The best open-world games are often home to a large cast of compelling characters, whether they’re the main protagonist, the primary antagonist, an AI companion, or just some simple NPC quest-givers.STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobylis one such game, being home to a sizable cast of surprisingly colorfulheroes, villains, and people just trying to survive against all odds.
Set in the bleak Zone of Alienation that surrounds the destroyed Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant where mutants run rampant and death lurks around every corner, many would expectSTALKER 2: Heart of Chornobylto be filled with solemn characters. While that’s certainly true, there are also plenty of larger-than-life, charismatic figures, and the series' original protagonist, Strelok, is one of theSTALKERfranchise’s most memorable.
The Lore Behind STALKER 2’s Strelok Explained
Strelok’s First Mission Into The Chornobyl Power Plant
A few years after the (fictional) second Chornobyl Disaster in 2006, a band of scavengers entered the Zone surrounding the plant in an attempt to recover valuable, powerful artifacts and sell them for profit. These scavengers were quickly dubbed “S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s,” and Strelok was one of the very first. On one of Strelok’s many ventures into the Zone, he discovered a set of blueprints for an underground network that would lead straight tothe Chornobyl Power Plantat the heart of the Zone.
Normally, humans were unable to get too close to the heart of the Zone due to the Monolith faction’s powerful Brain Scorcher device, which would mind-control anyone who came close and turn them into slaves forMonolith’s leader, the Common Consciousness, a group of seven scientists who linked their minds. With these underground plans, Strelok formed a group and set off to bypass the Brain Scorcher.
Along with fellow Stalkers Fang and Ghost, Strelok made his way to the Chornobyl Power Plant and was one of the few to actually make it there alive. However, the group’s adventure came to an abrupt end when they encountered a locked door with a passcode. The group escaped the plant, but the Common Consciousness released a powerful Emission to stop them.
Strelok was gravely wounded by the Emission, and his teammates barely managed to get him out of the plant. Eventually overwhelmed by Monolith’s forces, Strelok was put onto a Death Truck, a Monolith vehicle designed to cart mind-controlled warriors back into the Zone.
The events ofSTALKER: Clear Skyhappen here, with Strelok acting as the prequel’s main antagonist.
Strelok Becomes The “Marked One” In Shadow of Chornobyl
The Death Truck carrying Strelok is caught in an Anomaly, and Strelok is rescued from the wreckage by a passing Stalker. Strelok wakes up with no memory of who he was or what he was doing, and all he has on him is a PDA that reads “Kill Strelok.” Believing that was his mission before the crash, Strelok (now dubbed the “Marked One” due to hisS.T.A.L.K.E.R. tattoo) sets off into the Zone in search of Strelok.
Strelok eventually comes into contact with Doc, one of his old Stalker teammates, who confirms his identity and helps piece together the scattered pieces of his memory. Doc also tells Strelok about a decoder that can be used to get into the power plant’s locked door. With that information, Strelok sets off to get inside the Chornobyl power plant once more.
Strelok finds the decoder and fights his way through armies of brainwashed Monolith soldiers, eventually stumbling into theChornobyl Reactor 4 Sarcophagusonce more. Strelok is confronted by the C-Consciousness and refuses their offer to join them. After another intense firefight with Monolith forces, Strelok is teleported to the room in which the C-Consciousness' seven scientists are kept in stasis chambers. Strelok decides to destroy these stasis chambers, presumably killing the C-Consciousness.
Strelok Helps The Military’s Evacuation of the Zone in Call of Pripyat
Strelok doesn’t have as much of a prominent role inSTALKER: Call of Pripyat, but he does appear in the game’s latter half. After telling the military how they can safely bring in helicopters to the Zone, Strelok aids in the evacuation of Pripyat. InCall of Pripyat’s ending, Strelok becomes an advisor to a group of Zone researchers.
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.
