The Zone is an area on the world where human civilization as we know it, has ended. Towns, farms and industrial complexes are abandoned and lay in ruins.
The Zone seems to be composed of several areas in eastern Europe, that are not necessarily adjacent. A large part (two Maps) is composed of the Ukrainian town Lubech but there is also a map called Tunguska, which is likely to be situated in Siberia.
The Zone in the words of its inhabitants[]
"Everything that you see here can become the last that you ever see. [...] Sometimes it disperses from the truth and is full of pink illusions, but each person comes to the Zone on purpose: for wealth and knowledge or fame and glory... Someone looks for a shelter here, while someone looks for dangerous adventures. There are people who come here to die, and they will achieve the goal, as a piece of cake. Others go here to find immortality. They say, the Zone can give you all this... The Zone is the territory of great possibilities. Or so it seems. It appeared a very long time ago. Do you remember December, 2012? They say, it was the beginning. Flash in the sky followed by discontent, riots, revolts, religious friction, civil and international wars... With such background no one was surprised by anomalies in separate regions of the country. People, seemingly, prepared for something like that: the third world war or the doomsday, or the arrival of grey aliens maybe... So the emergence of the Zone didn't shock. And the authorities worked operatively: they erected perimeters and stoped up mass media... Here are strange places as it appeared. Strange, dangerous... But also full of treasures. There are lot of valuable thingummies of different function. They were given the common name: artefacts." - Blacksmith