New Game? Oh Yes They Did!

[Pete]

Okay, so it may not exactly be a Silent Storm game, but a popular Russian mod for Silent Storm - the Sickle and Hammer mod - is now set to become a full-blown game as the creators of the mod have teamed up with Nival Interactive.

 

Unfortunately I can't read Russian, so can only post a few screenshots, but if anyone does read Russian and feels like helping us out, please do!

 

Yes, that is a tank. Yes, I agree it's SUPERB!

 

The Russian website is up at https://www.nival.com/hs_ru/

[el_slapper]

Okay, so it may not exactly be a Silent Storm game, but a popular Russian mod for Silent Storm - the Sickle and Hammer mod - is now set to become a full-blown game as the creators of the mod have teamed up with Nival Interactive.

 

Unfortunately I can't read Russian, so can only post a few screenshots, but if anyone does read Russian and feels like helping us out, please do!

 

Yes, that is a tank. Yes, I agree it's SUPERB!

 

The Russian website is up at https://www.nival.com/hs_ru/

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

... Bad thing my former colleague who read Russian has changed of job... But it really sounds promising. I just hope they won't push the required specs too far, I have to play S2 with an already low graphics setting.

[Pete]

Well I read this morning that they're hoping the release date will be later this year! Granted that's for a Russian release, and they're in the process of looking for a distributor outside Russia, but I'm therefore assuming it will require little more than S2/S3 specs and use a tweaked engine.

 

I could be wrong, but as I've said though, I'll try and find out more information for you all later on

[Slaughter]

This is fantastic news! We'll get some more information out of Nival as soon as possible!

[Pete]

It may take a while to load because of the translation service, and it doesn't translate perfectly into English, but here's the Home Page for the game, and here's the Crew behind it.

 

Hope that gives a little more insight into what it's about

[Slaughter]

Okay, some more details from Wolf_Pack can be found here. I'll quote:

 

In short:

1949 sets the scene for the game. The main action takes place at the Allies occupation area in Germany, somewhere in Bavaria and adjacent territories.

 

You're a Soviet military intelligence operative sent to this area to establish contact with Polish group, which acted aginst Nazis during the War, but dissappeared. Sudden reappearance of this group and repeating attempts to contact with Soviet intelligence seem quite strange and worrying...

Your mission is to infiltrate the occupation area, find the group and make the things clear. Although the mission looks simple enough, the things get weird.

 

Main Features:

- grasping non-linear plot

- large and free gaming world (fallout-style) which reacts to your actions (if you wipe out a village, you'll be sought for and non-welcomed in this area), your actions in one location may influence the other locations.

- detailed heroes and relations between team members (e.g. rogue mercenary refuses to ambush his friends, turns agressive and things like that)

- relations between various renegade groups, criminals and intelligence agencies

- non-linear dialogues and "quests"

- "karma" count (too negative means you started the WWIII)

- game time - clocks are ticking and you may find that you're too late for some events (ambush a convoy or meet with an informer, steal documents while a person is not at home)

- clothes and documents - proper clothes and (fake) IDs may help you to walk freely and unquestioned whereever you like.

E.g. dashing woodland fighter weilding a tommy gun will immediately draw police attention in a town, while civil garments will help you stay relatively intact.

 

Well, that's for the starters.

el_slapper have been nice enough to translate it to French. Here it is:

 

En bref:

Le jeu se déroule en 1949. L'action se place en zone d'occupation alliée, en Allemagne, quelque part en Bavière et dans les environs.

 

Vous êtes un agent Sovietique de renseignement militaire envoyé dans la zone pour établir le contact avec un groupe Polonais, qui s'est battu contre les Nazis lors de la guerre, mais a disparu. La réapparition soudaine de ce groupe ainsi que les tentatives répétées d'entrer en contact avec le renseignement Soviétique semble étrange et inquiétant...

Vôtre mission est d'infiltrer la zone d'occupation, de trouver le groupe et de tirer les choses au clair. Bien que la mission semble simple, les choses tournent de manière étrange.

 

Caractéristiques principales:

- intrigue captivante et non linéaire

- monde de jeu grand et libre(à la fallout) qui réagit à vos actions (si vous massacrez un village, vous serez recherché et malvenu dans les environs), vos actions à un endroit peuvent influencer d'autres endroits.

- héros détaillés et relations entre membres de l'équipe (par exemple un mercenaire refuse de tendre une embuscade à des amis, devient agressif et ainsi de suite)

- relations entre divers groupes louches, criminels et des agences de renseignement

- dialogues non-linéaires et "quêtes"

- décompte du "karma" (trop négatif signifie que vous avez initié la trisième guerre mondiale)

- temps de jeu - les horloges tournent et vous pourriez découvrir que vous arrivez trop tard pour certains évenements (tendre une embuscade contre un convoi ou rencontrer un informateur, voler des documents tant que leur propriétaire n'est pas sur place)

- vêtements et documents - des vêtements adaptés ainsi que des cartes d'identités(falsifiées) peuvent vous aider à marcher librement et sans eveiller de questions ou que vous alliez.

Par exemple, un combattant en tenue de camouflage portant une mitraillette Tommy attirera immédiatement l'attention des policiers de la ville, là ou une tenue civile vous aidera à rester intact.

[Pete]

Now if they can only find a publisher for outside Russia, I can add it to my Christmas list Sounds awesome. Complicated, but awesome

[Slaughter]

Indeed

[Slaughter]

el_slapper translated the text to French. You can find it under the English description. Thanks mate!

[Pete]

What's the other one Nival are working on as well? Night...something - another one based on the S2/S3 engine. We'll be spoiled!

[Slaughter]

H&S and Nightwatch...EXCELLENT!

[Pete]

There's plenty of screeens for Nightwatch up too at https://www.nival.com/nightwatch_ru/art - looks cool Guns? Who needs guns?!

 

I think this is definitely going to be a big year for Nival!

[Slaughter]

More information on H&S available in this thread. Look at Balor's posts (mostly page 2).

[DoomMunky]

Holy crap, that sounds pretty incredible... It seems to be taking all the things I wish SS had in it and pumping them up a freakin' ton, almost to the detriment of the original game...

 

Guess we'll have to wait and see, of course. I'm definitely excited for it, though!

[Slaughter]

Me too! Hope it gets as good as it sounds!

[DoomMunky]

So, it's my understanding from the above link that this game might see a May release in Russia, with a potential English conversion to follow? Is this right?

[Slaughter]

Yes, I believe that's how it will be. We'll probably have to wait a while for a English version though. They probably have it ready (Silent Storm was finished in English and the translated to Russian) shortly after the Russian version is done, but getting a publisher on board and having him do his job is what takes time.

[DoomMunky]

Yeah, gotcha. Thanks.

 

I imagine that, with the poor sales figures for SS in the US it will be quite hard to get a US publisher/distributor. I also imagine this is what is holding up the US release of SS:S.

 

Maybe if I imagine that it will be released very shortly, it will be...

[Slaughter]

Yeah, gotcha. Thanks.

 

I imagine that, with the poor sales figures for SS in the US it will be quite hard to get a US publisher/distributor. I also imagine this is what is holding up the US release of SS:S.

 

Maybe if I imagine that it will be released very shortly, it will be... 

I imagine you are right sadly . The advertising in the US was a joke however (to my knowledge), so I think a game like this have a somewhat higher potential than S2 showed.

[DoomMunky]

I imagine you are right sadly . The advertising in the US was a joke however (to my knowledge), so I think a game like this have a somewhat higher potential than S2 showed.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I've heard the complaint about the marketing a lot. Was it really that bad? I remember gaming mag ads that just had the running soldier from the box art, and that was about it. I was under the impression that S^2 was an action-y type game, perhaps an FPS (and didn't really care, actually, because I knew nothing about it...).

 

So yeah, awareness (on my part) was pretty low, it sounds like. But it is a pretty hard sell to an American MTV audience. If it's not freakin' Tony Hawk Underground or Madden 20000054 or Unreal Champion of the Ultimate Tournament, US gamers don't know or care (like me!). I mean, turn-based? Sounds boring. WWII? Sick of THAT, already. What else? Fully destructible 3D environments rendered beautifully in a unique engine with a quirky sense of humor and a lot of replayablility? Hmmm, now you're talking....

 

They shoulda asked me to do the marketing.

[Slaughter]

Hehe, I'll be sure to tell them

[DoomMunky]

Thanks... Put in a good word for yourself, too.

[Disowned]

 

Well, boys and girls, I can happily say that the game is out now. I picked up a copy of it here in Novosibirsk, Russia. That's Siberia to you and me. It's a 3CD jewel case and it uses that same StarForce copy protection. Another thing that was surprising was the little registration form that fell out when I opened the case. I didn't think Russians even knew what software registration was, considering they pirate the bejesus out of everything.

 

Started the first mission and already I'm stuck. Seems I'm on the checkpoint between East and West Berlin and it's necessary for me to sneak across (I'm guessing). But I always gets discovered and my bullets don't seem to do any damage to the enemy no matter how many times I hit them. Not even a scratch. I unloaded my silenced mg on this guy and I watch him shake from the impact of the bullets, but his status continues to stay as: Zdorov (healthy). They then shoot me with single burst and I die. End of mission. I guess I'm doing something stupid and probably I should review the cutscenes again, but my Russian is not so good and I don't have the patience.

 

Well, there's a double barbed wire fence between the American and Russian zones that looks to be impassable, although I must admit I haven't tested it beyond first looks. The only way through seems to be past 2 patrolling guards outside, 2 guards that exit the guard post when you trigger them by approaching the guard post, and one big freaking tank that sits in the road, which appears about 1 minutes after you begin the mission. I thought I heard it begin to move moments before the last time I died, so I'm wondering if it's possible to use it as a screen to move to the American side.

 

I stopped playing for a couple hours because I need to boil water for a shower here. Local government hasn't been paying their bills, so no hot water for about a month here. Ahhhhh... Russia.

 

If anyone has any questions, I can try and answer them.

 

Seeya!

 

Disowned

[Slaughter]

Yeah, try to sneak along besides the tank. Besides that, keep us posted on your progress! I've been waiting to hear about it, but seen no posts on the Nival forum until you posted now.

 

Boiling water to shower sounds like fun

[GoVoR]

Ah, the land of Siberia - rich on natural resources, poor on developed amenities. That and two weeks of summer can set u drinking vodka w/ the locals in no time.

 

Though I grew up in Moscow and traveled across the great landscape of my native country, I never ventured that far north. But for a westerner, you are experiencing first-hand Russia's two main curses/fortunes - cold & roads (i.e. infrastructure) that cursed Napoleon and Hitler advancement, and yet still hinders contemporary economical developments.

 

But, back to the game. I was wondering if the version of the Hammer & Sickle add-on you bought requires the Russian version of the original game. I would think so. But, I'm curious if the add-on will work on the English version. I'll be happy to cover the cost and shipping charges to get the version to (warm) NYC; heck, I'll even throw in some self-heating packets. I will try to translate the game's nuances since as I understand it's not linear. This could prove a long delay to answer your question, but it might be still faster before the English version is officially released.