The Stalker: Lost Alpha mod was named ModDB's Player's Choice Mod of the Year in 2014. Built to revive an earlier version of Stalker: Call of Pripyat teased prior to release, this was the same year the team behind the fan-made project—Dez0wave—announced a beta build had been leaked, and that they'd been forced to release early.

The devs were understandably disappointed, but nevertheless launched a solid and enjoyable mod. Since, Dez0wave has been working hard on Lost Alpha's Developer's Cut—a fuller, more realised version of 2014's offering which now has a release date: April 26, 2017.

"We admit that the release version wasn't as stable as we wanted it, but it was a rushed decision after the unexpected leak, and that's precisely why we're giving ourselves just a bit more time—to squish the greatest bugs, so DC will be a more polished game than vanilla Lost Alpha was," says the devs on ModDB. "But in case some bugs manage to escape unnoticed, we plan to update DC post-release, likely also adding some new content. We have 2 new levels in production, and many new features, which we will uncover later this year."

Dez0wave links to a comprehensive changelog which outlines what's new this time round, and notes that while it'd hoped to release its Developer's Cut yesterday (Shadow of Chernobyl's tenth anniversary outside of North America), it will land on the 31st anniversary of the real-life Chernobyl disaster.