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A mysterious figure that’s first introduced to us from the lips of an amnesiac we pilot around, Strelok is a name that goes hand-in-hand with the Stalker games. InStalker 2: Heart of Chernobylhe makes a reappearance, and plays a much larger part in the events that go down in the zone this time around.
He’s an odd chap that’s popped up in a lot of the Stalker games over the years, and if you haven’t been following them, or couldn’t get them to run, then it can be a little overwhelming to learn all the lore. To help you get up to speed, or to provide some handy exposition to those wandering the zone in the new game, here’s everything you need to know about Strelok in Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl.
Who Is Strelok?
First introduced seemingly asthe antagonist and then protagonistof Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl, Strelok is a man that’s exceedingly familiar with The Zone. Known locally as the ‘Marked One’, he’s considered by many to bethe most experienced Stalkerto have lived.
Over the years he’s encountered mutants, ghosts, a mind controlled army,reality breaking anomalies, a hive mind, anda rock that grants Monkey Paw wishes. He’s also behind the majority of civil upheavals within the zone, fighting for, against, and then helping tooverthrow the sinister Monolith organisationthat exerts the majority of control over the radiation blighted area.
However, his actions and intentions aren’t always the purest, especially in Heart Of Chornobyl.
What Happened To Strelok?
Old Streloks had quite the run of things in The Zone, and by Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl it seemsthe mysterious area has finally sunk its claws into himfor good. In the game he isone of four characters in the storylinethat offer the player character a choice on what happens toward the end of the game, with the decision reshaping The Zone forever.
The other main character we’ll be touching on is someone known as Kaymanov, or ‘The Doctor’. An intellectual that wants to seea free zonewithout mercenary faction control. Strelok on the other hand wants totake total control of it and the armies within, using them as puppets to bar anyone from entering or leaving The Zone.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, to emphasise just how far gone he has become, it’s worth breaking down the timeline somewhat to fill in some blank spaces.
Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl
When we’re first introduced to Strelok he’s beingrescued from a Death Truckand goes by the moniker of ‘Marked One’ as he’s suffering from amnesia. Witha PDA in his pocketthat simply says “Kill Strelok”, he sets off into The Zone to search for this mysterious Strelok person.
From there it’sa whistlestop tour of all the lovely localesofwide-spanning open worldof The Zone and the NPC’s within. Over time our boy makes friends and enemies, fights mutants and mind controlled Monolith Soldiers.Turns off a Brain Scorching devicethat was plaguing The Zone, and with the help of a few members of opposition groups manages to make his way to the Wish Granter.
Which is a huge rock that lies at the heart of the Nuclear Power Plant.
The Zone isa fictional area within the real ChernobylExclusion Area. Consider it as the extremely dangerous and radioactive part of an already generally irradiated area.
Also, throughout his journey, the ‘Marked One’regains his memories, discovering that he is in fact Strelok. He had hisbrain blasted by the Scorcherand was on his way to being made into another mind-controlled mercenary for Monolith.
Speaking of, it turns out the Wishing Stone is just another Monolith weapon.
It’s a trap used to capture and kill, ormind-control and recruit, anyone that comes upon it. Any wishes that are granted are simply illusions or elaborate methods of killing those that use it. Plus, whenever a wish is grantedThe Zone expands by five kilometresin every direction. In reality, it’s a trap and last guardian of the C-Consciousness, a group that Strelok has a score to settle with.
The C-Consciousness wasa hive mind formed by Soviet scientiststo control the Noosphere. This is a seeminglytangible force surrounding the planetthat can impact, and is affected by, human thought and emotion.
Their theory was that by linking intoa single consciousness of enough strengththey could alter the noosphere to remove things such as greed, hate, anger, cruelty and so on from the rest of humanity. However, their resulting experimentbackfired and created The Exclusion Zone, since then they’ve been fighting a losing battle to contain the spreading damage of The Zone.
When Strelok finally reaches them he’s given the option to join them and keep things as they are, or kill them.
Despite one of the endings of Shadow of Chernobyl involving the elimination of the C-Consciousness andthe reversal of all the damage, by Call of Pripyat and beyond it’s shown that the damage fromtampering with the Noosphere is permanent. The Zone is here to stay.
Stalker: Call of Pripyat
Despite being our third interaction with Strelok, Call of Pripyat carries his story forward whilst the second game Clear Sky is a prologue. Though it does coverhow Strelok operated in the background in The Zonebefore the events of Shadow of Chernobyl.
It’s also revealed that even back then he was beinginfluenced by the C-Consciousnessbefore they ultimately fried his brain and tried to take control of him.
Call of Pripyat picks things up a littler after the events of Shadow of Chernobyl. Despite Strelok againprimarily operating in the background, we eventually meet him as the game kicks things into gear when the Fifth Emission hits.
Here he pops up toprovide the local military with information and aid, before later joining them in a huge firefight against Monolith remnants as they try toevacuate people and escape from the Pripyat area. After these events Strelok becomes anadvisor to those in The Zoneas he joins a team dedicated to researching and unearthing the mysteries of the exclusion area.
Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl
Spin the timeline up to the big sequel and we’ve gotStrelok returning once again, this time with ulterior motives of his own. In Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl he returns as a main character thataids and guides the new protagonistthrough the story, alongsideKaymanov, who goes by The Doctor now.
By this point in the overall timeline of the series we have Strelok pointing out he feels like he isdeeply connected to The Zone. Claiming that he needs toprotect itfrom those that seek to take advantage of or destroy it. A worrying andconflicting changefrom where he used to be back in the first game.
He first pops up afterambushing Skif and Dark, questioning Skif why someone else is in The Zone with a PDA that once again says “Kill The Strelok”. Though it turns outDark was a sleeper agent for the C-Consciousness. Strelok seems a little detached as a person during the interaction, perhaps from too much isolated time in The Zone.
But he agrees to help Skif, cynically sayingeveryone wants to control the zone but himand he just wants it to be left alone. But he shows no animosity toward The Doctor.
During this interaction Strelok confirms that heshot the C-Consciousness pods, confirming that specific ending from the first game as canon. Although the clear fields at the end are revealed in Stalker 2 to have been an illusion.
From there the interactions with Strelok are odd. He expressesa deep connection to The Zone, referring to it as “She”, speaking distantly as ifThe Zone itself is exerting some form of controlover him. Saying her power is attractive, and that she can’t defend herself from the filthy hands of others looking to exploit and control her. A further sign of itsdeepening influenceon him.
His overall plan is totake down the Stalker programmethat keeps luring in others for the C-Consciousness to control and then return to where The Zone was created in order to free it. His general attitude to others by this point is best summed up as; If you’re not against everyone else right now, I’m against you.
Strelok becomesincreasingly paranoid of The Doctor, with every interaction with Skif involving him trying to win Skif over to his side. Going so far as toask Skif to kill Kaymanov (The Doctor)before meeting him later for the final big showdown.
Strelok’s Ending
It’s at this pointthe story divergeswhere Skif (the player) is given the option of killing Kaymanov and siding with Strelok, or joining Kaymanov to stop Strelok. Once you get fairly into the game there comes a time where you’ll need to decidewhich particular faction you’re siding withand who’s getting to sit in the big magic tube at the end.
Here’s what happens in the finale with old Strelok.
Joining Strelok
Joining Strelok leads toSkif shooting Kaymanovand then later joining with Strelok as the pair teleport to where X7 and the remaining C-Consciousness Pods are stored. Though he gets wounded on the way, it’s not fatal andStrelok joins Skifin a room with a series of stasis pods. The same ones seen at the finale of the first game.
There’s nothing butskeletons in the other pods, and after repairing and activating one Strelok enters it and has Skif seal him inside. It’s at this pointStrelok goes a little super villain-esque. The machine he’s plugging himself into activates and Strelok takes total control of everything.
Mine-controlled soldiers obey his commands, his voice echoes out of radios throughout The Zone, andnobody including Skif can ever enter or leave The Zoneagain. Crossings are prohibited, and anyone that tries is to be shot on sight. The weather starts to worsen, previously controlled exits becomewarped with impassable anomalies, and The Zone starts to become more dangerous and wilder for everyone.
Killing Strelok
If you choose to side against Strelok there’sa fiery confrontation on a rooftopinstead of a calm discussion. Strelok insists that Kaymanov betrayed him, despite all the times The Doctor saved Streloks life, and Skif accuses him ofthinking only of himself. Then fists start to fly.
Strelok flees througha portal to X7with Skif hot on his heels. The two have a firefight within a storage room, with Strelok losing and then dying on the ground. Skif then removes the PDA that Strelok took from Dark that reads“Kill The Strelok”and marks the mission as complete. Skif then enters the remaining C-Consciousness Pod and frees The Zone.
Though this just results innew zonesforming all around the globe.
There’s two additional endings, but those are based around who enters the Pod. Either Col. Korshunov or Scar.
