The Rise of Organized Crime in 1990s Slovakia: Vivat Slovakia Game Release and Story Details

The nineties were wild in Slovakia. Almost every day, people died in shootouts, larger cities were under the thumb of criminal gangs, and politicians and mobsters were often at one hand. The new action story game Vivat Slovakia takes players to the time when Bratislava became the center of Slovak organized crime. The title, which earned the designation “Slovak GTA”, will be released on April 18.

Vivat Slovakia is not only the name of the expected game, but also the song that was supposed to become a tool to win the elections. In 1994, when the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia was losing favor, its members, including the chairman of the party Vladimír Mečiar himself, sang a composition praising the beauty of Slovakia and its people. “As part of the election campaign, they sent tapes to Slovaks so they could listen to it,” says producer Roman Lipka.

The upcoming story game will be divided into two parts, just like the mentioned audio cassettes. The first ten missions players will be able to play already in Aprilthe sequel and with it the final version of the game will then wait until the end of the year.

The reduced map of Bratislava, which they will be able to explore, will be continuously improved by the developers since the first publication. Vivat Slovakia will be released in early access. This means that players will be able to play it in its unfinished state and give feedback to the studio that will influence its final form.

To experience a time that young people only know from stories

The story begins in the early 1990s, when the case of stolen “shepherd’s writings” shook Slovakia. In March 1992, the weekly Respekt published a series of articles that revealed the behind-the-scenes of the case, which became etched in the public’s memory under the name Tisova vila. At the end of 1990, the newly appointed Minister of the Interior, Vladimír Mečiar, was supposed to have instructed his subordinate to steal documents from the StB district administration building in Trenčín. The StB was subject to the federal interior, so Mečiar, as a minister of the republic, had no right to manipulate the files.

“The player puts himself in the shoes of the person who committed this act. Mečiar, however, claimed that he thought that instead of the StB district administration, the so-called “Sheep Research Institute” was on the scene. So, exactly as it is stated in the official case file, we also have in the game,” reveals the developer. According to Lipka, the aim of the game is not to attack politicians, but only to provide an authentic experience from a time that the young generation of players only knows from the stories.

Photo: Team Vivat

The main character, the bald “hulk” Milan, is an undercover police officer. He obtains information about objectionable persons under the guise of a Bratislava taxi driver. “He is a bit of a disgraced man. The revolution and the subsequent division of the Czech Republic and Slovakia represent a chance for him to restart. He wishes to put an end to the things he did during the socialist period,” says the head of development.

The game is also unique in that it will only be released in Slovak dubbing, but Czech and English subtitles will be available. Slovak actor Marián Labuda Jr. will lend his voice to the tough protagonist. In the story, players should also hear Lukáš Frlajs in the role of Milan’s colleague nicknamed “young ear”, Kristina Svarinská as an inquisitive journalist or humorist Rasťa Piška.

The kidnapping of the president’s son and the explosions

The script for Vivat Slovakia was consulted by the team with security analyst Milan Žitný, who participated in the story of the 2015 documentary series Mafiáni. In a multi-part series, he maps the Slovak underworld of the “wild” nineties. “The team and I also read many books that map this special period of modern history,” says the producer.

For example, the kidnapping of President Michal Kováč’s son appears in the game. It was probably the biggest excess that took place in the territory of the Central European area in connection with politics in the 1990s. Even two decades after the act was committed, there is speculation as to whether the secret service under the direction of the then Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar was behind the kidnapping. He had to come to a radical solution because the former head of state was critical of his government.

Photo: Team Vivat

The wild post-revolutionary period will also be reminded of numerous explosions in the game. These in various businesses accompanied competitive battles or were related to the intimidation of victims of robberies by the mafia. The first of them took place shortly after the revolution in Bratislava, at the door of a now defunct fast food restaurant in the Nové Město district. “We deliberately chose curious situations that will be fun for the players and can easily be translated into a playable form,” explains Lipka.

After the announcement of the development of Vivat Slovakia, the developers were also contacted by people who have their own experience with the Slovak underworld. “Usually, these were people who met the mafia bosses only peripherally or by chance. We did not consult the script with them, but we reflected some of the experiences they shared with us in the story,” reveals the head of the team.

Although Vivat Slovakia will be considerably smaller, it was Grand Theft Auto, together with the Czech title Mafia, that inspired the developers. “The first Mafia was our childhood, everyone in the team played it. Its story is linear, the missions follow one after the other and the player follows a fixed story line without having the opportunity to engage in other activities in the open world. We originally wanted to go for it in the same way. In the end, however, we preferred an open world, albeit smaller than that of Grand Theft Auto, but still comprehensive,” explains Lipka.

The map of Bratislava covers roughly ten square kilometers of the lively city. Its creation took 3D designers Jaromír Miko and Dominik Lopušný roughly a year and a half. “We currently have 1,251 buildings in the game. However, not all of them are equally challenging. For example, dominants will take longer,” admits Lopušný.

Photo: Team Vivat

In addition to story missions, the world will also be filled with side quests and activities. The player can distract himself, for example, by going to functional horse races or to the now-defunct Bratislava Lunapark, which operated in Petržalka on the right bank of the Danube on Tyršová nábreží.

The faces of the non-playable characters in the city are mostly real people. As part of the crowdfunding campaign, in which the studio received 59,943 euros (at the time over a million and a half crowns) for development from fans, enthusiasts could purchase their own character in the game for 150 euros (almost four thousand crowns). For a thousand euros, the supporter could get his own statue on the Bratislava square.

Trailer for the most anticipated Slovak video game Vivat Slovakia

2024-02-17 14:14:47


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