So, if any of you are long-time or huge fans of the STALKER series, you might remember that, back when the first game was announced(in 2001), THQ promised a lot of features and showed off a lot of content for the game GSC was developing, Shadow of Chernobyl. You might also remember how many of these features(advanced and dynamic AI, advanced wildlife system, and drivable cars) were entirely absent when it came out many years later, along with locations and other content stripped out and replaced with numerous bugs. While many of you, even STALKER fans, may not remember this, it would seem the indie developer group Dezowave has not forgotten. Their newly released free and standalone game, STALKER: Lost Alpha promises to deliver the game that was promised to us STALKERs back in 2001, along with updated graphics, less bugs(although, there are a lot of bugs still, and plenty of new ones, but with patches on their way), restored locations and content, all for the ridiculous price of absolutely nothing. If you are a veteran STALKER, someone interested in the series, or even someone who hasn't ever heard of the games, I would highly recommend checking this game out on their ModDB page, if you've got a decent enough PC to run it, enough space(about 15-20 GB), and a bit of patience to get through the installation.
Note: the game is, as mentioned, fairly buggy(I've gotten my fair share of CTD's and crashes only a few hours into the game) and the installation isn't very intuitive, and the instructions on their ModDB page aren't that accurate. If any of you need help installing the game, feel free to PM me or post here, and I'll walk you through it.