Russian studio fled country to finish game

Candelestine , 8 months ago

Anyone else notice how many Russian devs just kinda … disappeared over the past year? I’m kinda hoping the guys working on Pathologic 2 are still like … alive. The game is unfinished.

Russians sometimes do some really good work in game development. It’d be cool if they were free to kinda get back to it.

Potatos_are_not_friends , 8 months ago

You have a government who has a history of getting rid of dissent. And in industries that rely on creativity - that can be a issue for said government. Artists, musicians, authors, and game developers. If they don’t actively pledge allegiance to Russia, then Russia may one day go, “Your sci-fi game about space does not line up with our thinking and now you are in prison.”

I have a few coworkers who were formerly Russians and bailed asap because of that.

Candelestine , 8 months ago

What frustrates me about that is Pathologic is a really dark, gritty, sometimes miserable experience. It fits the “hard” Russian worldview very well. Additionally, it’s well regarded as an extremely artistic game, really pushing boundaries in what kinds of experiences we put into gaming in general. “Does a game have to be ‘fun’ to be ‘good’?” is Pathologic in a nutshell. You could make an argument for it being high art.

This much respect and admiration should be a cultural victory for Russia. They should’ve given those guys medals and put them up in a fancy studio so they could make the project as good as possible, to bring respect and accomplishment to Russia.

Instead they probably got drafted, shipped to the front, and got a grenade dropped on their heads from a quadcopter…

Pisses me off man.

SolOrion , 8 months ago

What devs are you thinking of?

I honestly don’t know any Russian devs offhand except Battlestate, and afaik it’s business as usual for them.

Candelestine , 8 months ago

Honestly I think I just got myself worked up over Ice Pick, since I like Pathologic. I think was subconsciously doing that thing where the quickest way to get an answer on the internet isn’t to ask a question, but to make an incorrect statement.

edit: Someone else did point out that Ice Pick is still around too.

FooBarrington , 8 months ago

Ice Pick Lodge gave some updates pretty recently, so I’m hopeful they are well.

alessandro OP , 8 months ago

Anyone else notice how many Russian devs just kinda … disappeared over the past year?

It’s not the elderly, nor the kids, that are sent to war. What do elderly people, when they are oligarchs, is to send future generations at war: if they live in a less younger nation, the nation is more adapts to their elderly status.