Valve sent over a press release announcing that THQ's S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl has been released via Steam. In 2006 a new series of explosions takes place in Chernobyl, so a military exclusion zone is set up preventing access to the area. Stories of huge anomalous energy disturbances and sightings of strange creatures within the Zone begin to spread. You play a S.T.A.L.K.E.R., a mercenary paid by scientists and other undisclosed groups, who is trying to regain his memory.