It wasn’t only the dialogue, though. Looking around the virtual world they had spent years creating, GSC Game World found it littered with details that now carried new significance. As a former member of the Soviet Union, in the real exclusion zone around Chornobyl, half of the signs are in Ukrainian, half in Russian. Initially, Stalker 2 reflected reality as much of the story follows the history leading up to the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear accident.
“It became important to us to disconnect ourselves from Russians,” Grygorovych says. “We are not Russians. We have a different language, a different culture. We are a different people. We have different values, and what is acceptable for them is not acceptable for us.”
The team stripped the Russian language out of the game entirely. All the in-game Russian signs, dialogue, and text were removed. They even deleted the voice-over files they had recorded before the war. GSC Game World dropped Russian localisation entirely. This was when the team changed Stalker 2‘s subtitle to include the Ukrainian spelling.
“It’s become important to understand that we are Ukrainians,” Grygorovych says. “That’s an identity we want to keep. What Russia is doing, it’s not something new. They are forcing their language and their media on us. They are trying to bribe or corrupt the governments of nearby countries. That’s their strategy. Remove one culture and replace it with a different one. They try first to attack people’s minds and then take their territory. We face an existential danger that we as a nation can be destroyed.”
Early trailers for Stalker 2 did not reference GSC Game World’s location, but in the first video released since the invasion, the words ‘Made in Ukraine’ are written in the corner of the video. “This game is made by us,” Grygorovych says. “We exist in this world, and we are important.”
They’ve also drawn out the Ukrainian culture that was always underneath. There are abandoned bus stops in the exclusion zone covered in graffiti. “There were often unique paintings and mosaics on them,” Grygorovych says. “It was beautiful.” The team has embellished them, leaning into Ukrainian styles. Their world is now littered with these small details, stamps of their people.
“It’s important to show our culture in the best possible way,” Grygorovych says. “To be proud that we are Ukrainians and to bring it to others.”
When Stalker 2 is in players’ hands, there will be a moment to take a breath. “Everyone knows that we are not stopping our work,” Grygorovych says, “[but] we will have a small party in the offices. A small break to cheer each other to recall the ones we worked with, the ones who we lost.”
One team spread across countries; some in offices, some in trenches. “We don’t know when we could be in one place; it’s impossible to predict,” Grygorovych says. “The simple answer is ‘When the war ends’.”
Stalker 2 is available to play now on PC and Xbox Series consoles via Xbox Game Pass