When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, it threw the entire country into chaos. Missiles fell on Ukrainian cities and Russian soldiers pushed over its borders. For developers at Ukrainian developer GSC Game World, it was a harrowing time–they had to decide whether to flee the fighting and the country or stay behind to help and even to fight.
Documentary War Game: The Making of Stalker 2 covers the development of Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl before and during the Russian invasion, bringing life to an often deeply emotional and frightening tale of what the studio’s 300 employees faced. As developers worked to complete a game about which many felt deeply passionate–2008’s Stalker: Shadow of Chornobyl is notable for its commercial and critical success, as well as the fact that it’s a proudly Ukrainian game–they found themselves facing increasing tensions as the tensions between Russia and Ukraine heated up in 2022.
What’s most notable about the 90-minute documentary is its look at the incredible, often heroic actions of the people at GSC Game World. As the situation grew more worrisome, GSC executive producer Mariia Grygorovich convinced her husband, CEO Ievgen Grygorovich, that the studio needed to make sure it could get its staff and their families out of Kiev, where the studio was based. Under Mariia’s direction, GSC commissioned buses that were ready 24 hours a day to take developers hours west, toward Ukraine’s borders with NATO states.
GSC finally decided to leave one Sunday morning, taking 187 developers and their families west. It was a move that proved prescient, as the invasion kicked off only days later. Because of that forethought, GSC was able to get those developers and their families over the border to Hungary and eventually to Prague.
Many interviewed for the documentary struggled with hardship and guilt of wondering if they did the right thing by leaving, and the pain of worrying about loved ones who’d remained in Ukraine.
Though it had to rebuild its studio from scratch, GSC managed to continue its work on Stalker 2 and keep developers employed despite their displacement.
Even more powerful are the stories of the 139 developers who chose not to leave Ukraine with the rest of the studio, many of whom joined Ukraine’s armed forces to fight the invasion, or to provide aid to other civilians. Some who remained in Ukraine continued working on Stalker 2 however they could.
The documentary is a fascinating look at the terrible circumstances facing Ukraine, as well as their perseverance of its people and GSC’s developers in the face of war. You can watch the documentary today on the Xbox YouTube channel and the GSC Game World YouTube channel.
