When GSC Game World shut down in April, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was officially cancelled amid a fallout of funding problems and irradiated sausages, fans thought they’d heard the last of the cult-popular series.

They were wrong.

A bunch of ex-GSC Game World staffers decided to start up their own studio, Vostok Games, and release Survarium, a free-to-play MMOFPS and the “logical next evolutionary step” for the series. We captured Vostok’s social media and community manager Joe Mullin and demanded he answer our questions or face penal exile in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

All images included in this article are pre-alpha works in progress.

MyG: Tell us a bit about how Vostok Games came together out of GSC Game World’s closure.

Mullin: “Well, if we minus all the intricate details about IP rights, investors, etc., it was really a case of a group of extremely passionate and dedicated developers not wanting to give up their dreams of creating a game that would be as unique as the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. Not being able to continue with its development lead us to one conclusion – found a new company and do our best to continue.”

MyG: How much of the cancelled S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 project ended up in Survarium?

Mullin: “Well, we see Survarium as the logical next evolutionary step in the game series. Much of what we wanted to implement in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 would not have fitted with the lore of the game. Of course. we love the ex-USSR setting and locations which is why – at first – Survarium will begin in areas based around Chernobyl, with plans to expand to other areas in the future. We will not be using any actual assets directly from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, though, and all mutants, anomalies, etc. are newly designed.

We’ll obviously also have the FPS/RPG aspect in Survarium that was found in S.T.A.L.K.E.R., but we’ve expanded on it as well.”

MyG: How far along is development on Survarium?

Mullin: “Development started late March, early April this year. It’s going very well but as you would expect new changes are being made on a daily basis as we discover new possibilities.”

MyG: Are there any games that have significantly influenced the development of Survarium besides S.T.A.L.K.E.R.?

Mullin: “Each member of Vostok have their own favourite games and take inspiration from them. But for Survarium it is very much an evolution of  S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and we draw a lot of ideas from the outside world and current human consciousness. Another aspect of inspiration is the current global occurrence of regular disasters by nature. This lead us to the basic concept of Survarium, where it’s man versus earth!”

MyG: Survarium is technically an MMOFPS, but what sort of RPG features will be included in the game?

Mullin: “Survarium will feature many aspects of RPG in its gameplay, for example character levelling, customisation, creating your own clan, to name just a few. This again is something we look at expanding all the time, if the right ideas and features come to light.”

MyG: What made you decide to go with a free-to-play model for Survarium, and will the game be supported by real money microtransactions?

Mullin: “F2P was an easy choice for us. We want to deliver a game that can be enjoyed by everyone and provide a truly unique experience. Having it based purely online gives us the ability to constantly update the game with new stories, locations and features as well as keep in close contact with the players and make sure we continue to provide a game they enjoy. We will offer real money microtransactions, but we are completely against the idea of ‘pay 2 win’. Obviously the real-money items will provide some advantage – either unique visuals and/or in-game bonuses. However, the advantage provided by that purchased item will not be drastic and decisive. For example, we won’t have a free gun with 1X damage and a purchased gun with 10X damage.”

You can keep up to date with Vostok Games and Survarium on Twitter and Facebook.

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