The game takes place inside the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone in Ukraine, divided into three areas known as Zaton, Yanov (including Jupiter and Kopachy), and ghost city of Pripyat.

Bandits are members of the criminal underworld who came to the Zone for different reasons; to make money by selling artifacts, hide from the law or to trade in weapons.

Though depicted in Clear Sky as a united, highly territorial faction, the Bandit population in Shadow of Chernobyl consists mainly of roving groups.

New mutants not present in Shadow of Chernobyl and Clear Sky include the Burer, a dwarf-like monster wearing a hooded cloak, with telekinetic powers; and the Chimera, a Cerberus-like cat with deadly strength.

Several factions reside in the Zone: Loners, Bandits, Mercenaries, Scientists, Zombified Stalkers, Military, Monolith, Duty, and Freedom, the two latter ones being ideologically motivated; control and anarchy, respectively.

Each day at random times in the game, "emissions" will occur: The ground will shake, an indication of the Noosphere's damaged structure is unable to hold back any longer and is about to eject lethal amounts of cascading psychic energy.

The player will be warned two minutes in advance of an upcoming blowout, and must find a predesignated shelter so as not to be exposed to the psychic fallout.

After Strelok disables the Brain Scorcher, multitudes of stalkers rush to the centre of the Zone, hoping to find rare artifacts and other rumoured treasures.

The government of Ukraine takes advantage of this gold-rush and launches "Operation Fairway," a large scale helicopter special recon mission intended to scout the area by air in preparation for a full-scale military assault on the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

The player, Major Alexander Degtyarev, an experienced stalker and SBU agent, is sent into the Zone to investigate the crash sites on behalf of the Army.

The Major eventually finds an underground passageway to Pripyat and gathers a small team of stalkers to help him traverse this tunnel.

After fighting through mutants and the mysterious Monolith faction, they reach the abandoned city and link up with the military survivors from the helicopter crashes.

The player eventually meets the protagonist of Shadow of Chernobyl, Strelok, and learns of the secrets behind the Zone, including how anomalies change position during and after each emission – explaining why the helicopters crashed in the first place.

During free-play mode, the player can freely explore areas and finish side-missions, while given the option to leave at any time through NPCs.

Despite different endings, one thing that remains the same is the belief that the Zone is expanding, and might actually encompass Ukraine and the rest of Europe.

In North American territories, a Collector's Edition has been released, containing a smaller version of the Zone's map, a tech-tree poster and stickers.

franchise's previous installment (Clear Sky) to be a significant disappointment, they gave more positive feedback in their review of the recent addition, saying "Only the slight sensation of datedness prevents this from scoring higher, and no doubt once the mods start flowing the value for money will get even better.

"[6] Though the reviews of the game's artificial intelligence system were positive, GameSpot did note that the combat AI at times seemed unfairly good, and that "Human enemies facing away from you have the uncanny ability to notice when you peek out a window behind them and are remarkably good shots in the dead of night, even without night vision scopes equipped."