As we already wrote in the article Made in Ukraine: Ukrainian Games 2023, more than 100 video games are currently being developed in Ukraine (110 at the last count), focused on PC and console, from small indies to large AAA projects. In previous articles, we talked about projects that have already been released or should be released in 2023. This time we will talk about games that will most likely be released only in 2024-25, but some of these projects may appear in time until the new year. There are really a lot of them, so we will not be able to tell about all of them, but we will try to select the most interesting ones.
In addition to the 43 games in the previous materials, we selected another 50 games. This is too much for one article, so we have divided our study of the Ukrainian game market into two equal parts. The games are sorted alphabetically, so the first part includes everything from Anomaly Hunter to Miramixi Storyteller. And in the second, which will be released in a week, from Off The Grid to Zero Losses.
Let’s go! Made in Ukraine: what’s next!
Anomaly Hunter
Developer Hook GamesGenre Hidden Objects
Release date ТВА
A fun puzzle in the spirit of Hidden Objects. The feature of the game is time travel, which allows you to see an event and its consequences and thus look for anomalies.
The game has an interesting visual style, and each of the pictures has a whole bunch of funny Eastern eggs. And Anomaly Hunter has a Ukrainian localization and a demo version on Steam. Try it.
Ambidexter
Developer Tobi Torba GamesGenre action
Release date ТВА
Interesting narrative action in which you control two characters at the same time. The knight, the character of the book, and the girl who reads this book and invents the story of the fallen knight. Most of the game mechanics are built on the interaction of the characters, which are as if in the reflections of the world of each of them.
The game is being developed by programmer and designer Mykyta Evdokymenko and artist Yuliia Sokolovska, but for now, they are busy with another horror adventure project 4 days in ***, which should be released in May 2023.
Charming Blood
Developer Meowgical Games
Genre visual novel
Release date ТВА
A visual novel about a newly converted vampire boy, his adaptation to a new life, and his relationships with charming vampire girls. There are three girls in total and they are very different not only in appearance but also in personalities and aspirations. The authors promise many choices that affect not only the relationship with the girls but also the fate of the main character.
The game has a Ukrainian localization and a demo version on Steam, which you can already try.
Cognition Method
Developer Team CognitionGenre Puzzle, Adventure
Release date TBA
A physics puzzle/walking simulator with gravity control in a pleasing visual and audial style. The authors say that they were inspired by the classics of science fiction – 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris. Well, it’s similar to Portal, although the mechanics of the puzzles here are completely different.
Developers scattered across major game studios around the world are working on Cognition Method very slowly, but the project has not been abandoned. In October 2022, the game received a demo version on Steam, so anyone can wander through the surreal brutalist levels.
Cold Depth
Developer Black Angle GamesGenre adventure, survival
Release date TBA
Cold Depth is a puzzle/survival simulator on a deep sea station at the bottom of the Black Sea in 2058. You have to help the main character figure out what happened at the station and get out of the underwater trap by printing new parts, controlling the energy supply, and satisfying her needs for food and rest.
The authors planned to prepare the final version before the endIt’s 2022, but it hasn’t even reached Early Access yet. But the game already has a demo you can try on Steam.
Creeper Nightmare
Developer Thirteen FrogsGenre horror, interactive cinema
Release date 2023-2025
The game is based on the Jeepers Creepers series of horror films directed by Victor Salva but without official permission from the film companies, which may cause some conflicts.
Creeper Nightmare takes place in 1991. The developers are planning two storylines: about four teenagers who go on an exciting trip across America, but end up on the ominous highway of Poho County; and about one of the Creeper’s victims who survived and is trying to find a way out of the “House of Pain”.
Creeper Nightmare is an interactive horror movie with elements of first-person survival. The authors plan at least 6 different endings and a division into seasons, that is, it will be a series game.
The engine of the game is Unreal Engine 4, it is planned to use Quixel Megascans resources. The developers hope to present the first chapter of Season 0 as early as May 2023, and further chapters will be released once every 3-4 months, as was the case with The Walking Dead from Telltale Games. In parallel, DLC will be released with the stories of some characters that the player will meet in the story. The last chapters of the game will be out somewhere in the middle of 2025.
Dad’s Dice: History of Legends
Developer Mixtape GamesGenre role-playing game
Release date TBA
Fun action/RPG with very cool Ukrainian pixel graphics and roguelike elements. A kind of Jumanji, in which the role-playing game captivated the children, and the father goes to help them. The main feature of the game is the use of dice in battle.
4 heroes with their own abilities, 40 levels, and a lot of humor and jokes about classic RPGs. The game has a demo version on Steam, try it.
The game is developed by three guys who live in different cities in Ukraine and have not even seen each other.
Delusion Out of Space
Developer Unicore StudioGenre action/adventure
Release date TBA
We already wrote about the interesting space action/adventure Delusion Out of Space last summer. It’s a kind of Lovecraftian space fiction with aliens using gas technology and a giant terraformer ship. The main character of the game gets on the ship of aliens, gets acquainted with its artificial intelligence, and looks for a way to return home.
Unfortunately, the developers were unable to raise the funds needed to complete the game, so they are currently working on the project in their spare time. In addition, the format of the game will most likely be redesigned and it will turn into two separate projects. The first is reduced in size and a little simpler than originally thought, but the second will be more similar to the Delusion Out of Space, which the authors talked about a year ago. The team continues to seek funding.
Density Limit
Developer NightCat StudiosGenre puzzle
Release date TBA
Density Limit is a cinematic adventure game set in Unspace, a new world created by nature itself with the help of the best minds. Your task is to find out what happened here, why this place exists, and who is to blame for all this… mess.
Unspace has its own aesthetics and its own laws of geometry and physics. There is no top or bottom here, left is right, and a step forward pushes back kilometers. Sounds a lot like the space puzzle Antichamber by Alexander Bruce.
Full Ukrainian and English dubbing is planned for the Density Limit. The authors plan to release it in 2023.
Evercraft Mechanic: Sandbox
Developer Saint GGenre simulator
Release date March 2024
Evercraft Mechanic: Sandbox is an MMO sandbox for those who love to build. A kind of Lego Mindstorms in the virtual world. Players can build complex units and machines together, test them, and create their own entertainment with this equipment.
In fact, Evercraft Mechanic: Sandbox is already available on Android and iOS. Crossplay between all three platforms will be possible when the PC version is released. The game is free on Android and iOS, but it is not yet known how it will be on PC.
Headquarters: World War II
Developer Starni GamesGenre wargame
Release Date TBA
New project of the Starni Games studio, the authors of the game Ukraine War Stories, and the Strategic Mind wargame series, one of which, Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty, is due out as early as 2023.
Headquarters: World War II is a project aimed at 2024 and a slightly different level of simulation. This is a tactical wargame, not a strategic one, and here you control individual departments and units of equipment. And yes, it’s World War II again. The authors promise advanced characteristics of each unit and building that can be destroyed.
Three campaigns of 9 operations each for the USA, Great Britain and Nazi Germany are planned. All campaigns are tied to the Normandy landings. Headquarters: World War II was published by the well-known “strategic” publishing house Slitherine.
Glory to the Heroes
Developer Spacedev GamesGenre shooter
Release date 2024
The first trailer for the Glory to the Heroes shooter appeared on May 7, 2022, and it was a bit unexpected. The Battle for Kyiv had just ended, the Moskva cruiser had not yet been sunk and the Kharkiv region and Kherson had been liberated, but someone was already showing a shooter about the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war. And it even looked good.
In September 2022, the Spacedev Games team, which is several students of the Radio Engineering Faculty of the National Technical University of Ukraine (KPI), who had no experience in creating games, launched an unsuccessful Kickstarter, which did not collect even a fifth of the necessary funds. The guys are currently collecting donations on Patreon and getting ready for an open beta release on Steam. The beta is planned for the spring of 2023, that is, right now, and the release of the final version for III – IV quarter of 2024. For guys who haven’t made games before, that’s pretty audacious.
The developers promise a single-player campaign with missions in different parts of Ukraine based on real combat encounters. There will even be a mission for a Russian in which you have to surrender. Plus, multiplayer with different factions is planned, and here we are a little disappointed by the presence of occupiers. And who should play for the Rashists? And if there will be no places from the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the server? It’s weird.
And in the game, there will be a lot of diverse and even heavy equipment: MANPADS, MLRS, tanks, armored personnel carriers, IFVs, UAVs, etc. Glory to the Heroes uses Unreal Engine 5 and the latest videos from the game look quite professional.
I wonder which of the Ukrainian studios will be the first to decide to help Spacedev Games with the financing and publishing of this project.
Little Thieves
Developer ThundermarkGenre multiplayer action
Release date TBA
Little Thieves is a fairly hardcore multiplayer action game in which a team of four players tries to steal precious artifacts while avoiding difficult obstacles and hiding from the evil Nightmare patrolling the level.
Both cooperative and competitive modes are planned, as well as the ability to create your own levels and customize the character. The pre-alpha version of the game seemed a bit difficult for us to get fans while playing online. Little Thieves is being developed by Lviv studio Thundermark.
Lost EVE
Developer Rapid SnailGenre adventure
Release date TBA
Project from the authors of Shapik: The Moon Quest and Shapik: The Quest, only this time it’s not fantasy, but sci-fi with a girl (but not sure yet) in the main role. And it’s a puzzle platformer again.
Lost EVE looks much more gloomy than the frankly childish Shapik: The Quest and generally uses a post-apocalyptic setting. It is still unclear which of the two games will come out first. Most likely, the second part of Shapik.
Lost Region
Developer Farom StudioGenre MMO shooter
Release date TBA
In fact, MMO shooter Lost Region, a kind of Ukrainian Escape from Tarkov (it’s a Russian game, don’t buy it!), was released in Early Access back in 2019 … and received mostly negative reviews from users.
But the team did not abandon the project and now, having received funding thanks to outsourced orders, is going to restart the game. From the Lost Region, all mentions of communism and the USSR, which according to the story of the previous version, took over the whole world, as Nazi Germany did in Wolfenstein: The New Order, will be removed. After the start of a full-scale invasion, they decided to give up the communist setting, which was actually shown here in a negative way altogether. In addition, Lost Region will switch to a F2P model, and everyone who paid money for the game (except Russians) will be compensated with Premium status.
The developers believe that the first launch failed due to a lack of funding, and this time things will be different. Let’s see.
Please note the trailer above was made 6 years ago, the updated game will have a different look.
Ludopolis
Developer Andrii BychkovskyiGenre roguelike
Release date TBA
The game of Andrii Bychkovskyi, the author of the sci-fi strategy about the colonization of Mars Farlanders. This is a remake of Andrii’s first successful game, Undervault. The main trait of Ludopolis is the ability to change dungeons by choosing the rooms that will appear. The player’s task is to break through the monsters and find a way out.
Currently, the Ludopolis project is on hold while the developer ends support for Farlanders, but the author is considering whether to return to it.
Jitter Sandbox
Developer Serhii KryvosheiaGenre space sim/strategy
Release date TBA
Jitter Sandbox is a sci-fi 2D space exploration and survival game where the player takes on the role of an AI ship. The task is to save as many people as possible who survived the explosion of the space station.
The player starts with a small ship, explores sectors, rescues crew members, rebuilds the ship by adding modules found in space. In addition, various events and extraordinary situations will take place on board the ship. And of course there will be space battles.
After the full-scale invasion began, development on the Jitter Sandbox was put on hold but resumed in February 2023. Already implemented – pixel-by-pixel physical model, level editor, dialogue system, sound and music, menu structure, and much more.
Jurassic Lab: Dinosarium DNA
Developer Two Cakes StudioGenre VR puzzle
Release date TBA
Jurassic Lab: Dinosarium DNA is a VR constructor in which you have to collect dinosaur skeletons from individual bones, and then breathe life into the extinct reptiles.
The game has three types of gameplay – a skeleton constructor, a roller coaster through the locations inhabited by your revived dinosaurs, and interaction with reptiles in their natural environment.
Kargo – A neo-noir adventure
Developer by Marevo CollectiveGenre Adventure
Release date TBA
A stylish black-and-white adventure about the life of a courier driver who performs the tasks of criminals. The events of the game take place in Eastern Europe in the mid-2000s. The authors seem to have been inspired by movies like The Transporter and the amazing adventure Kentucky Route Zero.
Marevo Collective is currently finishing a game about the Russian-Ukrainian war Zero Losses, so the Kargo project has been put on hold, but as the editors know, the studio really wants to return to this game.
Kingless Land
Developer CarnadineGenre strategy, role-playing game
Release date TBA
Steam’s recommendation system thinks that Kingless Land, from Lviv studio Carnadine, which seems to have temporarily moved to Poland, is the most similar to RPG/strategy Battle Brothers, and to Heroes of Might and Magic without magic.
The gameplay traditionally consists of exploring a large open world, turn-based battles, trading, upgrading characters, learning new skills, completing tasks, and creating alliances.
The game has nice graphics and a lot of text (Ukrainian was promised). Unfortunately, the project page has not been updated for the past year and a half, and it is not entirely clear what state the development is in now.
New Arc Line
Developer DreamateGenre role-playing game
Release date TBA
New Arc Line is a serious role-playing game in a “magic-versus-technology” setting, whose creators were inspired by the immortal classic Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura by Troika Games. Among other sources of inspiration, the authors cite Dragon Age: Origins, The Witcher, and Divinity: Original Sin.
The game has been in development since 2019, but there has been no official announcement yet. At the same time, the studio has funding and, it seems, plans to spend another two years on development.
Originally the game had a classic 3/4 camera and turn-based combat system, then a third-person camera, now the developers have gone back to the old top-down camera, but the combat system will now be real-time with controlled pause.
Both technical abilities and weapons, including electric, and several schools of magic will be available to the player. Well, we are waiting for a grandiose plot about a civil war between engineers and magicians.
After the start of the hot phase of the war, many developers joined the creation of the Cyber Police game Cat Drive.
New Arc Line tops the list of the most anticipated Ukrainian games by the author of this article. So we are waiting for an official announcement, and for now, you can subscribe to the Twitter studio, where new ones appear regularly screenshots and videos from the game.
Njorun’s Will
Developer quadrupedGenre cooperative action/adventure
Release date TBA
Visually, Njorun’s Will resembles some kind of action/RPG in the spirit of Diablo, and yes, there is action here too. But first and foremost, it’s a pretty hardcore adventure for two players, in which they have to explore the world, solve puzzles, help each other using telekinesis, and, yes, occasionally fight monsters.
Njorun’s Will is an exclusively cooperative game, here it is not additional, but the main mode. The game has a demo version on Steam and support for Remote Play Together, that is, it is enough to have the game in the library of only one of two players.
The game is created by three experienced developers who previously worked in Kyiv studios Frogwares, Blackwood Studios, Gunzilla, Pixagon, and Ubisoft. The version of Njorun’s Will presented at Indie Cup Ukraine ’22 looked very high-quality and almost finished.
March March!
Developer Lepka gamesGenre puzzle, strategy
Release date TBA
March March! is an interesting combination of turn-based strategy, roguelike, and autobattler. You indicate your troops’ positions on the field, the enemy does the same for their own soldiers. Then they converge in the center and fight. Your task is to break through the defense and get to the player.
During each campaign, which is built on the principle of roguelike, you can upgrade your own fighters, discover new classes, learn spells and get new skills. March March! has a demo on Steam so you can try playing for yourself.
Metro 4
Developer 4A Games
Genre first-person shooter
Release date TVA
There is no official information, trailers or screenshots from Metro 4 yet. It is known that the game has been in development since 2020 and the authors are trying somehow to express their own traumatic experiences and the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war in a new project.
There was a recent Tom Henderson’s leak that says that the game is already fully playable and will be announced sometime in 2023 with a release in 2024. There are few details, but it seems that Metro 4 starts with a dream of the main character after which he wakes up in a base. Whether it will be the same Artyom as in the previous parts of the series is currently unknown.
As the editors of Mezha learned from their own sources, the events of Metro 4 are again taking place in Russia, and even more so, partly in Moscow. This is strange and we have already expressed our negative attitude to this fact in a separate material.
The editorial team of Mezha hav been trying for several weeks to get at least some kind of response from 4A Games studio regarding Metro 4. All our letters and messages have been ignored.
Miramixi Storyteller
Developer Gamirare
Genre role-playing game
Release date TBA
Miramixi Storyteller is a single-player and co-op role-playing game plus an RPG builder, in which everyone can create their own adventure.
With the help of game tools and editors, you can customize locations, interactive game objects, and NPC behavior and create dialogues. During the game, the master can control the world through a user-friendly interface.
The authors of Miramixi Storyteller describe the combat system of the game as pleasant, detailed, but at the same time understandable, which will allow you to fully enjoy all the advantages of combat that are in tabletop role-playing games.
So far, all this sounds a little arrogant, but let’s look at the development of the project. In the screenshots from the Miramixi game site, Storyteller looks like a third-person action/RPG with graphics that are sorely lacking in good ambient lighting.
As a reminder, look for a continuation of this material Made in Ukraine: Ukrainian Games 2024-2025″ in a week. Part II (25 games) into which the rest of the projects fell, from Off The Grid to Zero Losses.
In the previous episodes:
Made in Ukraine: Ukrainian Games 2023 (33 games)
Made in Ukraine: Ukrainian Games 2023. Patch 1.1 (+ 10 games).
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