10 Video Games You Didn't Know Were Based On Books
4. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Based on: Roadside Picinic by Arkady and Boris Strugatski
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. takes several major plot points and themes from the Soviet novel Roadside Picnic, while the title itself is based on the movie adaptation of the novel, itself simply named Stalker.
The first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game, Shadow Of Chernobyl, bears the most resemblance to Roadside Picnic, with both concerning sinister goings on within the Soviet Union. While the book has alien invaders (the Visitors) at its core though, the game uses nuclear fallout.
Building off a fictional, second nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has a wish granter and an unknown force compelling you away from the epicentre, just like the novel, as well as both sharing similar natural decay in the surrounding areas.
With such a big change at the heart of the story, this is clearly not just a straight up retelling, but the inspiration and influence are there for all to see.
Several of the developers set up their own company shortly after S.T.A.L.K.E.R. shipped, and ended up creating another game based off a Soviet nuclear novel (Metro), hiding a copy of Roadside Picnic as an in game Easter egg.