State "Troubles"

Why historical action, funded by the Russian authorities and conceived as an analogue of the Witcher, is criticized by players and journalists

On April 4, the long -awaited “Troubles” was published in the VK Play digital store - one of the most discussed Russian video games of our time. The action develops against the background of the events of 1612, when the militia against the Polish troops was collected in Moscow. The main character is the boyar Yuri Miloslavsky, who wants to join the Minin and Pozharsky.

The plot of the game is based on the historical novel by Mikhail Zagoskin "Yuri Miloslavsky, or Russians in 1612." The creators of the Troubles were guided by the popular series Assassin's Creed and the Witcher, but could not live up to the expectations of the players. Novyevropa tells how the Troubles became the largest game project of the Institute for the Development of the Internet (Iri) and why the historical action is ridiculed by both game journalists and ordinary players.

Why does the Kremlin finance video games

Since 2020, the Institute for the Development of the Internet has been engaged in patriotic content on the topic "preserving cultural identity, traditions and sovereignty." Basically, he allocates grants for TV shows, documentaries and blogger video content. So, Iri financed the criminal drama “The word of the kid. Blood on the asphalt ” , the melodrama about the war of Russia with Ukraine“ 20/22 ”and the Spy thriller“ GDR ”.

The catalog of the institute is full of patriotic content, which Russians are not in hearing. For example, at the World Youth Festival in the Sirius Center, Deputy Presidential Administration Sergey Kiriyenko presented the award for the documentary project “Russian Mir”, which was published in the community of VK “People | Games ”for 10 thousand people. Many videos have viewed views: some videos collect from 100 to 300 thousand views, while the video in neighboring publications on average 600 views . Editor -in -chief "Caution, news!" Sergei Titov, after analyzing the projects, Iri came to the conclusion that the audience has no real interest in most of the proposed content.

For the first time, Iri announced the support of the video game in December 2021. In the project of projects, the Troubles and the mobile strategy about the Second World War Heroes won. Subsequently, the head of Iri Alexei Gororevsky explained that the allocation of grants allowed "to move off the locomotive of the development of Russian video games." And in 2023, the head of the Russian Presidential Project Project Department, Sergei Novikov, said that developers will be able to create a product “with culturally and value-related Russian mentality with state financing”.

At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Troubles were presented as a flagship Russian game. Goreslavsky said that both this and other games with the support of IRI can potentially import foreign analogues within three to five years. At the same time, the head of Iri clarified that in 2024 it would hardly work out, since his projects compete with the franchises that have already existed for decades.

"Troubles" is not the only patriotic video game of Iri, which can be evaluated this year. Later, the Tactical role -playing game Sparta and the Military Strategy “Front Krai” will be released . The first player controls the fighters of the Russian PMC in a fictional African country, and in the second fights the US army. Judging by the description of Iri, the “front edge” is focused on “the formation of ideas about the power and the strength of the Russian army from the youth audience”. Also, the game allegedly allows "to understand the justification of certain decisions taken in real life."

The budgets of Sparta and the Front region are unknown, but they are clearly inferior to “Troubles”. The total funding of the historical action exceeds 1 billion rubles, of which Iri allocated 490 million rubles only for the development of excluding marketing. Goroslavsky noted that this is a relatively small amount for a large video game: for comparison, on the sensational Atomic Heart shooter from the former Moscow studio Mundfish, according to various estimates, they could spend from $ 25 to 150 million.

Who developed "Trouble"

The creation of the game was engaged in the Novosibirsk studio Cyberia Nova. There is little specific information on the official website: the company claims that since 2015 it created “complex game prototypes” and has been engaged in a graphic outsourcing for companies like Wargaming Inc., known for the online game World of Tanks. At the same time, Cyberia Nova does not specify what prototypes developed for prototypes and what exactly was engaged in outsourcing. "Troubles" is the first independent game of the studio.

The Cyberia Nova website has only information about development managers, but there is no list of other company employees. The description of the team claims that the studio is “top -end game development specialists”, including people who created the truckers and the role -playing lands of the Damned Lands. Which of them is employed in Cyberia Nova is not specified.

Founder and CEO of Cyberia Nova - Alexey Kopsev. Kopsev worked in the Novosibirsk Game company Alawar from 2001 to 2015, where he began a PR man, and then became a senior producer. According to his own statements, he released more than 20 games, but does not specify which ones. In parallel from 2007 to 2009, Kopsev wrote reviews of video games in the publications “Country of Games”, “Gambling” and “PC Games”. After Alawar, he got a job as a producer in Wargaming, but in the same 2015 he left the company and founded Cyberia Limited, which he later renamed Cyberia Nova. Outside the game industry, it is widely known as the father of the scandalous blogger Firer, who made eccentric antics on the camera.

The executive producer of Cyberia Nova is Evgeny Rusak, who worked as an adviser to the general director of Rosatom from 2012 to 2016. In an interview with Runet, Rusak claimed that with the help of “Troubles”, Cyberia Nova wanted to take the initiative into her own hands so that “the next generation of gamers would not play in the shooter of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which will be developed by order of that side” ( spelling was preserved. - approx. Ed. ).

The creative director of the studio is Sergey of Russians, a native of Alawar and the Game Insight studio. In the same interview with Runet, he stated that “Troubles” is based on historical facts with partial deviations from reality. Unlike Kopsev and Rusak, he rarely gave comments about the development of the game.

The main historical consultant of the Development Development Developers was Timofei Shevyakov, the former editor -in -chief of the Antinato news agency and the author of the book of the Chronicle of the Information War about the war of Russia and Georgia in 2008. Shevyakov is also known as a member of the direct democracy party, founded by the former World of Tanks product director Vyacheslav Makarov. On his page in VK, the consultant was signed by Igor Strelkov-Girkin and the pages about Masons in Russia.

Why did the "unrest" have been negative from the moment of the announcement

In May 2022, the Institute for the Development of the Internet officially announced the allocation of a grant for the development of "Troubles". On the same day, the Triple-A Production Telecase channel published a Cyberia Nova presentation for Iri, which was prepared in 2020. On 33 slides, the company shared the vision of the project and development plans.

In particular, the company called the Assassin's Creed a series of historical Assassin's historical action and the Polish role -playing game “Witcher 3” key. From the first, they planned to take the open world, the epic of the narrative and the game dynamics, and from the second - the developing of the system of pumping a character, quests and arsenal. The presentation showed the concept art of the interface, characters and weapons. The game was originally planned to be released on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles, and only then on a PC.

The presentation was not impressed by the majority of ordinary players or journalists. So, the commentators of the DTF game site ridiculed the quality of the art and comparison with the “witcher”, some users even doubted the existence of “Troubles”. IXBT.gakes publication suggested that the game could turn into a complete failure due to improper positioning and exorbitant ambitions with a small budget. After the temporary closure of the Cyberia website, players suggested that the developers of Troubles could steal Iri money and escape.

For two years since the announcement, the positioning of the game has changed repeatedly. For example, in 2023, Alexei Kopsev abandoned comparisons with the “Witcher” and brought the Kingdom Come: Deliverance as the nearest analogue of “Troubles”. In an interview with the Game World Navigator, Koptsev also denied comparison with the Assassin's Creed series, calling his game “Ghost of Tsushima a la Rus”. Ghost of Tsushima - the American action of 2020 about the invasion of the Mongols in Japan.

In the course of the creation of the game, the very concept of "Troubles" changed. Cyberia Nova in a presentation for Iri called her a role-playing game, but later she began to position it as an “action-noblla” ( such a genre of games does not exist. - Ed. ). They refused both the exit on the consoles, and from online solutions. What will happen to the plot additions promised in the presentation is also unclear.

At the same time, the authors were reluctant to share the details of the Gameplay "Troubles". On the official page of the game in VK, users even banned for questions about showing the gameplay. For the first time, the passage of the game was shown on February 16, 2024, a month and a half before the release. Commentators in the community were indignant at the fact that the developers of Troubles began to sell the game on pre orderly long before the official gameplay show.

The video itself with passage caused a negative reaction rather. The players recalled that the developers of the Troubles called the “monstrous” warfare system “Witcher”, although the battles were less spectacular in the game of Cyberia Nova.

The Cyberia Nova received additional criticism due to the exclusivity of the Troubles for the VK Play digital store from VKontakte. The players did not like that the action cannot be bought on other platforms outside Russia and the CIS countries. They also criticized VK Play's client policy: the service can refuse to return funds for any reason. In December 2023, Cyberia Nova announced that players abroad can buy a game if there is a Russian bank card.

What the game turned out

The Troubles came out two years later with expectations and disappointed many players and journalists. The average rating of the game in VK Play is 6.5 points out of 10. Of the 859 reviews, the game has 279 negative. At the same time, the assessment of “Troubles” probably artificially overstate the bots: in the “Useful reviews” section, only positive reviews of users who have set the game 10 points are set.

First of all, gamers complained about brakes, bugs and glitches, as well as technical problems. For example, the popular blogger DEADP47 collided with softlock - the inability to further pass the game. And users of social networks published excerpts, where the main character walks under water, moves around the world with a bent pose and falls under the textures.

Dialogs, voice acting and obsessive propaganda of traditional values ​​were subjected to separate criticism. So, the main character in a conversation with the Pole is discussing a transson and claims that there are no women in Poland, but there are only “dressed men”. And one of the characters states that people should, if necessary, lay wives and children for the needs of the Russian army.

Game journalists also lowly appreciated the game. The chief editor of the “Championship” Mikhail Shevkun wrote in a review that in “Troubles” it was boring to fight, and explore the world, and talk with the characters. The author praised only the picture. Sports.ru observer Svyatoslav Letsky called the game “Complete Fiasco” and criticized almost everything: dull tasks, primitive battles and an abundance of bugs. Few , for example, the author of Goha.ru, under the nickname, Zan called it “good, albeit not without flaws”. The former editor-in-chief of Gambling, Alexander Kuzmenko, wrote in his telegram channel that “Troubles” resembles the games of 2005-2006, and suggested that the developers had to choose another genre and spend another five years to develop.

The authors of the comments in the official "Troubles community" were divided into two camps. Some call to treat the developers with understanding and not to overestimate expectations from the game. Others believe that Cyberia Nova should be whispering to release "Troubles" in this state. They converge in one thing: the authors failed to neither give the Russian answer to the “witcher” or release a worthy independent work.