chernobyl

Chernobyl is one of the bigger intrigues in the world, and in the realm of gaming. It (and the surrounding town of Pripyat) has made many, many cameos in various media throughout the years.

All the secrecy from the USSR, conflicting reports (perhaps even done so purposely) and contradicting accounts of what went down has made piecing together the events a bit of a puzzle. Perhaps that’s why we’re all so curious about it, and why it has dominated pop culture for decades.

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games was one of the first to feature the site in a major video game. Of course, the most famous cameo for the location has got to be its appearance in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare’s ‘All Ghillied Up’ mission.

Through it all, the haunting imagery of the place (even though it’s rendered in polygons), plus that abandoned ferris wheel, have served to enshrine it in the minds of all that’s encountered it. Like it or not, Pripyat’s a world renowned icon now.

Even those into the paranormal know of it, as it’s reported one of the most haunted places on Earth.

HBO’s Chernobyl miniseries shows how all that came to pass, while also delivering compelling drama, great acting and awesome atmosphere. It’s like watching a news broadcast of the event happening in real time.

The show stars Jared Harris, Emily Watson and Stellan Skarsgård. I personally love Skarsgård’s acting, especially during the Soviet politburo meetings with Gorbachev.

I was late to the party (by the time I caught the show it’s already up to Episode 3 of 5), so I binged the first 3 episodes and now I sorely regret it. Not for the reason you’d think.

My regret stems from the knowledge that I’ll need to wait for the last two episodes! If you’ve not watched the series yet, I really can’t stress how much you NEED to.

Chernobyl is airing every Tuesday at 9am, with a same day encore at 10pm, exclusively on  HBO GO and HBO.

Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.