Playing the video game made in Ukraine impacted by the war
“We can’t stand by,” tweeted Ukrainian video game studio Frogware a few hours after Russia invaded Ukraine on the morning of Feb. 24, 2022. Since then, the Kiev-based studio has used its social media platforms for more than the usual video game trailers and advertisements – it also shares insight into what it’s like to live and work during a war.
Among the images shared on his account are family photos and photos of destroyed buildings, men in camouflage clothing and civilians hiding in air raid shelters and subway shafts. There are also images of women and children on the run and people working with their laptops in the bathtub or sitting on the floor.
Personal stories, like that of artist Svitlana Gunchenko, who has worked as a 2D artist at Frogwares for 20 years, show the everyday chaos of life in Ukraine since the invasion. It shows overcrowded shelters, the missile that came straight for his house and veered off course just before hitting, the escape, and eventually the return home.
“We wanted to use our platform and our position to shed some light on what’s going on,” Sergey Oganesyan told DW over Zoom.
“And since we’re a gaming company, we wanted to target gamers specifically and tell them about the horrors that happen in Ukraine on a daily basis,” he continues. The 33-year-old lives and works in Kiev as head of publishing for independent development studio Frogwares, which will release the chilling detective adventure “Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened” on April 11.
Ukraine horror game
Kiev is not only the capital of Ukraine, but also the center of the Ukrainian technology industry. More than 250,000 people worked in IT and technology before the Russian invasion in February 2022, including tens of thousands in gaming and esports. In fact, the tech industry is booming despite the war. According to the Digital Ministry of Ukraine, nowhere in Europe are there more university graduates in technology-related courses than in Ukraine. Next year, the number of tech specialists is expected to increase to 450,000, according to a forecast.
The new game “Sherlock Holmes” by Kiev adventure game specialists was created in just one year and was developed entirely during the war. Originally, a new open-world game was planned, but the studio decided to remake its 2007 title, which received good reviews at the time.
After the outbreak of war, the studio needed a project that was viable and likely to succeed under difficult conditions. The fact that the story was already predetermined by the original facilitated its implementation. The developers raised an additional €250,000 ($274,000) through crowdfunding and started work in late March 2022.
Improvisation Needed After the Russian Invasion
But the path to the next project wasn’t always clear. Shortly after the break-in, the studio temporarily closed.
“When the invasion started, we decided to give people as much time and support as we can to help them move or leave the country or find shelter somewhere in western Ukraine,” explains Ognasyen.
Ognasyen is friendly but rarely smiles during conversation. After all, the situation he lives in is very serious. Some of his colleagues joined humanitarian organizations; others are members of the Ukrainian volunteer army, fighting for their country on the front lines.
But after a few weeks, the studio opened again, and the remaining employees in Ukraine and abroad resumed work. A hybrid model was developed, with some programming and designing entirely from home and others coming to the office, depending on where they lived, how safe it was to get to work, and whether they had enough electricity to run their computers and charge their laptops.
Work helps to distract them from the war, says Oganesyan. And, of course, it brings money, which is sorely needed. Donation rates among employees are very high; according to his information, each member of the Frogwares team has donated an average of around €2,800 ($3,055) since the start of the war, mainly to support the Ukrainian army and provide humanitarian aid.
How the extraordinary became ordinary
Meanwhile, people in Kiev have gotten used to the state of emergency, says Oganesyan. There are no more power cuts, but sirens still sound several times a day to warn the population of air strikes. But many people in the capital no longer react to them.
Instead of running for cover every time the alarm goes off, they hope nothing bad happens. In the cities of eastern Ukraine and in war zones such as Kharkiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which are under daily fire from Russian forces, the situation is obviously very different.
Dark Adventure: ‘Sherlock Holmes’ Remake
The war had a huge influence on the developers as well as their horror adventure “Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened”.
“I don’t think it’s possible to separate this,” says Sergey Oganesyan. “I don’t think the game would have been as dark as it is now.”
Players take on the role of master detective Sherlock Holmes. Your task is to solve criminal cases through smart deduction. With the help of your own observations, documents and objects, as well as witness and suspect testimonies, crime scenes are reconstructed and perpetrators are tracked down.
The story begins in 1882 in Sherlock Holmes’ neighborhood. Holmes, who always has his friend Watson by his side, is a young detective and keen observer who exudes intellectual superiority through his intelligent questions and logical conclusions. He is hired by a wealthy Londoner to find his missing maid.
Sherlock Holmes in the Lovecraft universe
Though the narrative starts off straightforward, it gradually veers into the fantastical. Inspired by the Cthulhu myth created by American horror author HP Lovecraft (1890-1937), the world around Sherlock Holmes becomes increasingly bizarre and terrifying. Cthulhu is described in Lovecraft as an extraterrestrial deity with a tentacled face who is capable of plunging all of humanity into ruin.
More and more mystical symbols and references to the deity Cthulhu appear as the game progresses. Sherlock Holmes suddenly finds himself in supernatural places and has difficulty understanding the mysterious twists and turns, causing him to begin to doubt his sanity.
Players must keep a cool head and draw logical conclusions, which isn’t always as easy as it sounds. There are many red herrings and dead ends, making it easy for players to fall into traps. The game deliberately leaves players alone to solve the mystery, which can be frustrating at times. On the other hand, a detective game that doesn’t challenge players enough would probably be pretty boring.
“Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened” is released on April 11, 2023 on all platforms.
Source: DW
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