What the Ukrainian makers of a post-apocalyptic video game can teach us about survival

They’d been on edge for months. As winter wore on and Russian troops amassed on Ukraine’s border, they prepared a fleet of well-stocked buses, whose drivers stood by around the clock just outside the company’s headquarters.

When the troops invaded on Feb. 24, 2022, it was 4 o’clock in the morning and in that eerie dawn, GSC Game World had already activated their emergency plan to relocate their employees and their families to a small town near the Ukrainian border.

For this game studio, this wasn’t a game.

“The first day was chaotic and unnerving. For most, it began with frantic early morning calls to relatives across the country… Ask anyone how they found out, and they’ll tell you as if it happened 10 minutes ago – something etched into memory forever,” says Mariia Grygorovych, creative director at GSC.

“It was probably the worst day of our lives. Certainly one of the worst. I wouldn’t say there was outright panic. We had to stay focused every second. The emotional toll hit later, once most of the evacuation process was completed. But the fear was real, and so was the danger.”

Read the rest of the story on Source and how GSC is in the homestretch of finishing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, the sequel to an award-winning PC franchise that has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. Originally scheduled for release in 2022, it will be available Nov. 20 on Windows 10/11, Steam, Xbox and with Game Pass.

Lead photo: Mariia Grygorovych, creative director at GSC