Chernobyl’s Dark Secrets: The Story Of The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Series So Far

 

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.