Debuting in 2007, theSTALKERseries sees players venture into the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, which has become a land filled with various chemical hazards, mutants,otherworldly anomalies, and precious artifacts. Though the Zone is extremely dangerous, there are a handful of factions in the surrounding area that make routine expeditions into the Zone, with some even taking up residence there full-time, braving the conditions for a glimpse of glory. But, where there’s power to be gained, there’s an inevitable power struggle, andSTALKER 2’s Clear Sky and Renegade factions are just two examples of groups looking to seize control.
While one faction wants toresearch the Zoneby any means necessary, the other has no common goal, only seeking to raid the Zone for anything and everything that’s valuable. While the two groups may seem opposed to one another, they’re more alike than they first appear to be, both willing to kill and torture to gain what they want.
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Stalker 2’s Clear Sky Faction Explained
In 1986, theChornobyl nuclear power plantsuffered a horrific accident, officially killing 31 people and likely causing the death of hundreds more via radiation poisoning. InSTALKER, in the year 2006, another disaster occurs at Chornobyl, this time mutating all life inside its 60km wide radius. The government decided to set up an Exclusion Zone around the disaster site in an attempt to keep people away from the horrors inside. But that only served to encourage those bold enough to seek their fortune, believing that otherworldly treasures could be found inside.
STALKER’s Clear Sky faction isn’t interested in shiny trinkets, instead this group aims to research the Zone in its entirety, and find a way to fix the fracture in the noosphere, an invisible field surrounding Earth that affects human thought that was the subject of the 2006 disaster. Formed by some members originally responsible for the 2006 disaster, Clear Sky was one ofthe first factions set up in the Zone. Though Clear Sky’s goal is a simple, peaceful one, they’re not afraid of using mercenaries to do their dirty work and are far from pacifists, willing to resort to violence very quickly to protect the Zone.
Located in the Great Swamps, Clear Sky’s base suffers severe casualties at the start ofSTALKER: Clear Sky, when a Second Emission kills the vast majority of the faction. This event also destroys a good portion of the data the faction had discovered about the Zone. The Renegade faction sees this as their chance to seize the swamps, but withthe aid of mercenaries, Clear Sky manages to push them back. In an attempt to save the Zone, Clear Sky launches an expedition into Chornobyl itself, where it finds a being known as the Common Consciousness, a secret project that created the Zone.
Seeing Clear Sky as a threat, the C-Consciousness kills or brainwashes every Clear Sky member, leaving the faction all but extinct, with only a few scattered members across the Zone. It’s unlikely that Clear Sky will have a prominent presence inSTALKER 2, with other factions scavenging nearly all of their equipment and seizing their land after its members were wiped out.
Stalker 2’s Renegades Faction Explained
A faction with no shared goal or aim,STALKER’s Renegades are barely considered a faction, held together by the loosest of threads. With no real leader,the Renegades are just a group of banditswho all split off from various other factions. Due to the lack of overall leadership, the Renegades often form their own sub-groups and gangs and set out on their own raids.
However, when the road to the Great Swamps opened up following the Second Emission, the Renegades banded together in an attempt to seize control of the land away from Clear Sky. Despite having better weaponry and armor, the Renegades were eventually pushed out of the Great Swamp, withthe mercenary Scarbeing instrumental in defeating their forces.
The Renegades faction is only inSTALKER: Clear Skyand were not present in eitherShadow of ChornobylorCall of Pripyat, which may suggest that the Renegades have also gone extinct along with Clear Sky. Though, rather than being wiped out by a psychic force, the Renegades likely just disbanded, joining various other Bandit factions.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobylis in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
