"I would say that maybe half of our studio is currently working under the constant threat of being killed," says Evgeniy Kulik. Evgeniy is a

Stalker 2: 'We want to show Ukraine can make great games'

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2024-10-04 05:30:05

"I would say that maybe half of our studio is currently working under the constant threat of being killed," says Evgeniy Kulik.

Evgeniy is a technical producer on Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, an upcoming video game developed by Kyiv-based developer GSC Game World.

BBC Newsbeat spoke to Evgeniy about how Stalker 2's developers kept going, losing colleagues to war, and why the studio feels it's so important for them to complete the game.

In 1986, when the country was under the control of the Soviet Union, there was an explosion at the nuclear power plant 90 miles from Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

At least 31 people were killed in the immediate aftermath and the blast created a fire that burned for 10 days, sending a plume of radioactive smoke across Europe.

A 30-mile exclusion zone was set up around the nuclear reactor to keep people out, although the Ukrainian government had begun to admit tourists into the area before Russia's invasion.