The game takes place in the Zone of Exclusion (known simply as the Zone) around the infamous Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, a 'Man-Made Hell' following the nuclear accident that originally created the Zone, as well as a mysterious second explosion in 2006 which resulted in the creation of bizarre, seemingly impossible space-time anomalies and homicidal mutants.
] ->'''You are approaching the military secured border of an ecological disaster zone.''' S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is a WideOpenSandbox FirstPersonShooter loosely based on the Russian novel ''Literature/RoadsidePicnic'', as well as the visually stunning Russian film ''Film/'' by Andrei Tarkovsky, which was based on the novel.
