'They listened! They listened!': Stalker restores Soviet monument after angry fans tanked its Steam reviews, and they couldn't be happier

After fans cratered the Stalker trilogy's Steam reviews to 'Mostly negative' in the hours immediately following launch, GSC Game World has released patch 1.0.1 for its "fully remastered and optimised" trio of original Stalker games. This one promises fixes for crashes across multiple platforms, issues with the games remembering what the hell your settings are and, crucially, "Fixed issues with missing geometry on several levels."

Which might not sound like the kind of thing to start hooting and hollering about, but what matters is which geometry has been restored. When the Stalker remasters hit last Tuesday, fans had complaints. They complained about blurry graphics (which, I have to note once more, I can't say I noticed in 20+ hours of Shadow of Chornobyl), issues with settings, and—most vocally—the games' removed Russian audio setting and deleted Soviet landmarks.

Well, it looks like GSC is reversing course on the latter of those two things. Patch 1.0.1 has restored the previously deleted monument/sign right outside the Chornobyl power plant itself, reading (in Russian) "ChAES in the name of VI Lenin." Fans are pretty stoked about it: "THEY LISTENED! THEY LISTENED! THEY LISTENED!" exclaims one popular post on the Stalker subreddit, whose author goes on to say the Enhanced Edition "still has some issues but goddamn it, so glad they actually work on fixing the game and do not ignore the feedback."

Others share that enthusiasm. "Super surprised they actually listened… but very happy they did, they did good," says one commenter. "Yeah, these landmarks are part of the Zone and area stuck in time, history. No reason to remove them. Good call GSC," says another.

So fans are pretty happy, and with GSC concluding the patch notes with a promise to "continue to work on improving the trilogy," with any luck there are fixes close by for those blur issues as well as any missing Soviet ephemera that still remain. I strongly doubt the games will get Russian audio put back in—for understandable reasons—but part of the Zone's appeal as a setting is the way it feels unmoored from time: the Soviet relics are a big part of that.

"Stalkers, we care about your feedback and are working on fixing the most critical issues," says GSC. "We really want to make your comeback to the Zone special." I already thought the remasters were the best way to play the classics today. With more fixes like this? They're on their way to bonafide all-timer status.

So fans are pretty happy, and with GSC concluding the patch notes with a promise to "continue to work on improving the trilogy," with any luck there are fixes close by for those blur issues as well as any missing Soviet ephemera that still remain. I strongly doubt the games will get Russian audio put back in—for understandable reasons—but part of the Zone's appeal as a setting is the way it feels unmoored from time: the Soviet relics are a big part of that.

"Stalkers, we care about your feedback and are working on fixing the most critical issues," says GSC. "We really want to make your comeback to the Zone special." I already thought the remasters were the best way to play the classics today. With more fixes like this? They're on their way to bonafide all-timer status.