S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is the prequel chapter of the Legends of the Zone Trilogy. With the ability to directly influence the balance of power through Faction Wars, step into the boots of Scar — a seasoned mercenary, able to somehow survive deadly Emissions.
First-Person ShooterRole-PlayingSurvival
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- Released
- 2008
- Developer
- GSC Game World
- Platforms
- 1 systems
- Critics
- Not scored
- Steam Deck
- verified
- Download
- 8 GB
What is S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky?
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is the prequel chapter of the Legends of the Zone Trilogy. With the ability to directly influence the balance of power through Faction Wars, step into the boots of Scar — a seasoned mercenary, able to somehow survive deadly Emissions.
Description as published by the developer on its own store page, read 30 August 2026. It is marketing copy, not our assessment.
The record
| First released | 22 August 2008 |
|---|---|
| Developer | GSC Game World |
| Publisher | GSC Game World, Deep Silver |
| Platforms | PC |
| Genres | First-Person Shooter, Role-Playing, Survival |
| Languages | 13 supported |
Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata Q756558, seeded 30 August 2026. Store data from Steam, read 30 August 2026.
How was S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky received?
Method. Player figures are Steam's own totals for the PC version, read 30 August 2026. The Metacritic score is the one Steam publishes on its store page and can lag the site itself. Neither is our opinion. We have not published a review of this game.
Accessibility
Seeing
None declared
Hearing
- Stereo Sound
Input
- Full controller support
Difficulty
- Adjustable Difficulty
- Save Anytime
Method. Features the publisher declared on its own store page. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
What does it support?
| Capability | Support |
|---|---|
| Controller | full support |
| Cloud saves | Yes |
| Cross-platform play | No |
| Mod support | Steam Workshop |
| Online play | Single-player only |
| In-game purchases | No |
| Steam Deck | verified |
| Download size | 8 GB |
| Add-on content | None listed |
| Age gate | None |
Content descriptors
- Frequent violence or gore
- General mature content
Method. Read from the publisher's Steam listing on 30 August 2026. Describes the PC version. Console versions differ.
What does it cost?
Steam price in US dollars, read 30 August 2026. Prices move hourly and vary by region. Check the current price.
Is S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky worth it?
56% of 3,429 Steam reviews are positive, which Steam rates Mixed. It costs $13.39 on Steam, on sale from $19.99.
That is the data, not a verdict for sale: whether it is worth it depends on the price you pay and what you want. Players do report problems — see the reported-problems section below before buying. We have not published our own review of this game.
How long is S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky? How long to beat it
Total play time for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is about 36.5 hours to do everything, and around 12.7 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.
| How you play | Hours | Players logged |
|---|---|---|
| Just the main story: straight through the critical path | 12.7h | 183 |
| Main + the extras: story plus the side content most people do | 22.5h | 199 |
| Completionist: everything: 100% the game | 36.5h | 34 |
At its current price of $13.39, beating the main story works out to about $1.05 per hour. That is the price divided by the hours, a value read and not a verdict: a longer game costs less per hour, which is not the same as being the better game.
Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.
Where S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky sits on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueS.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky plotted on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so its position is its real one. Change either axis to see where it lands.
1 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Estimated sales for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
These are estimates, not reported figures. GSC Game World has not published unit sales for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, and nobody outside the company can measure them. What follows is arithmetic on the review count, with the method printed below so you can check it or reject it.
How this was calculated
Steam sales track review counts closely enough that dividing one by the other across games with published figures gives a usable multiplier. This is the standard method for estimating sales from outside a publisher.
| Reviews on Steam | 3,429 |
|---|---|
| Sales per review | 30 to 60 |
| List price | $19.99 |
| Assumed average selling price | 33% to 66% of list |
What this cannot tell you
Steam only. Console, Epic, GOG and retail sales are not in here. For a game that sold heavily on PlayStation this is a fraction of the real number.
The band is wide because the method is imprecise. Review rates vary with price, genre, launch era and how insistently a game asks. Published analyses put the ratio between 30 and 60 for paid games, and we show the whole range rather than picking a point in it.
The owner estimate above measures something else. SteamSpy counts accounts that have the game, which includes free weekends, bundles, giveaways and gifts. It sits higher than a sales figure for that reason, and the two are not alternative answers to the same question.
Revenue is the shakiest line. It assumes an average selling price well below list because most copies move in sales, and it ignores regional pricing, refunds, key resellers and whatever deal the publisher actually has with Valve. Treat it as an order of magnitude, not a figure.
If GSC Game World publishes a real number we will use that instead and say where it came from. Our editorial policy covers how we handle figures we cannot verify.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky price & deals: is it on sale?
We have one reading so far: $13.39 on 30 August 2026. Prices are checked daily from here, and this becomes a chart once there is more than one point to join. A single observation is a price, not a history.
Latest S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky updates & patch notes
Pulled from S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky's own Steam feed on 5 September 2026. Posts marked as from the studio were written by the developer; the rest are articles Steam syndicated from elsewhere. Every one links to its source.
What readers say about S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.
Loading reviews…
Problems players report
We read the 300 most recent negative Steam reviews of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky on 30 August 2026 and counted what they mention. These are complaints, not confirmed defects: we have not reproduced any of them, and a review describes one person's machine. What the counts tell you is which problems more than one person ran into.
- Crashes and freezes41 of 300 (14%)
Throwing an item from corpse/container inventory in CS makes the icon remain, and doing it again crashes the game.
Steam review, 5 June 2025 · 28 hours played · 91 readers marked it helpfulToo many crashes are preventing me from continuing the game, even though I really want to finish it.
Steam review, 30 October 2025 · 31 hours played · 56 readers marked it helpful - Softlocks and broken quests15 of 300 (5%)
If you accidentally stumble into some bad luck—or just decide to explore the damn map—and interact with that one guy living under the bridge, boom, congrats, you’re softlocked for some freaking reason.
Steam review, 26 May 2025 · 47 hours played · 34 readers marked it helpfulThey basically broke the game, quests are broken, guns suck, jam constantly even when brand new and it seems always to jam when you are in a precarious situation.
Steam review, 1 August 2025 · 17 hours played · 19 readers marked it helpful - Performance and stutter11 of 300 (4%)
Constant stutters, FPS drops and no gameplay or QoL improvements, VERY lazy "enhanced edition" UPD: The old softlock with the mercenary Hog happened, completely blocking story progression.
Steam review, 16 March 2026 · 24 hours played · 18 readers marked it helpfulYeah somehow the engine even tho its xray, managed to tank fps so hard it runs on a 4090 barely over 40, and steamdeck struggles at 15 fps.
Steam review, 25 May 2025 · 0 hours played · 7 readers marked it helpful
A further 52 reviews call the game buggy or broken without saying how, which is why they are counted separately rather than assigned to a theme. Counted by keyword across review text, so a review discussing two problems is counted under both. Read the reviews yourself.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky mods
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky supports Steam Workshop, and the 20 most-installed mods have 126,129 subscribers between them. The most installed is Русская озвучка.
Did it run on your PC?
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Where S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky appears
The ranked lists and finder pages S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky qualifies for, from its own genre and platform to what it takes to run.
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Games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
24 games overlap with S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky on the tags Steam players applied to it, on genre, and on theme. The closest are S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4.
Part of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is one of 4 S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games we track. See the whole series ranked by the GamingPickz Score, plotted on the grid, and listed in release order:
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky head to head
See S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky compared side by side, on score, price, specs and more:
Common questions about S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
What platforms is S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky on?
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is available on PC. It first released in 2008.
How much does S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky cost?
$13.39 on Steam in the United States, read on 30 August 2026. Prices move often and vary by region, so check the store before buying.
Do players recommend S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky?
56% of 3,429 Steam reviews are positive, which Steam rates Mixed. That is players rating it, not our review. We have not published a review of this game.
Does S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky work on Steam Deck?
Valve rates S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky as verified on the Steam Deck, from its own testing. That means it works out of the box with no configuration.
How big is the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky download?
8 GB on PC, from the storage requirement on its Steam listing. Console versions differ.
Who made S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky?
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky was developed by GSC Game World and published by GSC Game World, Deep Silver.
Is S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky worth it in 2026?
56% of 3,429 Steam reviews are positive (Mixed), and it is $13.39 on steam. That is the strongest signal we hold; "worth it" depends on the price you pay and what you want, so weigh the sentiment against the current price above.
Is S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky on sale?
Yes, right now. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is $13.39 on Steam, down from its $19.99 list price (about 33% off), read on 30 August 2026. Prices move, so check the store.
How long does it take to beat S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky?
about 12.7 hours for the main story, 22.5 hours with the main extras, 36.5 hours to complete everything, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.
Is S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky worth the money?
At $13.39 for about 12.7 hours to beat the main story, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky works out to roughly $1.05 per hour. That is a value read, not a verdict: a longer game costs less per hour, which is not the same as being better. Weigh it against the review sentiment above.