S.T.A.L.K.E.R.2 became the first large-scale video game with well-integrated Ukrainian narratives.
This was stated by communications consultant and publicist Yuriy Bohdanov, who spoke in a comment to Ukrinform.
“They (the developers – ed.) managed to create a model of a product into which they can organically integrate the Ukrainian agenda, music, everyday life, a certain context in a language understandable to the average American or European user,” Bohdanov explained.
According to the expert, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.2 is the first Ukrainian game of this scale, in which Ukrainian culture and narratives are successfully integrated, which offers excellent opportunities to broadcast them to the world. It is being sold in record numbers, it is based on an already globally acclaimed series, and its developers are a purely Ukrainian studio, already known in the world for the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and the Cossacks series of strategy games.
The communications specialist says video games should be used as a tool of cultural diplomacy, since modern games involve complex plots, they’re practically movies with gaming elements, in which players’ involvement is higher than that of movie viewers.
“The Ministry of Culture should, in its ‘external’ efforts, first of all, finance Ukrainian game developers, authors of TV series – those formats that can promote us in the West and the rest of the world,” Bohdanov noted.
According to the pundit, the Russians have been doing this for a long time. “They have long been working in this direction at the state level, but they are too ideologizing their content, which is why it is rejected in Western nations,” says the communications expert. “And we need cultural diplomacy with modern tools that are in real demand.”
As Ukrinform reported earlier, a million copies of the Ukrainian video game “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl” by GSC Game World were sold just in two days after its release.
“S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl” is a post-apocalyptic shooter, which is a continuation of the cult series S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Source: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.2 first large-scale video game with Ukrainian narratives - expert
