New Game Is A “Middle Finger” To Russia, Ukrainian Dev Says

Frogwares, the Ukrainian game developer behind The Sinking City and the Sherlock Holmes franchises, has shared the first details on its next game. Not only that, but the company says the game’s existence is a middle finger to Russia.

In a statement, Frogwares said it has begun work on a new project, codenamed Project Palianytsia, despite the war in Ukraine still affecting the studio. The company also just recently announced it was awarded grant money from Fortnite developer Epic Games, which it will use to help its Kyiv-based developers move to other parts of the country or to other parts of the EU. Frogwares is headquartered in Kyiv and also has an office in Dublin, Ireland.

As for the new game, Frogwares says Project Palianytsia contains a “mix of eldritch horror coupled with Victorian-era mystery,” adding that the game is aimed at fans of The Sinking City and Sherlock Holmes.

Frogwares also released four pieces of concept art for the game, which the studio plans to show via an “official reveal” in the summer.

In a defiant statement, Frogwares said it is announcing its new game as a “middle finger” to Russia. “We are revealing the game now in this way to simply show people we are pushing on and also as a clear middle finger to those who thought they could just roll into our country hoping to disrupt and ruin our lives,” it said.

Before Project Palianytsia, Frogwares was working on an “open-world title” that was in the pre-production phase, but the studio has now shifted to this new game.

“We are now making something almost entirely from scratch which is a lot harder under these circumstances so we needed to think smart about what is realistic for us. The idea was greenlit for this very reason as it is something our current team and setup can deliver compared to doing pre-production on another open-world title, which is what we were doing prior to the war,” it said.

Palianytsia is a popular baked bread in Ukraine, and is considered part of the country’s national cuisine, Frogwares said. It also has another purpose, one that has become more commonly used during the war.

“It’s also the equivalent of phonetical Dark Souls for russians who often can’t pronounce it correctly when trying to pass off as Ukrainian. And so now it’s often used in the field as a test to quickly identify possible affiliation of unknown individuals,” Frogwares said.