S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is the most famous Ukrainian video game series, and the making of this latest entry—the fourth, confusingly, despite the title—has been deeply shaped by the war. The game, already much delayed , was originally scheduled for release in December 2022; the invasion pushed it back by two years, with several of the developers taking up arms to defend their country. One former developer on the series, Volodymyr Yezhov , was killed in Bakhmut at the end of 2022.

The Ukrainian video game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl opens with the main character’s home being destroyed by a sudden blast. That’s happened to millions of Ukrainians since Russia’s full-blown invasion began in 2022—but the culprit in the game isn’t a missile or bomb. It’s a stray “anomaly” from the Zone , the ever-changing psychic fallout around the ruins of Chornobyl in this alternate universe.

The Ukrainian video game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl opens with the main character’s home being destroyed by a sudden blast. That’s happened to millions of Ukrainians since Russia’s full-blown invasion began in 2022—but the culprit in the game isn’t a missile or bomb. It’s a stray “anomaly” from the Zone, the ever-changing psychic fallout around the ruins of Chornobyl in this alternate universe.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is the most famous Ukrainian video game series, and the making of this latest entry—the fourth, confusi