Pripyat

Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl  → Pripyat

At the entrance to the city, you'll be met by a group of stalkers who will be aware of your arrival. They'll help you break into central Pripyat. I recommend arming yourself with a sniper weapon at this point—enemies will be appearing on the roofs of Khrushchev-era buildings to the left and right and diving out of windows. After suppressing the resistance at the end of the street, turn right and try to quickly pick off the enemies on the balcony and in the window of the two-story building.

The stalkers will help you clear the dark underground parking lot—you'll have to proceed alone from here. It's not as scary as it might seem. You just need to quickly eliminate the sniper on the roof opposite—he has an electromagnetic rifle. Hiding in cover, pick off the enemies in the hotel lobby and go inside. Jump from the narrow window to the roof of the walkway and climb into the window of the adjacent hotel building. Your goal is room 26, where the key to the Zone's secret is hidden.

This is a recording. If you play it on the tape recorder, you'll learn that there's a secret door at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, once discovered by Strelok. What's behind this door? We'll reveal that secret soon. For now, let's play some shooting. The hotel windows are perfect for picking off bad guys outside. Pay special attention to the window at the end of the corridor—the one that looks out onto the Ferris wheel. To the left of the wheel is a low, round building with exposed brickwork in places. A Monolith soldier is perched on the roof with an RPG-7. He's hard to see through the branches—use the scope. He'll never figure out what killed him.

To reach the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant area, you simply need to jump out the window and run a hundred meters north to the entrance to the Avangard stadium. But before you dive under those vaults, save your game. We're penetrating  the Sarcophagus .

This is important: ahead lies the point of no return, a place from which you can't return to the Zone, to the monsters and bandits who have become so familiar. Ahead lies the game's grand finale, and no matter how it ends, the way back will be closed forever.