What a mess. Ever since former developers GSC Game World began dying a slow and agonising death, the future of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series has been up in the air, with former GSC staffers moving onto a spiritual successor after a rights dispute.

The next game from the folks who once made the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. titles won't be out for a while, but they already know that people will be trying to exploit it. They've got plans to stop those ne'er-do-wells.

The year 2020 doesn't look like it's going to be a good one for mankind. Pollen allergies become deadly eight years from now and an eco-catastrophe wipes out most of humanity, leaving behind a few stragglers to try to survive after the world's power grids go to hell.

What people loved most about GSC Game World's S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise were the lonely, post-apocalyptic landscapes that the game let you wander through. But S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s dead now and things are going to be different in the world being built by the former developers of that franchise won't be quite as sparsely…

Just two weeks after promising signs of life from creative studio GSC Game World, it looks like post-nuclear horror FPS S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is dead for good this time. But that doesn't mean that fans of GSC's creepy Eastern Bloc survival shooting won't have anything to play.