With nearly a decade and a half on the clock between S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl and the last entry in the series, Call of Pripyat, everyone can be forgiven if they cannot remember the key story details from those previous games. Just in time then is this handy primer, aiming to fill in whatever narrative blanks you may have between the last entry in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series and its upcoming instalment. Although GSC has made a point to say that no prior knowledge of the series is needed, why not join us as we dive into the series’ irritated history.
NOTE: The following contains major spoilers for the entire S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series to date. Although we don’t know exactly how S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 will fit into the canon, if you haven’t completed the original trilogy and plan to, we recommend bookmarking this and coming back later!
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
Taking place in the year 2012, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl depicts an alternate reality where a second nuclear disaster occurred six years prior, resulting in many of the inhabitants of Chernobyl, known as ‘The Zone’, being mutated or outright killed by the catastrophe. Emerging from this hellish scenario are Stalkers, a rugged sort of scavenger that roam across The Zone in search of treasures and abandoned artefacts. Players are cast as the Marked One, a Stalker who has a mysterious S.T.A.L.K.E.R tattoo on his left forearm (hence the name).
With no memory of his past, and trapped in a convoy carrying several unconscious and dead Stalkers, our protagonist is soon brought to Sidorovich, a seasoned Stalker who discovers a PDA on the Marked One with a simple message – kill an individual named ‘Strelok’. After Sidorovich awakens the Marked One, he is tasked with rescuing a fellow Stalker called Nimble who is being held captive by a conclave of savage bandits.
After liberating Nimble, it is soon revealed that Strelok and his followers were the first group of Stalkers to reach the centre of the Zone, where the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is located and more pressingly, a mythical artefact called the Wish Granter that will give whoever finds it whatever they desire in life. Naturally, the Marked One is tasked with tracking down Strelok and so his true odyssey begins in earnest.
After working with other local Stalkers, the Marked One reaches an especially irradiated area called Agroprom. After exploring this area – including the Agroprom Research Institute – our protagonist discovers the location of a now-abandoned laboratory called Lab X-18. This, as it turns out, was the location where the aptly named ‘Brain Sorcher’ was developed, a terrifying device that uses Psi-emissions to turn humans into zombies. As if that wasn’t enough, it turns out there is another lab, Lab X-16, located under a factory in Yantar.
After obtaining a Psi-helmet which protects against these deadly Psi-emissions, the Marked One raids Lab X-16 whereupon he is given a vision of Strelok, which sets him on a path to the Agropom Underground in search of him. After being rescued following a near-death experience, it is revealed that the Marked One is actually Strelok himself and that the Wish Granter is a trap to lure people towards emitters like the Brain Scorcher.
After pushing through The Zone and the various fanatical stalker factions that worship the Wish Granter, Strelok arrives at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant only to find himself embroiled in a three-way battle between the army remnants and a special forces operation known as ‘Monolith’. Once the battle has concluded, Strelok discovers a massive terminal housing an intelligent entity known as the ‘Common Consciousness’ that tells Strelok everything about who he was before his amnesia kicked in and the history of the Zone.
After the Common Consciousness provides answers to all of Strelok’s queries, he offers the player a choice – stop the Common Consciousness from performing its experiments (such as the creation of the Brain Scorcher) on the denizens of the Zone, or, merge with it in order to maintain its existence. In the canon ending, Strelok kills the scientists who provide the Common Consciousness with its power and leaves the facility. Later, Strelok can be seen in a verdant environment filled with all manner of flora and fauna, as he falls asleep, wondering if the choice he made was the correct one.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
A prequel that unfolds several years before the events of Shadow of Chernobyl – and recounting the events that lead to that game’s starting point – S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky focuses on Scar, a mercenary with unusual genetic gifts thanks to the emissions of The Zone. After joining the Clear Sky faction, Scar is commanded by its leader, Lebedev, to stop a mysterious group from reaching the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and uncovering the secrets that are held within.
Believing that if the group is successful calamity will be brought to the world at large, Scar pursues the group to Yantar, whereupon he understands that a member of the group, Strelok, has obtained a special helmet which prevents him from being damaged by the emissions from the Brain Scorcher. After nearly catching Strelok, Scar battles through the newly activated Monolith forces that have arrived at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant as part of a three-way skirmish that also involves Strelok.
After the power plant releases an emission which disables everybody both in and around its perimeter, Scar’s fate is left unknown, while the ending shows a newly brainwashed Strelok accepting his new identity as the Marked One.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
Kicking off after the events of Shadow of Chernobyl, S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call of Pripyat pulls the veil back on the Zone as a massive number of Stalkers make their way to its centre in a bid to find whatever treasures and artefacts that they can. To capitalise on this, the Ukrainian government commences ‘Operation Fairway’, a broad helicopter recon mission, laying the groundwork ahead of a full-scale attack on the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. However, because nobody can have nice things in the Zone, all of the helicopters involved in the operation crash. The player, cast as Major Alexander Degtyarev, is dispatched into the Zone to investigate the crash sites to ascertain what happened.
After confirming that the helicopters were shocked out of the sky with bursts of electricity, Degtyarev realises that a number of the survivors from the various helicopter crashes have made their way to an evacuation zone deep within the seemingly sealed-off city of Pripyat. You set off in pursuit, hoping to find them alive and learn more about the events.
Sometime after arriving at Pripyat, however, Degtyarev encounters Strelok who explains in detail the secrets which lay at the heart of the Zone. Soon enough, Strelok, Degtyarev and other survivors that have joined the pair in Pripyat find themselves under attack by an overwhelming host of enemies. Though Call of Pripyat has multiple endings for each of its characters, they all allude to the fact that the Zone is actually expanding in size and could eventually reach beyond the borders of Ukraine and envelop Europe.
So whether that was a nice trip down memory lane or you simply needed a lore dump before jumping into the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe for the first time, you are now primed to venture into the Zone. The only thing you need now is a copy of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl and thankfully, you can grab one of them over on the Green Man Gaming store right now!
