Denys Horokhovskyi: The lapot-footed mice cried, pricked themselves, but kept on translating S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2

There are things you can watch forever: how fire burns, how water flows, and how Russian imperial pride shatters against the insurmountable desire to play a Ukrainian game

The story surrounding the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is the perfect illustration of the total schizophrenia in which the neighboring country lives. Let's break this phenomenon down to atoms.

On one hand, we have the official position of the Russian Federation. Russian deputies and lawyers are throwing tantrums: they're demanding a complete ban on the game, and threatening to jail anyone who buys it (even through workarounds or VPN) under articles on "treason" and "financing terrorism."

And here, by the way, they're absolutely not lying. GSC Game World has never hidden its position. Moreover, the studio's owner, Maksym Krippa, systematically and on a massive scale donates to the Armed Forces of Ukraine — the count of transferred equipment, pickups, minibuses, and drones runs into the thousands. Every kopeck raised is literally converted into "bavovna" (cotton/explosions). In other words, the Russian state is openly telling its z-citizens: "Don't touch this, because the developers will invest your own money into drones that will drop VOGs on your own heads."

On the other side of the barricades is the deep-seated Russian gamer. GSC consciously and demonstratively threw the Russian localization out of the game. No voiceover, not even subtitles. Moreover, the game is saturated with Ukrainian context: from "Non Stop" energy drinks to Ukrainian music on the radio and narratives broadcasting a Ukrainian view of the world. The developers literally pointed them in the direction of that well-known ship.

What does the "great nation," which daily screams about its hatred for everything Ukrainian, do? Maybe they proudly go play their own "patriotic" masterpiece "Smuta," on which they spent billions of rubles?

No. They unite on forums, whine, and start translating the game by themselves. This is all you need to know about the "Russian world." A country that steals everything because it can't create its own. Once upon a time they stole movie plots and car blueprints from the "damned capitalists," and now they steal a video game from the "ukronazis."

Just imagine the degree of this humiliation. People who support the destruction of Ukraine sit through the nights and, for free, letter by letter, translate the "enemy" product for themselves.

They will listen to Ukrainian music at bases in the Zone. They will read dialogues with Ukrainian meanings embedded in them. They will work for free on the product of a man who directly finances their destruction. They will literally adapt for themselves a world that openly despises them, because their own industry is incapable of creating anything besides budget embezzlement and militaristic cringe.

This is no longer just a story about a video game. This is a medical diagnosis. Russians are so culturally and technologically bankrupt that even under threat of criminal cases and contrary to their own "patriotism," they are forced to steal and translate Ukrainian content. To consume Ukrainian content. And — even through pirate torrents — to create the informational buzz that helps the Ukrainian game stay in the global top hits.

To request a correction, please send an email.