GSC Game World
The Soviet science fiction book that the mythology of STALKER is based on
With STALKER 2 only a few weeks away, there’s no better moment to discover the inspirations behind the massive cult classic and its return.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl has suffered a good number of delays, some pretty serious setbacks due to massive world events, and even a name change due to political reasons. But finally, on November 20, 2024, GSC Game World is ready for its release on Xbox Series X and S, PlayStation 5, and of course, PC through Steam. Of course, this return has been long awaited, but the original game and its stand-alone expansions have been pulling in fans over and over for years.
From its moody atmosphere and its weirdly immersive open world, the STALKER franchise captures the attention of players as they explore The Zone, fighting off mutants and figuring out anomalies that defy logic, all while hunting down their enemies and messing with a variety of warring factions. And at the center of it all, a massive mystery about wish granting and fame and fortune. It’s all very strange at first, but as it turns out, it’s not the first piece of entertainment that explored it.
The inspirations behind the STALKER franchise
Back in 1971, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky published a short novel titled “Roadside Picnic” that forever marked the direction the science fiction genre would take, while at the same time setting up the foundations of the world of STALKER with its inspiration and concept.
The official synopsis of the novel reads: “Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those young rebels who are compelled, in spite of extreme danger, to venture illegally into the Zone to collect the mysterious artifacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the place and the thriving black market in the alien products. But when he and his friend Kirill go into the Zone together to pick up a “full empty,” something goes wrong. And the news he gets from his girlfriend upon his return makes it inevitable that he’ll keep going back to the Zone, again and again, until he finds the answer to all his problems.”
As such, Roadside Picnic had already set up the concepts of The Zone, Stalkers, Anomalies, and a post-apocalyptic world completely transformed by otherworldly intervention. However, in its case, it would deal with the aftermath of an alien invention, instead of nuclear contamination.
This one novel molded Russian literature, with terms like “stalker” being integrated into the country’s language to refer to guides that help people navigate forbidden or uncharted areas, often for a price and very illegally. In fact, the Chornobyl isolation area is one such place were real-life stalkers explored, almost like in the video game franchise that would adopt the name and concept.
One of the most anticipated games of 2024
GSC Game World managed to push through this hardship, and has since been working on what is now one of the most highly anticipated game releases of the year. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl will now be released on November 20, but when it does it’ll be available on Xbox Game Pass for both Xbox Series X|S and PC… although that service recently announced changes to the way day 1 releases will work.
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