Lost Alpha is a new episode of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series made by dezowave group for free!
A huge disappointment! This mod is almost evil in it's design: amazing graphics and level design that greatly improve the look of the zone coupled with absolutely horrendous story and design decisions. I started playing and was in awe, for the first 10 hours or so. But eventually the brain-dead juvenile writing and the awful AI eventually got too much.
Best parts: Graphics, level designs.
Worst parts: story/cut-scenes, AI.
I do not mind the walking back and forth that people complain of because the levels are beautiful, but every time the plot advances I cringe and grind my teeth.
Douglas Adams made a comment early on in "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy", about how tension in stories causes undue stress so to eliminate stress he is going to reveal that everything that happens next turns out okay. This was a big joke - subverting the idea of peril and suspense as entertainment. Unfortunately, the developers of Lost Alpha seem to have taken this to heart: Take everything creepy and mysterious about Stalker and explain it (*oh so poorly*) so that it is no longer creepy or mysterious, leaving behind only pretty graphics and terrible AI. It is like the developers sucked the soul right out of SoC.