This guide was created purely for fun and to revive the sense of community! (And, of course, to make a proper game guide.)
I’ll be filling and maintaining it in the style of a Stalker’s Diary.

Author of this Guide - Barkum

Enjoy your journey into the world of:

Even though Pahan’s training taught me well enough to handle my not-so-clumsy hands - my gear, tools, even electricity itself… sometimes I still manage to overlook, or simply forget, the simplest damn things.

Wouldn’t mind going through TRAINING again. Back then, everything seemed a lot easier than it really is out here.
I’ll write down a few basics here - just to make sure I don’t forget them later:

R - rotate an item in the inventory.
Q - my good old compass from Auntie, so I don’t get lost in the woods. Though here, in the Zone, it’s acting up. Best to always remember which way you came from when you leave the bunker - so you can find your way home before the emission hits.

Sanity - Many folks just laughed it off, but after one trip into the Zone, no one ever saw them again. Only rookies take their sanity lightly in a place like this. Panic attacks or heart failure can grab anyone - doesn’t matter how tough you thought you were. Always keep a pack of antidepressants in your pocket. (Breathing techniques won’t save your ass when the Zone starts whispering.)

Radiation - A filthy, invisible force - only your trusty counter will tell you when it’s creeping up. Gas masks and filters help a bit. And a good shot of vodka can wash some of it out - at least for a while.


Emissions - those powerful bursts of anomalous activity across the Zone.
Only chance to survive is deep underground - in a Bunker or the old NIIZZO tunnels.

Here’s what I figured out:

One emission cycle lasts about 19 minutes and 35 seconds. (After 8-10 emissions, cycle gets +1 minute. (Probably))

The sirens wail exactly 2 minutes before it hits.

So yeah… time your trips wisely.

Bombing Runs - damn the military. They don’t care that the Zone’s crawling with beasts and stalkers alike. Sometimes, once a day, a bomber flies over. You’ve got five, maybe ten seconds to get under cover - or you’ll be nothing but dust in the wind.



Campfires - I can still see it. Me, Pahan, and Uncle, sitting by the fire, roasting fresh fish we just caught. The warmth didn’t just touch the skin - it reached the heart. Same here in the Zone - a campfire can warm you, even heal you.
Just make sure to always carry a lighter - never know when you’ll need to start one.
(Camps with fires often have good loot lying around too.)



After the 8th-10th Emission, familiar Khrushchyovka buildings started appearing during expeditions. Nothing too unusual, except the damn hight Radiation levels are off the charts. Ratwolves wander through the courtyards, howling.
You may also come across Red Garages and children’s Football Fields among the houses - that’s where The Twins lie in wait.


Started showing up around the 20th Emission. Inside — silence… and the snoring of Ghouls. And that silence is something you’d better keep.

The bunker holds extremely valuable loot, but getting to it is risky. Aside from the creatures lurking in the dark, the place is littered with Mines and zones of Critical Radiation, hot enough to burn you to ash in seconds. If you’re going in — move fast, loot faster, and pray you make it out before your Geiger counter goes quiet.

Spawnings of the Zone. I kept hoping until the end that they were just rumours - some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ made up to scare stalkers away. But it’s true: anomalies show up everywhere.

I don’t have a scientist in the team, so I’ll take the honor of naming this crap myself. Right or wrong - don’t care for now. With more time in the Zone I’ll probably be able to classify them properly.
They reminded me of creatures from southern myths - those djinn that sometimes turn out to be the spirits of the dead. They glow a deadish green here too… When they get close they start stalking you, making you lose your mind like they want to drag you along with them. Still - if you’ve got your head screwed on, you can usually just run.

Prickly little bastards that at first look small and harmless - easy to walk around and dodge. But no. When you get near they shoot out damn quills that leave dozens of tiny bleeding cuts all over you. Lucky for us they stay put, so you can just walk around them.

Always show up by the dozen. They inflate, then collapse - damn, every 3-4 seconds or so. They look soft, but when they expand they strike with such force one of them snapped my shoulder once. Like the Hedgehogs, best to give them a wide berth.

Tell me - do you see an anomaly here? I don’t either. But it’s there. The damned Whirl: an almost Invisible anomaly that gives itself away by a column of leaves and trash sucked upward, and the Sound of Wind.
Extremely dangerous - it won’t show you mercy. Get too close and it Tosses you high into the air, and two bounces are enough to smash you dead on the asphalt.
You have to circumvent it very carefully, and watch for the edges - the leaves, the dust, the gusts are the only signs you’ll get.


A huge sphere, like a planet core out of a kids’ astronomy book. Looks like a concentration of anomalous power, and you’ll always find a bunch of Hedgehogs or Bubbles around it.
I’ve also seen them high in the sky, but haven’t managed to study those much.
Beats me how, but they lure you in… maybe by aura, maybe by sound. Doesn’t look dangerous at first - I’d even say the Core helps you in its own twisted way.
One stupid moment of curiosity and I touched it. Next thing I know I’m inside another house about sixty metres from the Core. Started spitting blood right away - the organs don’t like that kind of teleporting. Still, I reckon you can put up with it a couple times without croaking.

List of places the Core teleported me to:

*An open house nearby

*Several sealed houses in a row

A maze with loot hidden among the bushes (one of the exits was found right near the start).
I managed to parkour my way into this thing, and ended up right in a watchtower nearby - and there was some very decent loot waiting inside. However, you have to be careful - it’s easy to slip from the top and fall to your death.

I wouldn’t normally call this an anomaly, but there was one incident.
Walking through the Zone, I came across an altar and decided to pray - can’t hurt in a place like this. Same day, I get a bullet to the forehead. Just like that - one second breathing, next second a corpse. Thought that was it. Then in the next moment I’m back at the altar, and it collapses like I’ve been revived. I could’ve sworn I heard church singing… That day still won’t leave my head - especially finding my own body with a hole in the forehead afterwards.


Swear on my mother, at thirty-six I thought these were made-up stories… Then I saw one and remembered Grandma’s offerings to the Domovoy so he wouldn’t get angry and would watch over the house.
Terribly skittish, but give it vodka and it calms right down. Funny, peaceful little things - they help carry stuff and follow you around. Don’t resist if you pick one up. I dragged one into the Bunker myself; he wanders about. Named him Pea because of his clothes.

A hut on chicken legs… literally. Nearly had a heart attack when I came closer and the damn thing stood up and turned around. I get it — not everyone likes guests — but would it kill them to put up a sign or something?

No clue if it’s witchcraft or some twisted anomaly, but sometimes, deep in the Spruce Forest, you might stumble upon a wooden hut that won’t let you inside. However, if you’re quick enough to jump in right as it sits down, you’ll find an AntiRad lying on the table.

By the way, there are plenty of Mushrooms growing all around the place.

I sat by the campfire for a long while, scratching my head - where should I even categorize these beasts? Under anomalies? Or maybe they deserve their own section?
After a bit of thinking (what’s left of my brain cells after the radiation), I decided to keep a separate chapter in my journal for such cases.

What else to call them. Doubt they’re proper Zone spawn - more like its freaks. They set up little camps with useful stashes and lurk nearby. Usually they walk around with knives, cleavers, bats. Sometimes the really cracked ones have firearms; watch your back with those. They can turn up in numbers bigger than you thought. Best to pull them out one by one, or take them with your mates.

Good thing I rarely keep my finger on the trigger. Humanoid creatures with fish-like heads - neutral and curious. They come up close, I’d even say they cling to you, but they don’t touch.

Haven’t tested it on myself, but I’ve seen them beat the hell out of Devils (serves them right). That means they hit hard. Built tough too - can take around 10 machete swings before dropping.

You can harvest Hands from them - restores +65 thirst, and if you roast them — +55 hunger and +1 health.

So there we are, just a bunch of us sitting by the fire during another Zone run.
Made it to the Khrushchyovkas, and the first thing that caught my eye was a massive two-meter-long creature.
Neither wolf, nor lizard, nor some oversized rat - something in between.

Reacts to whistling.

It Howls between the buildings, and once it spots you, it bolts straight at you Very Fast, ready to tear you apart.
Strong as hell - two hits and you’re nothing but a sack of bones. And Fast, too - damn fast.
Your best Chance to survive is High ground.

Don’t go there unprepared - Radiation levels in those apartment blocks are sky-high, so you might not even notice you’re dying from both the beast and the rads.
An extremely dangerous and fast creature - if not for its howling, we’d all be dead already.

From the useful stuff: I managed to skin the beast, and its Hide turned out to be surprisingly good at blocking radiation.


The weakest creature of them all - or at least that’s how it looks. Lives in specific areas, always mumbling something under its breath.

You can find them on children’s Football fields surrounded by fences, or among Red garages. Garages, by the way, are great for scavenging loot.
But here’s the catch - this pathetic bastard is the most useless thing Ryletic and I have ever seen. Sure, it goes berserk once you get close and charges right at you... But it’s huge - can’t fit anywhere, not even inside garages.

Any decent high ground or cover - and that’s it, the thing can’t reach you.
Sounds like easy prey, right? Just the way we like it…
Well, turns out it’s a waste of time. You’ll spend more resources killing it than you’ll get from its trophy. That’s right - complete ♥♥♥♥♥.

Takes around 80 machete hits or 30 army shovel strikes to bring it down.
Useless weakling — guess it’s sitting there whining all alone for a reason.


While sitting in the underground, I overheard some stalkers talking about a certain Military Bunker, said to contain two pathetic creatures no one’s figured out how to deal with yet. When my comrade and I finally found one of those bunkers, that’s where we met the thing - the Screamer.
Blind, but with exceptionally sharp hearing. It starts wailing the moment you get close, drawing in Ghouls from every corner - though by itself, it’s extremely fragile.
It might also have a sense of smell, since even without sight it sometimes turns directly toward you.
A vile creature. So far - completely useless

Pale, humanoid creatures that lie dormant, waiting for the faintest sound.
They live in symbiosis with the Screamers, and the moment they spot you - they leap forward to snap your neck. I once saw one of them jump straight onto my comrade [Ryletic] - didn’t even have time to help. The Ghoul died along with him.
There’s no point in killing them, unless you absolutely have to.
Elevation is your best friend - it keeps you safe from their reach. They become angry when you making an eye contact with them, even when they are sleeping.
There is rumors, that Ghouls can actually teleport... but i think it's actuacly misunderstanding, and they are just very fast some times
Otherwise, they just sleep and Snore like Pahan after a long night, so you can quietly sneak past them on your knees… just like tiptoeing to grab the TV remote back home.

The very reason stalkers venture into the Zone… Artifacts. Sometimes ordinary, sometimes immensely powerful objects with incredible abilities. There’s no shortage of stories about them - from healing stones to the mythical Golden Sphere said to grant any wish.

You can find artifacts In clusters of anomalies - like Hedgehogs, Ifrits, Bubbles, or Whirlwinds. Once you craft a BUSEL Detector at the workbench, head toward those anomaly zones.
Artifacts can lie right on the ground, blending perfectly with their surroundings. The detector works similarly to a Geiger counter - the closer you are, the stronger the signal.

Go prepared when hunting for artifacts. Those areas are thick with radiation and packed with anomalies. And if you try searching among the Ifrits without antidepressants - you’ll lose your mind before you find anything.

Blocks pain receptors and taps into the body’s hidden reserves to grant extra endurance. But it also causes microtears in the muscles - power always comes at a cost.

Effects:
Health: –5
Strength: +15
Radiation: +5

GP-5 Filter – draws radiation out through the skin, leaving behind slow-healing chemical burns.
Health -5
Radiation -15

Soap – binds radioactive particles in the digestive tract, giving a false sense of fullness but disturbing gut flora.
Hunger +10
Thirst +10
Radiation -5
Rubik’s Cube – activates brain activity and suppresses hunger signals, slowing physical recovery as energy is redirected to cognition.
Health -5
Thirst +10

Calculator – enhances neuromuscular conductivity but accelerates glycogen breakdown, causing ravenous hunger once the effect fades.
Strength +15
Radiation +5

Iron – stimulates tissue regeneration but increases appetite, as the body needs more fuel for recovery.
Health +10
Hunger +5
Radiation +5

Jewelry Box – stimulates the nervous system, causing a surge of energy while dulling hunger temporarily.
Hunger +20
Thirst +20
Strength +40

Yula
Speeds up metabolism and causes a surge of energy (strength), but without proper nutrition it quickly leads to muscle exhaustion.
Health +15
Strength +10

Watch
Increases muscle strength by synchronizing biological rhythms, but causes tremors when worn for too long.
Strength +20
Radiation +5

Dosimeter
Absorbs radioactive exposure and removes radiation from the body without causing harm.
Health +5
Radiation –25

There’s plenty of grub in the Zone - sausage, condensed milk, pickles, bread, you name it.
But among all that, I stumbled upon something truly special...

Can’t call it anything else, considering how it runs - no fuel, no electricity, yet it hums like it’s alive.
You can cook some food in it - Mushrooms, for example, or even bake Bread straight from flour.
Some say it’s just old tech from before the Collapse. I say - it’s a damn miracle of the Zone.

Just a regular grill. Charcoal or wood will do as fuel. Lets you roast a whole batch of Meat at once - perfect for when you’ve hunted something big and ugly.

Makes me remember helping Mom plant tomatoes back in the day... Found some seeds out here -surprisingly, they take root well in the pots I cobbled together, or the garden beds I, uh, borrowed. Turns out, Dung makes for a fine fertilizer - helps the plants grow faster, stronger. Smells like hell, though.

Ha! I got my hands on the right blueprints, and at the Workbench I managed to put together this beast of a machine. With it, I can now process Wheat into Flour, make Seeds from vegetables - and even Pickle them. Pure bliss.

What kind of Stalker are you if you don’t keep a steel plate under your shirt and a gun in your pocket?

When stepping into the Zone - be ready for danger.

With each emission the Zone grows more hostile. At first, you’ll only meet Imps, but later come the Waterman, Ratswolves with the Twins, and finally - Screamers and Ghouls in Military Bunkers.
And what helps most? Correct - a gun.


But you won't want to waste bullets on everyone, right? I’ve run into those Twins so many times - always a shame to waste ammo on them…

Damage was measured by killing Twins (the fewer hits, the stronger the weapon).

Hatchet - your best friend from day one, findable from the first emission. Chops boxes and Chets easily; two hits to the head take them out. Since boxes and barricades appear even after the 30th emission - this thing stays with me to the end. ~103 hits on Twins

Machete - found from the first emission. ~80 hits

Cleaver - also from the first emission. ~55 hits

Combat Knife - appears around 8-10 emissions. ~53 hits, lots of durability though.

Entrenching Tool (Shovel) - from 17-20 emissions. ~34 hits - currently the best melee weapon in the game


Honestly, not much to say. Pistols and SMGs are the weakest but easiest to get.

Shotguns are much nicer.

Here’s what we found out about weapon damage:


AS VAL 65-68 (silent - doesn't alert Ghouls, perfect for Screamers)
AK-47 80-85
Saiga ~140
SVD 155-160



Being prepared for the Zone is vital - creatures, anomalies, radiation…

Radiation danger increases drastically over time: first only near metal clusters, then by the Dishes, later near Khrushchyovkas it's almost everywhere, and in the Military Bunker you won't survive without anti-rad gear.

All gear except the starting one is found torn. Repair it at a Sewing Machine using sewing tools.

Gear Progression

Tourist jacket - slight damage protection, no radiation defense, but great for extra carry weight at the start.

Plague Doctor outfit. Find broken pieces on dead Imps and repair them. The mask is questionable, but the suit actually helps with radiation (probably a typo in the dev files, but useful!).

Full NBC suit - great radiation protection, enough to get you up to the Military Bunker if you keep upgrading gas masks.

Ratswolf Hide - can be worn to the very end. Ratswolf is the first truly dangerous enemy, but easy to kill with elevation (and don’t forget you can lure it with a whistle). The hide protects from radiation.

Chance to find upgraded Gas Masks and Special Forces gear - good physical protection outside the Military Bunker. You can wear a bullet vest instead of the Hide, but the Hide is still better overall.

Military Armor and Exoskeleton - long considered myth because of how rare they are. Military armor only found in the Military Bunker warehouse, extremely small chance. Also the best backpack there.

⚠️ Warning: the warehouse has a critical radiation level - nothing protects you except maybe the Exoskeleton itself.

My home. A real safe place in the Zone - well, aside from the NIIZZO, of course.
With a good sledgehammer, you can break through the concrete walls and expand a bit.
And if you drag back enough junk from the Zone, you can make the place pretty damn cozy.

Bring in construction materials - concrete, metal, wood, whatever you can find - and you can build proper rooms inside, crafting everything at the workbench.
(Just like back then, when me and Pahan built that bathhouse from the ground up…)

It is actual size is 12х12 wide, and 4 blocks down.
Funny thing - in the Zone I’ve got enough strength to haul around whole cabinets at once.
So yeah, bag in a bag, and off I go scavenging safes, wardrobes, and tables. Never thought hoarding would save my ass one day.



It’s all pretty simple - as long as you know the words IN and OUT, you’ll manage.
First, you need a power source: a generator, a windmill, or a solar panel.

Run a cable from its OUT - you can attach it along walls and floors if you want things to look halfway decent.
Then connect the other end to the IN of a distributor, or straight into a device itself.

And just like that - light, warmth, and a bit of sanity in this godforsaken place.

Damn… not even sure where to put my name in this thing - at the start, or at the end?
Then again, what difference does it make what I’m called… I’ll sign it as Barbridge.

The road through the Zone might take hours, days, weeks - maybe months.
The Zone shifts, transforms - it lives.
You can’t treat it with disrespect, or rush it.
Or it will crush you

I’ll keep adding new pages as I go - bit by bit.
Maybe someday this diary will help someone who finds it after me.