“Go fuck yourself in the same direction as the ship did.”

I asked the organisers ofIndie Cup- a Kyiv, Ukraine-based digital festival of games like Pahris Entertainment’s upcomingSpace Wreck- to help me double-check the Ukrainian version’s alterations. The Indie Cup team’s Arsenii Tarasov was happy to oblige, and also volunteered a few further examples of more… adventurous localisation from his own research, supported with screenshots.

There are also apparent references on inventory screens to Ukrainian state messaging during the war. “'Є перевага' literally means ‘there is an advantage’,” Tarasov told me. “A reference to the governmental digital initiatives' branding during Zelensky’s tenure: for example, “єПідтримка” (“there is support” - the COVID relief payouts for citizens), “єРакета” (“there is a missile” - a mobile app that can be used by anyone to provide info about russian missiles launched to Ukrainian territory), “єВідновлення” (“there is renovation” - a governmental relief program for renovating houses and apartments damaged by russians), etc.”

One line of police dialogue referring to the game’sScavengersfaction has been altered from the English “Couldn’t all these assholes bite it out in the Badlands?” to a Ukrainian phrase that translates as “Couldn’t all this rusnia bite it out in the Badlands?” As Tarasov explains, “‘rusnia’ is a Ukrainian derogatory term for russians. Scavengers are the stereotypical Eastern European gang in the game’s universe.”

According to Tarasov, one crouching character pose you can select when using photo mode now bears the Ukrainian text for “like a Russian”. Tarasov added: “no comment needed”.

We’ve asked CD Projekt for comment on the changes.

As you’ve hopefully read elsewhere on here,Cyberpunk 2077’s first and only expansion, Phantom Liberty, releases today. In ourCyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty review, Graham deemed it “a brilliantly written and performed spy-thriller”.

This seems as good a moment as any to say thatSpace Wreck- which launched into early access in December and hits 1.0 in October - looks pretty decent too. It’s a post-apocalyptic isometricRPGin theFallouttradition in which you explore a stranded spaceship. It’s said to be relatively short for a CRPG, but very deep. There’s ademo, if you’re interested, and here’s a trailer.