S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Anomaly Mod is a free-to-usemod created by the team at Anomaly Developers. In this custom content for the adventure game S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call of Pripyat. It contains a nonlinear set of four chapters, each having its own content for players to explore. 

In the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Anomaly Mod, you can play the chapters in any order you see fit—complete quests and follow the story or simply build your own empire. Also, check out the Dead Air Mod for the same game.

A standalone mod

One thing players should know about S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Anomaly Mod is that it is a standalone material. This means that you don’t need a copy of the Call of Pripyat to play it. You can get this modded game and play it as is. This fact makes the mod portable and more accessible compared to the base game, which often requires payment.

As mentioned above, you can play the game however you see fit. It doesn’t follow the traditional flow of one chapter to another, letting you explore more gameplay possibilities. Four chapters each allow you to complete quests and interact with different factions living inside the Chernobyl Exclusive Zone. Also, this mod offers a lot of in-game settings to help you further customize the game.

Since it is a customizable mod, this standalone game can be used with other mods. However, the lack of a management system opens it up to a number of vulnerabilities. The most common of which is the use of certain mods corrupting or causing this game to crash entirely, requiring you to restart the game or remove the last added mod—or reinstall the mod altogether.

Fun sandbox for S.T.A.L.K.E.R

Its standalone nature makes S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Anomaly Mod a great sandbox experience for players. With nonlinear story content, hundreds of in-game settings to tweak, and its capability for loading other mods—all without the need to install the base game—makes it a safe and independent experience for Call of Pripyat players. However, it doesn’t work perfectly with certain mods. It’s still a good game to try though.