The game is somewhat of a combination of the two, taking the novel's general premise and combining it with the atmosphere of the movie to create a truly haunting game experience.
It is loosely based on the Russian novel Roadside Picnic, as well as the visually stunning Russian film Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky, which was based on the novel. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is a Wide-Open Sandbox First-Person Shooter by Ukrainian video game studio GSC Game World.