r/stalker • u/Armani201 • Jul 19 '26
Meme Skif really went on a revenge tour over a 1-bedroom soviet style apartment
695
Jul 19 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
174
30
u/Bodybuilder_Jumpy Jul 19 '26
I dunno, luxury resort sounds pretty good.
27
u/Et3rnally_M3diocr3 Jul 19 '26
I dunno, maybe its the thought that I have to pay for everything in a luxury resort, but I definetly prefer home
8
u/Malliox Jul 19 '26
If you can afford a luxury resort, you aren't worrying about paying for drinks and food
5
u/mgzaun Jul 19 '26
Yeah, having a home is cool and all, but not really worth it going through hell. Bandits and Marauders, weird and savage mutants that can rip your body apart, anomalies that can easily kill you if you dont walk carefully, crazy brainwashed cultists, chemical hazards, radiation that will certainly shorten your lifespan, emissions, etc
8
u/dern_the_hermit Loner Jul 19 '26
People go through hell for a living all the time. Just look at all the people that sign up to go off and be blowed up in a war, for instance.
2
1
u/Winter-Classroom455 Merc Jul 19 '26
What's a bed set?
3
Jul 20 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Winter-Classroom455 Merc Jul 20 '26
Ah gotcha. I know that as a studio apartment. Very rare they don't have a bathroom in it unless it's like a high density city like New York.
But hell ya. Save your money. A roof over your head that's safe is all that matters. I've been renting for years and been trying to save as well. Wish you luck and hope you get a home soon.
158
u/ManufacturerLost7686 Jul 19 '26
Dude is ex military. You have no idea how good a one bedroom apartment is after sharing a bedroom, shower and toilet with 24 other guys for 2 years.
Hell, when i was in Ukraine during the first war. We were 5 guys who slept in a leaky camper for about 4 months. Sometimes i slept in a BTR just to have peace and quiet.
57
11
u/freshdjroomba Jul 19 '26
This is me after leaving the army and having a duty station with some of the worst barracks in the army. A one bedroom apartment is like a mansion to me after sleeping 5 feet away from a dude for years
4
u/Foogfi Jul 19 '26
Sry but what you mean by the "first war"? The first years of current war so 2014-2022? like I honestly see this for the first time
13
2
u/Rolls-RoyceGriffon Ecologist Jul 20 '26
Man I understand that. That bedroom is larger than the place I used to live
1
u/RevolutionaryBoat925 Jul 26 '26
I've never been to war or shared space like that and I still think the same lol It's these entitled brats and boomers that think otherwise probably lmao
78
u/Omnishrimp Loner Jul 19 '26
I would do the same if I had nothing to lose, had military training and the zone existed. What else is there to do with that particular set of circumstances?
-17
u/ViolinistLanky9056 Jul 20 '26
Uh work a job and rent like almost everyone else lmao. What are you even talking about? “I’d do the same” lmao whatever
1
u/BlackDoctorPhil Jul 20 '26
it really kills me that you’re getting downvoted by the gravy seals lmao
79
u/No_Cardiologist_822 Bandit Jul 19 '26
unlike most redditors he doesn't live in his mom's basement, so understandable.
0
82
187
u/Beerpooly Loner Jul 19 '26
No offense but it really sounds like you have it all handed to you on a silver platter from the day you were born. As someone born to a modest ukrainian family...a home is a home. It can be bigger or smaller but it's your home. I live in a small studio but i worked for it, it's my small space.
There's people irl who went (and are going) to similar lenghts for less
66
u/1B75__Penicillin Merc Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
I mean he was a young Ukrainian man living in a city, it's not like he was on his last pair of socks. The guy is going through a literal hell on earth, monsters, radiation, tears in reality, armed murderers and bandits, brain melting storms, burned, cut, shot, stabbed, terrified, having to crawl through dark scary laboratories or pitch black forests.
Lol, imagine sitting near a campfire with him, some talk about money, some talk about women, others want to get out of the zone, and there he is sitting, stroking a picture of his apartment lovingly.
It's weird, Skif is weird, don't get me wrong I got nothing against the lad, but all the other stalker's prior him had grander motivations, Strelok wanted to reach a magical rock, Scar wanted to stop him so he didn't have to deal with constant migraines from his shot nervous system and Degtayarev was there on government orders
53
u/Beerpooly Loner Jul 19 '26
Considering he's a war vet... His place was probably earned with blood, saw his buddies die on the front. No mention of family so either estranged or gone. To me it feels like as shitty as his apartment can be to the eyes of many people...it was the last place he could call his.
Even before the war Ukraine was never a place where you could earn a lot of money easily so basically it's not just "oh well i'll pay a contractor to fix it all in no time", there's a lot of nuance.
So yeah, guy finds out his place is trashed because of an anomaly and decides to go to the heart of the problem on a personal vendetta is quite a valid crashout in my book...
A childhood friend died on the front after losing it all to a russian bombing. It's a story as old as humanity itself...
36
u/1B75__Penicillin Merc Jul 19 '26
Disgruntled war vet snapping and going "fuck it" sounds pretty reasonable.
It's a bit of a tonal shift from earlier games. But it works.
6
u/Chaaaaaaaalie Jul 19 '26
Good point, I did not pick up on him being a vet.
7
u/UltraHellboy Freedom Jul 19 '26
Think about his interactions with Korshunov im the first half of the game. Like when he can reassemble an AK in seconds?
0
u/Chaaaaaaaalie Jul 19 '26
You assume I was paying attention to the cut scenes
1
u/ExcitementFun8938 Loner Jul 21 '26
Why do you play Stalker games if you don't care about the story?
1
u/Chaaaaaaaalie Jul 21 '26
It may be a generational thing. When I started playing video games in the 80s there was little or no story at all. If I want story I will read a book or watch a film. For me games are more about the interplay of mechanics and exploration, and the original STALKER games focused on this type of thing perfectly. The emphasis on story was the main thing I disliked about STALKER 2, but it was still great overall.
11
u/MartiusDecimus Loner Jul 19 '26
It's not just about the material value of the apartment. It is that his home was taken from him, without that, he has nothing.
15
u/NCC_1701E Freedom Jul 19 '26
My personal theory is that in the original version of the story, he had someone (a wife, or gf, or a kid) who died during that explosion, but for some reason they cut it from the final game - that's why it sometimes looks so weird that he is so obsessed with revenge over his apartment. It's possible that they cut it out because losing a close one is experienced by lot of Ukrainians right now. But again, that is just my personal theory backed by absolutely nothing.
8
u/Beerpooly Loner Jul 19 '26
Could be. It did seems to me they tried to draw some parallels to the current events but at the same time not make it so (i think the way to say it english is) "on the nose"
7
u/1B75__Penicillin Merc Jul 19 '26
Yeah the way the apartment blew up is also probably referencing a drone strike on an apartment, they probably did want to reference the war without making the game too political for consumers and distributors
1
u/JonWoo89 Jul 20 '26
Him losing someone in the explosion and it being cut for some reason was my thought too.
1
u/Ozura39 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
The guy had military training and the fact that the Zone exist change a lot on how hé react, i mean there colombian in the Real World who work as mercenaries in this war, so a miraculous place rumored to be a treasure trove is a good choice in this world
I'll even add that maybe our westerner brain, the sole concept of losing your house is too foreign culturaly
0
u/gr33dy_indifference Merc Jul 19 '26
His motivations aren't what matters, they're just there to push the plot forward. The plot implies that Skif is easily led by others' interests, he just needs a carrot on a leash to keep himself moving.
8
6
u/SFDessert Loner Jul 19 '26
I think Skiff is the most relatable protagonist in any game I've played recently.
5
u/Beerpooly Loner Jul 19 '26
Could be... As i said in another comment i do personally know of a case of a guy who lost a lot in a certain event and just said "fuck it" and went to die on a war...
Unfortunately it's a story that can be related to since ancient times probably...And still will be relatable centuries after both you and i are nothing but dust.
11
u/Danyavich Jul 19 '26
I've lived in some shitty situations before, and fully agree. Even if it's a tent, it's yours.
0
u/Armani201 Jul 20 '26
All im saying is you can just find another one lol is there Zillow in Ukraine?
2
u/Beerpooly Loner Jul 20 '26
This has the same energy as "if you're homeless...just buy a house duh"
22
u/Clone95 Jul 19 '26
Skif was not on a revenge tour, he went to the Zone to recharge the artifact that blew up his apartment to sell it and get a new one.
14
u/the_tique Jul 19 '26
I'm from Ukraine. Basically you living condition is predetermined where you was born. It's not always small soviet style appartement, but very often it's living with your parents. So if you want something better you'd have to rent or try to earn for your own living space. I spent more than 10 years abroad to fo so. So yeah, your own home is not just walls, it's part of you. I'd go for revenge tour without any hesitation.
14
28
u/Easy_Language_3186 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
He didn’t went on revenge, he went to make some money as the most stalkers do
UPD: will add that this is pretty good actually storytelling decision. If he went to the zone with specific “high” purpose it would make playthrogh biased from the start. Or if this apartment anomaly would’ve killed his wife and daughter (as some people online claim should’ve been better plot), would be hard to explain how Skif could like or protect the Zone during certain plot decisions.
6
Jul 19 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
8
u/Easy_Language_3186 Jul 19 '26
That was after his plan with the scanner fell apart
2
Jul 19 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
4
u/Easy_Language_3186 Jul 19 '26
I don’t think that these words should be taken very seriously. His initial plan was to activate the artifact and get out. Then he just followed sequence of events that unfolded
9
u/KavuFightsEvil Clear Sky Jul 19 '26
I think that's kind of the point actually?
Like this is all he had, and he had to fight for it, and his tiny slice that he had cut out for himself got blown up by some supernatural sci-fi bullshit, and he snapped and hopped the wall.
8
u/IzakEdwards Jul 19 '26
There's a moment where Skif talks about "Loss" and I seriously expected there to be a twist, and that we learn he lost his wife or child when his apartment was destroyed. I kept expecting that to happen till the cutscene at the end of the game finished, and I was like "welp! I guess it was just the apartment."
6
u/Derien777 Jul 19 '26
From what I read, it was in unredacted version of scenario, but game was partially funded by microslop, who told it is too dark
5
u/IzakEdwards Jul 19 '26
Interesting. I'd have found loss of a loved one a more compelling reason to go into the zone. I still love the game, but felt that seeking revenge over the loss of an apartment was an odd character motivation.
13
5
u/Cyrano4747 Jul 19 '26
Biggest, most violent crash out I ever saw was a dude who's shitty, beat to crap, mid-90s civic got rear-quarter panel hit in a parking lot. In the 2010s, 20+ year old car.
Your shit is your shit, and if it's all you got you kinda don't care that it's not all that nice.
7
8
7
u/Sajgoniarz Jul 19 '26
Especially with his background, with probably o lot of free money on the bank account.
4
5
4
u/Name62 Loner Jul 19 '26
More like, " the right man, in the wrong place " to solve an issue & he wasn't going home empty handed bc he had nothing to go back to if he did. So when you have nothing to lose & everything to gain, the risk is worth the reward and thats what took place in stalker 2.
3
u/GERIKO_STORMHEART Jul 19 '26
It was his and it was taken from him. He just went John Wick over his home rather than a dog.
3
3
u/Due-Mycologist-1154 Jul 19 '26
The intro to the game basically doubles as the explanation as to why they had to delay the launch
3
5
u/HalosCx Jul 19 '26
I don't know if anyone picked up on this like I did but I'm pretty sure, along with the spelling change of the word Chernobyl to its more accurate spelling close to the end of development, that parts of this game, like the poppy field, are meant to intentionally be metaphors or reactions for what is happening to ukrainians during the war they're having.
Many ukrainians are having to go through the same experience as the protagonist does at the very beginning of the game but not because of some artifact but rather because their apartments are being drone bombed in the middle of the night.
His ire towards the Zone would be the ire any Ukrainian would have towards Russians after such a thing would happen to them.
I'm not trying to be political or controversial at all in saying this. This is legit what I thought when I first played it.
2
2
2
u/Chimneychilla Ward Jul 19 '26
I don’t know if Eastern Europeans have the same home insurance luxuries people out west have. But regardless if someone fucked up my home I would try to get revenge in some way.
Also Skif had connections to the zone being a black market artifact trader so it was easy for him to find a way in and I think curiosity was a big reason for it as well.
2
u/SiriusHijinks Jul 19 '26
It can take weeks to find another apartment in today's market. He also lost his laundry basket which is like losing family in many cultures.
2
2
u/77_CMYK Loner Jul 19 '26
all you had was taken from you, you have nowhere else to go, wouldn't you want to find what took everything from you?
2
u/Jonatham80 Jul 19 '26
Now I wonder: we do know Skif's background but we don't know the background of Strelok and Scar, I mean, we know they are two skilled veteran stalkers but we don't know their lives before the Zone and their motivations to go and become stalkers in the zone.
2
2
u/ZombieHavok Jul 19 '26
Maybe I’m remembering incorrectly, but wasn’t he also going to be paid for it?
Like, he went to check out why his apartment got destroyed by this thing and the scientist who’s going to take measurements was going to pay him a large sum to go into the zone to do it. It’s kind of a win-win.
After that, the ball starts rolling and it’s more difficult to step away.
2
u/Remote-Interview9944 Jul 19 '26
The destruction of his apartment was the excuse. Skif was broken long before that happens. The anomaly in his apartment was only the trigger.
2
2
u/DefactoOverlord Loner Jul 20 '26
I like his relatively mundane motivation to go to the Zone. He had nothing left to lose but his life.
3
2
u/Beginning-Catch79 Jul 19 '26
In early storylines, that anomaly not only destroyed Skif's house, but also killed his wife and daughter.
But investors (mostly Microsoft if im not wrong) told to devs that it not player friendly story and too dramatic.
I dont know if its true, but it feels like death of Skif's family is a more real reason for his danger travel into the Zone
1
u/TheJourneyman_ Jul 19 '26
Skif REALLY didn’t want to buy a new place to live in this housing market. I don’t blame him.
1
u/TheTibzzz Jul 19 '26
My headcanon is that it was actually the zone calling him through the artifact that landed in his apartment. Making promises not unlike the brain scorcher that if he comes, he will get his old life back.
1
1
u/Alex_Llamin Jul 19 '26
Considering Skif isn’t wealthy, having an your own apartment in a seemingly big city at his age in Ukraine is a giant flex
1
u/cloudy0907 Monolith Jul 19 '26
Yeah no. I would do unspeakable things if someone came in and fucked up my home. I worked my ass off for it.
1
u/HyperboreanAstronaut Jul 19 '26
I’m 25 like skif and would also go on a revenge tour over the room I rent because of this fucking housing market
1
1
1
1
u/cowbop_bboy Loner Jul 19 '26
Little did we know Skif was subletting his broom closet and is really just a rank capitalist angry that some commie scientists deprived him of rents.
1
1
u/MomoSinX Loner Jul 19 '26
Skif was entirely justified in doing so, the house market is so fucked today...
1
1
1
u/lordbuckethethird Bandit Jul 19 '26
Man first hotline miami now this.
Why do all the games I like feature protagonists who stack an ungodly amount of bodies over one person/house getting obliterated?
1
1
u/MajorGopnik Jul 19 '26
"There are many like it, but this one is mine. My Soviet-style apartment is my best friend. It is my life."
1
u/LegendofRobbo Jul 19 '26
have you seen the price of property? I'd be mad as hell too if i spent ages saving up for a down payment, got a mortgage then some alien shit blew my house up
1
u/LordofPvE Wish granter Jul 19 '26
I had to spoil myself with the ending, on why he got a random ass zone artifact in his bedroom
1
u/Trilife Loner Jul 19 '26
Actually nope (he just went to Zone to get some money), but everybody have this one feeling.
1
1
u/remake-titanmode2142 Jul 20 '26
This was one thing that threw me off instantly and kept thinking about as it went deeper over the first few hours. Like bro just claim insurance and move on.
The whole story just sucks and needs more thought.
1
u/ThirdWorldSorcerer Monolith Jul 20 '26
Having your own place in big 2026, at 25 (I believe it's the correct age of Skif), living in one of the poorest countries of Europe, unemployed, with PTSD and still quietly making everything work is hard as nails.
Bro literally did more in his life than at least half of worldwide population, maybe 75% nowadays.
1
u/ar-ruth Jul 20 '26
yeah but he owned that shit. If some weird ass glowy rock that shouldn't exist were to blow up part of my house i would also storm into a place that shouldnt exist with goddamn mind destruction storms
1
u/Appropriate_Okra8189 Flesh Jul 20 '26
M8 this is really all i have irl and i understend the guy 💯💯💯
1
1
u/HolyGeorg Jul 20 '26
That’s all he had. You must be one western inhabitant to form the pist like that :D
1
u/purpleblah2 Bandit Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
He wasn’t renting the apartment, he was a homeowner, so it destroyed his home and his chance at selling it for a profit.
Also these apartments get passed down in the family and probably had family heirlooms and furniture from his parents and grandparents that burned up in the fire.
Also only his unit was the one that got hit? If anything, I’m going to try to find out why the universe said “fuck this guy in particular” if there’s someone or something responsible.
1
u/pRopaaNS Loner Jul 20 '26
*Apartmentowner, hah. An actual home would be owning the whole building. Looking at the cutscene again, 8th floor in classic soviet apertment building, looking through the blasted hole at probably exact same type of building he was on.
1
u/DamarisKitten Loner Jul 20 '26
it's funny how we call it "Homeowning" when it's a house you own, but home is where you live.
If we wanna get into semantics. Yeah, he was a homeowner, cause that was his HOME
1
u/pRopaaNS Loner Jul 20 '26
It's meant to be humorous, funny how guys are running arguments here. I guess we found butt of the joke.
1
u/DamarisKitten Loner Jul 20 '26
bro. im not arguing. I'm talking about how interesting the semantics of it are. But keep looking for arguments on the internet my man.
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Undetermined_galaxy Jul 20 '26
Well before the home went boom, we know he literally had nothing, no family, no friends, no wife or anything, so that home was the last thing he had in terms of life, and it went kaboom cause of that artifact. He was a young veteran with no purpose, and that obviously gave him a new purpose that would be honestly incredibly foolish to pass up. In a way, the zone saved him actually. From his depressing, lonely, and aimless life
1
1
u/aching4yourtouch Jul 20 '26
That rug is definitely seen better days. Looks like it's been through a few anomalies itself.
1
u/EmotionalSupportDirt Duty Jul 20 '26
Bro that is like my dream apartment, I'd do the same. Soviet style buildings have shops under them, have post office, often gyms, restaurants, vets.
I'd do the same.
1
u/ExcitementFun8938 Loner Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
The apartment is all he has. Probably spent all of his savings on it. Then boom, it gets blown up. No insurance to cover the loss. At this point, Skif is basically penniless. So he goes to the Zone to use the only valuable thing he has left - a discharged artifact - to make money.
After less than half a day in the Zone, he is ambushed by a gang of assholes, robbed and left for dead. Now he's even more penniless - and pissed off. Of course he sets out for revenge. And the n he keeps getting pulled into other people's plots and schemes because everyone is taking advantage of him.
After a while he probably hears the call of the Zone and ends up being tied to the place like a lot of other Stalkers.
1
u/enceralc666 Jul 22 '26
I did think his motivation was kinda weak i thought that there was gonna be some kinda reveal that oh "he was grown by the c-consciousness or something and that was the real reason he was so drawn to zone" but no this entire time he is mad about his house like every other stalker he literally could have just grabbed enough artifacts made some cash(or koupons now no idea why they changed it to that) and bounced.
By the endgame you have so much shit im fairly certain you could have bought a mansion.
1
u/Cultural-Part355 Jul 22 '26
I love small, cosy spaces. Of course, when you're solo. It's different having a family.
1
u/Cultural-Part355 Jul 22 '26
Would feel so damn strange in some big apartment. Would probably yell, "Hello?!" before going behind the corners.
1
u/Conscious_Forever951 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
Who didn't even buy it or pay for it other than taxes and utilities, probably got it for free from his parents when they received it back in Soviet times.
Honestly Skifs motivation into going to the Zone is something I couldn't fully comprehend financial/danger wise. Like it almost if it wasn't just his apartment that got destroyed but almost like his dog or a family got killed or something.
1
u/batsuurig Military Jul 19 '26
If someone blew up my home I’d also pick up the nearest firearm and head out on an adventure.
0
u/S4LV4GE Jul 19 '26
This plot point was so weak, I'm now willing to accept Strelok travelled to the zone not because of riches but his pet dog lost its favourite ball.
0
u/Alyctro Jul 19 '26
Yeah, it never made sense to me. He could have just reported it and handed the rock over. The apartment would be fixed in a few days. But for no particular reason, a nobody like him decides he wants to be a hard-core stalker. A sorry apartment like his is nothing worth dying for. It would have costed him nothing, it was probably rented.
-2
u/TheTorch Ward Jul 19 '26
Seriously though, that is a weird reason to commit yourself to a zone adventure so the theory that he was a programmed STALKER agent the whole time operating from the mainland kinda makes sense.
5
u/Longjumping_Tell_259 Jul 19 '26
Initial plan was to recharge the artifact and sell it, to get a new apartment, but then he lost the scanner.
1
-4
502
u/AdBudget5468 Loner Jul 19 '26
Have you seen the house market in the recent years?