The Zone: Stalker Stories

The world of Stalker. The combat of Slay The Spire. The combat encounter system of Pokemon. Full loot, shop & RPG system. And a story presented through a visual novel. Still in early access and I'm excited to see where this goes!

https://youtu.be/rgSu20QuXQ0 https://rumble.com/v2ugjzy-the-zone-stalker-stories-rpg-card-battler-part-1.html As a finished game this really might be an interesting card battler RPG, for now it's still in early access. I like a lot of parts about it, like the aesthetics, the story, the free roam or the battles. But, I also feel like this game needs a lot of work from now on to rise at its potential. The game crashed a lot on me (going back with 'quick start' seemingly fixed a lot of them, I was in a crash frenzy at one point, every time I was about to fight somebody the game crashed), I hated the fact that you can't see enemies in free roam and you randomly stumble across them in the weirdest places and most of the times they are much stronger than you, I find it weird that you can't see enemies at all on free roam, also, the game could've been more explicative in general about free roam and battles. This is not at all a bad game but it still needs some work unfortunately.

This game is heavy on the story early on but soon as ya get past the gate it opens up a bit with exploration/combat. So far so good. It's a nice simplified staIker like game with a card battler mechanic. I wish there was a bit of voice actin' though. A solid effort from Illuminated Games. Gameplay here: https://youtu.be/mGKBWxsaLTQ

Early Access review 12/4/23, v0.6.6.4 My actual Time Played for this game is roughly 1.5 hrs. This is a first impression review. I played through the first quest (roughly an hour or so of gameplay) of a copy I, ahem, 'found' somewhere and was compelled to purchase the game to support the developer and a product that I am genuinely impressed by. That in itself is a bit of a mini-review, because I am the very essence of a jaded gamer and this is a genre I am particularly jaded about. I've played all the Card Battlers. I've played the granddaddy of them all, Dream Quest. I played Nerdook's Monster Slayers when it dropped. Card Quest. I joined the Early Access for Slay the Spire when there was only one character available and all the card art was placeholder. Same with Griftlands. Probably Monster Train too, I can't even remember. And all the lesser known games also. Deep Sky Derelicts. Deck of Ashes. Gordian Quest. Across the Obelisk. Banners of Ruin. Knock on the Coffin Door. Blood Card. Dozens of these games. Midnight Suns. Ratropolis. Rise of the Slime. For the Warp. Library of Ruina. I'm not even any good at these games, I just love the genre, and I share this partial list only to express that I have some context with which to judge The Zone: Stalker Stories. Its gameplay is similar to SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech in that you move an avatar around a map and engage in exploration events and card battles. The parallel is imperfect but I think it's the closest there is to a pre-existing game. Non-combat interactions are presented in a Visual Novel fashion. The card combat itself is the familiar style established by Dream Quest and popularized by Slay the Spire. If you look at the screenshots or videos you will have a pretty good impression of what you're in for. Access to shops, storage inventory and upgrade choices is presented through an easy to navigate city hub menu (with some very excellent, professional art). The setting is an interesting variation of the scenario presented in the classic S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadows of Chernobyl, which was itself inspired by the setting of the 1979 Russian film Stalker, which was in turn an adaptation of the (also Russian) short story Roadside Picnic. In this version, Earth has been decimated by a poorly understood cataclysm, rendering much of the world uninhabitable due to various deadly anomalies which range from distortions in gravity, harsh radiation, crushing pressure, etc to more bizarre and inexplicable things like teleportation zones, buildings that are somehow alive, paths that lead one way but end someplace impossible. This is to say nothing of the horrible mutant animals and monsters that now roam the world. Most interesting to me is the additional conceit that thinking too hard about certain things, like pre-cataclysm writing on road signs for instance, makes people physically ill. After the cataclysm some people, such as your character, manifest a range of psychic abilities that make them feared and distrusted by many. It's all a very cool, very satisfying and so far internally consistent variation on the standard Stalker theme. Let's just jump to the part you actually might read. Pros: + The setting in general and the writing in particular are excellent. Many 'STALKER-likes' suffer from English translations that range from questionable to terrible. This one does not, the writing is objectively better than most recent AAA games. + The character and location art is great and really establish the setting. Some of the enemies look disturbingly weird. + The main gameplay loop of moving your character around a map in real-time, investigating points of interest that you find with your psionic ability, avoiding anomalies, and engaging in turn-based card battles to acquire loot that can be traded for better items and personal upgrades is very satisfying. It seems like grinding is an option but not necessary. + The actual card combat is a system that I enjoy where your equipment defines what cards are in your deck (similar to Deep Sky Derelicts and probably several other games) + This is only really relevant in Early Access but the developer is putting out frequent (monthly at this point) updates that seem to be quite significant. The most recent appears to have added an entire second act. + No game breaking bugs so far, significant for an Early Access title. Cons: - The biggest issue I had was that the tutorial is not complete so some gameplay aspects are left a bit vague at the beginning, like how some cards use the standard Energy Points that renew each round (a la Slay the Spire, et al) and others use another, non-renewing resource based on physical exhaustion. - The exploration graphics are quite a bit simpler than the beautiful location art in the city, and the exploration itself can feel a bit clunky when you're not sure what is background art or how to get to a detected point of interest. It's still acceptable to me but if you're expecting Tears of the Kingdom you're going to be disappointed. - Some of the card effects are unexplained and possibly bugged. This is almost definitely an Early Access issue but it is what it is. I got a piece of equipment that only seems to let me target myself for damage. I feel like it's not supposed to do that. - It's not the most polished game, but I feel that's acceptable both for its Early Access status and also for its price point. The animation is more Darkest Dungeon 1 than Darkest Dungeon 2. But more like a budget Darkest Dungeon 1. Which is fine because, again, the price point is viable. The last cheeseburger I bought cost more than this game and was less satisfying. The Zone: Stalker Stories is a special little game. It's not trying to be the next Slay the Spire or Monster Train. It's not pretending to have 3000 hours of gameplay and a complicated progression system of nigh endless levels and unlocks and Ascendancy Tiers and Plus Modes. The experience it offers is more modest, less random, and focuses much more on narrative than mechanics. As a result it may have a more limited audience, but that audience will be more likely to appreciate what it's going for and forgive the limitations of its presentation. I love card battlers. I love the Stalker aesthetic. I prefer a focus on narrative over replayability and mechanics. This game was basically made for me. I will update this review as I progress through the game, as the game is updated, and as I try other features, such as the controller support.

Spend 2.5 hours in game and what i can say -Atmosphere is awesome. A half-mysterious world where familiar things turned into unfamiliar dangers -Unablility of protagonist to read letters add some edge and mystery, also it looks-and-feels pretty fresh -Artworks and design, animations and effects are good but they really can be better but i give discount that is Early Acces -Feel like STALKER, smell like "Roadside Picnic", played as good quality Card Collector game with good mixture of RPG and semi-rouge . Now to bad side -Bugs. Bugs. Bugs. Bugs. a lot of em. But of course it's an Early Access and i want to pay-to-support game development -variety - ain't big but again - it's an EA. Does this game cost it's price? Yes it does. A good tactical adventure in quite interesting world is coming. Definetley support this game.

Ahh!! This is so cool! I have no experience in the Stalker world of things so this was my first introduction. But I thoroughly am enjoying myself! The art, the characters and even the combat is alot of fun and I never know what to expect. Constantly keeping me on my toes! Seriously fantastic to see this and I cannot wait to play all the way to the end! (P.s Twitch friendos loved watching it too and they couldn't wait to see what was coming next too!)

I've watched both video's found within this game's review area. The gameplay I saw persuaded me to give this game a try. This is my experience: I got stuck in the first area and the game crashed. Restarting the game brought me back to the same area and it directly crashed again. Only restating from scratch solved the issue. I know the game is Early Access, but this spoiled the fun for me a little too early. So I've asked for a refund, sorry.

it was great until i got caught in an infinite loop of dying immediately for unexplained reasons which made it unplayable about 45 mins or so in. EDIT: polite dev with quick response, changed to recommend.

面白いかとか面白くないかとか以前に敵とエンカウントしたらエラー落ちして進めません まずはそこからです・・

Fantastic writing and music pull you in from the start and you want to keep going. If you have a fascination for post-apocalyptic worlds I would really recommend this to you.