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In S.T.A.L.K.E.R, players control a "stalker", a scavenger searching the Zone for valuable artifacts. The year is 2012 6 years after the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant suffered a mysterious second meltdown, leaving the 25km radius area known as the Exclusion Zone a barren wasteland filled with mutants, strange inexplicable anomalies and artifacts with strange properties.
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There are also several underground maps such as the X10-X18 series of experimental laboratories. It features large open maps, populated by mutants, friendly and enemy NPC characters. The game is a non-linear, open world shooter, which falls heavily on the FPS side of the FPS RPG genre. A prequel, S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky, was announced by GSC Gameworld in 2007 and released to mixed reviews. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is a first person shooter developed by Ukrainian developer GSC Gameworld, and published by THQ in 2007.
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