2007's Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl was one of my first steps into the world of survival games. It was a stark contrast to most other games I was playing at the time, representing not some power fantasy about being a nigh-indestructible badass but instead a cold and indifferent world where I was fragile and weak. I never felt like a glorious hero. Hell, I didn't even feel like the main character. Stalker was exciting because it simulated me as just another guy who could be killed—imagine this—by a single bullet... Read more.