By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-11-21 18:01:45 | Updated at 2024-11-24 19:08:34
3 days ago
Ukraine border guards on Thursday urged fans of a horror video game not to illegally enter the Chernobyl exclusion zone, saying dozens of people had been caught trespassing in the tightly controlled territory.
The popular first-person shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is set in a fictitious version of the restricted surroundings of the nuclear plant, which suffered a catastrophic meltdown in 1986.
“It was found that a considerable number of adventurer trespassers who illegally tried to enter the restricted area in search of extreme thrills were video game enthusiasts,” Ukraine’s border service said on Thursday.
The warning came a day after the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, a long-awaited sequel to the game developed by Ukrainian studio GSC.
The survival game sees players, or “stalkers”, navigate a post-apocalyptic exclusion zone around the plant filled with mutants and humanoid monsters.
The release proved so popular that the rush to download it triggered a “temporary decrease in internet speeds” across Ukraine, the digital transformation ministry said, with total data use up by “at least 35 per cent” compared with a normal day.
The border service warned that the Chernobyl exclusion zone “is a restricted area closed to the public and subject to intense radioactive contamination. Illegal entry into and stay in this area is subject to both administrative and criminal liability”.
