S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of the Zone

A lightning strike crashes a vehicle, killing everyone except the protagonist. He wakes in Sidorovich's bunker, suffering from amnesia with two clues: a 'S.T.A.L.K.E.R.' tattoo and a PDA command reading 'Kill Strelok'. Sidorovich nicknames him the 'Marked One' and offers aid in exchange for services.

To earn Sidorovich's favor, the Marked One undertakes a series of tasks across the Zone. He navigates dangers, barter networks, and new contacts, gradually uncovering hints about Strelok's whereabouts.

Through these missions and new contacts, the player uncovers clues pointing toward Strelok's location. Each clue edges the Marked One closer to the man he is meant to become.

To progress deeper into the Zone, the Marked One must disable the Miracle Machine, a psionic device whose frequencies drive those nearby mad.

While disabling the Miracle Machine, the Marked One finds a lead to Doc, a member of Strelok's team. Doc rescues him after a trap is sprung and explains the existence of the Wish Granter at the Zone's center and the Monolith cult guarding it.

Doc's information shifts the focus: the Marked One might be Strelok himself, and the path now leads toward the CNPP in Pripyat.

The Marked One identifies the CNPP in Pripyat as the Wish Granter's location. A more powerful device, the Brain Scorcher, blocks the path, forcing him to disable it before he can proceed.

After disabling the Brain Scorcher, the Marked One reaches Pripyat and enters the CNPP. Inside the irradiated sarcophagus he discovers the Wish Granter and a secret laboratory beneath it.

In the lab, a terminal reveals the C-Consciousness, a hivemind born from seven scientists linked after the Chernobyl disaster. It explains the Zone's origins and its attempted control over minds to forge a peaceful world, which backfired and created the Zone's anomalies.

The C-Consciousness offers Strelok the chance to link his mind to it, joining the hivemind. The Marked One must decide whether to accept or reject the offer; acceptance would merge him with the hivemind, while rejection would prompt the hivemind to teleport him away.

If Strelok rejects the offer, the hivemind teleports him away. He becomes determined to reach the physical location of the C-Consciousness and destroy it.

He fights through Monolith gunmen and mutants, pushing toward the C-Consciousness's core. The Zone's dangers intensify as he closes in on the hivemind's nexus.

Inside the CNPP, Strelok encounters the original seven Soviet scientists in suspended animation and defeats them, effectively eliminating the C-Consciousness.

With the hivemind destroyed, Strelok rests on the ground outside the CNPP, unsure if his choice was right but relieved that the ordeal is over.