What is the “Heart of Chernobyl”? Analysis of STALKER 2 leak Mystery “Heart of Chernobyl”, Zone map and other details from STALKER 2 leak 17.03.2023, 08:19

background

STALKER is a series of video games set in an alternate universe on the territory of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) Exclusion Zone. According to the plot of the game, on April 12, 2006, there was a second explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, as a result of which anomalies, objects with mystical properties and monsters began to appear in the vicinity of the station. It is against the laws of physics and the principles of evolution.

The STALKER series includes three games with sub-titles “Shadow of Chernobyl”, “Clear Sky” and “Call of Pripyat”. Ukrainian studio GSC Game World is responsible for the creation of each. The sequel to STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is expected to be released in 2023.

At the beginning of March, public administrators Nick Frost and Daniil Nexus at VKontakte, the same Stalker’s Bulletin, announced that they have access to an archive of about 30 volumes containing developments in the game STALKER 2. GB. Enthusiasts threatened GSC Game World to publish the material received, if the developers did not apologize to Russian and Belarusian players and add Russian localization. After the Ukrainian studio refused to fulfill the terms of the ultimatum, the owners of Vestnik, as promised, began publishing the stolen data.

Summary without spoilers

It is worth noting in advance that the leaked files contain a large number of concept drawings, sketches and plot sketches. They are likely to lose their relevance with the release of STALKER 2.

Anyway, the first thing you should pay attention to are the key characters. Just like the original game, STALKER 2’s story will revolve around Strelok, also known as Bullseye. But if Strelok acted as a hero in Shadow of Chernobyl, it looks like he’ll be one of the villains in the new game.

Thanks to the leak, it was learned that the man in the first STALKER 2 gameplay trailer, which the developers signed as “Alien” in the credits, was Strelok, who had changed beyond recognition.

From Strelok’s speech in which he talks about the Realm as a living being, at least it’s clear that the hero has gone mad.

In STALKER 2, it became clear from the trailer that the players will control a follower named Skiff. Skiff is a new character in the STALKER universe without a biography that has officially entered the game world.

However, it became clear from the leak that Skiff needed to save the Zone, solve the mystery of the “Heart of Chernobyl” and recruit scientists from the Chernobyl Anomalous Zone Research Institute (NIICHAZ) who thought they were gods. place.

NIICHAZ is both the most useful and the most dangerous group in STALKER 2, one of the main engines of the game’s plot. Whether the knowledge of scientists will be a creative or destructive force will depend on the actions of the player.

attractions

One of the most informative material leaked is the STALKER 2 world map, where you can learn that many locations from Shadow of Chernobyl will be imported into the sequel. For example, players will be able to revisit the checkpoint at the entrance to the Zone – the “Cord”, the “Zaton” plains, the “Garbage” with the cars of the radioactive liquidators, the Yantar factory, the city of Pripyat and the large Yanov railway station.

Some places will change their location. In their old places, new territories appeared. For example, the “Still Water” field in STALKER 2 will have a rural area called “Small Zone”. Skiff’s adventure starts here.

Of the new locations, you can note the Cooling Towers, Korogod, Cement Factory, and more, as well as a place called the Burnt Forest, where fires are constantly occurring due to an anomaly.

The map also marked the locations of “Limansk”, “Cold Island” and “Sandy Forest”, which the developers plan to add to the game in the form of the paid add-on “The Secret of Limansk”. It is expected to be released after the main game’s release.

It would seem that the most noticeable place will be the Needle. The needle is the center of a cut from Shadow of Chernobyl called the Generators. The “needle” is called an antenna surrounded by nine metal spheres – generators. From the leaked materials, it is understood that the ground part of the place is the tip of the iceberg. The needle goes down nine times.

At the bottom there is a certain proto-anomaly “Heart of Chernobyl”. The game documents indicate that the “Heart” is the power source for all the oddities that occur in the Zone, and are the reason for the appearance of mutants and artifacts.

The energy of the protoanomaly is accumulated in the generators and dispersed throughout the region during emissions (Energy bursts in the center of the region – ed.). Each of the five generators has its own type of energy: gravitational, thermal, chemical, spatial and electrical. There is also a sixth type of energy – psionic. It seems to be messed up by the antenna itself.

factions

There will be many factions in STALKER 2. A design document is circulating on the network showing up to 16 groups. Among them is a group of police forces “Warta”, fans of “Monolith”, some “Law”, “Lunch”, “Flame” and not only. Each has a small explanation.

For example, “Monolith” has the ability to influence people’s minds. In terms of ammunition, they compete with the Zakon group. There are simply “Scientists” who help everyone, and there is an “Iskra” group that includes “scientists with a purpose”. The Flame faction has been described by the developers as “assassins living in the mud”.

story spoiler

The leaked footage contains many scenario sketches that give a clear idea of ​​the main plot of the game.

So beware, the following are strong spoilers for the STALKER 2 game.

The game begins with the demonstration of an anomaly in the form of an energy funnel. The voice-over compares this to what a person sees as they empty the sink. The sound says that the energy funnel absorbs people just like a water funnel sucks the hand when approached to the drain hole. However, unlike a bath, a funnel in the Zone can completely absorb a person.

The surreal scene stops. The player is shown a napping Skiff entering the “Little Zone”. He wakes up from the sudden braking of the truck. Apparently the prologue was Skiff’s dream.

Almost instantly, it was revealed that Skiff possessed an item that resembled the “Wishmaster” piece, a powerful artifact in the center of the Realm, and which, according to follower stories, had the ability to fulfill anyone’s dream. One problem – Skiff artifact is dead and not working.

Skiff learns that it is possible to restore power to a mystical object. To do this, you need to turn to scientists from NIICHAZ, who have learned how to charge the works with the energy of the Zone.

In “The Small Zone”, Skiff is tasked with placing scanners in different locations, which, as stated at the outset, will help to understand why the artifacts are being emptied into the outside world.

During the events, you will have to face different factions and make a few plot decisions. These events are somewhat dependent on the search and placement of crawlers. The decisions made will affect what kind of allies and enemies Skiff will make and how the game will turn out.

Later, Skiff meets a scientist named Dalin. Dalin takes a piece of Wishmaster from the main character and tells him that this artifact is called “The Heart of Chernobyl”. The scientist asks the hero to help him collect data from the inserted scanners.

Skiff collects the scanners and brings them to Dalin at the X-11 base lab. Dalin extracts a core from one of the scanners, which turns out to be the “Heart of Chernobyl” already charged.

Skiff argues with Dalin, but the scientist persuades the follower to take the piece to the Wishmaster at the X-11 lab and see what happens. As the piece approaches the work, Skiff begins to hallucinate. The protagonist realizes that the Wishmaster does not fulfill dreams, but only intoxicates the mind, forcing them to believe in illusions. Skiff resists the artifact’s impact and escapes the X-11 base, blowing it up along the way.

Barely escaping, Skiff meets Strelok, the protagonist of the original Shadow of Chernobyl game.

With the help of a psi setup, Strelok forces Skiff to find and kill the scientist Kaimanov. At this point, it turns out that Kaimanov is already a character in Shadow of Chernobyl that gamers are familiar with under the alias The Doctor. In the first game, the Doctor acts as Strelok’s friend and savior. The shooter explains his reason by having Kaimanov remove the “Heart of Chernobyl” from the Zone, which later turns out to be in Skif, thus putting the mystical place in the Chernobyl region under threat of extinction.

The boat goes to Kaimanov and learns the true purpose of the “Heart of Chernobyl”. It turned out that it should be returned to the proto-anomaly at the bottom of the bunker under the “Needle”, which is also called the “Heart of Chernobyl”. Thus, the player will be able to balance the power balance in the Zone. In the main story, Skiff is sent along with Strelok for this quest.

Under the Needle, the Scouts find O-Consciousness, the eight hibernation capsules, with scientists literally merging their minds, making contact with the noosphere (Earth’s mystical information field, – ed.), and creating the first anomaly even before the second explosion. Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

The boat returns its piece to the true “Heart of Chernobyl” and the shooter merges with the “O-Consciousness”. The realm is saved and Skiff becomes a hero.

There are other endings as well. In one of them, Skiff lies in one of the O-Consciousness capsules. After waking up in the house he lost earlier. It would seem that this is a hallucination in which the protagonist abandons reality in favor. In another case, one of the characters, who goes to “The Needle” with Skiff instead of Strelok, convinces the hero that what is happening is unreal and becomes the subject of a brutal experiment by scientists. Finally, there is an ending where Skiff destroys the “Heart of Chernobyl” and the Zone itself.

The owners of the public “Newsletter of the same Stalker” on VKontakte stole and began to publish a huge archive of data with developments from the developers of the game STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl. The archive includes a map of the game world, description of locations, script fragments and much more. These are tens of thousands of files. Some of socialbites.ca managed to work on their own, some were distributed by representatives of a large fan community. We’re talking about the most interesting findings from the massive STALKER 2 leak.



Source: Gazeta

Popular

More from author

Prices of a fish species increased in Russia 16:04

Wholesale prices for Atlantic herring in Russia have increased by 13-14.5% since the beginning of this year. The newspaper writes about this "Vedomosti"...

Explosions occurred in Odessa 15:58

Explosions occurred in Odessa, Ukraine. This was reported by local publication “Public”. News". At the same time, an air raid alert was issued...

Sretensky Monastery Choir will give a concert in the Rosneft pavilion VDNKh at 14:56

On March 31, the Rosneft pavilion at the Russia exhibition will host the presentation of the Sretensky Monastery Choir's new musical program “Songs of...

US expressed concerns about the pace of modernization of nuclear weapons 16:04

The U.S. Military needs to update its nuclear arsenal to prepare for a possible counterattack from Russia and China. An American magazine reported...