S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Lost Alpha Developer's Cut released
Good gets better
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Lost Alpha [ModDB page], the fantastic free standalone mod inspired by bits of Shadow of Chernobyl that appeared in alpha versions but were cut for the final release, is now properly out. Craig adored the version released in 2014, so a big update is fantastic news. You might remember Dezowave reluctantly released 2014's unfinished (but still great) version after scamps leaked a rough development build. Now they've launched what they're calling the Developer's Cut of Lost Alpha, fixing bugs and making it even bigger. Have a look:
The Developer's Cut expands some areas, adds more sidequests, adds more wildlife and tweaks mutant behaviour so they're more likely to scrap, pops in two weapons from S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat as well as borrowing CoP's weapon and armour upgrade system, tweaks the graphics, improves car handling, re-enables NPCs wandering around searching for artefacts and looting bodies, makes NPCs hum and whistle again (ambiance!), rebalances items, adds several types of flashlight and night vision goggles (please don't go out at night, just to be safe), fixes a load of bugs, and so much more. Check the changelog for everything.
The Developer's Cut sounds like a great addition to something that was already smashing. Craig said of 2014's release:
"It's still Stalker, still based on the first game, but at the same time it's not. It's as close to a remix as I've ever come across in gaming, bringing in new elements, but still reminding me of the original. It’s all different, but if you loved the first Stalker, instead of reinstalling the original and modding it, when this is fixed it'll be your next install. I guarantee it."
That's an official Stone Cold Craig Pearson Guarantee, so be sure to collect if you skip Lost Alpha. But why would you?
Downloading Lost Alpha Developer's Cut is slightly fiddly for now. You'll need to download v1.3000 from 2014, which comes in four parts (1 2 3 4), then download this megapatch which contains the Developer's Cut and several subquence small patches. If you already have Lost Alpha installed, you'll need different downloads depending on which version you have - go look. Dezowave plan to release one single installer once they're done popping up small patches to correct problems in the Developer's Cut.
The developers say they might expand Lost Alpha a bit in the future, adding things including more new areas.