Ukrainian game developers release post-apocalyptic hit despite real-world war chaos
Ukrainian studio launches their long-awaited post-apocalyptic game while dealing with real-world invasion. The game sold over million copies in 48 hours despite development team members joining military service
In a twist of real-life meets fiction GSC Game World launched their post-apocalyptic game featuring a character whose home gets destroyed by mysterious forces - something that many Ukrainian developers experienced first-hand during the past two years
The games release got pushed back when russia attacked Ukraine (many team-members switched keyboards for rifles to protect their homeland). Sadly‚ Volodymyr Yezhov a former dev lost his life in combat last winter. Despite these set-backs the game hit stores last week; selling over 1mil copies in just two days
The series follows Eastern European gaming traditions known as euro-jank which means:
- Rough around the edges but deep gameplay
- Complex systems and mechanics
- Dark atmospheric world-building
- Active modding community support
Based on the famous sci-fi novel “Roadside Picnic“ (written bout 50 years ago) the game puts players in a twisted version of Chornobyl exclusion zone. Its world features invisible dangers mysterious artifacts and a unique A-life system that makes everything feel alive - enemies and allies interact even when players dont see them
The current version has some tech issues: graphics dont work well on mid-range PCs; enemies pop up randomly; and the save system needs fixing. However considering the team made this while air-raid sirens were going off; its quite an achievement. Players might want to wait a few months for patches but buying now would support devs working in extraordinary conditions
