rather pleasant. Consoles now also have keyboard and mouse support, which is great for those who played these titles on PC.
Upgrades aside, we were also wondering how well this trilogy withstood the test of time. We can honestly say that we were pleasantly surprised by the overall complexity of these three S.T.A.L.K.E.R. titles, and we rather enjoyed delving into this old-school Fallout-esque experience. There is a lot of exploring to do, many enemies to kill, loads of gear to collect, and you’re pretty much free to do as you want. We do advise saving a lot, as one mistake can cost you your life in the Exclusion Zone.
If you already own the Legends of the Zone Trilogy, then you don’t have to worry about buying the Enhanced Edition separately. You’ll actually get the Enhanced Edition for free as a separate download. It’s rather nice that you don’t have to spend additional cash or need to pay for a so-called upgrade pack. That being said, newcomers are still paying around 40 Euros / USD for the Enhanced Edition trilogy, so the price point may be a bit steep for those simply wanting to experience the series for the first time. Even so, we do feel that you’re getting your bang for your buck.
Conclusion
Even though the somewhat dated engine and mechanics are at times really noticeable when playing through the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy Enhanced Edition, we enjoyed diving into these classic titles. We’re not going to lie here, as this feels like a niche release that is still very much a product of its time, and thus it will probably only have a limited appeal considering the premium price tag. Nonetheless, these games are still interesting to play through, and the Enhanced Editions of all three games do modernize the experience quite a bit. While still rough around the edges, this is the definitive way to play the classic S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games.
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