How to Start Playing Stalcraft in 2025 – Beginner’s Guide

Stalcraft is a game with a lot of mechanics that take players dozens of hours to understand. It takes even more time to master all the content. The universe of Stalcraft is much like the original Stalker, so knowledge will help us understand it. Some nuances mislead newcomers. In this article, we will present a beginner’s guide to the aspects of Stalcraft in 2025 to make it easier to start the adventure.

Guide to Factions in Stalcraft

In the original Stalker, there were factions, but you could not join them. In the trilogy, the player belonged to a certain faction and met others in the story. Change factions allowed only mods. Stalcraft, as a multiplayer game, is built on the interaction of different players. The division into groups is of great importance.

To begin with, the game has both factions and factions. The former include stalkers and bandits. The choice between them should be made when creating a character in Stalcraft. From this, depending on who will be friendly and who will be hostile to you in the southern zone, the quest chains change, and most importantly, the choice of factions. Note that this choice is final. You can not change it. For example, starting to play as a bandit, you will not become a stalker.

Access to the faction opens after passing the main plot of the game. You must find the artifact “Blue Ball” and decide its fate. The questline ends with a conversation with Condor in the bar. You will hear a radio program announcing the recruitment of the faction and get the corresponding task.

To join, you need to find a recruiter. He sits on the first floor of the Bar, near the exit to the northern faction bases. Depending on the faction you choose, you have two options. Stalkers join “Zarya” or “Rubezh”, analogs of Freedom and Dolg from the original game. Bandits have access to “Covenant” and Mercenaries.

Unlike factions, factions can be changed. To do this, while at the base, go to the appropriate section and leave it. You will need to pay a small fine. Now, find a recruiter and enter a new faction. Before going to the Northern Zone, it is recommended that you choose a faction. Members of the same factions will be hostile there, and members of factions – not. This will simplify the passage and help you find new allies.

Game Basics

Knowing the basics of Stalker will help you in Stalcraft. Here, too, there are dangerous anomalies that can kill the player who does not notice them. Therefore, you need to be careful when exploring locations. Attention will help you find artifacts. These are special items created under the influence of the zone, strengthening the player. On the locations, you will meet mutants, NPCs, and players with whom you will also have to fight.

When you leave the base, you enter a server that is tied to a location, such as a swamp. There are other players on it, so be careful. The server is tied to the amount of loot: artifacts, stashes, and enemies with valuable equipment. All other players are fighting for it, so it is safer to play with a co-commander. However, the reward will be shared between the group, as many stalkers prefer to farm locations alone.

The main task of the game is to pump, during which you perform tasks, earn money, get equipment, and go deeper into the Zone. PVE and PVP accompany all this. Here are a few tips that will help newcomers to understand the game better:

• In the later locations, it’s hard without a team. You need to look for friends with whom to pass the hard places of the Zone. The easiest way to start pumping together is to have a good team by now;
• Equipment is the most important thing in Stalcraft. This includes armor, weapons, artifacts, and more. The progression in the game is tied to the gradual improvement of equipment, so it greatly affects PVP/PVE. Because of this, it is important not to skip stashes, side quests, and other ways to improve weapons/armor/artifacts;
• There is no fast travel in the game. Once you enter a location, you have to walk on your own feet to the exit. But there is a /suicide command. It will kill the character and return him to the base. But the inventory will be lost. Convenient if you have nothing valuable with you and it takes a long time to return on foot;
• Use quick access slots. To open their customization, press “C”. There are 9 slots open, in which weapons or consumables are placed;
• Backpacks. A backpack is left at the place of death. Opening it will bring back all of your lost gear, so it’s important to memorize where you die. You can’t take loot from someone else’s backpack. But it is sold to a fence at the base;
• Personal items. This equipment does not disappear when you die. It refers to armor and weapons. Personal equipment is not sold, transferred, or discarded. You can’t exchange them with players; you only have to sell them to NPS. To make an item personal, put it on, take it in your hands, get it through barter, or put on a personalized dodger. Such items are marked with an icon. Thus, if you plan to sell weapons/armor, do not wear them in a character slot;
• Search for artifacts. They will help you earn money quickly and strengthen your character. Artifacts are spawned in anomalies and sold to a fence or players through auction/exchange. The number of artifacts on the location depends on how many stalkers are on it or, in the game, its location: in the north, there are more artifacts.

This is basic information that will simplify your start in Stalcraft. Next, let’s look at the more private aspects of the game.

Equipment Guide

When you open your inventory, you will see the “Equipment Index”. This is an indicator of your character’s overall strength. It affects the servers you get into. That is, you can not put on high-level equipment or go to fight with newcomers. You will be sent to a server with opponents of your level. The index is affected by:

1. Armor/weapons.
2. Armor/weapon upgrades.
3. Artifacts.
4. Artifact upgrades.
5. KDA scores.

The factors are arranged in descending order of importance. But this does not mean that if you put on the best artifacts in the game with the initial equipment, you will fall to the beginners. The game calculates character power fairly correctly. The high-level locations have perks. For example, there are fewer players, which means there is less threat, and you will get more loot.

The received equipment is improved at the base for special currency. But artifacts are also pumped at the scientists. Sharpening requires energy, which is given for disassembling artifacts. It is also recommended to have a catalyst obtained through barter. It increases the chance of successful pumping by two times. If the sharpening fails, the probability of success for the next time will increase, but the energy and catalyst will be spent. Therefore, go to the scientist with a stock of resources.

Bartering Guide

Barter allows you to get equipment at the base from the NPS through special resources that you find on the location. This is the main way through which the player will improve armor/weapons. The gear obtained in this way is almost as good as donated gear. Access to new barter items is opened gradually, depending on the level of the base and the resources you have. This is an important mechanic, which we covered in a separate article: link.

Auction Guide

The auction in Stalcraft works the same way as in other MMOs. A player puts up any non-personal item for any price. Other stalkers buy it. The prices are determined by the community of players, which gives birth to the ground for making money. We told more about the auction in a separate article.

Stalcraft Storyline guide

The game has a long, elaborate main plot. At the beginning, players are greeted by the branch “The Cal,” which unfolds in the Southern Zone and offers to decide the fate of the blue ball. The quest begins with a hallucination, which is also a tutorial. In it, the player must make his way through the monoliths at the Chornobyl NPP. When he comes to his senses, the quest line starts.

Many Stalcraft quests are complex, confusing. To pass correctly, you need to carefully explore the locations, look for quest items. For players is valuable opportunity to pass the task in different ways, to make a choice. But it generates difficulties, because of which it is not possible to complete the quest. If you are faced with such a situation, we have a series of guides to the most difficult quests Stalcraft.

Conclusion

Stalcraft is a large-scale game which it is difficult to understand quickly. But that’s why such multiplayer projects are appreciated. Our guide will simplify the beginning and answer many important questions, but there is a lot of new content ahead of you, which you will master on your own.