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"Stalker" in the context of the film refers to the older meaning of the word as a tracker and hunter of game or guide. "The Zone" is the location of an alternate reality version of the Zone of alienation surrounding the Chernobyl Power Plant after a second, fictitious meltdown, which further contaminated the surrounding area with radiation and caused strange otherworldly changes in local fauna, flora and the laws of physics.
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In S.T.A.L.K.E.R, the player assumes the identity of an amnesiac "Stalker", an illegal explorer/artifact scavenger in "The Zone", dubbed "The Marked One". The game includes role-playing and first person shooter elements. The game has a non-linear storyline and features gameplay elements such as trading and two-way communication with NPCs. The game is set in an alternative reality, where a second nuclear disaster occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone in the near future and causes strange changes in the area around it.
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S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is a first-person shooter survival horror video game developed by GSC Game World and published by THQ.
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