You know, I am damn about quests. And for me, by and large, it makes no difference where and when they were made: an American classic, German modern or international indie of our time – from everything I received and continue to enjoy. But nothing left such deep scars in my soul as Russian quests. And I am sure that I do not have a similar experience alone.
Understand correctly: there are many good games among our adventures made. But the Russian quest is not just the next Point-N-Click Adventure from Russia. Russian quest is a unique cultural phenomenon.
"Nuclear Titbit". Impassable puzzles, drugs, toilets and vomit – the quintessence of the Russian quest. By the way, I apologize in advance for the quality of screenshots throughout the article: few representatives of this genre got beyond the resolution of 1024×768
Lubitical pictures
The idea of the Russian folk adventure crystallized somewhere in the early nineties. The reason is obvious: no matter how good the masterpieces are Sierra on-line or Lucasarts , They were infinitely far from an ordinary post -Soviet citizen. Even the funniest jokes about children in red shirts will not work for those who Star Trek I have not seen. But the latter was true for most gamers on one sixth of the land! So the country needed its own, close and understandable, computer games than its own music or its cinema.
True, at that time a full -fledged multimedia PC was still considered a rarity. The best that most enthusiasts could afford was ZX Spectrum, a self-propelled clone of hungry students somewhere in the institute basement. It is not surprising that the first games that could be called Russian quests appeared on this platform: not the most advanced, but cheap and common.
"Adventures of Pinocchio"
Find the very first first __ Russian quest today is perhaps impossible. However, the first commercial and little popular quest from Russia can be considered “adventures of Pinocchio” from Vyacheslav “Copper Feet” Mednonnogov. In the circles of spectrumists, this outstanding programmer was considered a very signs: already for one "UFO. The enemy is unknown " , Adaptation UFO: Enemy Unknown for spectrum, it is worthy of the place in the glory hall of domestic video games.
It is not surprising that it was Mednonnogov, together with his brother Alexei, and issued “Adventures” in Sedom 1993. Of course, it was not Point-N-Click: the mouse is generally not a particularly popular accessory for Speccy. But with the exception of this petty detail, the main attributes of Russian quests were available: a hero familiar from childhood, a controversial game logic and outdated years for ten technologies. Fortunately, it was still far from real Russian quests, so the humor in Pinocchio was kind and unobtrusive, and the game itself came out very notorious, despite the fact that it was officially considered only a exchange rate on machine schedule (appreciated, by the way, excellent).
Dizzy X: Journey to Russia. Interface with sickles and hammers is very for place
Subsequently similar to "adventures of Pinocchio" Dizzy -a lot of such adventure for ZX Spectrum in our latitudes. "The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" , Let's say. Or as many as a dozen unofficial continuations of Dizzy itself – this is despite the fact that the original ruler has only nine parts. Dizzzy X: Journey to Russia and Dizzzy Y: Return to Russia , created by Sergey Gorshkov in 1995.
But the most interesting project for its time was, perhaps, "Star Heritage" the same 1995. The game took place in the universe Elite , Then insanely popular. And it was not just a quest, but also a role -playing game with survival mechanics: let's say, death from blood loss or hunger was a common thing here. A nice quest with well -written texts and a good plot liked not only the fans of the "elite". But, unfortunately, the 2005 PC-Remake did not gain the success of the original, and on two announced continuations I had to put a cross.
"Star Heritage". Rather, text RPG than a quest
Well, God be with him, with the "spectrum". What about the main platform for quests – PC? And at the 1994 PC was the year of birth not only for Beneath a Steel Sky, King’s Quest VII or The Legend of Kyrandia: Book Three. In Kholodny Krasnoyarsk studio "Sibart" I gave birth to almost the first large Russian quest, oriented mainly to the west, under the heading "Princess: Old Russian Adventures". It turned out, however, you yourself understand how.
"Princess: Old Russian Adventures". It is a pity that Sibart did not make anything worthy of mention. Despite the controversial “first pancake”, the studio had the potential
A bulky interface, not particularly beautiful by the standards of those years, the picture and a lot of spelling errors, not to mention the weighty cranberry, – the story of the dumbbell bob Biscuit, it seems, has collected all the vices of the Russian quest. https://wg-gb-casino.co.uk/ For nothing, what kind of graphics seemed like a professional artist, and for literature – it seems like a professional writer. To King’s Quest, which the Krasnoyarsk people tried to imitate, their creation clearly did not reach. Although, of course, it is not known whether it was possible to do better in the conditions in which the development was carried out ..
If the “Princess” reminded many of the King’s Quest series, then in Advent under the heading "Ivan Lozhkin: The price of freedom" it is impossible not to see a copy of another hit. The adventures of the graduate Betelheisian Academy named after Roger Vilka looked like Space Quest IV, and sounded like a school performance. But the “Grass at the House” in the Office, adequate riddles, tolerate humor and, in general, a good imitation of “two guys from Andromeda” more than redeemed all the shortcomings of the project.
"Ivan Lozhkin: The price of freedom". You should get acquainted with the game, if only for the sake of the introductory scene
Space Quest, King’s Quest … It seems that our developers were only engaged in what the Sierra On-Line masterpieces were copied. I hasten to assure, this is not entirely true: take at least "Pilot brothers". Two heroes, between whom you need to constantly switch, the refusal of scrolling “for ideological reasons”, the structure of “one screen is one task” – yes this is poured out Gobliins!
"Brothers pilots". How did the series begin ..
And yet, despite the obvious imitation of French COKTEL VISION , In the studio Gamos They created a really authentic work – with a stylish picture, charming heroes and shallow riddles. So shallow that I still remember the puzzle with a safe-cooler: the past of the authors Color Lines And "Baldes" obviously affected her difficulties.
Unfortunately, over time, the series has degenerated into something completely non. But it is precisely the “pilots' brothers” that can be called a transitional link between just a Russian and real Russian quest, when it was not enough to repeat someone else's and it was time to do something of its own. Native. Folk. And what could be dearer and more popular than an anecdote? Only the joke is indecent.
… and how it ended
Lieutenant Rzhevsky, Colonel Isaev and commander Chapaev in a bar come in ..
Perhaps the most important Russian quest, which in many respects determined the genre, gave us a studio in 1998 S.K.I.F. Speech, of course, about imperishable "Petka and Vasily Ivanovich save the galaxy".
The voice acting of the Soyuzmultfilm, the charm of Shura is a carriage in the role of the legendary commander, a chic drawn animation, a popular flavor – everything was here. Against the background of the half -amateur predecessors “Petka and Vasily Ivanovich” looked like a real work of art. But the commercial success in the country of non-frighted piracy contributed to something else-true skill (I did not think that I would ever write this) marketers) "Books", definitely the most important publishing house for the genre.
"Petka and Vasily Ivanovich save the galaxy: reboot" . Unlike most Russian quests, you can enjoy the classic releases of "Petka" today – thanks to remectors
The idea to sell a licensed product without a box, in the usual "jewel", was no less ingenious. The game on three discs cost only 100 rubles – almost like a pirate! As a result, the pirates attached more effort to the spread of “Petka” than the underdeveloped system of official distribution: selling original discs was simply more profitable than stamping illegal. What is there, even for the author of these lines, it was Pivich ”who became the first licensed game bought for his money.
True, the continuation, hastily assembled from those who did not enter the first part of the materials, slightly spoiled the reputation of the series. However, this did not prevent two games from selling a total circulation of over 250,000 copies – it was an amazing nineties for the Russian game of the nineties – and Pivich itself will become the most long -playing ruler of Russian quests.
"Petka 9: Proletarian glamor": the last parts of remasters did not get. Maybe it is for the better
Over the 11 years of his life, Petka changed his developer studio, got rid of the chapa on behalf of the chapel and generated as much as eight continuations, although Buke should stop somewhere in the trilogy area. With the course of time, the already proletarian humor became completely obscure, the plots of frivolous were simply delusional, and the series as a whole turned from satire into modern life into a vulgar parody of itself. Well, when the place of funny drawn cartoons was taken by distorted zD-terminators, it became physically difficult to play it.
Perhaps, in a sense, the metamorphoses that took place with the “Pivich” from the release to the release reflected the tendencies of the entire genre-and he began to slide into pornography already in the beginning of the zero. And it was at this time that the concept of “Russian quest” began to denote the worst that was in the domestic game industry.
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"Shtyrlitz: Operation" Bust "". The protagonist lost uniforms soon after the start of the journey – and until the end of the fourth part of his idiotic adventures, and flaunted in the driver's underpants
In many ways, this state of affairs became the merit of the studio "Roof" and her brainchild "Shtyrlitz: Operation Bust", which was eloquently released on April 1, 2000. If you describe this game in brief, you will get a mixture of the editor-in-chief of the Speed-Info newspaper, Kalamburov in the spirit of “Its uncontrollably rushed to his homeland” and the novel by Nestor Helmotov and Pavel Ass “Stirlitz, or how the hedgehogs are propagated”. It was for a reason that the proud inscription was on the cover: “The most detrimental game of the millennium!"
Moreover, the “pins” looked pretty (as much as it could be cute budget -drawn quest), was well voiced and almost did not suffer from bugs. But the deliberate bad taste did its job: “Operation“ Bust ”” became not the very sloping, but certainly the most scandalous game of the year.
“Shtyrli T C: Opening America ". What is called, find 17 differences
It is difficult to say “went on inclined” about such a series: it was this course that she took from the start. Each next part turned out to be worse than the previous. First, Buka refused the “Shtyrlitsa”, then the series passed the last moral border and rolled into an undisguised mat and pornography. And finally, this monster acquired an ugly three -dimensional clone with an even more distorted name.
Of course, games of this subject existed long before the "Shtyrlitsa". Take at least the famous (and still lively!) Leisure Suit Larry Or even Russian "GAG: ALIDED ADVICE" 1997. True, with all its focus on sex "GAG" and even a set of erotic mini-games "Gag+" seemed innocent entertainment in comparison with the followers of the "Shtyrlitsa". Yes, even despite the porn tetris!
"Gag+: Harry on vacation". The same Tetris
In short, moralists fought in convulsions. But, apparently, stalls, inflated radio operator Kat and a box of vodka in the inventory, was so much so that the new Russian quests knocked on the market three times more actively actively more actively.
On mold and linden honey
Following the heroes of the Civil and Great Patriotic War, images of the heroes of the war of 1812 fell under the distribution. Fortunately, "The Adventures of the Lieutenant Rzhevsky" passed completely unnoticed for most players. Maybe due to amazing simplicity and conciseness (all this disgrace was held in just an hour), or maybe due to an unexpectedly low degree of vulgarity.
"The Adventures of the Lieutenant Rzhevsky". A typical model of "humor"
Went to the collection of interactive jokes and Chukche ( "Chukchi in the big city"), and vovochka ( "Vovochka and Petel", even if she’s a little not about that), and even a little girl from children's poems-straps ( "Scarecrow: sixth feeling"). Unless there was enough Simulator of Armenian NARD.
Outside of oral folk art, Russian quests also found something to disfigure. It is enough to look at the names: "Burathyllo", "Misty Hedgehog", “Nuclear Titbit” (for its sake “Buka” was even specially renamed “B I Ku”), “Umanetto. Complete preview!", "Safe nationality agents", "Dumb patrogy", "Nobody knows about sex … except Grandfather Makar"… best of all these works characterize one word: squalor.
"Scarecrow: sixth feeling"
But even quite harmless headlines like "12 chairs: how it really was ", "Revolutionary quest" or "DMB" could hide (and still hid) a fierce game behind them.
All these and many are many! – Other games came out at different times: from about the end of the nineties to the end of the zero. But the general handwriting in them is felt immediately: bugs, lousy drawing, kindergarten or, conversely, completely unsolvable riddles, primitive humor below the belt, flat characters, stupid plots and general cheapness. As a result, all this led the Russian quest to where it followed: under the fence, where the genre is safe and hesitate.
"New Bremen" According to the cartoon of the 2000. I still remember one of the most idiotic, in my opinion, mysteries in Russian quests: in order to get the shape of a servant, it was necessary to combine chicken with an apple, and then apply the resulting combination to the exit from the pantry. When a servant entered the pantry, the detective beat him with chicken on his forehead, and used the apple as a gag ..
Fortunately, next to the freaks of the freaks, as if in a parallel reality, there were quite sensible, interesting, unusual games for themselves. Yes, they were also far from the ideal, but they were not inferior to the best creations Gamos or S.K.I.F.
Say, in 2003, the light saw the light "Full pipe" From Kharkov Pipe Studio. The adventures of the mysterious uncle in a surreal world inhabited by personalities like an egg, vuluseda or a quick aunt, is not so easy to forget. You can’t even say that these same people have a hand to the God -dummy “umanetto. Complete preview!"
"Full pipe". Psychedelia as it is
Personally, the “full pipe” always seemed to me some kind of creepy. But we almost did not make real horror quests, because the Russian quest-by definition __ humorous. There were even fewer serious games among Russian adventure than just good ones – that is, very few.
This cohort can be attributed only "Black oasis" , Atmospheric creations Phantomery Interactive – Sublustrum And "Fobos: 1953" , – Yes, a dilius "Archives of the NKVD: Hunting for the Fuhrer" from Spline Games. The latter, against the background of the senile genre, generally looked like a history textbook next to the binder of the magazines "Mother -in -law".
Sublustrum. Sad, mysterious and very beautiful game
One way or another, sensible projects were a drop in the sea, and by the 2010s, Russian quests finally ceased to exist. Their target audience washed away somewhere in a muddy swamp of social networks, and new quests from the post-Soviet open spaces can almost not be distinguished from American or European.
Take at least Frogwarees, who have been making adventure about Sherlock Holmes for many years and are now literally a step away from the Major League. Or one of my favorite modern developers Denis Galanin, author Hamlet or the Last Game Without Mmorpg Features, Shaders and Product Placement And The Franz Kafka Videogame. Or Gingertips Games Studio , Developers of the sweetest Foxtail. Or creators The Great Perhaps from Caligari Games , who are now working on a very promising look Whatverland (V Steam Free prologue is available, I strongly recommend that you familiarize yourself). Yes, you never know them yet!
The Franz Kafka Videogame. Only the game on the works of Daniil Harms could become cooler
The fact that Russian quests died out as natural as the end of adolescence: stupid and awkward, but at the same time rebellious, romantic and, most importantly, far from the eternal period of life. You do not need to be ashamed and you can even love it – the main thing is to get out of it in time. And then, already from an adult point of view, finally make your Syberia, Monkey Island Or at least Woodruff and the Schnibble of Azimuth. The Russian Game Industry has already completed the first part of this process – maybe it's time to take the second?
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