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STALKER is a series of video games set in an alternate reality inside the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone. According to the game lore, on April 12, 2006 a second explosion at the Chernobyl plant unleashed anomalies, mysterious items, and monsters near the station. These events defy known physics and the laws of evolution, reshaping the zone into a dangerous frontier for explorers and scientists alike.
The STALKER series comprises three main games titled Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear Sky, and Call of Pripyat. The Ukrainian studio GSC Game World is responsible for creating each installment. A follow up to STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl was anticipated for release in 2023, expanding the evolving lore and setting.
In early March a public discussion on VKontakte led by administrators nick frost and daniil nexus, known to fans as part of Stalker’s Bulletin, claimed access to an archive of roughly 30 volumes detailing STALKER 2 development. A faction of enthusiasts pressed the studio to apologize to players in Russia and Belarus and to add Russian localization. When the studio refused, the archive material began to surface online, with supporters tweeting and sharing screenshots and documents from the leaked files.
summary without spoilers
The leaked materials reveal numerous concept drawings, sketches, and plot outlines that may shift by the time STALKER 2 is released. Still, attention centers on the key characters. Like the original game, STALKER 2 centers on Strelok, also known as Bullseye. In this new chapter, Strelok appears less as a hero and more as a potential antagonist, signaling a darker arc for the familiar figure.
The initial gameplay trailer for STALKER 2, labeled Alien in the credits, identifies the character as Strelok in a transformed form. His dialogue hints at a living Realm, suggesting that he has become unhinged and deeply entangled with the Zone’s strange forces.
The leaked material also introduces a new protagonist named Skiff, a follower whose biography remains open as he enters the STALKER universe. Skiff sets out to safeguard the Zone, uncover the mystery of the Heart of Chernobyl, and recruit scientists from the Chernobyl Anomalous Zone Research Institute, known for their grand ambitions and questionable methods. NIICHAZ is depicted as both a critical driver of the plot and a potential source of danger, depending on the choices players make.
attractions
The leakage includes a detailed STALKER 2 world map showing the possible return of many locations from Shadow of Chernobyl. Players will revisit checkpoints such as the Zone entrance known as the Cord, the expansive Zaton plains, the Garbage area with abandoned vehicles, the Yantar factory, the city of Pripyat, and the large Yanov railway station. Some sites shift in position, while new territories appear in old places, including a rural area called Small Zone where Skiff begins his journey.
New locations appear alongside familiar ones. Cooling Towers, Korogod, a Cement Factory, and the Burnt Forest, where fires burn constantly due to anomalies, are highlighted. The map also marks Limansk, Cold Island, and Sandy Forest, slated for addition through a paid expansion called The Secret of Limansk after the main release.
The Needle stands out as a major landmark. It resembles the Generators from Shadow of Chernobyl and consists of an antenna surrounded by nine metallic spheres that create intense energy. The surface hints at deeper layers, with the ground serving as an entry point to a more intricate structure. The bottom of the Needle conceals the proto-anomaly Heart of Chernobyl, the supposed power source driving the Zone’s anomalies, mutants, and artifacts. Energy from the proto-anomaly travels through the generators and disperses across the region during emissions. Each of the five generators channels a different energy type—gravitational, thermal, chemical, spatial, and electrical—with a sixth, psionic, suggesting a disturbance linked to the antenna itself.
factions
The STALKER 2 world is rich with factions, with design documents listing as many as sixteen groups. Among them are the Warta police, Monolith supporters, groups called Law, Lunch, Flame, and several others, each described with a distinct role and temperament. These factions influence encounters, quests, and the balance of power within the Zone.
Monolith, for instance, can sway minds, while Zakon competes in ammunition supply. There are simply Scientists who aid everyone, and an Iskra faction that represents scientists with a specific mission. The Flame faction is portrayed as a group of assassins living underground, adding a tense dynamic to factional rivalries.
story spoiler
The leaked footage provides several scenario outlines that illuminate the main plot. Readers should proceed with caution as spoilers follow. The game opens with an anomaly illustrated as an energy funnel, described in voiceover as something that can drain a person like a sink does water. The scene shifts to a nap during which Skiff enters the Little Zone and awakens after a truck abrupt stop, suggesting the prologue may be a dream rather than reality.
Skiff possesses an artifact resembling the Wishmaster, a powerful relic from the Realm that can supposedly grant wishes. The artifact seems nonfunctional, presenting a challenge for the hero. Scientists from NIICHAZ are sought to reenergize the artifact using Zone energy, offering a path to recovery and truth.
In the Smaller Zone, Skiff is tasked with placing scanners across multiple locations to understand why artifacts leak into the outer world. Throughout the journey, he encounters various factions and makes choices that shape alliances and the tone of the plot. A scientist named Dalin appears, claiming the Wishmaster artifact is actually the Heart of Chernobyl. Dalin recruits Skiff to collect data from scanners at the X-11 base lab. The recovered core reveals a charged Heart of Chernobyl, prompting moral and strategic conflict between Skiff and Dalin.
Skiff confronts the reality that the Wishmaster does not grant dreams but distorts the mind with illusions. He resists and escapes, ultimately crossing paths with Strelok, the Shadow of Chernobyl protagonist. A psi-assisted sequence pushes Skiff toward a mission to locate and eliminate the scientist Kaimanov, who is tied to the Doctor persona from the first game. The Doctor previously helped Strelok by removing the Heart of Chernobyl from the Zone, a decision that now threatens the realm within Skiff’s hands.
Guided by Strelok, Skiff travels to the site beneath the Needle to restore balance by returning the Heart to the proto-anomaly. The journey culminates with a balance of power in the Zone, and Skiff accompanies Strelok on the mission to finish the task. Under the Needle, the team discovers O-Consciousness, eight hibernation capsules that fuse minds with the noosphere, creating the first anomaly before the second explosion at the Chernobyl plant. Returning the Heart completes the cycle, and Skiff integrates with the noosphere to safeguard the Realm, becoming a local legend.
There are alternate endings as well. In one, Skiff ends up in one of the noosphere capsules and awakens in a familiar home, hinting that reality has shifted into a dream. In another ending, a character who accompanies Skiff to the Needle questions the plausibility of events, becoming a catalyst for a harsh experimental outcome. A final possibility has Skiff erasing the Heart of Chernobyl and dissolving the Zone itself, reshaping the entire landscape of the STALKER universe.