The spiritual sequel to STALKER that Putin loves (in theory) but no one else loves

In 2014, Crimea didn’t stop a Ukrainian team from pretending to be ex-STALKER developers to make a made-up sequel.

on paper, Areal was born in the summer of 2014 with very good intentions. It came from a studio called West Games and was intended to be a spiritual sequel to STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl years before the unofficial sequel STALKER 2 was officially created. About the PS4, Xbox One, and PC title that its developers definitely didn’t expect (or yes…) to sign off on the most intense summer of their life and it would probably have the support of a very powerful ally who still prefers it. “shoot in video games, not on the battlefield”, Vladimir Putin. to dowhat are you saying to meAntonio Garcia Piedrabuena?

It all starts on June 25, 2014, when the game hit Kickstarter claiming to be the “ultimate spiritual successor” to STALKER. To accomplish this, they will need a staggering number of dollars: $50,000 in 30 days. An unlikely budget to make a video game in such a category a reality, but it is clear that the Western Games are Ukrainian work. They so happily endorsed the spiritual successor and used footage of the game they intended to honor with such confidence that it didn’t take long for the alarms to sound: Oleg Yavorsky, the former PR director of the studio behind STALKER, set the alarms.

“Many people have signed up for GSC Game World to add to their resumes that they are working on the development of STALKER. Many claimed they were part of the main developers of the game, who knows?Asked in a forum post collected by DSOGaming, “My concern is that West Games is using STALKER materials and assets and presenting them as their own, which is not only illegal but also wrong (…) Kickstarter guys should pay attention to the lawsuit. .” And they did, but there was going to be a blushing AMA on Reddit first.

The game reaches Kickstarter claiming to be the ultimate spiritual successor to STALKERHe answered some questions from fans by copying and pasting the answers in the FAQ section. When things got tough, new Reddit accounts started popping up, suspiciously defending the team at the AMA. Some users have reached a significant point in paranoia. they found photos of the team in an Internet image bank. But they did manage to shoot a video very similar to what appears in the photos with the people working in their studio. What happened? There was speculation that the photographer sold his photos to an image bank after legally recruiting them. But that’s not what matters: the shadow of doubt has already passed over Areal.

Still, the game managed to be shown in a promising video demo on July 18 and greenlit on Kickstarter on July 20. They miraculously raised $22,000 out of the blue in the days before closingIt raised a few more eyebrows among gamers, but it wasn’t the weirdest thing to happen to a post-apocalyptic game. Spoiler alert: It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing to get it suspended on Kickstarter four days later, either. Crowdfunding page cut the tap of the game, explaining three reasons to lock it: Misrepresent support by funding your own project, misrepresent or disclose material facts about the project or its creator, and provide false user information to Kickstarter and its partners.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who entered the conflict after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, reportedly sent a letter in support of the game the day before Kickstarter hit it. West Games CEO Eugene Kim shared the alleged letter on Vice, a medium in which the crowdfunding platform assured him that “the conflict in Russia and Ukraine in 2014 has become an blatant information war.” What Kim didn’t quite understand was that his company didn’t like Ukrainians or Russians.. But did it create sympathy in Putin? In a suspicious letter, the no less suspicious president explained that Areal got to his ears thanks to his daughter.

The important thing is that our people do not shoot themselves and play games like this.Vladimir Putin“I love video games and shooting games and I like the idea. The important thing is that our people don’t shoot themselves, they play games like this (…) I’ve met your idea closely, I like it. Give me the opportunity to play the alpha version of the game when it’s ready I will invite you to the Kremlin to meet in person, play a little and talk about the interests of young people.players of our country. Greetings, Vladimir Putin.” It seems that Kim himself did not quite believe it, but did not hesitate to find a way to contact the Kremlin, just in case. Is it? It’s a mystery. But probably not. Never heard of Arial again.