I've read The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - I don't need any reminders!

How about a STALKER battle royale game? There's one in development. It's called Fear the Wolves and it's made by Vostok Games, the studio formed from the ashes of STALKER developer GSC.

Fear the Wolves takes place, like STALKER, in the creepy radiation-blasted wasteland of Chernobyl. It's a 100-player deathmatch where you can play lone wolf or in squads - but players won't be the only enemy. Deadly anomalies constantly threaten your health, mitigated somewhat by protective gear found while exploring. Of more pressing danger, however, will be the mutated forms lurking in the shadows...

Fear the Wolves will be released at some point this year on PC and consoles - presumably much later this year. There'll be an early access phase on PC beforehand.

Vostok Games was formed in 2012 when STALKER 2 collapsed and GSC effectively fell apart. The studio set to work on a spiritual successor to STALKER called Survarium, which is still in development now.

This content is hosted on an external platform, which will only display it if you accept targeting cookies. Please enable cookies to view. Manage cookie settings The co-op mission in Survarium.

Survarium differs from STALKER in being multiplayer, online and free-to-play. Gingerly exploring an open-world alone is not the main focus. Nevertheless the themes of STALKER remain. It isn't the fallout zone of Chernobyl you're exploring and which is slowly killing you, but Survarium's environment is equally hostile, albeit caused by natural phenomena. Survarium is also trialling long PVE missions you can tackle with friends.

Exactly when Survarium will be released, I don't know, but it's in Early Access if you fancy a go. The upside to its long and open development will be a lot of multiplayer lessons learned by Vostok, which bodes well for Fear the Wolves.