In the older unpatched versions of the game, a controller always spawns in the bloodsucker village, each time the player enters the Army Warehouses area.

One can also be found in the Bloodsucker village in Army Warehouses (in the later stages of the game).

A Controller can be found in the Agroprom Underground, the first time you are there and will remain there if not killed.

The controller will kill the player once their mental strength is depleted no matter how much health the player has. Additionally, a controller's psy field in SoC is noticeably noisier compared to later games, thus, along with the in-game mental degradation, the player may find himself slowly being mentally fatigued by the unending noisy static, the longer they remain under its influence. Getting hit with a psychic bolt will deplete about 1/4 of the player's mental strength while simply being under the influence of its psy field will slowly sap it. And because telepathy-protection did not exist in Shadow of Chernobyl, there is no real way to defend against or dampen a controller's mental assault, save for ducking behind cover. Unlike health, the player cannot quickly recover mental strength through drugs, they must stay away from a controller until their mental strength recovers again. The level of the player's remaining mental strength can be viewed in the inventory screen, located between the health bar and rad counter, but a brain-shaped icon will appear on screen, once their mental strength is sufficiently lowered. In Shadow of Chernobyl, Controllers did not damage the player's health with their abilities, but the player's mental strength, which functions similar to health. It also gains a powerful melee attack and can turn certain NPCs against the player.ДЄ Controller being viewed while under the prolonged effects of its psy field Appearances Shadow of Chernobyl In Call of Pripyat, a Controller demonstrates the ability to communicate with the player through the mind. In Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat, one can reduce the potency of the Controller's Psy attacks by using telepathy protection artifacts like the Moonlight and Stone Flower. As a last resource, the player can also attempt to kill the Controller with a melee weapon such as the Knife - this is exceptionally effective in Shadow of Chernobyl, as the Controller will start waddlingВ away without counter-attacking when at meleeВ ranges. The best way of doing this by taking them out at extreme range using sniper rifles, where they cannot retaliate, near cover where you can avoid their psychic bolts, or bluntly just using explosives, a controller will die from a nearby hit with an RPG-7u or 2-3 direct hits with a grenade launcher/hand grenades. In general, Controllers are extremely dangerous and should be eliminated as soon as possible due to their abilities that can cause instant death.

This is especially common in Shadow of Chernobyl where there is no way to reduce psionic damage through armor or use of artifacts. On the 'Master' difficulty level, the Controller is extremely dangerous as its bolts have a chance of killing the player in one shot. For some reason, if the player gets too close to the Controller, it will cease to launch bolts and uselessly try to walk away from him, which is the greatest opportunity of attack. There is a high-pitched audio cue before the psychic attack actually happens and avoiding visual contact with the Controller can prevent that from happening.ДЄ player may die if struck by a sufficient number of bolts or if they stay around the Controller for too long. In addition, Controllers seem to generate a small psy-field that affects the player's ability to aim and causes anyone close by to slowly lose their mind. The Controller's main ability is to launch a psychic bolt that dealsВ high telepathy/psionic-based damage to the player from a great distance. Fortunately, this is never done by a Controller to the player. According to some stalkers, Controllers can make it seem that you are surrounded by your friends, but actually you are surrounded by zombies or it might seem that you are walking on a pathway, but actually you are about to fall off a cliff. This is a formidable enemy, even the most experienced stalkers are afraid of meeting it. Mature specimens are capable of taking control of a human's mind.

Despite their appearance, they are highly intelligent, possess good perception and the ability to control the behavior of less developed creatures. A rare mutant seen near to the center of the Zone, it bears a superficial resemblance to a humanoid with a disproportionately large head. The secret service's genetic experiments on criminals generated a new type of mutant.

Call of chernobyl difficulty