Entering the Hot Zone

Twenty years ago, Chernobyl was the site of the worst man-made disaster to ever hit the face of the planet. Equally representative of man's brilliance and arrogance, the early morning explosion that ripped apart Reactor #4 changed the face of nuclear power across the world. The incident not only irradiated a large swath of Eastern Europe, it turned a thriving city of more than 50,000 into a ghost town overnight.

Due to both its history and the rumors surrounding the disaster, Chernobyl seemed to be a prime setting for a video game, but it wasn't until THQ's upcoming S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was announced that anyone dared take up the task. Developed in the Ukraine, not far from Chernobyl itself, the game attempts to capture the eerie atmosphere of the real life environment. While the in-game visuals are impressive, wewere lucky enoughto take a quick trip out to the hot zone to see for ourselves just how realistic the digital world had become.

Above: To the right, the real thing; on the left, the in-game version. We've mentioned this before, but the realism is downright creepy.

Walking up to the entombed reactor at the center of the disaster, the first feeling to wash over you is a sense of humility. Though we were in a group of twenty or so, no one was laughing. An odd sense of quiet hung in the air. Even though there are workers at the site on a daily basis and the natural vegetation has restored a normal look to the surrounding area, the reactor towers above it all, a constant reminder of the horror it caused.

Seeing the same scene within the game engine is like looking at a photo. Every last detail has been rendered, right down to the rings at the top of the exhaust tower. Though the virtual representation is accompanied by gunfire and chaos, it still holds the same imposing presence.

CATEGORIES
Latest in Action
Yasuke and Naoe ready to fight on the Assassin's Creed Shadows On The Radar thumbnail
On The Radar: Assassin's Creed Shadows coverage hub
Assassin's Creed Shadows Naoe assassinating target with Tanto skill
Assassin's Creed Shadows' first title update is a hotfix with three lines of patch notes and a download size up to 9GB
Assassin's Creed Shadows Nishinomiya Shrine
All Nishinomiya Shrine locations in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Assassin's Creed Shadows riddles Naoe answers
All Assassin's Creed Shadows riddle answers for NPC encounters
GTA 6 trailer screenshots showing lucia in an interview room
"GTA 6 is basically a huge meteor, and we will just stay clear of the blast zone": Publishers are in a frenzy over when to release their games to avoid Rockstar
Assassin's Creed Shadows
Assassin's Creed Shadows has been the series' best launch since Valhalla, but that was "a perfect storm we may never see again," says Ubisoft
Latest in Features
Yasuke and Naoe ready to fight on the Assassin's Creed Shadows On The Radar thumbnail
On The Radar: Assassin's Creed Shadows coverage hub
Captain Planet #1
Captain Planet is back after 33 years with a "sexy" makeover and a message that's as important as ever: "Reality has gotten a lot less subtle"
Daredevil: Born Again trailer
Daredevil: Born Again episode 5 isn't a filler episode, it brings back the magic of old-school episodic TV
Assassin's Creed 3 screenshot of Desmond hilding a circular Isu artifact
Assassin's Creed Shadows' modern storyline is kind of non-existent and I couldn't be happier about it
An Assassin's Creed Shadows On The Radar thumbnail showing Yasuke and Oda Nobunaga armored up and on horseback, ready to ride to battle
"We really wanted you to live this history": Assassin's Creed Shadows is all about "perspective", says the game's cinematic director
A screenshot of a pink-haired protagonist in Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, surrounded by other BLADE soldiers and a Skell.
I spent 10 years waiting for the answers to Xenoblade Chronicles X's haunting cliffhanger ending, and it was worth the wait