The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games are quite famous for their cut content
and among the stuff that was scrapped during development, there is one particular faction
which is a fan favorite. Sin. Also known as the Dark Stalkers. Hello stalkers and welcome to the Anomalous
Dugout. This time we will talk about the Dark Stalkers. This video will be divided into 3 parts. First, we shall take a look at the original
concepts for the Sin faction and the Dark Stalkers that can be read about in design
documents but were ultimately never implemented in the game. Then, we will present a few instances when
the Sin faction was brought back into the game via mods and how these mods decided to
depict the Dark Stalkers. Finally, I will share my own personal ideas
on how GSC Game World could successfully revive the Dark Stalker concept
in the upcoming S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. That being said, let's begin. The evolution of Sin and the Dark Stalkers
during the development of Oblivion Lost, the game that would become Shadow of Chernobyl,
is not an easy one to track. Sources are few and
sometimes unreliable, not to mention the fact that the concept also changed in the minds
of the developers while the game was being worked on. However, the main idea looked like this:
"Stalker group Sin, also known as dark stalkers. These are zombie-like stalkers who used to
be religious fanatics believing in divine essence of the Zone, the last expiation of
the humankind. Conflict with all stalker groups and attack
any stalker. Dark stalkers wear black coats and hoods so
that the face cannot be seen. If you remove the hood, you will see a bald
head with bloody holes instead of the eyes." From this general description we get that
sinners were supposed to be dressed in treachcoats similar to bandits but they would have acted
more like brainwashed zombies, being hostile to all
the other factions. Because of this, Duty was on the hunt for
dark stalkers. Moreover, it seems that the wording "used
to be religious fanatics" is not a coincidence, as their zombie-like
state is not something that was always the case. Supposedly, Build 1893 contains a text file
which seems to suggest that the dark stalkers became zombified after falling under the control
of some mutant. Anyway, we also know that the main base of
the Sin faction was to be located in the Army Warehouses. So yeah, Freedom was not there and instead
it was the Sin faction. If we read the design documents further, we
also find out that one of the goals of the dark stalkers was to collect secret information
and documents about the Zone and kill anyone who was
also trying to gather such secrets. In fact, it is mentioned that the player would
have tried to acquire documentation about the X-lab experiments directly from the Sin
faction. Despite the fact that dark stalkers are said
to be hostile to everyone else, it appears that the player could have cooperated with
the sinners in some way or another. And we even have a
full depiction of how this encounter could have gone: "God, they're crazy!" Messer thought that it was now difficult to
surprise him with something, but when he saw the crucifix in the corner, he trembled involuntarily. At first it seemed to him that a stalker
costume was hanging on the cross, or at worst, a dummy, but no, when the flame of the fire
highlighted a figure on the cross a little brighter, Messer clearly saw that these were
mummified remains, of a man, namely a stalker, not a zombie. Above him, on the wall, one word "Sin" was
spelled out. And it looks like the inscription was made
in blood. About six people sat around the fire, among
them a painfully pale one, all wrapped in a black mantle, stood out especially. This man was holding a human skull in his
hand with a sawn-down parietal part and was sipping some
drink from there. The eyes in which the glow of the fire fluttered
were black, frozen and frightening like the eye sockets of the skull that
the leader held in his hands. "It was necessary to get in like this"
Messer thought gloomily, casting a cursory glance around the surroundings. The huge room resembled a hangar adapted for
a museum of ethnography. Skulls laid out in a neat pyramid, the
head of a pseudo-giant in a huge glass vessel, a necklace of dog teeth hanging on the wall,
near the low, withered rat corpses. And a strange object that does not fit in
with the environment is a huge safe. All this in the wrong light of a bonfire kindled
right in the middle of the room. The leader swayed and poured the remnants
of liquid from his terrible goblet directly into the fire. A suffocating sweet-tart smell stupefied the
brain. And then they all began to sing, rather howled,
and there was so much melancholy in this... Messer felt his knees bend and he sank into
a spat on the dirty floor. He perceived everything else as in a fog... It seems they also danced around the fire,
periodically splashing some kind of liquid into the fire, the stupefying vapor of which
made the will malleable like softened plastic. In general, when the performance of the local
improvised folklore ensemble came to an end, Messer was ready for everything. According to the most optimistic forecasts,
they should at least skin and eat him. But for some reason that did not happen. The leader suddenly raised a hand with a bracelet
of teeth that looked suspiciously human, and silence reigned. "You are the chosen one"
The leader said in a low, husky voice. "I feel it in the skin"
Messer thought, wondering how to sell his life at a higher price, which, although it
didn't enthuse, wasn't tired to such an extent that he would for nothing let himself be eaten. "You are a twice-born one" continued the leader,
and Messer began to suspect that they would not eat him, at least for now. From this little story we get that Sin was
some sort of death cult practicing weird rituals, human sacrifices and cannibalism. Speaking of cannibals, I do believe that there
is one dialogue from Shadow of Chernobyl that's a relic of
the dark stalkers somehow left in the final game. I am talking about the cannibal stalker from
the Freedom faction which can be found patrolling in the military warehouses. This character has a unique dialogue implying
that he would have liked to eat the player. In my opinion, this is a leftover from the
time when Sin was based in the army warehouses, that the developers forgot
to remove or left as some sort of secret. Before moving on, I want to mention that Sin
is not exactly the only faction of dark stalkers that was cut. Supposedly, there was a group called "The
Dead" composed of half-zombified stalkers who would have been interested in
laboratory X-18. There was also another group called "Black
Slugs" described as bandit-like stalkers in torn-out trenchoats living as outcasts
near the borders of the Zone. Unfortunately we have almost no information
about these factions but it is possible that they were also some sort of dark stalkers. In any case, it is unknown why exactly the
Sin faction and Dark Stalkers were removed from the game, but many speculate it's because
they were too similar to the Monolith faction. While it is true that Sin and Monolith are
both half-zombified groups who are hostile to pretty much everyone, I think the similarities
end there. Many argue that the goals and ideologies
of Sin and Monolith are the same, however I disagree. They don't seem to be interested in secret
laboratories for the same reasons and the source of their faith is different. In one hand
we have the sinners who believe in the divine essence of the Zone as a whole, and in the
other hand we have the monolithians whose god is simply the Monolith crystal, but not
the entire Zone. Besides, monolithians are actually controlled
by the C-Consciousness which is actively trying to contain the Zone, the opposite of what
the sinners want. To clear up any
misconceptions, just know this: the Monolith faction is not defending the Zone, but rather
the C-Consciousness located at the Chernobyl power plant which is working on a way to fight
the Zone. Or at least, that's what we are being told
in the good ending of Shadow of Chernobyl. Speaking of ending, the design documents also
contain two descriptions of a cut ending for the game featuring the dark stalkers. It seems that this was a bad ending unlocked
when the player reached the Wish Granter with the desire:
"The thirst for Glory" Discharge. Roar. Hands. Knees. The roar of the Monolith subsides. Blood! Blood on the walls!!! Crucified man and... emptiness. "You are the chosen one." A crucifix in the corner. Above it, on the wall, one word "Sin" was
spelled out. The inscription was made in blood. The leader swayed and poured the remnants
of liquid from his terrible goblet directly into the fire. A suffocating sweet-tart smell stupefied the
brain. And then they all began to
sing, rather howled, and there was so much melancholy in this... And Strelok finally took the place that, obviously,
implicitly was his - on the cross... Now that we've presented the original concept
of dark stalkers, it's time to take a look at some mods that reintroduced them into the
game. These mods are Lost Alpha, Oblivion Lost Remake,
Legend Returns, and Anomaly. Let us start with this last one. In Anomaly, the Sin faction is depicted as
a dark cult worshiping the Zone and preaching for the cleansing of the World. If you play as a sinner, you will learn that
some of their most notable members are former employees of the X-laboratories who worked
on the secret experiments. In the mod, the dark
stalkers are only neutral with the Monolith, and they actually cooperate with them in order
to destroy the infidels to their cause, which is everyone else. As explained before, I don't
really think Sin and Monolith should be allies but it is nonetheless the direction this mod
decided to take. Here the sinners are pretty much the same
maniacs as monolithians except more evil and less heavily geared. Interestingly their main base is located inside
the mine in the Red Forest. Next let's take a look at dark stalkers in
Oblivion Lost Remake. This mod aims at recreating the story of Oblivion
Lost as it was described in design documents so the depiction of Sin is
quite similar to the known cut content. Based in the Army Warehouses, the sinners
showcase a large collection of bones and skulls, as well as a few stalker corpses exposed near
the entrance of the complex. Somehow they are not hostile to the player
and in fact, you will have to make a few deals with their leaders. First of all, to acquire some secret documents
about the X-labs which are owned by Sin. And then, to save a few scientists who were
captured by the dark stalkers and would have been used in their gruesome rituals. In case human flesh could
not be found, sinners instead resorted to dead bodies of rats and crows. Lastly the faction was interested in a psy-protection
artifact which was literally an anomalous skull. The Oblivion Lost mod also featured the Black
Slugs group which could be found in the old version of the Dark Valley. They aren't really depicted as dark stalkers
yet they have links to the secret X-laboratory located under the
valley. In fact the player is tasked by Barkeep to
get the code to the lab from the Black Slugs leader, which you can in exchange for a small
job. It is not entirely known who the Black Slugs
are and what their goal is, however some have speculated that they could be former test
subjects or even former employees from the labs. Which leads us to the mod Lost Alpha, that
took a very different approach to the Sin faction more in line with what we just saw
about the Black Slugs. In Lost Alpha, the dark stalkers
from Sin were political prisonners and other outcasts who were used as test subjects for
the experiments in the X-laboratories. Many of them were transformed into mutants
such as bloodsuckers, but some managed to survive
and they escaped after various disasters struck the labs. However, the horrors that were inflicted to
them left the Sin members diformed and mutated, explaining their appearance of dark
stalkers. Since then, they have been looking for a way
to reverse or at least improve their condition, which is why they look for any
information they can find on X-labs and the secret experiments. In the mod, most sinners including their leader
are hiding in the old mines located under Darkscape, also an area that was
removed from the final game. The player will meet them by accident and
will be forced into helping them acquiring data from X-18. In general, this version of Sin is much more
tragic than the others: no satanic rituals or cannibalism
here, only victims of unethical experiments being misunderstood by the rest of stalkers. Who's the real monster here? Finally, let's take a look at our last mod,
Legend Returns. This is probably my favorite depiction of
the Sin faction: cunning and bloody, the dark stalkers are back to their evil ways. Indeed, playing as a sinner involves using
the skinned faces of deceased stalkers as a disguise to infiltrate and assassinate the
leaders of other factions. And not just one or two leaders,
but all of them as Sin is hostile with absolutely everybody including the monolithians. In return, the dark stalkers are neutral with
almost all the mutants, and believe me, cooperating with bloodsuckers or burers to assault your
enemies is an absolute blast. In this mod, Sin's base is located in the
mine in the Red Forest and the grouping is fully dedicated to venerate
and cleanse the Zone from the infidels. In addition, they also use human hearts as
a trading currency, and their equipment includes anomalous trenchcoats, weapons and ammunition. Too bad
this mod never got a full translation... In fact Legend Returns also adds the Black
Slugs faction but I could not get much out of it because every single quest or dialog
was either not translated or missing from the files. At the
very least, I can say that the members of Black Slugs are outcast bandits as well as
people who have been marked by the Zone, so it's possible that some of them could be similar
to dark stalkers. It seems that they don't interact much with
other stalkers, as their base is lost in Darkscape in the middle of nowhere. Lastly, let's talk about the prospect of having
dark stalkers in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. I am well aware that we don't really know
what's currently going on with the development of the game but
I think the uncertainty should not stop us from discussing and speculating. We know for a fact that new factions are planned
for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 so considering the popularity of Sin and
the fact that the devs are actually working on old content previously cut from the original
games, such as the Bayun mutant for example, we can imagine that adding dark stalkers should
be a no brainer. But how would GSC Game World implement them? Personally, here's what I would like to see. Being a dark stalker is not really a faction,
but rather a condition. Dark stalkers would be normal people who experienced
various mutations, affecting their mind and body. The origins of
dark stalkers and their mutations would be diverse. First of all, the X-laboratories. Some dark stalkers would have been test subjects
or even employees in the X-labs who were affected by
the experiments. Then, the Zone itself. Other dark stalkers would simply be people
who spent too much time in the Zone and near anomalies or psy-emissions, basically getting
"Marked by the Zone". As a result of their half-mutant nature, dark
stalkers would both be gifted and cursed. Gifted, because their mutations could grant
them some special abilities, similar to the powers seen in other mutants: increased strength
and resistance to radiation, telepathy, perhaps immunity to emissions, and who knows what
else. But also cursed, because they lost a lot of
their humanity and are now struggling to find their place in the stalker society. Therefore, dark stalkers would have turned
towards 3 different affiliations. A few of them would be seen as lone hermits,
maybe a bit crazy, similarly to Noah for example. Then, there would be those who try to find
a cure to their misery. Just like in the mod Lost Alpha, these dark
stalkers are desperate to get their humanity back and are ready to do
anything to acquire information from the X-laboratories, which perhaps could help with their condition. I think the dark stalkers with such a mindset
would have their own small faction. The devs could even recycle the name and general
idea of Black Slugs and apply it in this case. And finally, there would be Sin. Sin would regroup the dark stalkers who decided
to embrace their mutant nature, seeing it as a divine gift from the holy Zone. They would be hostile to all
and gruesome in their methods, resorting to bloodthirsty rituals and cannibalism. They would also train and use their mutant
powers to their full extent, compensating their poor equipment
with anomalous abilities. In my opinion, this would make for unique
and interesting enemies to fight. In any case, dark stalkers would be quite
rare, and most inhabitants of the Zone would only think of them as legends rather than
real people. I guess Duty would try to hunt them down,
and it could be tied to a questline. But hey, it's just me rambling over nothing,
all of this will probably never happen. What about you, do you think dark stalkers
could be in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2? How do you personally would like to see them
depicted? Let me know in the comments below. And now this video has
come to an end, thank you very much for watching stalker, and goodbye.
