History YMMV / Stalker

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: As stated in [[https://youtu.be/abOIkrXDHfk two]] [[https://youtu.be/wJd4GAVaQDw videos]] by Warlockcracy, Stalker became a reflection of [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell post-Cold War Ukraine]] during 1990's and 2000's (namely negative portrayal Ukraine's military sharing Ukrainian's general disdain towards them until the sudden popularity after Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and invasion of Ukraine in 2022).

** Degtyarev was offered a promotion to colonel. [[labelnote: Explanation]] A meme from the Russian-speaking community of the game, coming from a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcUqUlv4bwA video]] where Degtyarev gets promoted despite killing the entire evacuating squad. It gets applied to everything (even the Zone itself) getting promoted to colonel for little rhyme or reason, though overuse has made it a DiscreditedMeme. [[/labelnote]]
** "You may as well have brought tin cans" [[labelnote: Explanation]] Another meme from the Russian-speaking community, coming from Sidorovich's line when a trade is rejected. The memorability of the line has resulted in images of the Marked One actually bringing tin cans, and Tourist's Delight being interpreted as Sidorovich's TrademarkFavoriteFood. [[/labelnote]]

* UglyCute: Pseudodog puppies. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwWCLLXSeh0#t=291 D'awwww]]...

* [[MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales Russians Love S.T.A.L.K.E.R]]: The games are rather understandably extremely popular in Russia.

** There is a decent amount of shared fans with ''VideoGame/VideoGame/{{Pathologic}}'', due to the game's setting and bleak atmosphere being similar.

** There is a decent amount of shared fans with ''VideoGame/Pathologic2005'', due to the game's setting and bleak atmosphere being similar.

** There is a decent amount of shared fans with ''VideoGame/Pathologic'', due to the game's setting and bleak atmosphere being similar.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: The announcement that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 [[https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/15/22834567/stalker-2-nfts-metahuman-dmarket would feature NFT-related transactions]] was ''not'' well received, so [[https://kotaku.com/s-t-a-l-k-e-r-2-developers-remove-nfts-after-fan-uproa-1848230588 GSC relented a few days later]].

* SpiritualLicensee: There's no official connection to either ''Literature/RoadsidePicnic'' or ''Film/{{Stalker}}'', but so much is clearly lifted from them it's often assumed (by those who are even aware of their existence) the game is licensed.

[[folder:From the Film]]
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl8VEzJZmNU The Main Theme]] by Music/EduardArtemyev.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZPrfx9-qyc The Train]].
** "Bolero" by Music/MauriceRavel
** "Music/OdeToJoy" at the end.
* BrokenBase: Much like many other entries in Tarkovsky's filmography, his LeaveTheCameraRunning trademark tends to divide people till this day, as it did when the movie first came out. Even though the movie is widely praised for its smart and thought-provoking story that manages to be free of pretentiousness at the same time, the way some shots go on for a couple of minutes seemingly without providing the audience with any new information regarding the characters or the setting has been interpreted by some as {{Padding}}. They argue that getting rid of those would have made ''Stalker'' fit rather nicely within a two-hour runtime, not losing any of what makes it interesting in the process. On the other hand, there are those who like the slow pacing because of the calming, cerebral tone it gives the film.
* FauxSymbolism: According to WordOfGod, a black hound is just a black hound.
* HarsherInHindsight:
** Stalker's wife describes his crippled daughter as "a gift from The Zone." The locations for the outdoor scenes were heavily polluted, and several people on the crew suffered illnesses and untimely deaths.
** The Soviet Union would soon have an area like the Zone for real; it's called UsefulNotes/{{Chernobyl}}.
* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome:
** Having dodged the security forces, our heroes treat us to five minute-long studies of the backs of each other's heads as they ride a motorized draisine into The Zone.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk1PxpZ-hfE The train sequence]] is also a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for some, accompanied by SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic.
** The sound effect of the train clacking along the rails blends seamlessly into the music.
* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: The lack of exposition makes the entire film open to a wide variety of interpretations, though it does follow the basic plot and themes of the novel fairly faithfully.
* TheWoobie: Stalker bemoans the lack of 'magic' in the modern world, gets upset when people fail to pay The Zone appropriate respect, and generally walks around halfway between panicky tears and childish stroppiness.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:From the Video Game]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:From the TV Series]]
* CompleteMonster:
** [[StalkerWithACrush Ray Matthews]] is a highly intelligent but brutish [[AxCrazy psychopathic killer]] obsessed with Lieutenant Beth Davis. Originally her controlling boyfriend, back when she was Michelle Webber, in his attempts to get her back after she left him, Ray accidentally burnt her entire family to death. Released twelve years later by [[AntiVillain Perry Whitley]], Ray embarks on a twisted plan to isolate Beth so she would have no choice but turn to him. Stalking her until he learned all he needed, Ray hospitalizes Amanda Taylor to scare Beth, then kidnaps Beth's closest friend Tracy, beating the man she was staying with into a coma. [[CriminalMindGames Challenging the police]] to find Tracy as a distraction so he can kidnap Beth, Ray beats Perry and another man to death with his bare hands, [[CopKiller eliminates a patrolman]] and shoots Ben Caldwell, leaving him to bleed to death. Murdering a tenant to use his cabin as a base, Ray attempts induce StockholmSyndrome on Beth, and strangles a friendly old woman on the off chance she saw his picture on the news. His efforts failing and accepting he's unable to brainwash her, Ray decides to cut his losses and murder Beth. Capturing Jack, Janice and Beth but trapped by their reinforcements, Ray sets the building alight, attempting to [[MurderSuicide take them all with him]].
** "Love Hurts" & "Love Kills": [[MalevolentMaskedMan Nathan Grant]] born Nicholas Kosta is a notorious Philadelphia criminal who fled to LA after murdering his wife. He became secretary of a support group for love and sex addicts, using the meetings to find cases that reminded him of his wife. Upon finding a victim, Grant would stalk the women for information and sexual gratification. Upon learning enough he would break into their homes, steal a knife and stab them to death becoming a meticulous SerialKiller and allowing him to relive killing his wife again and again. Grant then left their exes to take the fall for his crimes. Successfully murdering four women in this manner over six years, his cooling off period rapidly deteriorated between each kill. Following killing his fifth victim, Grant immediately began stalking Pam Tyler; two days later he attempted to kill her but was fought off. Undeterred, a few days later he killed his sixth victim, engineering events so the terrified woman ran straight to him. Realizing the police were after him, Grant framed another group member, and attempted to silence Special Agent Vicki Gregg.
* CriticalDissonance: The show isn't well-liked by critics, with one reviewer using words like "misogynistic" and "vile." However, it's popular with viewers and has pulled in consistent ratings.
* MoralEventHorizon: Some of the stalkers.
** Chris Powell for using his influence to avoid being convicted of rape. He then stalks women to scare them to death with their phobias and film them for his amusement.
** Perry Whitley takes the cake for stalking Beth after their close encounter in "Pilot." He covertly harasses by sending her things from her past and is the Boy Toy to her friend just to get closer to her. Though it really flip-flops on him. As he seems to be unable to control himself and changes from being a calm stalker to a guy desperately seeking for help from his obsession issues.
* NightmareFuel: [[spoiler:The opening scene of the series, depicting [[KillItWithFire the]] [[CruelAndUnusualDeath death]] of Kate Edwards.]]
* ParanoiaFuel: Pure and undiluted.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Beth Davis. One would feel more sympathy for her if she didn't alienate everyone close to her and act like a JerkAss to her team when they express genuine concern for her. Gets even worse when essentially the whole team has come up to her at different points asking if she is alright and she still pretty much just tells them to go away.
[[/folder]]

* SugarWiki/DevelopmentHeaven: Some [[SceneryPorn beautiful scenery shots]] were created by dyeing the real landscape in desired color scheme. Yes, the film crewmembers actually had painted the grass and trees.

* FountainOfMemes: The Bandits. All together now, [[MemeticMutation A NU CHEEKI BREEKI IV DAMKE!]]

** ''Call of Pripyat'' has you stealing a Gauss Rifle from a Monolith base with a group of fellow soldiers. This wouldn't be so bad in of itself, but getting the GoldenEnding requires three specific teammates of yours to be alive, which is harder than it should be thanks to ArtificialStupidity. It turns out [=NPCs=] suck at throwing grenades through windows and just bounce them off the walls back at them, blowing themselves up in the process. Playing the mission as intended will have you and your teammates holed up in a building opposite the Monolith base, which is not helped by the multiple snipers eager take you and your entire team out.

** ''Call of Pripyat'' makes up for this by adding psychic dwarves who can telekinetically steal your weapon and then throw it halfway across the map. When they're not throwing gas tanks at you, that is. The burers are easy to deal with when you learn how they act: Just use a [[KnifeNut knife]]. They can't pull the knife out the player's hands and the knife inflicts enough damage to kill it in 6-7 stabs. Just don't try it if there's a second burer nearby. Alternatively, use the RPG.

** Certain artifacts fall into this as well. Most artifacts give increased protection against certain types of damage, but often release radiation, making it necessary to either pair them with an artifact that absorbs radiation (most of which have their own side effects) or pop an antirad or bottle of vodka every couple minutes. In ''Shadow of Chernobyl'', certain ones don't. The Flash and Moonlight artifacts all give large-scale benefits to your sprint meter (wearing one Moonlight or two Flash artifacts can let you sprint indefinitely so long as you aren't above the first weight limit), and their only negative effect is an increased vulnerability to electricity. Electrical anomalies are encountered maybe three times, and actually spawn more of these artifacts. Picking up a handful of Flashes, or if you're incredibly lucky, a pair of Moonlights at the Agroprom Underground is incredibly easy and makes it simple to outrun the wildlife and hostile stalkers when engagement isn't an option, and makes shuttling tons of gear back and forth between maps a cakewalk.

Dives straight into FridgeHorror once you remember that zombies in the Zone are not actually reanimated corpses but still-living human beings whose brains had been completely fried, so most of the stuff they're saying is very likely the last shred of their humanity [[AndIMustScream trapped within a body they no longer have any control over.]] Before this you might've just been casually picking them off for fun and thought of them as nothing more than a mild nuisance. After this, you'll start going out of your way to pick them off just to put them out of their misery. STALKER is no stranger to horror, but this is a horror of another kind.

* Tear Jerker

Dives straight into Fridge Horror once you remember that zombies in the Zone are not actually reanimated corpses but still-living human beings whose brains had been completely fried, so most of the stuff they're saying is very likely the last shred of their humanity [[And I Must Scream trapped within a body they no longer have any control over.]] Before this you might've just been casually picking them off for fun and thought of them as nothing more than a mild nuisance. After this, you'll start going out of your way to pick them off just to put them out of their misery. STALKER is no stranger to horror, but this is a horror of another kind.

* FriendlyFandoms: Most fans of the ''[=S.T.A.L.K.E.R.=]'' games are also fans of ''VideoGame/Metro2033''.

** The Poltergeists in the Red Forest mine in ''Clear Sky'' are a subject of many angry message board rants. They basically toss metal water heaters at you which can kill you in one hit and are essentially undodgeable. Going up against them can also result in being killed by a weapon without said weapon being fired. Nothing like being telekinetically bludgeoned to death with a dropped assault rifle.

** ''Shadow of Chernobyl'' & ''Call of Prypiat'': [[GeneralRipper Colonel Skull]] is the leader of [[RenegadeSplinterFaction Silence]], a squad of Duty extremists who deserted and rebelled against General Voronin's ceasefire pact with Freedom. A bloodthristy warmonger himself, Skull launched his own crusade to exterminate Freedom from the face of the Zone by [[FinalSolution going after their "breeding ground"]], cowardly executing any patrol that they come across and also [[LeaveNoWitnesses witnesses]] who refuse to keep quiet about the war crimes. If the Marked One decides to help Silence invade the Freedom base, Skull will attempt to massacre everyone inside. Returning months later, Skull has [[PsychoForHire joined]] a group of mercenaries stationed at the bunker near Yanov Station, leaving the entire laboratory and its staff defenseless when participating in an ambush to steal documents about the Gauss rifle for his client.