How many E3s have come and gone and gamers were still left wondering whether “S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl” would ever see the light of day? European game designer GSC Game World has been promising a timely release for their first-person shooter for five years and release dates have slipped by. We were beginning to think that “S.T.A.L.K.E.R.” was vaporware like “Duke Nukem Forever” but low and behold, THQ has announced that “S.T.A.L.K.E.R.” has finally gone gold and will be shipping to retail stores around March 20.

You start the game as a stalker, sort of a futuristic bounty hunter that prowls the contaminated area that surrounds Chernobyl searching for relics and the whereabouts of another stalker. Over the decades since the nuclear reactor explosion of 1986, the animals and wildlife in the Chernobyl region have mutated and become strange, deadly creatures. As well, the zone now has strange distortions in reality, a side-affect from the mysterious events. Upon awakening you discover that you have amnesia and have to piece together the questions that surround your mission to bring down another stalker named Strelok. The game uses a proprietary physics engine called X-Ray and if it’s good, it could push the FPS genre of games ahead considerably.

“S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl” has been rated Mature and should be priced around $39.99.

Image via Earth Games