There was a birch tree in the field: in Russia they are creating a game about a revived Slavic forest

In Russia, they are developing a game called "Children of Birch", which aims to give a new interpretation of the familiar Slavic fairy tales and myths. As the authors promise, they will not have Solovy the Robber or Baba Yaga, instead they will focus on showing the old Russian fantasy from a new angle. The main antagonist in the project will be a revived gloomy forest, controlled by Koshchei and captivating adventurers. Experts say that gamers are tired of traditional patriotic games based on fairy tales and the attempt to diversify the usual format can bear fruit.

Game plot

Student team Uvuik Smoniti from Russia is developing a new game "Children of Birch". The idea for the project emerged in June 2024, and active development began in August. In less than six months the young studio has prepared a playable prototype.

Screenshot from the game "Children of the Birch"

Photo: Uvuik Smoniti

Currently, the studio employs 12 people, most of whom are university students. The list of universities includes the State Academic University of Humanities, the Russian Technological University MIREA, the Higher School of Economics, the National Institute of Design, the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, and the Finnish university WinNova. The developers are united by a common goal - to tell the story of a revived gloomy forest that torments travelers and adventurers caught in it.

- We have Slavic folklore as inspiration and material for interesting references and themes. We will not copy standardized ideas, we will not have Snake Gorynych and his fairy tale friends. We have come up with something new within the setting without breaking it or destroying the immersion in the world. Our key reference points are such projects as the slasher Sekiro about medieval Japan or the platformer Nine Sols with references to Eastern culture. These games are built in their own unique universes, but do not copy ideas from traditional mythologies, but create something of their own, making many references to primary sources. We have a similar task," said project manager and game designer Stepan Kuznetsov.

According to the author, their game will be an inspiration for gamers, will familiarize people with the Old Russian culture in a new way, and some can even help to overcome life's hardships. As an example, Stepan Kuznetsov cited the cult game series Dark Souls, which helped people cope with depression and difficult periods in life. The authors of the project expect that "Children of Birch" can also become something more than just a good game.

In the story, an ancient forest is under the rule of the powerful sorcerer Koschei. People in this forest can not die definitively and are subjected to incessant torment. The main character was left to die, tied to a tree, but he survived and dreams of getting answers to his questions. To do this, he will have to get deep into the forest and challenge his master, as the official synopsis of the project says.

- Gameplay is similar to the classic games of the "metroidvania" genre, the name of which is created from two cult games Metroid and Castlevania. But unlike them, the game is made in the genre of dark Slavic fantasy and is done in pixel-art style, referring to games from the 1990s, - added Stepan Kuznetsov.

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Will the game be popular among users

The niche of games in the category of "platformer based on Russian fairy tales" is definitely not filled, there is room for several successful projects. Especially if it turns out to set a stylistic distance from similar games like Slavania, says the director of the Streamfest gaming festival Mikhail Lisetsky.

- Russian fairy tale comfortably lies in the genre chosen by the authors. There is a free choice of path: "You will go to the right... you will go to the left...", and matryoshka approach to the design of levels: "Koshcheeva's needle is in the egg, the egg is in the duck, the duck is in the hare...". The analogies are, as they say, on the surface," said the expert.

Screenshot from the game "Children of the Birch"

Photo: Uvuik Smoniti

Dark fantasy in the format of Slavic legends is a bid for success, said Svyatoslav Pegov, director of the Center for Sports Programming, Algorithmic Robotics, Cybersecurity and Cybersport at the Ufa University of Science and Technology. According to him, the audience is tired of the traditional "lubochny" style and the attempt to rethink Russian fairy tales will bear fruit, and the plot explanation of the main character's immortality, as in the Dark Souls series, will be a pleasant bonus.

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- The game is made by students to gain practical experience and fill their portfolios with high-quality examples of real game-designing works. They adequately assessed their strengths and took on a project that is realizable for them and does not require too much production capacity, huge financial, time and labor costs, as well as too complex graphics," said Alexander Gorbachenko, director of the Intercontinental Cybersports League.

Dark fantasy is popular now, it is enough to recall such hits as Elden Ring and the "Witcher" series of games with their multimillion sales, said Daniil Arzhakov, a lecturer at the cybersport department of the Game Industry and Cybersport Faculty of Synergy University.

Screenshot from the game "Children of the Birch"

Photo: Uvuik Smoniti

- It gives hope for the future of the domestic video game industry, which means it will find its interested audience," he said.

There are now several thousand projects of a similar genre in VK Play and Steam. To make people want to play it, you need active marketing, as well as the search for a publisher. Without an experienced publisher, such a game a few times glimpsed in the news - and that's the end of it, said an expert in the game industry Oleg Dobroshtan.

- It is important to make a game, but the key factor is experience and teamwork," he added.

If the authors manage to make an exciting gameplay in the spirit of Dead Cells or its analogs, they will have a chance to attract a mass audience, said the expert.