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I don't understand why people associate Roadside Picnic with Chernobyl and what happenned there..

Is it only because of the game and its similarities to both novel and movie?

No. The cleanup workers after the Chernobyl accident noted the similarities between their "Exclusion zone" and the zone in the book and movie, and some started calling themselves stalkers. A dangerous zone, controlled by the government where only certain people are allowed to go, filled with invisible dangers.

The game just expanded that connection, mashing up Chernobyl history and Stalker/Picinic details, and brought it to the western gamer audience.

If part of Australia was overrun by biker gangs I'm sure people would start calling it the Max Max zone. Same thing.

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