The Zone is full of dangers, from lethal pockets of radiation, to packs of dangerous mutants, and a wide assortment of violent, body-crushing anomalies.

The game takes place in the Zone of Exclusion (known simply as the Zone) around the infamous Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, a bleak and terrifying 'Man-Made Hell' following the nuclear accident that originally created the Zone, as well as a mysterious second explosion in 2006 which resulted in the creation of bizarre, seemingly impossible space-time anomalies and homicidal mutants. The game is somewhat of a combination of the two, taking the novel's general premise and combining it with the atmosphere of the movie to create a truly haunting game experience.

It is loosely based on the Russian novel Roadside Picnic, as well as the visually stunning Russian film Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky, which was based on the novel. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is a Wide-Open Sandbox First-Person Shooter by Ukrainian video game studio GSC Game World.