BeforeSTALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl, theSTALKERseries spanned just three years, lasting from 2007 to 2009. But in those three years, three separateSTALKERentries were released.STALKER: Shadow of Chernobylwas the groundbreaking first foray into the Zone,STALKER: Clear Skywas a prequel, andSTALKER: Call of Pripyatwas a sequel set just weeks after the first game.
Along with a sprawling main narrative, eachSTALKERentry was filled with intricate lore tidbits that helped to flesh out the history of the Zone and its inhabitants. Though it’s set quite a while later,STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobylcarries forward much of the same lore and even brings back a handful of old protagonists and antagonists. And before players get too deep intoSTALKER 2’s main story, they should know a little bit about who Scar is, and what the Clear Sky faction was.
The Lore of STALKER’s Scar and Clear Sky Faction Explained
The Formation of Clear Sky
Shortly followingthe Chornobyl Disaster in 1986, a band of Soviet Union scientists set up a series of hidden laboratories throughout the Exclusion Zone surrounding the destroyed nuclear power plant. These scientists spent the next two decades experimenting with the Noosphere, an imperceptible energy field that supposedly surrounds the Earth and influences humanity’s rationale and emotional state.
In 2006, these experiments with the Noosphere causeda second Chornobyl Disaster, resulting in a rift being torn between the Noosphere and the Biosphere. This rift caused physics-defying Anomalies to appear throughout the Zone. The group of scientists responsible for creating this rift were divided on how they should handle the situation. While one group wanted to study the rift and harness its power, the other wanted to try and contain the rift or close it for good.
The latter group left the Chornobyl testing site and ventured into the Zone’s Great Swamps. Here, this ragtag group formed the Clear Sky faction, who sought to studythe Zone’s Anomaliesand find a way to stop the deadly Emissions that would emanate from the rift.
Clear Sky’s Recruitment of The Mercenary Scar
Some time later, a mercenary named Scar was hired to escort a group of Ecologists through the Great Swamps. Along the way, a huge Emission blows across the Zone, killingthe Ecologistsand knocking out Scar. Scar is rescued by a Clear Sky soldier named Nimble, who takes him back to the Clear Sky base. Here, Scar meets the Clear Sky leader, Lebedev.
Lebedev informs Scar that his body has had an intriguing reaction to the Emission. While it temporarily strengthened him, another Emission would likely cause instant death. Lebedev then hires Scar to clear the Great Swamps of the Renegades that have begun to invade it since the Emission.
Scar’s Hunt for Strelok
After clearing the Great Swamps of Renegades for Clear Sky, Scar is told that the Emissions are believed to have been caused by a group of Stalkers who somehow found a way into the center of the Zone. Scar is tasked with hunting down this group of Stalkers, who he soon learns are led by a man named Strelok.
Strelok is the playable protagonist of the firstSTALKERgame.STALKER: Clear Sky’s ending leads directly intoShadow of Chernobyl.
Scar hunts Strelok across the Zone, eventually encountering him in the Red Forest. Strelok manages to escape, however, and Scar continues to hunt him to the center of the Zone. After capturing Limansk with the rest of Clear Sky, Scar gains access to the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, where he finally manages to confront and incapacitate Strelok.
But as Scar stands above his target, another Emission surges from the power plant. While Strelok is captured bythe Monolith faction, Scar is presumably killed by the blast, and virtually the entirety of Clear Sky’s ranks are either wiped out or brainwashed into joining Monolith.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Chornobyl Exclusion Zone has changed dramatically after the second massive explosion in year 2006. Violent mutants, deadly anomalies, warring factions have made the Zone a very tough place to survive. Nevertheless, artifacts of unbelievable value attracted many people called S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s, who entered the Zone for their own risk striving to make a fortune out of it or even to find the Truth concealed in the Heart of Chornobyl.EPIC NONLINEAR STORY IN SEAMLESS OPEN WORLDTake over a role of the lone stalker and explore photorealistic seamless open world in a 64-km² radioactive zone with a variety of environments that reveal post-apocalyptic atmosphere from different angles. Make your way through the Zone to define your destiny as you choose your paths within highly branching epic story.VARIETY OF ENEMIES AND HUNDREDS OF WEAPON COMBINATIONSMeet members of different factions deciding who of them worth your friendship and who deserve a bullet. Engage intense gunfights with a variety of enemies that follow different tactics trying to outsmart you. Choose your preferable firearms from 30+ types of weapons with numerous modifications that allow creating hundreds of distinctive lethal combinations.
