Deep Silver has just revealed the release date for the second episode in the STALKER series. STALKER: Clear Sky will be published on August 29th, so fans of the game haven't got long to wait for another survival themed first-person shooter fix.

Clear Sky is actually a prequel which tells the story of events one year prior to the original, Shadow of Chernobyl. Even though the first game was completely open-ended, more freedom is promised with this next title, along with a slew of new zones to get stuck into. It will also be possible to command a faction and lead it to victory.

Apparently the combat AI has been further honed to provide extra challenge for veteran players, and more realistic graphics are promised. Clear Sky is set to use a new version of the game engine complete with DirectX 10 support. Let's hope the August launch isn't plagued with bugs and problems as the original was.