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S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

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S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
Developer(s)	GSC Game World
Publisher(s)	THQ (world) GSC Game Publishing (CIS)
Distributor(s)	1C (Russia)
Engine	X-ray Engine^[1]
Version	1.0005 (November 12, 2007)
Released	^AU March 20, 2007 ^NA March 20, 2007 ^RU March 23, 2007 ^EU March 23, 2007
Genre	First-person shooter Role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single player Multiplayer
Ratings	ESRB: M 17+ OFLC (AU): MA 15+^[2]
Platform(s)	Windows
Media	DVD-ROM, Steam delivered
System requirements	Recommended: Windows XP, Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 / AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+, 1.5 GB RAM, nVidia GeForce 7900 / ATI Radeon X1950 / 256 MB DirectX 9c compatible graphics card Minimum: Windows 2000 (SP 4), Intel Pentium IV 2 GHz / AMD Athlon XP 2200+, 512 MB RAM, 10 GB hard disk space, nVidia GeForce 5700 / ATI Radeon 9600 / 128 MB DirectX 9c compatible graphics card, DirectX 9 compatible soundcard, 64 kbit/s upstream to play / 512 kbit/s to host 8 players
Input methods	Keyboard Mouse

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, previously known as S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Oblivion Lost, is a first-person shooter computer game by Ukrainian developer GSC Game World, published 2007. It features an alternate reality theme, where a second nuclear disaster occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the near future and causes strange changes in the area around it. The game has a non-linear storyline and features gameplay elements such as trading and two-way communication with NPCs. The game includes elements of role-playing and economic games. Some terminology of the game ("The Zone", "Stalker") as well as the background idea is borrowed from the popular science fiction book Roadside Picnic by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky and the 1979 film Stalker, loosely based on the book. Some of the music in the game such as that heard on the radio or sometimes performed by stalkers with guitars was recorded by the Ukrainian metal band FireLake. In S.T.A.L.K.E.R., the player assumes the identity of a "Stalker", an illegal explorer/artifact scavenger in "The Zone". "The Zone" is the location of an alternate reality version of the Chernobyl Power Plant after its second (fictitious) explosion, which contaminated the surrounding area with radiation and caused strange otherworldly changes in local fauna, flora and even the laws of physics. "Stalker" in its original (film) context roughly meant "explorer" or "guide", as the stalker's goal was to bring (guide) people into the Zone. On July 11th GSC Game World announced a prequel S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky which would be released on Q1 2008.^[3] GSC Game World has been considering porting the game to console platforms. It is unknown what platforms the game would be ported to, and it is also unknown which S.T.A.L.K.E.R. would get ported, since S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is now in development. ^[4] At the end of November 2007, it was reported by GamesIndustry.biz that GSC Game World had been certified with Xbox 360 development status. ^[5]

Gameplay

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (Scavengers, Trespassers, Adventurers, Loners, Killers, Explorers, and Robbers) is a non-linear, sandbox-style game. Players can explore the game world, or complete various assignments given by certain NPCs. Players take the role of "The Marked One", a Stalker with amnesia who is attempting to regain his memories. The Zone presents various dangers. Gameplay is an RPG/FPS hybrid, though the player does not gain increased powers as in a standard computer RPG. Character advancement is achieved through acquiring and strategically using new equipment and artifacts, rather than enhancing attributes and skills. The role-playing part focuses more on traditional RPG elements, such as storyline and character interaction. However, the game does not allow for extensive variety in regards to conversations. Unlike RPGs such as Fallout, conversation branches are extremely limited and do not significantly influence the course of the game, save accepting or declining missions.

Playing area

The Zone comprises an area of 30 square kilometres, consisting of wilderness, human settlements, and several heavily-guarded military bases. However, the game world is not a true contiguous world, but rather 18 different maps separated by loading screens. Transfer from one area of the Zone to another can only be accomplished at certain specific passageways; a white fence border blocks players from attempting to cross the map in any other area. The Zone is a fictionalized version of the real-life Zone of alienation, specifically a slice of it extending south from Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant; geographical changes for artistic license include moving the city of Prypiat into this area (it is actually to the north-west of the power station), although the city itself is directly modelled on its real-life counterpart, albeit smaller in size.^[6] The game does not feature controllable vehicles (although vehicles are programmed in the game code, they are not available without the use of a third party modification [1], [2]), and thus players are required to go from place to place on foot. A sprint option using a limited stamina bar can be used to temporarily increase the player's rate of movement, though this is reduced by the weight of objects the player is carrying, and weapons cannot be fired while sprinting. It is possible to sprint non-stop by using artifacts and keeping below a certain weight limit.

Mutants

The local wildlife and plant life were severely altered by the years of radiation, and have developed deadly instincts and natural defenses to survive the hostile environment. Another factor is large numbers of mutant lifeforms left behind from the unlucky workers and soldiers who were caught in the second blast. Mutated encounters in the earlier game areas are limited to altered domestic animals, but mutated humans and humanoids appear in later sections of the game. Certain mutants only appear in very specific areas. Mutants exhibit some realistic behaviors as part of their AI, including territorial defense, fleeing when injured, feeding on and dragging their prey, attacking and retreating in packs, and limping when injured. An in-depth guide of all the mutants can be found at [3]. However, many of these creatures were removed from the game before release, but like vehicles, they can be added back in with modifications, which can be found at [4]

Factions

Many human NPCs in the game belong to a Faction, designating their group loyalties and attitude toward the player. The Faction an NPC belongs to affects how they interact with other NPCs as well as the player. NPCs without a Faction are considered Loners; they are generally neutral to all other characters, and the player can even interact with and accept missions from some of them. Loners are actually a Faction of sorts. The most omnipresent Faction in the Zone is the Ukrainian Military, who are attempting to control and police the Zone to separate it from the outside world. The Military are hostile to all Stalkers (whom they regard as trespassers), and use ground troops, helicopter air support, and elite Spetznaz special forces to control the Zone's inhabitants. The two most important Stalker Factions are Duty and Freedom, as they are the only Factions that the player can befriend (friendship with a Faction allows various benefits such as access to their facilities and supplies. The player may join one of the two factions only if he never works for the opposite one (to join a faction the player must work hard for just one faction). Also the player may find uniforms used by the factions in various places in the game. Duty and Freedom are philosophically opposed to each other. Duty sees it as their responsibility to protect the world from the expanding Zone, while Freedom members fight for free access to the Zone and believe that information about the Zone must not be hidden from humanity. They challenge the state's monopoly over the Zone's secrets and wonders. These two Stalker groups are at war; members attack each other on sight, and assisting one group can cause the player to become the enemy of the other group.

There are also a few other Factions, such as scavenging Bandits and professional killer-for-hire Mercenaries, AKA Mercs. These factions are always hostile toward the player, and generally serve as enemies for the player to overcome. Finally, there is the mysterious and elite Monolith Faction, who control the center of the Zone, including the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The later stages of the game revolve around a full-scale conflict between Monolith and all other Stalker Factions, in which the Marked One can gain the trust of more than one neutral faction by helping them fight Monolith. At some brief moments in the game the player may encounter Zombified Stalkers. These are Stalkers whose minds have been destroyed by the Monolith Faction's Brain Scorcher, and, like zombies, act with no thought or rationality. In one part of the game there is also an Ecologist Faction, a team of scientists working in the Zone, who are neutral to the player if allied with the Freedom Faction.

Anomalies and Artifacts

The Zone is littered with Anomalies, small areas of altered physics; though varying in nature, all are potentially deadly to the player and NPCs, though most are stationary during gameplay. Most Anomalies produce visible air or light distortions and cause the player's detector to sound a warning bleep; their extent can be determined by throwing bolts (of which the player carries an infinite supply) to trigger them. Anomalies produce Artifacts, the valuable scientific curiosities that make the Zone worth exploring. As well as being traded with friendly NPCs for money, a number of Artifacts can be worn on the player's belt, where they will give certain benefits and detriments (for example, increasing the player's resistance to gunfire while also contaminating him with small amounts of radiation). Artifacts are found scattered throughout the Zone, often near clusters of anomalies.

Radiation

Radiation caused by the nuclear incidents at Chernobyl occur in specific invisible patches of greatly varying size at different game areas. Although most areas in the game have no radiation, areas near abandoned construction equipment that was used in the post-accident clean-up, certain military wrecked vehicles, and a variety of other locations create small to large fields of radiation that the player cannot pass without protection or they will incur damage. The player is equipped with a geiger counter that begins to click in any location where radiation occurs, and its rate of clicking increases in proportion to the level of radiation in the area. When the player begins to suffer from radiation poisoning, a standard green radiation icon appears on the screen, and fades through orange to red as the character's exposure rises. The closer to red the colour, the greater the level of poisoning and the faster the player's health decreases. Radiation poisoning slowly decreases over time, but the player's health decreases in proportion to the level of poisoning they have contracted, and a "red" dosage level will quickly kill the player unless they counter it. Unless the player dies from damage caused by radiation poisoning, there are no permanent effects from contracting it other than health loss, and bandages, food, or medkits can restore this. Certain types of armor in the game can shield against radiation and help the player avoid contracting radiation poisoning. Players that have been poisoned by radiation can reduce their exposure a small amount by drinking vodka, or a large amount by injecting antiradiation drugs. However, these do not cure any damage the player may have received. Equipping certain artifacts that help remove radiation within the player's body also can help deal with the condition.

Technical features

A screenshot from S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

X-ray graphics engine

The X-ray Engine is a DirectX 8.1/9 Shader Model 3.0 graphics engine. Up to a million polygons can be on-screen at any one time. The engine features HDR rendering, parallax and normal mapping, soft shadows, motion blur, widescreen support, weather effects and day/night cycles. As with other engines that utilise deferred shading, the X-ray Engine does not support anti-aliasing with dynamic lighting enabled. However, a "fake" form of anti-aliasing can be enabled with the static lighting option; this format utilizes a technique to blur the image to give the false impression of anti-aliasing.^[7] The game takes place in a thirty square kilometer area, and both the outside and inside of this area is rendered to the same amount of detail. Some textures in the game were simply photographs of the walls in the developers' studio.^[8]

AI

The X-ray engine uses GSC Gameworld's proprietary ALife artificial intelligence engine. ALife supports more than one thousand characters inhabiting the Zone. These characters are non-scripted, meaning that AI life can be developed even when not in contact with the player. The NPCs have a full life cycle (task accomplishment, combat, rest, feeding and sleep) and the same applies to the many monsters living in the Zone (hunting, attacking Stalkers and other monsters, resting, eating, sleeping). These monsters will migrate in large groups. The non-scripted nature of the characters means that there are an unlimited number of random quests. For instance, rescuing Stalkers from danger, destroying Stalker renegades, protecting or attacking Stalker camps or searching for treasure. The AI characters travel around the entire zone as they see fit. Numerous tactics can be employed to complete the game, such as rushing or using stealth and sniping. The NPCs will react in a different way to each of them. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s NPCs plan ahead by "Goal-Oriented Action Planning" in order to achieve this.

Bullet physics

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. uses "realistic" bullet physics, similar in nature to tactical shooters such as Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter or Operation Flashpoint. Bullets are affected by gravity, bounced against solid surfaces at oblique angles, and firearms are highly inaccurate when fired without aiming. To score consistent hits at medium or long range, players must aim using the iron sights on their guns. Additionally, hit damage is pseudo-realistic, and the player can die after only being shot a few times (although later in the game various armor suits and artifacts can be acquired that increase the player's resistance to damage). Late-game depends heavily on scoped weaponry due to the well-armed and powerful enemies that keep their distance from the player. ^[9]

Physics

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. uses a heavily modified version of the ODE physics engine, supporting hundreds of physics objects on different levels. Ragdoll physics, destructible objects, realistic bullet ballistics and skeletal animation can all be found in the game.

Weather

A weather system is integrated into various parts of the landscape and allows a variety of weather effects, such as sunshine, storms and showers. The weapons available, behavior of the AI, game tactics and ranking systems will depend on the weather.

Multiplayer

Multiplayer, like many other modern games, is available over both LAN and the Internet with up to 32 players. Currently the three game modes are Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Artifact hunt. The game also uses a ranking system.

Software Development Kit

A beta for the multiplayer SDK was released on May 14th, 2007. Along with plans to release a strong mod community, GSC promised to release the single player SDK.^[10]

Widescreen resolutions and surround gaming

Due to popular demand from the gaming community, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has supported native widescreen 16:9 resolutions since the release of official patch v1.0003. Surround gaming solutions employing up to three monitors such as blackbox TripleHead2Go or the purely software-based "SoftTH" have greatly benefited from this update. A community developed patch also enables setting a custom Field of View and aspect ratio combination.^[11]

Initial concept

Early in the development of the game it was named Oblivion Lost, and the game was planned to have more of a futuristic theme before the idea was reworked to set the game in Chernobyl, being a nearby location to the game's Kiev based development team. Eventually, this was reflected in the change of the game's subtitle to Shadow of Chernobyl. Screenshots and trailers of this early version can be found on various web sites, depicting the robots and spacecraft originally planned for the game.

Development delay

The game was first announced in November 2001 and has had its release date, originally in 2003, pushed back several times. Meanwhile hundreds of screenshots of the game had been released, as well as dozen preview video clips, accompanied by other forms of promotion by GSC, such as inviting fans to their offices in Kiev to play the current build of the game. However, due to the delays some considered S.T.A.L.K.E.R. to be vaporware,^[12] like the game Duke Nukem Forever, or feared that the game would become a new Daikatana. In their E3 Awards for 2005, IGN gave S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s absence the award of "Biggest PC Surprise"; the runners-up were the absence of Fallout 3 from the show, and the lack of a new announcement from Blizzard Entertainment.^[13] In February 2005, THQ expressed desire to see the game released toward the end of its 2006 fiscal year (March 31 2006) but maintained that no release date had been set.^[14] In October, 2005, THQ confirmed that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. would not be out "until the second half of THQ's 2007 fiscal year - October 2006 at the earliest."^[15] In February of 2006, THQ revised this possible release window, saying the game would not be in stores until the first quarter of 2007.^[16] In an interview at the Russian Gameland Awards, PR Manager Oleg Yavorsky indicated that release was planned for September 2006. In 2006, the game came 9th in Wired's Vaporware '06 award. THQ ran a competition in January 2007 offering the lucky winners the chance to play the beta version of S.T.A.L.K.E.R, in a 24 hour marathon session. The event, scheduled to take place on the January 24, 2007, was subsequently changed to a 12 hour session days before it was supposed to occur. On the morning of the event, the 'lucky' winners were met at the venue by the THQ staff that had organized the event, who were embarrassed to report that they had been unable to get any copies of the game. In late February GSC managed to release a public beta. Multiplayer demo was released to public on March 15, 2007. On March 2, 2007, it was announced that the game went gold.^[17]

Reception

**Reviews**
Publication	Score
Eurogamer	8/10^[18]
GameSpot	8.5/10^[19]
Game Informer	8.25/10^[20]
IGN	8.2/10^[21]
PC Gamer	85/100
PC Zone	85/100
Compilation review site	Aggregate score
Game Rankings	83%% (51 reviews)^[22]
Metacritic	82/100 (44 reviews)^[23]

Upon the game's release, Stalker was generally favourable with most critics with an average critic rating of 83% at Game Rankings^[22]. While the game was praised for its style and depth, other reviewers addressed certain technical issues, mentioning the number of bugs present. The game design of the Zone was one of the most favoured aspect. Gamespot praised the style and level design, stating "This is a bleak game, but in a good way, as it captures its postapocalyptic setting perfectly"^[19], while Eurogamer called it "one of the scariest games on the PC" going on to say "Like the mythological Chernobyl zone it is based upon, this game is a treacherous, darkly beautiful terrain."^[18] On gameplay Game Informer didn't find it innovative however still complemented the basic FPS design saying "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. isn’t the revolution that we all hoped it would be. It is, however, a respectable and sometimes excellent first-person adventure"^[20] where as Gamespot called it "one of the best ballistics models ever seen in a game, and as a result, firefights feel authentic as you try and hit someone with what can be a wildly inaccurate rifle".^[19] However upon release, Stalker was said to harbour numerous bugs, notably on the recently released Windows Vista. IGN found the game "tended to stutter quite often, sometimes pausing for three or four seconds at regular intervals, which occurred on two different Windows XP rigs at maximum visual quality", with even some cases of complete game crashing glitches.^[21] Another criticized aspect was the story, which to some reviewers was "incoherent"^[19] and "fails in the specific story of your character".^[24]

Awards

In December, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. won the Special Achievement award for Best Atmosphere in GameSpot's Best and Worst 2007, that "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. captures the "ghost town" nature of the zone, from the abandoned cities to the overgrown wilderness. Then, the game adds its own paranormal elements, which help make a spooky environment almost terrifying at times".^[25]

Plot

Several years after the Chernobyl disaster, the Zone was occupied and "repurposed" for several clandestine research projects run by the Soviet government. Facilities were constructed or expanded under the abandoned military bases and civilian factories and industrial sites in the area, and a large lab was established directly beneath Reactor 4 and its Sarcophagus. These experiments were focused primarily on various aspects of the mind, including creating and enhancing ESP in humans, psychotronic weapons, and an experiment intended to create a human hive mind: the "Collective Consciousness" project. Shortly after Collective Consciousness, or C-Consciousness, was successfully created by the fusion of seven human minds through a computer interface, the Soviet Union collapsed. In the years that followed, some of the research labs were abandoned, and the C-Consciousness entity took greater control over the few facilities that remained in full operation. With its enhanced cognitive abilities, C-Consciousness was able to perceive and eventually to directly alter the "noosphere" (the collective "environment" of all thought, just as the "biosphere" refers to the sum total of all biological matter and its myriad interactions). The intention of C-Consciousness was subtle mind control on a global scale. It believed that by manipulating the noosphere that the more negative and destructive aspects of human consciousness, cognition, and emotion could be eliminated to create world peace and harmony. Unfortunately, in 2006 C-Consciousness's first major attempt to manipulate the Noosphere resulted in disaster. There was a massive explosion of both psychic and physical force, and the noosphere in the vicinity of the C-Consciousness lab was twisted and distorted. In much the same way that the biosphere can permanently alter the physical landscape of the earth, so manipulation of the noosphere can distort all manner of physical reality: mind over matter on a massive scale. This distortion of the noosphere powered by C-Consciousness and the machinery it was connected to created the anomalies and many of the mutants that inhabit the Zone in 2012. Desperate to correct its mistake and in order to shield itself from outside interference, such as the meddlesome "Stalkers" looking for treasure and the Ukrainian military which was desperately trying to reassert control over The Zone, the C-Consciousness created a "Monolith" in the center of the gutted Reactor 4, and used its ability to take control of the minds of normal humans to create the Monolith cult, a group of heavily armed zealots whose tenets included worship of the Monolith and the prevention of "heretics" from approaching the Monolith. They converted the Steel Yard radar facility near Pripyat into a powerful "Brain Scorcher" that would blast the mind of any unprotected human who approached too close, turning them into mindlessly aggressive zombies. As time passed, a rumor fastly spread about a "Wish Granter" in the Center of the Chernobyl NPP, and thus, many stalkers started to enter the zone hoping for their wishes to come true. This lasted for several years, but the continued efforts of C-Consciousness were unable to repair the damage they had done to the Zone. In fact, the damage appeared to be getting worse, with "Blowouts" deepening the distortion of the noosphere around the Zone at irregular intervals. Still, the C-Consciousness entity persisted in its experiments, behind the shields of the Monolith and the Wish Granter myth, the Monolith faction's patrols, the Brain Scorcher, and the dangers of the Zone itself. Occasionally, though, special circumstances would require an agent, a human able to do what was needed to preserve the Zone's secrets without revealing the existence of the C-Consciousness project. In these cases, Stalkers who were tough and resourceful enough to make it to or past the Brain Scorcher would be captured, brainwashed, and sent back into the outer areas of the zone on one of the "Death Trucks." These agents were marked with the tattoo "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." This is where Strelok, the main character, enters the story. Strelok and his allies, Ghost, Fang, and Doc, were a group of Stalkers who had a particular interest in what exactly lay at the center of The Zone. At some point a few weeks before the start of the game, they managed to slip past the Brain Scorcher and all the way to the Nuclear Power Plant, finding the Monolith, an electronically locked vault door beneath the Monolith chamber (which leads to C-Consciousness), and documents hinting at the fact that the giant glowing Monolith was in fact a deliberate trap for anyone attempting to discover the secrets of the Zone. Unfortunately, they were forced to retreat, and their next attempt to penetrate into the heart of the Zone met with disaster. They had managed to obtain an electronic lockpick that would open the vault door, but this time the Monolith was ready for them and they were forced to retreat again, and their escape was further complicated by a blowout. Strelok was caught in the blowout and rendered unconscious with a severe case of amnesia. This made for a perfect subject for the conditioning process for a human agent of the C-Consciousness entity. Ghost and Fang escaped, but Fang was seriously wounded and died before the pair made it out of Pripyat, with Ghost moving on to find "safer" work in the outer regions of the Zone. By this point, Strelok had become a serious threat to the security and secrecy of the C-Consciousness lab and the entity contained there, and it was decided that Strelok must be killed. However, due to unknown factors, C-Consciousness made a mistake: not realizing the identity of the man who had been caught in the blowout, they attempted to program him to kill Strelok, when in fact the man was Strelok himself. A second accident, the chance destruction of the Death Truck meant to carry this new agent back to the outer Zone, resulted in a loss of C-Consciousness control over him. Strelok was a free agent once again, though confused, amnesiac, and stripped of his possessions. If the player chose to complete some of the additional quest missions, he could retrace his steps through the past few weeks, tracking down his old associates and, over time, putting back together the evidence that had led him to become a danger to C-Consciousness in the first place. With the help of Doc to reveal his identity and to point him in the direction of a backup cache of documentation and another electronic lock pick, Strelok returned to Chernobyl and penetrated to the chamber under the "Monolith," destroying the projection device that created the illusion. C-Consciousness, having no other option, confronted him to offer an explanation of their actions, the nature of the Zone, and a choice: to join them, bolster their numbers, help them repair the harm they had caused and shepherd humanity's consciousness towards peace, or to face a final confrontation with the remaining forces of the Monolith Faction in an attempt to reach the heart of the real C-Consciousness Lab, in order to put a stop to their manipulations and machinations. If the player agrees to join the C-Consciousness, he is seen being put in a giant green container. If the player refuses to join the project, he has to go through a series of warps in order to reach the C-Consciousness lab, he is then seen shooting at some containers. That scene fades, and in the next Strelok can be seen standing in bright and grassy field. After hearing his thoughts, the player sees Strelok fall asleep in the grass. (the area Strelok stands in bears strong contrast to the ambience of the Zone. However, it is unclear if this scene takes place outside of the area that the Zone had expanded onto, or not. If it takes place in an area where the Zone existed, it suggests the destruction of the C-Consciousness had caused the Zone to disappear).

Alternative Endings

Bad/Failed Endings

If the player decides not to get the decoder from the hotel in Pripyat and pursue the Find Strelok quest, he will receive one of five different endings instead. He will run through Pripyat, the outlying areas near the reactor, and finally the Sarcophagus much faster as the quest is shorter. Upon reaching the Sarcophagus, the player will find the Monolith near the edge of the pit containing the melted reactor. After reaching the Monolith, one of five cinematic endings will be played, based on several key factors. They are as follows: 1. If the player kills both the Duty and Freedom leaders, he wishes I want to rule the world. The Monolith will then absorb his soul and he will become part of it. 2. If the player has over 50000 RU, he wishes I want to be rich. A small nut will drop from the roof, but the Marked One sees it as a coin. Soon after, hundreds of these start falling until a massive section of the roof collapses upon him, leaving only his hand reaching out the rubble, holding a nut. 3. If the player has a terrible reputation, he wishes Humanity is corrupt, it must be controlled. He soon after begins seeing flashbacks and memories of the terrible things humanity has committed, including nuclear warheads, twisted experiments and war. After these flashbacks end he awakens in the abyss, a dark space with absolutely nothing in it but him. These images can also be interpreted as the Monolith projecting visions of an apocalypse to convince him that his wish is coming true, or that the Monolith is showing him humanity is doomed anyway. (Note: In the Russian version he wishes Humanity is corrupt, it must be destroyed.) 4. If the player has an excellent reputation, he says I want the Zone to disappear. He soon wakes up in a clean Chernobyl, with no mutants, no radiation and a clear sky. He smells the clean air and smiles. However, upon seeing his eyes, the player notices the pupils have vanished, presumably turning the player blind. Due to the plot, it is unlikely for his wish to have any actual effect on the Zone, so the wishgranter had made the zone disappear to his eyes. 5. If the player accomplishes none of the above tasks, he wishes I want to be immortal. The Monolith then proceeds to turn the Marked One into a metal statue.

Good/Completed Endings

If the player decides to pursue the Kill Strelok quest by proceeding to meet the Doctor at Strelok's lair before passing through the first area of Pripyat, he will be given a decoder at a marked cache in Pripyat. The decoder unlocks a secret door inside of the plant, which leads to the monolith controls. Destroying these initiates a dialogue with a hologram of a scientist leader of the C-Consciousness project, and the player is invited to join it after receiving the answer to a number of fundamental questions about the origin of the Zone, the Monolith, and his own identity. 6. If the player chooses to become part of the C-Consciousness Project, a cinematic shows him being put into one of the tanks that contain the C-Consciousness participants. Doc is later seen with his dog somewhere in the Zone, pondering whether or not Strelok is dead or alive, then assumes he is all right as he walks away. 7. If the player chooses not to become part of the C-Consciousness Project, he is teleported to a large extra game level that involves traversing the roof of the reactor to reach the tanks where the C-Consciousness participants are stored. Completing this level shows a cinematic where he machine-guns the tanks. In a second scene, the dark clouds in the sky clear (perhaps indicating that the Zone is dissipating), and Strelok looks about with wonder at a beautiful and apparently uncontaminated grassy meadow. Strelok wonders if he made the right choice, then falls asleep as the camera zooms out to focus on a dragonfly flying out of the scene.