To adapt this world for the medium of games, GSC Game World gave their stalkers assault rifles, created rival factions, and populated the wasteland with corrupted wildlife: mutated dogs, boars, and worse. вЂњChernobyl gave us that rich atmosphere, and huge lore possibilities.вЂќ These areas are evacuated to form military-guarded вЂњZones,вЂќ and the вЂњstalkersвЂќ are the scavengers who venture illegally inside to hunt for valuable alien artifacts left scattered across this strange and toxic landscape.

In the wake of some unexplained extraterrestrial event, areas of the EarthвЂ™s surface have been contaminated by alien energies. The protagonist of Roadside Picnic is just one of many stalkers. shares more DNA with Roadside Picnic, the 1972 novel by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, which inspired TarkovskyвЂ™s film. But the personification of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.вЂ™s terrain ran deeper still, as it was rooted in the gameвЂ™s mythos, which tapped into older ideas from Soviet-era science fiction.ДЄndrei TarkovskyвЂ™s 1979 film Stalker was a dreamlike meditation on desire and ruination, in which an almost shamanic figure, known as вЂњStalker,вЂќ leads two tourists through the post-industrial landscapes of a mysterious, sentient Zone to find the Room at its center where a visitorвЂ™s wishes could be granted. Immersion was heightened by the lack of a fast travel option, forcing players to spend an awful lot of time looking at the ever-changing scenery. This was partly the result of an innovative global AI system that created the sense of a living, breathing world: non-player characters would interact, fight, strum guitars, or fend off packs of rabid dogs, with or without the player being present. introduced players to a world in which the landscape - the mysterious вЂњZoneвЂќ - became a character in its own right.

Ukrainian studio GSC Game World released S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl the same year Call of Duty 4 came out, but while both featured first-person shooter gameplay set in Chernobyl, in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.вЂ™s case it was more than just stage dressing. The same cannot be said for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Now itвЂ™s a ghost town.вЂќ This Chernobyl setting lent Call of Duty a new dimension of danger and intrigue it created a strong visual impression, although, really, the gameplay that followed could have been located practically anywhere. The mission opens with panoramic shots of PripyatвЂ™s deserted housing blocks, while a voiceover intones: вЂњ50,000 people used to live here. It featured a stealth mission titled вЂњAll Ghillied Up,вЂќ which was set in Pripyat, the abandoned workersвЂ™ city that stands alongside the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. In the West, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was a blockbuster. In 2007, two games were released that imprinted Chernobyl into the minds of a whole generation of gamers. In reality, though, queues at the Chernobyl checkpoint had been growing at a consistent rate for a decade prior - and the touristification of Chernobyl owed at least as much to video games as it did to television.

The real Chernobyl Zone saw a record number of 124,000 visitors that year, and many commentators suggested the HBO show had caused a sudden Chernobyl tourism boom. In May 2019, HBOвЂ™s miniseries Chernobyl became an unprecedented hit. By the time I finish my drink IвЂ™m listening to Doris Day croon: вЂњAgainвЂ¦ this couldnвЂ™t happen again / This is that once in a lifetime / This is the thrill divine.вЂќ As I join the other tourists and queue for a coffee, speakers play вЂњI DonвЂ™t Want To Set The World On FireвЂќ by The Ink Spots, a track lifted straight from the soundtrack of Fallout 3. ThereвЂ™s вЂњChernobyl ice cream,вЂќ advertised by colorful signs reminiscent of the Raygun Gothic style of atomic-era Americana.

At the entrance to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine, 35 years on from the worst nuclear disaster in history, a yellow souvenir van sells T-shirts, key rings, and glow-in-the-dark вЂњChernobyl condoms,вЂќ all branded with gas mask symbols or stylized radiation warning signs.

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