To Moscow, to Moscow

From discipline, bossal shouts and constructions, I was weaned from high school; When a soldier in a black balaclava ordered us, supposedly refugees, to stand in a line, for a moment you forget that all this is a performance, and you almost cease to doubt the seriousness of his intentions. It was really scary. Either in a role -playing game, or an independent theatrical production of MSC 2048, the rules must be absorbed on the go: briefing from the highest military ranks passes quickly, moreover, frightened beginners will forget half in five minutes. If you need to clarify or find out something, you can turn to the “oracle”-a heduman with a metal voice. Sometimes behind an iron mask is hidden none other than the creator of this post -apocalyptic universe. Pupil of Kirill Serebrennikov, director Alexander Sozonov, who put in the Gogol Center and in the updated theater named after Ermolova, not only directed the team of artists - at the MSC 2048 he performed in the unusual role of a gaming developer.

This project did not arise unexpectedly, from scratch, but became a logical result of several trends - both in the current directing and in the field of popular city leisure. Interactivity in one form or another has long become an integral part of the theater - including domestic; It seems that the Internet was not least contributed to this, and the same video games. The directors offer the public new behavioral scenarios, giving it a more active role compared to traditional conventions: viewers of many today's performances can move from one location to another, choose a “route”-a particular plot line, and even influence what is happening somewhere. The promenade-theater has become so popular that the performances-blacks have already managed to get tired. It quickly became obvious that in this format it is possible to successfully engage in not only the actual art for the chosen ones, but also the theatrical blockbusters designed on the mass viewer: Yuri Kvyatkovsky came close to something like that, to the best of conservative “Normans” .

This project opens a new page in the history of the Russian Commercial Theater, which has long been time to find an alternative to a low -grade entreprise.

Around the same time, a fashion for “real” analogues of video games arose in the entertainment industry. In Russia, the genre pioneer became the Claustrophobia network, which opened their first “quests” a couple of years ago: the players were locked in the room, and they had to find a way out at the agreed hour. Competitors of Claustrophobia were not long in coming: today in Moscow and St. Petersburg, quests are calculated hundreds. Now the young industry is taking the next step, adapting to the market more and more video games. For example, Roskvest recently made a zombie shooter with a simple name Zombieland . And once in the quests there were characters, it means that you can’t do without actors - and there is not far from the theater. This meeting was naturally prepared: while the games made their way from the screens in the rented city spaces, the theater endowed the viewer with increasing and great powers, until we finally saw MSC 2048-a full-fledged game and a full-fledged promenade. Perhaps this project opens a new page in the history of the Russian commercial theater, which has long been worth finding an alternative to a low -grade entreprise .

Previously, Claustrophobia came across quests with unconvincing cheap decorations and a roughly made subject environment, which is actually unforgivable in the game, where the props can (and you need to) be touched with your hands. “MSC 2048” Alexander Sozonov, belonging to the same franchise, in this sense - a real breakthrough: the artists turned the whole building at the Crystal factory into a detailed game world. However, the proposed circumstances of the post-apocalypse easily facilitated the task for them: pop culture taught us to the idea that after global disasters, humanity will live on a pile of scrap metal. Tons of solid household waste, several futuristic details plus the charm of the industrial zone - and we get as brutal as the picturesque picture of the anti -utopian future.

The universe of the game in everything is true to the canon of the post -apocalyptic. The planet after two world wars is infected with radiation. The Moscow region is inhabited by mutants, but the capital itself is more or less safe. Moscow registration becomes a matter of life and death. You, the player, are lucky: you are in a refugee camp, almost within the city. On the checkpoint you will be removed with memories and given a uniform with a number - now it is your name. To move on, you need to earn the trust of a cool colonel in an exoskeleton, which (as a flair tells at the beginning of the game) will almost certainly be a bad guy. In the camp you can earn - legally and illegally; The guards are pestering the celebrating checks, so you will have to take work. Tasks are given out harsh personnel and local entrepreneurs unclean in hand. The work is slightly monotonous, and this is perhaps the main drawback of the game: most often you are asked to look for things or pull information from the oracle (when the final mess begins, the matter will go more fun). It should be remembered that, performing dubious missions, you will drive not only money, but also a bad reputation, or even the status “on the wanted list” - therefore, from time to time it is worth checking your profile on a special terminal.

In MSC 2048 it is impossible to win or lose, and the average result in the group eventually turns out to be more important than personal achievements. Each of your solution affects the outcome of the general game, but how exactly - you do not know. Moreover, your personal qualities, your values ​​mean an order of magnitude more than logic, non -standard thinking or fast reaction: this is what distinguishes the game from most similar projects - both virtual and “real”. You have a choice between discipline and anarchy, between the uprising and the military dictatorship. Your actions change the indicator of the device, which measure the mood in the group: the extreme mark on the left is complete uncontrollability, on the right is an unquestioning humility. Talking about “MSC 2048” as some kind of social experiment will probably be an exaggeration, since nothing prevents you from playing the role of, say, a rebel or conformist unusual in life. But it will not be possible to forget about the political subtext - only the word “refugee” is already setting up in the desired mood. True, not so much the realities of the fictional world as the rules of the game are placed on the thoughts of society: if you - that is, the player - impose a totalitarian regime, this is not the leader, but your group.