So, stalkers, gear up because we’ve just gotten a new update to the zone. Today, GSC Game World released what most of us have been waiting for: the long-awaited release of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly mod on GOG.com. It has been in the community for a long time, but now it is officially released.
To clarify, Anomaly is now available on GOG. What’s especially exciting is that anyone who owns S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat Enhanced Edition in their GOG library receives a copy. That’s something I really appreciate as it’s very uncommon for fan mods to receive any official commendation.
The update was shared via the official S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Twitter page, which is often active, but this time the replies contained people asking for more information and showing their excitement. Glover75 was one of the users to ask about the Steam version, which is the most concerning topic for the crowd. At the moment, it is a GOG exclusive, which is quite understandable given the agreement.
The positive community response was undoubtedly the highlight, in my view. Erroco felt a great deal of admiration because the modders might at last receive some financial reward for their work. He isn’t wrong; in fact, he is well enlightened — these men have been working for ages on this exceptional standalone experience which, in essence, became its own game.
Speaking of standalone, there was some confusion in the replies regarding Anomaly’s dependency on Call of Pripyat. User Ciprian Popescu was the first to rectify the official tweet since the mod is standalone and does not require any other game. Which is true! The mod has been standalone for a long time and the GOG version requiring CoP in your library is confusing, to say the least.
User sk1nface’s remark “Anomaly – super, but G.A.M.M.A pack is better” stirred a thread of rebuttals stating how GAMMA would not exists without Anomaly. It’s basically a family tree of the modding community. Anthony (LegendaryGoji) stated for the record “Both are great but gamma would not exist without anomaly,” and honestly, it’s true.
And here’s a little more spicy – Months before the mylar stalker thread of normies turned into a grocery skeleton died drop conspiracy, he asked if “g.a.m.m.a will come to consoles?” Same guy just asked if S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly is coming to PS5 and Garth Vader responded with, “Bruh, everyone wants it on Xbox.” Gotta love the endless thread of mystery.
The improvements were highly discussed. User ルーナ― said that maybe STALKER 2 should use Anomaly’s food system since now players “no joy in eating a can or tomato or chocolate.” I don’t know if Anomaly was intentionally being realistic, but it makes sense to complain because of the little details in the zone.
People, including Stunlokked, questioned its performance and if it comes with the patch. In addition to the performance questions, there were the usual multiplayer questions. Of course, someone had to ask “Multiplayer when?” even though Anomaly is a single player game. Yeah, classic.
What’s truly unbelievable is how far this mod has developed. From being this obscure thing you needed to install manually with file replacements, as sk1nface noted, to an official release on a significant digital platform. That is an achievement for modding communities everywhere. Perhaps other developers will take note because it sets a precedent.
Especially given how STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is coming in the future, the timing is quite peculiar. GSC feels like a company that tries to keep the community involved and maybe exposing newer players to the universe through what is basically a fan-made polished experience. Pretty clever, I would say.
And there is no forgetting the convenience angle – as the announcement puts it, “install and play with a single click.” For users who have experienced numerous difficulties with mod installations in the past, this is revolutionary. There is no need to look up file paths or worry about mod conflicts anymore. All it takes is a single click, and you are teleported to the Zone.
It’s the collaboration aspect, however, that matters the most. For once, GSC is a different company. Instead of ignoring or shutting down the community, they decided to embrace the community and deal with them. This is goodwill towards a company’s player base. Other game developers certainly need to learn from this.
As for what this means for the future? No one knows for sure. Perhaps there will be more official collaborations for mods. Maybe GAMMA will get treated in the same manner later on. The exciting possibilities are certain. In the meantime, if you have Call of Prypiat on GOG, you have no excuse to not experience what is STALKER’s greatest hits, assembled by fans and packed by fans.
Stalkers, The Zone waits for none. It is time for you to return to the Field.
