Quick Links
It has been a few years since the last installment of the Stalker series, butStalker 2: Heart Of Chornobylhas arrived with new challenges to thrust you into and a new story in The Zone for you to survive. While there are many questions surrounding the lore of the game, it might be a good idea to start off with the basics.
New players and old ones alike will come to the inevitable question when entering into the world of the Stalker series: what is The Zone? Mysterious, deadly, it’s a lawless place where only the toughest survive, but what is this enigmatic place, and why is it so important?
Where Is The Zone?
The Zone is the area directly around Pripyat, Ukraine in thecentral northern part of the country near the border of Belarus. It extends around 40 miles around the town, although not in a perfect circle.
The area is marked by thevarious high-walls and military installationsthat aim to keep intrepid adventurers out, and the horrors that call it home.
What Is The Zone?
The Zone is thefictionalized version of the real-life Chernobyl exclusion zone(spelled Chornobyl in the game) that sprung up after the nuclear contamination event in 1986.
It’s made even moredeadly in the game by thevarious supernatural or pseudo-scientific creatures and anomaliesthat call it home.
The area wasn’t only a place for researching nuclear energy,but also for experimenting on the human psyche, atmosphere, and other fringe scientific pursuits.These scientists continued their studies after 1986 and the dissolving of the USSR, causing a resurgence in the initial energies in 2006.
These ‘emissions’ happen from time to time now in the zone, causing damage to the area, odd weather patterns, and who knows what else.
In older games, The Zone is the shorthand colloquialism for The Zone of Alienation.
Why Do People Enter The Zone?
Everyone who chooses to enter The Zone of their own volition do so with a purpose of their own. Some are thevarious Ukrainian military forces whose goal is to maintain the ‘safety’ of The Zoneand monitor it for any changes.
The bulk of the humans in The Zone are thosereferred to as Stalkers.They often enter the area tohunt for valuables, weapons, scientific equipment, or everyday valuablesleft by the government and people of Pripyat and the surrounding area following the evacuation.
Some of the first Stalkers were actually employed by the USSR government to explore and map out The Zone’s dangers.
Some, though, are more adventurous, andseek to harness the peculiar energies that suffuse the area. Top dollar can be made by selling theartifacts that are filled with energyfrom The Zone to various government agencies and black markets across the globe.
Of the Stalkers,various factions have coalesced, each with their own goals, weaponry, and history in The Zone. Some want nothing more than to help those that enter the area, while others will attack anyone on sight, with the goal of scavenging their gear.
Why Is The Zone Dangerous?
The event changed the area surrounding Pripyat in two ways. The first of which is the more obvious:the gamma radiationthat can still be seen by those who enter the zone to hunt for valuables.
In some areas,this radiation is more severe than others, which has ultimately resulted in variousmutated versions of animalsinhabiting the area.
These mutants aren’t the only thing that threatens the Stalkers.Anomalies also haunt areasof The Zone.
Some are as simple as odd bubbles that distort visionand can hurt or kill people that enter them.Others are more complex, throwing objects through the air, knocking the victim unconscious, or confusing them.
