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The subject of this article appears in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. The subject of this article appears in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.

This used to be a town built for engineers working at the Chernobyl NPP. Quite a big place once, it is a ghost town now with mutants and zombies as the only residents. There seems to be no way to get in there: the Brain Scorcher is blocking the way.
― Encyclopedia S.T.A.L.K.E.R

Pripyat or Prypiat[note] is a location featured in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.

History[]

Pripyat or Pripiat (Russian/Ukrainian: При́пять, Prýp'jat́) is an abandoned city in northern Ukraine, located just a few kilometers south from the border with Belarus. Named after the nearby Pripyat River, it was officially founded on 4 February 1970, as the ninth and by far the largest nuclear city in the Soviet Union (only the towns of Enerhodar and Sosnovy Bor, as the nuclear cities serving the Leningrad and Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plants are nowadays larger, as they have over 50,000 inhabitants). Originally built to serve as the living quarters for people working the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (CNPP), Pripyat later became populated with younger inhabitants which were not connected with CNPP in any way, due to which it was back during the Soviet era often known as "the city of youth", since the average age of its inhabitants was only 26 years. It was officially proclaimed a city in 1979, and had grown to a population of 49,360 by the time it was evacuated, in the early afternoon of April 27th, 1986 - the day after the Chernobyl disaster, which occurred in the early morning (1:23h/AM) of the previous day, April 26th.

In-game, it has become a legend among stalkers, as it's rumored to be full of artifacts, and to be the only way to the heart of the Zone - the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant - where the legendary Wish Granter is located. However, with the apparition of the Zone in 2006, the Brain Scorcher psy-emitter broadcasting from four long-range antennas in the nearby Red Forest located to the south of the city made Pripyat completely inaccessible. Up until the last installment of the series (Call of Pripyat), the city is exclusively populated by the ruthless Monolith faction, which is hostile to literally all other inhabitants of the entire Zone.

Appearances[]

Shadow of Chernobyl[]

Pripyat is the second-last level in the game - if the Sarcophagus, Monolith control center, and rooftops are counted as part of CNPP, since they are all located there. The city is nearly entirely under Monolith control, with the local leader Charon leading the defense from the Monolith headquarters in the Palace of Culture "Energetik", located in the very center of the city. The player is tasked to go through the city to reach the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, and is given an opportunity to join a team of expert Loners in pushing their way through the city, but is also given a chance to explore the rest of the area before reaching the CNPP through the northern exit. Access to the city itself is prohibited until the Brain Scorcher is shut down, as there are deadly levels of psi radiation at the entrance checkpoint, although the restriction can be circumvented with the use of healing items and good timing.

After the Brain Scorcher is disabled by Strelok, almost all of the Zone's factions rushed through the abandoned city hoping to reach the Sarcophagus inside the CNPP, which is also the location of the legendary Wish Granter. As such, by the time Strelok reaches the city, Pripyat had already become the theater of a large battle between the various factions that made their way through the Red Forest, including Loners, Freedom, Duty, elite Military stalkers, and Mercenaries. These factions then come into conflict with the Monolith forces defending the city or start fighting each other (such as Duty and Freedom, who are regularly involved in firefights throughout the city), and can be sometimes also seen fighting in front of the Stadium, which is the final and the northernmost part of the level and serves as the entrance to the CNPP. The Stadium can be traversed exclusively by the player (Strelok) himself, since all other faction's members literally always step into one of multiple gravitational anomalies (common Springboards and the especially dangerous Whirligigs - the ones which there also feature far the greatest vacuuming range of all other Whirligigs encountered in-game) located in the center of the Stadium.

If one isn't interested in further exploring the map (freeplay), the Pripyat level is relatively brief and approximately takes less than fifteen minutes on average to finish it and exit through the Stadium to the CNPP. This is since the only main task regarding Pripyat is to follow the group of Loners through the main (Lenin) avenue, then turn right/west beside the Kindergarten into the underground garage and then solo through the Hotel to the Stadium which finally leads to the exit for CNPP (eventually to optionally pick up the Decoder from Strelok's Group stash for achieving the true ending, which is located on the first-floor room of the same Hotel anyway).

If still using the original/pre-patched version of the game (2007 edition - now very rare, since it is not available on Steam), Pripyat is one of the only places where the regular Exoskeleton can be found (another can be found later, in the Sarcophagus). A unique exoskeleton, the Exoskeleton PNB-4UZ, can be obtained in Pripyat via a stash called Fang's goodies (together with a very rare and valuable Mama's Beads artifact), which can be only obtained from randomly named dead Loner from Yantar's tunnels, upon exiting X16 after completing the main task regarding important documents there.

In contrast to the sequel, Pripyat in Shadow of Chernobyl is much less realistically recreated. Despite featuring many immediately recognizable elements, like the iconic 26-metre Ferris Wheel, Lenin Square, along with the Palace of Culture "Energetik" and so on, it features many fictional and erroneously depicted buildings or structures, which are either relocated from the ones in real-life or are non-existing. For instance, the level mostly features distinctive buildings with house-like, double-sloped (A-shaped) roofing, which are not found anywhere in real-life Pripyat (apart from the Laundromat, as the sole exception). These buildings were actually taken directly from Dead City - a previous map which was cut by developers prior to the release of the game in 2007 and which existed before the modelling of the Pripyat level, which replaced it in the final version.

Notes[]

  • It's not a bad idea to take two stocks of weapon to use in Pripyat and the CNPP (unless it's some kind of special and/or hard-to-obtain weapon like the Sniper TRs 301 or the SVDm-2 so when one is damaged, the player can have a backup weapon.
  • Contrary to what can be believed, clearing the Monolith HQ is not mandatory. In fact, it is more an ammunition and time waste than anything else. The Monolith HQ is located in the very center of the city, and the player could simply use the right and/or left lanes to avoid it completely. The only eventual threat will be the snipers on the balcony of the Palace of Culture, although the player can simply snipe them at long range. There are, however, some worthy items in the HQ, such as random artifacts around the prayer structure, Charon's rare Vintar BC and a Monolith suit found in the basement, that can be used as a backup suit.
  • A sniper rifle is a worthy weapon to acquire before entering Pripyat. A SVDm-2 or a SVUmk-2 can be easily acquired from the Monolith snipers in the Red Forest. As well, the player has chances to get a Gauss gun if by chance a Monolith sniper drop it in the accessible area.
  • Whenever possible, stick to groups of neutral or friendly NPCs such as Duty squads or groups of Freedom fighters. This way the other members of this group will draw some of the enemy fire and they will be shooting as well, which will better preserve ammunition supplies and the condition of weapons, both of which the player will need for the final levels.

Call of Pripyat[]

Pripyat is the final level of Call of Pripyat (second-last if one counts Lab X8 as a separate level). It is also the smallest outdoor area the player has to explore, and is a different (albeit nearby) segment of Pripyat from the one depicted in Shadow of Chernobyl. Whereas the previous game depicted a highly condensed version of the "Центр города" (City Center) district, Call of Pripyat much more accurately portrays the area to the south-east, officially called "Микрорайон I" (Microdistrict 1). It also includes most of the "Больничный комплекс" district (Hospital Complex) and the western half of the "Общежития" district (Communal Houses).[1] Unlike Zaton and Jupiter, the city is not accessible from the start. It is visited by the player in search for the survivors of Operation Fairway, after putting together a team to travel through the Pripyat 1 underpass. After completing a single main quest, the player can travel in and out of the city with the help of Garry.

Unlike the previous two levels, the population and the happenings inside Pripyat are mostly static; aside from scripted events, the Military and Monolith never interact, and other factions are still wary of and unable to reach the city after the emission that occurred near the ending of Shadow of Chernobyl (although this part of the storyline is nowhere entirely explained). Monolith presence is no longer as all-encompassing as it used to be, leaving the city largely up to the player to freely explore. Mutants in Pripyat are also mostly the ones of much less-dangerous type - the level contains exclusively Pseudodogs, Rodents and Bloodsuckers, with Snorks appearing only in two scripted events (when finding Zulu and during the Evacuation mission at the end of the game) and two divided packs of Blind Dogs also appearing (ones in front of the Department store and the other ones south of the Apartment Complex), which will later never respawn upon being eliminated. A single Chimera also always spawns inside Hospital's yard, after clearing the Monolithians from the area, as a part of the Unidentified weapon mission, which is one of the main tasks in that level of the game.

This area of the game is dramatically different based on the player's progress through the main storyline. After completing the game (provided if the player chooses to stay in the Zone for freeplay, instead of leaving the Zone with Strelok and the rest of the Military), Loners will appear in the level, taking over the Laundromat building (previously occupied by the Military), while Mercenaries will randomly appear, starting to patrol the various parts of city in groups of three members (including more dangerous Exoskeleton-equipped individuals, armed with powerful GP37, FT-200M or SGI-5k assault rifles). Interestingly, they will regularly appear wandering the city in freeplay, regardless if their leader (Jackal), survives the assassination during One Shot mission (the only secondary/optional task in the entire Pripyat level).

Monolith fighters appears in limited numbers within a few areas. Their headquarter is set in the River Port - the northernmost part of the map. Although they originally also control the Yubileiny Service Center, the Pripyat Hospital and the Book Store, they are forever wiped out from there (they will not respawn) by the player as part of main missions through the storyline, leaving the River Port and the Prometheus Movie Theater as the sole locations where Monolith fighters will always spawn during freeplay.

Zombified Stalkers are also a common sighting in the area and are, like the Mercs, wandering the entire city in random routes and locations and (including even Monolith bases - the River Port and Yubileniy center, since they are allies with Monolith stalkers).

Notable Locations[]

Shadow of Chernobyl[]

Call of Pripyat[]

Gallery[]

Shadow of Chernobyl[]

Call of Pripyat[]

Trivia[]

General[]

  • Some of the landmarks featured in Shadow of Chernobyl (including the Ferris Wheel and the Hotel) can be seen in the background (non-playable area) of Call of Pripyat. A low-res piece of the Palace of Culture can also be seen to the north on the PDA map.
  • The north-western corner of Pripyat in Call of Pripyat is missing due to this area being the south-eastern corner of Shadow of Chernobyl's Pripyat.

Shadow of Chernobyl[]

  • The city is erroneously depicted as being located south to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, when in reality, it is located to the northwest. This was corrected in Call of Pripyat.

Call of Pripyat[]

  • The level's daytime music contains audio samples of the radio announcement of Leonid Brezhnev's death in 1982, which was broadcasted on all radio stations in the Soviet Union at the time.

Notes[]

  • ^[note] "Prypiat" (Ukrainian spelling of the name) is used in the English localization of the console version of the games.

References[]

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