December 2025 General Games Discussion

[neogunhero]

I just bought STALKER: Call of Prypiat on GOG just so I can play the mod STALKER GAMMA. I could have just modded the Steam version, but after skimming through the installation guide, my eyes glazed over and my brain fried. If you own Call of Prypiat or Stalker 2 on GOG, you can install GAMMA with just one click. I thought $14 for a game I already own was worth it just for the ease of installation, as well as supporting DRM-free gaming and the devs at GSC was also another incentive to buy again. I really need to use GOG more.

Stalker GAMMA is a hardcore, immersive mod pack, aiming to provide the best experience in the Zone possible. It has over 400 different addons included that change everything from visuals, audio, gunplay, NPC behavior, looting, economy, A-Life (the constant NPC simulation that happens even when you're not around), quite literally everything. Survival mechanics are more prevalent, you must eat and sleep to survive. Factions and their relationships have been reworked to make your choices and actions much more consequential. Bullet penetration has been added, making gunfights much deadlier even when hiding behind cover. Brand new bounty hunting missions and other contracts provides more freedom to how you find success in the Zone.

All of this sounds exciting, but really the one and only feature I was interested in was the ability to have a custom picture as an item you can bring up and view. I bought the game, downloaded the HUGE mod (85gb download!) then proceeded to spend 15 minutes figuring out how to put a picture of my wife and dog in the game. Now as I'm roaming the Zone, fighting for my life against bandits, mutants and violent anomalies, I can pull out my photo of my wife, regain a tiny bit of health, then puff down on a cigarette. Gaming in 2025 is amazing.

 

[BeardyHat]

I just bought STALKER: Call of Prypiat on GOG just so I can play the mod STALKER GAMMA. I could have just modded the Steam version, but after skimming through the installation guide, my eyes glazed over and my brain fried. If you own Call of Prypiat or Stalker 2 on GOG, you can install GAMMA with just one click. I thought $14 for a game I already own was worth it just for the ease of installation, as well as supporting DRM-free gaming and the devs at GSC was also another incentive to buy again. I really need to use GOG more.

Stalker GAMMA is a hardcore, immersive mod pack, aiming to provide the best experience in the Zone possible. It has over 400 different addons included that change everything from visuals, audio, gunplay, NPC behavior, looting, economy, A-Life (the constant NPC simulation that happens even when you're not around), quite literally everything. Survival mechanics are more prevalent, you must eat and sleep to survive. Factions and their relationships have been reworked to make your choices and actions much more consequential. Bullet penetration has been added, making gunfights much deadlier even when hiding behind cover. Brand new bounty hunting missions and other contracts provides more freedom to how you find success in the Zone.

All of this sounds exciting, but really the one and only feature I was interested in was the ability to have a custom picture as an item you can bring up and view. I bought the game, downloaded the HUGE mod (85gb download!) then proceeded to spend 15 minutes figuring out how to put a picture of my wife and dog in the game. Now as I'm roaming the Zone, fighting for my life against bandits, mutants and violent anomalies, I can pull out my photo of my wife, regain a tiny bit of health, then puff down on a cigarette. Gaming in 2025 is amazing.

I'll be curious to hear your thoughts as you play. I've tried a few STALKER mods (Misery, in particular), but they all felt way too punishing to play too much of; I feel like Stalker generally has a good difficulty curve, being somewhat punishing, but not overly so, but modders push it to the my limit.

I ended-up just going back to the stock Stalker installs. Much as I love the idea of GAMMA or something else and it does sound awesome, I end-up just getting tired and putting it down after not very long.

Also neat that you can add your own pictures! And slightly amusing that you spent so much time putting your wife and dog in and not bothering to mod the Steam version.

Since my Desktop is down, I went through today and setup my laptop in it's place. It's a hacky setup, with an HDMI cable, two USB, Ethernet all plugged in to my Steam Deck Dock, which is plugged into the USB port of my laptop and then on the laptop itself, another HDMI, dock, power cable and laptop raiser/cooling fan. It's a little ridiculous, but at least I can sit at my desk and use all my normal monitors, keyboard, etc. We'll see if I just end-up leaving the laptop down here or actually hauling it up with me to use around the house. Thankfully I have multiple chargers, so I can largely just leave everything intact.

 

[neogunhero]

I'll be curious to hear your thoughts as you play. I've tried a few STALKER mods (Misery, in particular), but they all felt way too punishing to play too much of; I feel like Stalker generally has a good difficulty curve, being somewhat punishing, but not overly so, but modders push it to the my limit.

I felt the same way with some other mods I've tried. Misery was intended to be very punishing if I remember correctly. I've only played for about an hour total, but from what I can tell, GAMMA can be as punishing as you want it to be. It gives lots of options for adjusting the difficulty to suit your playstyle. Of course with all the addons included, you can use the built in Mod Configuration Menu to adjust some things. I've barely dived into the plethora of settings you can tweak when it comes to the addons, but I'm willing to be there are many things you could change to make it more forgiving.

I'm basically playing the "stock" version of Gamma on Rookie/easy difficulty and already there are extra systems to keep track of that could add to the difficulty. Sleep, hunger and thirst are among them. You can also only save at friendly bases while near a campfire, but you are randomly given "Daddy Tokens"(the hell kind of name is that?) that allow you to spend them to save anywhere you want. I only have one currently so you have to use them wisely. Other addons like fast travel can make the game a bit easier, but they add some challenge to it by making you pay a fare as well as losing a small bit of gear durability and becoming tired and hungry. Nothing comes easy in this game apparently.

I'll most likely restart the game multiple times until I find a configuration I'm willing to stick with. I like all the new systems, but I still want to strike a balance between challenging and enjoyable. Gamma is meant to be played for a long time, but I don't want to hit a wall in terms of progression being too difficult or too grindy.

Also neat that you can add your own pictures! And slightly amusing that you spent so much time putting your wife and dog in and not bothering to mod the Steam version.

It was a bit convoluted but that could have just been user error. The texture was a .dds file, I though I could just open it in GIMP, replace the photo and save it, but that didn't work. I ended up finding some site that converts photos to .dds format, and replacing it in the textures folder with the same name. Easier than installing the mod I though, that requires you to install both Anomaly then Gamma lol.

 

[neogunhero]

So, i have returned to Destiny 2... i think.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the Renegade expansion. I never got really into Destiny 2, the game seemed to be increasingly more and more complex, with no good reason to be. Renegade seems to be a lot more focused, and of course the Star Wars theme is awesome. I may check that out one day on sale if it turns out to be good.