Explorer of the Zone
This is how it ends.

Complete the game



Sidorovich's apprentice


Finish the game on Novice difficulty.



In the Zone!

Finish the game on Stalker difficulty.



S.U.R.V.I.V.E.D.

Finish the game on Veteran or Master difficulty



The Wish Granter
You get what you deserve.

Get one of the game's endings.
Unlocked upon reaching the Wish Granter and making a wish. It doesn't matter which one of 5 possible wishes this is.
A word of warning, you will face A LOT of Monolith soldiers and A LOT of radiation in the Sarcophagus. Be prepared for both of them.


Too good to be true
You have seen the Monolith, but did not succumb to the call.

Story-related, but can be missed if you go for the Wish Granter instead.
First, after X-16, make sure to find the Guide in Cordon and visit Strelok's hideout again. There you'll learn of the decoder in a hotel in Pripyat.
After shutting down the Brain Scorcher and going to Pripyat, get the decoder and in the Sarcophagus, instead of going to the Wish Granter, on the same floor, right after climbing the stairs, turn right and follow the corridor. When you notice a room with a spinning light on the left, head there and climb the ladder.



You're finally awake...
Do not think too much, act!

This is the first achievement you'll unlock and it's not missable. You'll unlock it in Sidorovich's bunker.


Follow your steps
This is a story related achievement and is earned after you meet Doctor in Strelok's hideout in the Agroprom Underground. This quest shows up after you speak with Guide in Cordon. Do note that rarely Guide can die and this quest won't pop up, making you have to reload your save or possibly the game if you haven't been saving often. The Agroprom Underground will not have changed since the first visit other than the possibility of some bandits and bloodsuckers spawning. Once you start climbing the ladder into the hideout a cutscene will play out and the achievement will unlock.
Note: This quest is part of the questline for the "good" ending which starts with talking to Guide. All of these quests are optional and are not required to beat the game, but many story achievements will not be unlocked if this path is ignored and there is no other way to unlock the "good" ending.


Get out of here, Stalker

After you finish the Lab X-16 quest for the Ecologists in Yantar. Go back to the Cordon (the First area with Rookie Village). Near the ruined house where you met Fox in the Northern Cordon (The guy that gets attacked by blind dogs and needs a medkit). You'll meet a stalker named "Guide" talk to him and he'll tell you where to find the Doctor.


Stoic

Story-related, but can be missed if you go for the Wish Granter instead.
First, after X-16, make sure to find the Guide in Cordon and visit Strelok's hideout again. There you'll learn of the decoder in a hotel in Pripyat.
After shutting down the Brain Scorcher and going to Pripyat, get the decoder and in the Sarcophagus, instead of going to the Wish Granter, on the same floor, right after climbing the stairs, turn right and follow the corridor. When you notice a room with a spinning light on the left, head there and climb the ladder. Open the door with the decoder (you don't have to fight the Monolith, you can just wait them out). You should get it as soon as the door opens.


I'm all but certain it was...

Story-related, but can be missed if you go for the Wish Granter instead.
First, after X-16, make sure to find the Guide in Cordon and visit Strelok's hideout again. There you'll learn of the decoder in a hotel in Pripyat.
After shutting down the Brain Scorcher and going to Pripyat, get the decoder and in the Sarcophagus, instead of going to the Wish Granter, on the same floor, right after climbing the stairs, turn right and follow the corridor. When you notice a room with a spinning light on the left, head there and climb the ladder. Open the door with the decoder (you don't have to fight the Monolith, you can just wait them out) and enter the room.
In the next zone, when you eventually get to the room with the Wish Granter hologram, destroy those blue light thingies around it. Try doing it without entering the room so Pyrogeists that spawn won't bother you. During the conversation, make sure to REFUSE joining the C-Consciousness.
You will then be dropped at the rear side of the plant. Following teleports, one will eventually briefly take you to Sidorovich and then back to the plant at which point you should get the achievement. This is one of the last teleports, so don't worry (prior to that, there are about 15 teleports and A LOT of Monolith soldiers


Knock-Knock

Open new paths of exploration.
Tip: Explore all paths and check suspicious places.


Freedom vs. Duty

You'll get this achievement as soon as you choose your side. It's either Duty or Freedom.
Duty is Warsaw Pact-aligned faction. They use Soviet designed weapons and are police of the Zone. As soon as you enter an ambush on your first visit in Army Warehouse, you can start their quest line and assault Freedom base. I don't know when the achievement should pop exactly as I went with Freedom.
Freedom are hippies of the Zone. Heavy drug and alcohol use are common theme of this faction. They are Nato-aligned and use western weapon designs. After the ambush you can approach their base and let Freedom know that Duty is staging an attack in nearby village and Lukash will give you mission to attack preemptively. As soon as you shoot and Duty turns hostile, you'll get your achievement.


Stalker legend

Getting all artifacts will take some time. There are 27 artifacts and they have fixed and/or random spawn locations. It will require you to complete a few quests, visit a few locations and throw a few bolts.

This good thing is that in-game counter shows your progress out of 14 so it's not common and rare, but rather common and uncommon. Required 14 are:
- Slug
- Slime
- Stone Flower
- Jellyfish
- Flash
- Sparkler
- Meat Chunk
- Stone Blood
- Fireball
- Droplets
- Crystal Thorn
- Thorn
- Gravi
- Wrenched


Meet the creator

Just enter the small room with the photo of the game developers on the wall. The room is located in Lab X-18, where you meet Pseudogiant during the main quest.

Legendary armor
You found the Ghost suit and honored his legacy.

Ghost is part of Strelok’s party of Stalkers. His body can be found in Lab X-16 in Yantar. You can’t miss it.
After you deal with Emitter (main quest), you’ll gain access to room with Controller and the body. You need to grab armor from it. It’s not great, but you can easily exchange it for upgraded environmental suit (best environmental protection in the game) from Sakharov and his quest to obtain a unique armor.
Finding his body also starts you on your path for alternative ending.


Weapon of the future
Get Monolith finest weapon.

It's in the endgame. Just Pick Up a Gaus rifle from one of the Monolith soldiers.



Fanged armor
Find Fang exoskeleton.

You’ll exit Lab X-16 into Yantar through the tunnel system. A few meters in front of you will be a first mound with a Snork. There should also a body of a random Loner. After inspecting the body you’ll get a stash location for „Fang’s Goodies” in Pripyat.
The stash is a cross type stash - it’s a grave of Fang. It will contain his exoskeleton and a few other goodies. It’s easy to find. A lone cross in a middle of a plaza, surrounded by Monolith. Watch out for baddies and for anomalies, retrieve the stash and achievement is yours.
It’s quite a good armor, but you can’t run in it and it has almost no environmental protection.
Also note that stash location is granted by inspecting any Loner body in Yantar. This one is just a sure body location. After your excursion into X-16 some Duty and Loner stalkers should show up in Yantar. You can always kill a Loner (they will station where you had a blackout like an hour earlier if you focus on the story. You’ll know the place) or count on someone or something killing one of them.


Mole's weapon
Become the owner of unique Walker 9 x 18 pistol.

This weapon is Mole's possession. He is located in Agroporom Factory and he is a character essential to the main story - you'll be tasked with saving him.
There are three ways of getting this weapon:
1. Kill Mole after he showed you an entrance to Underground and loot his body.
2. Drop better handgun in front of him and he should pick it up, dropping Walker 9x18.
3. Wait for Spetsnaz to show up after he's done with you, let them kill him and loot the body.
While method 2 and 3 are unreliable at best, the best method is basically to kill him and loot him. Walker 9x18 is not a good weapon for a few reasons. Firstly you should have already moved from using handgun to more serious firearms. Secondly, it's only marginally better than Fort-15 you can get from a corrupt military outpost commander in Cordon.
I'd suggest killing him, getting an achievement, reloading and moving on.


Terminator
Threaded SPSA-14 is yours. To scare and protect!

This shotgun can be found on a bandit named Poker. General Voronin of Duty will give a quest to kill this stalker at some point. However, I found Poker early at the Agroprom Underground while looking for the Storming Obokan. It should be noted he will never be there on the first visit at the Underground, he only spawns after you have killed Borov at Dark Valley. If you take the quest from Voronin he will be marked on the PDA, he usually goes to the Agroprom Underground or Wild Territory. Once you kill him simply pick up the shotgun.
Do note if you kill him before being assigned the quest it will never be assigned to you and you cannot claim the rewards from it.

No Loner stands alone
Do not allow bandits to defeat Bes and his men.

This is story-related quest. At some point in Cordon you are tasked with going to Garbage and talk to Bes. He will ask you for help defending depot. Save the game and help them fend off a few bandits. Bes has to survive for this to count. If you fail the task, reload. Easy enough if you focus on Bandits.
Bes then will send you to Train Depot where you need to defend it also. No achievement there though.


Explore and protect

As a preface, DO NOT JOIN FREEDOM BEFORE STARTING THIS, if you do all the ecologists will be hostile towards you and you cannot complete this questline. I would hold off on joining them until after you complete Lab X-16 as you don't need the ecologists for anything after that.
As you go through the Wild Territory, you will notice bickering between the Mercenary leader and Professor Kruglov. When you get to the trainyard a cutscene will play with Kruglov asking you to help him. Kill the mercenaries on your way to Kruglov and he will then ask you to escort him to the mobile lab in Yantar. You will be attacked by more mercs on your way, just make sure they do not kill him. I would save often just in case he gets killed so you don't lose much time. The escort quest will end after the underpass full of burner anomalies and he will make his way to Yantar. You should also head to the mobile lab in Yantar to get the next story quest involving Kruglov, as he must also be kept alive for this quest.
This next quest also involves you escorting Kruglov, but now the enemies are zombies and sometimes some snorks. Kruglov will stop at two points to take readings, and right after or during the second reading make a save. There will be a blowout soon where you and Kruglov will be unconscious for a little bit, and there is a chance a zombie will kill Kruglov while you are still waking up. If this happens just reload the save and try to make sure there are absolutely no zombies (and sometimes snorks) that can kill him in the area with the broken bus. After you wake up, talk to Kruglov to get him up and he will take the same path back to the lab. When he is inside he cannot be killed and the achievement should pop.
Some other bugs to be aware of according to the wiki:
- Sometimes Kruglov will not follow the player and behave like a regular NPC, this might be caused by saving before he asks you to save him, so don't save before you fight the mercenaries, otherwise you might need to reload the autosave for entering the Wild Territory. It should be safe to save after you have started escorting him.
- Sometimes a pack of snorks spawns at the burner tunnel entrance, and can overwhelm Kruglov.
- When Kruglov gets to the other side of the burner tunnel he will stand still sometimes, this can be prevented by killing the zombies in the tunnel before he passes through it.
This questline can be a little tricky, but with some persistence and some beforehand knowledge of the bugs you can get through it. Good hunting, stalker.


Lab Rat

This achievement is tied to the "Explore and Protect" achievement. That being about protecting Professor Kruglov from the bandits in the Wild Territory, and escorting him to Yantar into the Echologist base without him dying.
While looking for Lab X-16 you will head back to Yantar and Professor Sakharov will ask for you to accompany Professor Kruglov while he measures the radiation near Yantar, Save constantly as he will stop multiple times and really can't fight Zombies or Snorks worth a damn and if he dies you cant get the "Explore and Protect" achievement. Finally, he will take a reading right next to a bus and a blowout will happen (remember your saves as sometimes a zombie will kill him while you're waking up, just after the blowout). He'll head back to the Echologist's base and give you "Explore and Protect", but after talking to Sakharov until he gives you an item called the "Functional Psi-Helmet" and you will get the Lab Rat achievement.



A decent start

Just nort-east from Rookie Village is a trailer with some concrete structures around (you'll pass this location on your way to the first mission objective given by Wolf). Tolik is right there, you really can't miss his moaning. He's bleeding out and you'll need to give him first aid kit. One is conveniently lying right next to his dead friend. Pick it up, if you don't have one, and give it to him. The achievement will unlock and you'll get a new friend amongst Stalkers.



Headhunter

In Agroprom Research Institute in NW corner is a bog. When you approach it beware of high radiation and make a save. What also happens is you'll hear lamenting.
When you go deeper into the bog you'll see a train cart. Inside is a friendly Military. The soldier is a deserter from the faction. Finding him will reward you with the achievement.
There should be some artifacts around, but otherwise you'll get nothing out of there so you might as well reload.


Gladiator

The Arena can be found in The Bar area north of The Garbage, which becomes available after progressing through the Agroprom Research Institute part of the main storyline. The entrance is in the middle of the area just below and to the left of the sign that looks like it reads "APEHA".
You must talk to the guy in this room to start each fight. Upon entering a fight, all the player's gear will be removed from their inventory and placed in a chest to the right of the guy who you talk to to start the fights. Any life you lost will also still be missing when you finish a fight so it is recommended to heal up in between.
There are 8 rounds that need to be completed, each of which will force the player to use specific gear:
- Round One -
Required Rank: Rookie
Gear: PMm Pistol
Opponent: Rookie Stalker with the same weapon.
- Round Two -
Required Rank: Rookie
Gear: Viper 5 SMG
Opponent: Stalker with the same weapon.
- Round Three -
Required Rank: Rookie
Gear: Sawed-Off Shotgun
Opponents: Two Stalkers with the same weapon.
- Round Four -
Required Rank: Experienced
Gear: Akm 74 Rifle, Two Bandages
Teammates: Two Stalkers - one with a shotgun and one with a rifle.
Opponents: Three Stalkers - Two with the same rifle and one with the SPSA14 Shotgun.
- Round Five -
Required Rank: Experienced
Gear: Wind of Freedom Suit, Obokan Rifle, One Medkit, One Bandage
Opponents: Two Military Soldiers with assault rifles
- Round Six -
Required Rank: Experienced
Gear: Berill-5M Armored Suit, Tunder S14 Rifle, one Grenade
Opponents: Six bandits with either shotguns or SMGs
- Round Seven -
Required Rank: Veteran
Gear: Four Grenades, One Bandage
Opponent: Veteran Stalker with an exoskeleton and an FT-200M assault rifle.
- Round Eight -
Required Rank: Veteran
Gear: Exoskeleton, GP37 Rifle
Opponents: Four Stalkers with exoskeletons and assault rifles. (This match is a free-for-all.)


Law and Order

When you first enter the Garbage, follow the road and you will witness three guys in black coats with hoods holding up a stalker in a white jacket named Yurik. Kill the bandits and make sure Yurik lives, if he dies simply reload the autosave. The achievement will pop when the bandits are dead.

Chornobyl safari
Kill each mutant at least once.

List of mutants you have to kill and the earliest you can find them:
- Blind Dog (Cordon, near Tolik and around the area in general)
- Boar (Cordon, near Tolik or on the right side of the rail bridge, before or after passing it)
- Pseudodog (Cordon, east of the factory you have to clear of bandits, also spawns as you approach the Bar/Duty base)
- Flesh (Cordon, after passing the rail bridge, in the farm on the left)
- Bloodsucker (Agroprom Underground, shortly before you reach Strelok's stash, in an open area after going down the spiral stairs and following the anomaly-infested corridor)
- Controller (at the very end of Agroprom Underground, just as you're about to go back to the surface; alternatively, there is one in X-16 which you are pretty much required to kill)
- Pseudogiant (X-18, while looking for the code for the second door, also in the sewers as you leave X-16)
- Poltergeist/Pyrogeist (X-18; you have to kill a Pyrogeist for the story to progress anyway)
- Snork (Yantar, near a swamp or while approaching X-16)
- Rodent (The Wild Territory, underpass near the crashed helicopter where you save Professor Kruglov, upon coming back from Yantar with the documents from X-16)
You can easily find most of those mutants later on too as you play the game. Only missable here are Rodents I think. The last I saw them was around the exit of the Pripyat stadium.


Killer
Kill 500 stalkers.

This is cumulative across the whole gameplay, so you should get it on your first playthrough. I unlocked it somewhere in the Red Forest, though I was doing some sidequests together with the main quests, but even if you skip those you would unlock it either in Pripyat or in the Sarcophagus.


Hunting season
Kill 250 mutants.

Can be done very quickly but you need to advance to the point in the story where you exit X-16 and have to return to the Barkeep. On your way back in the Wild Territory, hug the left where you originally found Kruglov (escort to Yantar mission) and you will be rushed by rodents for the first time and there will be 10-20 of along with possibly other mutants as well. I gathered them up, hid in a corner and saved my game. Killed them all, got 8% each time, then reloaded my save. The rodents are small so doesnt take much ammo either.

The Man cave
You found Strelok's stash, the search continues.

This is a story-related achievement for basically getting into Strelok's hideout in Agroprom Underground.
Path to get there:
Cordon -> Garbage -> Agroprom Research Institute -> Agroprom Underground.
What you want to keep in mind is that this place (Agroprom Underground) is infested with Bandits and Military so be sure you have at least couple hundred rounds of automatic ammo or a few dozens of shotgun shells. Save often.
There is also and invisible mutant there - Bloodsucker. 2 mags of 9mm ammo from MP5 were enough to kill it. It's found after green acid pools you'll encounter on your way to the objective. It can be seen. It has Crysis-like shimmer on it's model.


The Door Vinci Code
No doors can stand between you and your goal. Even ones that lead nowhere.

This achievement is for gaining access to a small, keypad-locked room in the "Red Forest" region.
You'll pass through the region, and by the door in particular, on your way to the main mission "Turn off the Brain Scorcher" in the north of the Red Forest.
From the road, you should see a balcony on the end of the raised platform, that's where this door and keypad are. The only way up is by ladder, just underneath the platform between the fences. There are gaps in the fence to get there, highlighted below.
Climb the ladder at the end, enter 1287975 into the keypad and you'll gain access to a wealth of medkits (3) and this achievement.



Hiker
Tourist suit is yours. Now you can go for a walk and enjoy nearby anomalies.

Unlocked as a reward for giving Sidorovich the Night Star artifact. It's the last artifact you have to deliver to him (Jellyfish, Stone Flower, Meat Chunk, Night Star). Only available after going back from X-18 and showing documents to Sid.
The Night Star can be easily acquired from a quest given by Baldy in the Bar that requires you to kill some stalker in the Army Warehouses. However, remember to keep it until you can do the "Party on the beach" achievement.


The smile of Martha
Find the beautiful Martha.

So... Martha is a gun. Not a unique one, just a special one. Apparently it was supposed to be cut, that's why it not finished in full.
When you enter Dark Valley for the first time you'll be tasked by Bullet to help rescue Captive Dutyer. He will lead you about 200-300 meters forward and you'll prepare an ambush. SAVE (just in case).
When you are done with the ambush and Captive Dutyer is safe, kill him (and Bullet). He has the gun on him. Keep in mind that he needs to be rescued. After greeting bullet he will pull out his weapon and put it away. That's the sign that you are good to go.
Now either reload or keep playing. Martha is the best 9x19 handgun in the game, so there's that.


Garland
Fill all 5 slots with artifacts.

Easy enough, you will find these in the zone and in a lot of places (any types of artifacts are fine. It does not have to be different ones).Just remember to actually equip them instead of just having them in your inventory.

I'm done with drinking for good
You have drunk 25 bottles of Cossacks. Hope the time was well-spent.

Save the game, drink all you have, reload and repeat till the achievement is yours.



Bread-expert
You have eaten 25 breads.

As with the achievement for selling dog tails, you can reload your save after eating bread until this pops. You get a lot of bread right at the start of the game.


Boltman
Die from 5 different anomalies.

Ok first things to know there are only 5 different anomalies in this game.
I will list each one of them by order that you encounter them in the main storyline.
Be aware that they are basically unmissable if you play through the main story.
1. Force anomaly seen at the start of the game
2. Whirlwind anomaly those who create a vortex if you trigger it common in the GARBAGE AREA
3. Electro anomaly in the first sewer area where you have to meet Mole
4. Fire anomaly if you have to go to the yantar area before you enter yantar you need to pass a tunnel there are plenty fire anomalies.
5. Acid anomaly if you have to get the X16 documents in yantar it is a main quest its everywhere in the lab.


The last mammoth in the Zone
Only for 800?

After completing the story mission in the Dark Valley, to the right of the point of transition to the Cordon, there will be a farm, go there, one of the NPCs will offer to buy a weapon from him for 800SR, agree to it.


Your dogstiny
You have sold 20 dog tails.

This achievement is cumulative.
You can sell 10, then reload your save and sell the same 10 tails.


Maximum endurance
Equip all endurance artifacts.

Those artifacts are: Moonlight, Flash and Sparkler. You'll need to get all of them and equip them.


Party on the beach
Equip all beach-themed artifacts. And do not forget the lights!

!THIS IS MISSABLE ACHIEVEMENT!
To get this achievement, first we need to get five artifacts:
- jellyfish - very common artifact, propably you will find it in the first location;
- goldfish - you can get this one just right before you enter to X16 in Yantar (in the building, where is the entry to the lab), instead of going down the stairs to the lab, keep going up until you see the ruined stairs and the artifact on them;
- sparkler - probably you get this one in the Wild Territory. There are a lot of electro anomalies, and it will spawn near them, on the rail track or in the electro tunnel (near kruglov's location);
- urchin - i got this one by completing mission "destroy the neutral stalker" given to me by Lukash in the Army Warehouse;
- night star - this one i got by completing mission "kill the traitor" given me by Baldy (he is in the Bar 100 rads);
Once you have collected all of them, you simply need to place them in the slots.

Sentry
This village gave you shelter, and you have not forgotten this.

At some point when you return to Rookie Village Wolf (the guy who gave you your first mission) will be relaced with Fanatic. Fanatic will task you with eliminating Mercenary forces (6) camping where Tolik was - just NE from the Village. When you dispose of them, return to Fanatic and you'll get your achievement.
A good point to do it is just after X-18 excursion. Sidorovich will lead you out of Dark Valley and ask you to come by and show him the documents. If you are already in the Village, why not help them?


The worst stalker in the Zone
The Zone has no place for empathy. Tolik has learned it the hard way.

Near the beginning of the game, you will follow the road out of the rookie village, turning left at the fork, and you will eventually come across a train car with a yellow dot on the map, this is Tolik. Simply kill him after you talk to him to get the achievement.