10 Unbelievable Inspirations Behind Your Favourite Video Games

Written in 1971, Roadside Picnic was a science-fiction novel written by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, and a tremendous influence on the genre. In 2005, the novel was adapted into a feature length movie, Stalker, directed by legendary filmmaker, Andrei Tarkovsky.

In the film, a small group – consisting of a Stalker, a writer and a scientist – journey into a mysterious, quarantined zone in the hopes of fulfilling their wildest desires.

Released in 2007, S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl – an open-world first-person shooter, developed by GSC Game World – sought to expand concepts from the film. In the game, the player assumes the role of an unnamed Stalker, tasked with navigating the “Zone of Alienation” in order complete an assassination attempt, fulfilling numerous objectives for multiple characters along the way, including bounty hunter missions.

Roadside Picnic and S.T.A.L.K.E.R both feature a mysterious zone in which reality is altered in unfathomable, and downright terrifying ways. Within this quarantined environment, the laws of physics seem not to apply, and seemingly anything is possible. The game is admittedly more action-orientated, but the core concept remains the same.