Verecocha wrote:

Kow wrote:

Really nice looking game, the intro is spectacular. They don't seem to have an option to put the audio in Russian and subtitles in English though (it's either all of one or the other), which is a pity as the voice acting in English is atrocious

It is a bit of a stunner and I’ve really enjoyed the first couple of hours but as you say, the voice acting is woeful.

I'm not sure if it's the script, or a dodgy translation of the Russian, or just the voice acting, but the protagonist is a dick.

It looks fantastic so it's definitely worth a try. From what I've played it's definitely not terrible.

I feel iffy about it, tbh. Yes, brutalist architecture and Soviet era art and design is interesting... but I wouldn't be able to enjoy anything that feels pro-Russia at the moment.

I don't have any problem with it being Russian. It was in development way before the Ukraine war and I would suppose the team is not in the employment of the Kremlin. Did you drop all American made games when they invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, or when Trump was in power? I don't think playing the game in any way is supportive of Putin.

Everything I’ve read pointed out how much of an aggressive prick your character is so in our purely based on that.

Kow wrote:

I don't have any problem with it being Russian. It was in development way before the Ukraine war and I would suppose the team is not in the employment of the Kremlin. Did you drop all American made games when they invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, or when Trump was in power? I don't think playing the game in any way is supportive of Putin.

Apparently there are some links between the publisher/Devs and Kremlin owned entities so...

I will avoid it for that reason, but I watched the world cup and I like Hogwarts legacy, so I'm not going to judge anyone for playing this.

My issue is the uncertainty over whether any profits from this might end up going back to Russia and indirectly funding a fascist invasion of another country, and there's enough connections to organisations that it seems somewhat plausible especially considering their entire economy is also mobilised for war at this point. If that is the case then I'd feel pretty sick to my stomach even it was a penny's worth. It's just a video game, not fuel or food so I'm perfectly alright just not bothering with this for however long it takes for the war to be over and major political change to occur.

This article really does make me think twice about buying a copy now of Atomic Heart:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/metro.co.uk/2023/02/22/ukraine-asks-xbox-valve-to-ban-atomic-heart-for-alleged-russian-ties-18329780/amp/

If the Ukrainian government doesn't want me to buy it, then that's kind of good enough for me.

COD etc may have glorified America's illegal invasion of Iraq, but I don't see how you can draw parallels between that and the invasion of Ukraine. Russia is deliberately targeting civilian populations in what is tantamount to a war of extermination - hardly the same thing is it?

Hundreds of thousands died in Iraq. The place is still fucked. There's a parallel. If there's a genuine reason to boycott the game, I will. It's not like it's a must have. One of the reasons seems to be that the developer has not come out and condemned Putin. Which is absurd. I don't think being imprisoned or worse is a risk worth taking to promote your game.

The US don't target civilians but they don't give a fuck about them either. No qualms about bombing the shit out of Cambodia and Laos, who weren't even involved in their war. But anyway, you're right. Different debate. Get me info about why we shouldn't play this and I'll happily ditch it.

Away from that discussion though, game looks stunning.

"You bought an American game therefore you must support all future awful regimes" is a pretty compelling argument I must say

In the space of ten days it appears I have become both a transphobe AND an ally of Ukranian genocide. Will have to update my CV

Moot_Geeza wrote:

I'm not itching to play either so they're easy decisions for me. I don't fancy my chances of resisting if Kanye West funds a grid tactics Watership Down game though.

Lol yeah I'm not playing this now, knowing who it's helping. I suppose it's irrelevant now because MS have probably already paid to put it on GamePass, irrespective of how many people play and download it? Or do they portion out money based on who's playing the game?

Also, regarding whataboutism, the Iraq war was 20 years ago, it's never too early to say "no, this is not okay". Things change, attitudes move on, etc.