Assassination attempt in 1942

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Assassination attempt in 1942
Studio Charles Games
Publisher Charles Games
Senior Developer Vít Šisler
composer Bára Kratochvílová
Jan Kratochvíl
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 October 31, 2017
platform macOS , Microsoft Windows
genre Point-and-click adventure
medium Download
language Czech
Age rating
USK released from 12

Assentat 1942 is a Czech computer game from the genre of point-and-click adventure games , released in 2017. It is classified as a serious game . Attentat 1942 deals with Operation Anthropoid , the assassination attempt on Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich , a high-ranking official of the Nazi regime during the National Socialist occupation of the former Czechoslovakia , i.e. the time of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia .

action

The assassination attempt and the Nazi occupation are told from the perspective of those who experienced them themselves. The main character, the grandfather, was arrested by the Gestapo shortly after the assassination attempt on Heydrich. In the game it has to be found out why the arrest came about - the players have to reconstruct this from the statements of contemporary witnesses of the event. Live-action videos are mixed with archive material and scientific research, the game is based on dialogues, interviews, interactive comics and authentic film material: the player stays in close contact with contemporary witnesses.

Development and release history

Attentat 1942 is a substantially revised, expanded and multilingual localized version of the exclusively Czech-language game Československo 38-89: Atentát was published in 2015. Assentat 1942 was mainly carried out by professors of history from Charles University in Prague and historians from the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Republic developed and funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. As in Československo 38-89: Atentát , Assentat 1942 is also offered explicitly for teaching purposes.

Although Assentat 1942 won the main prize with the “Most Amazing Game Award” at the A MAZE festival in Berlin at the end of April 2018, it was initially neither offered to customers via the official website of the developer nor to customers assigned to the Steam Germany sales platform . The game uses the subject caused numerous characteristics of Nazism within the meaning of § 86a of the Criminal Code such examples swastikas. Due to the influential jurisprudence from the 1990s, there was a de facto blanket ban on such content in video games, especially since the self- regulatory body USK refused to assign age ratings in such cases. After a change in administrative practice in August 2018 by the Supreme State Youth Authorities responsible for the USK labeling process, Assentat 1942 was labeled with an age rating of 12 years and over upon request. Since September 10, 2018, it has been the first video game available on Steam in Germany that has been approved according to this new rating practice. An official German translation has been available since then.

Despite the USK age rating, Google initially refused to publish the ported mobile version in the German, Austrian, French and Russian regions of its Play Store , which is justified with references to "Nazis". Google's Czech Republic division reached out to developers to further investigate the rejection. Eventually, Assassinat 1942 was released in all Play Store regions except the Russia region.

reception

Meta-ratings
Database Rating
Metacritic 75

Assassination attempt in 1942 received mostly positive reviews. The Metacritic review database aggregates 13 reviews to a mean of 75.

Awards

The game has won the following prizes so far:

Czech version from 2015
  • "Czech Game of the Year" - best debut, 2015
  • "Games Learning Society Showcase Award" - Main Prize, 2015
  • "GALA Serious Game Award" - main prize, 2015
  • "European Conference on Game Based Learning Award" - Main Prize, 2015
international version from 2017
  • "Most Amazing Game Award" - Main Prize, 2018
  • "IGF Excellence in Narrative" - ​​Finalist, 2018
  • "Game Development World Championship" - second place, 2017

Press reviews

The following overview of the press reviews was taken from the game's website.

  • "It captivates from start to finish by humanizing history brilliantly."
  • "Attentat 1942 will be a treasure not only for a fresh perspective on a widely reported period of time but also for the amount of work that you can see the developers put into making sure their story fit within the confines of history."
  • "Attentat 1942's poignancy managed to stir me on several occasions, and its ending in particular was touching."
  • "Assassination 1942, as a game, is an excellent meld of historical documentary authenticity and solid genre gameplay."
  • "Attentat 1942 does a beautiful job exploring a tragedy with all the respect and sensitivity that its survivors are due."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Attentat 1942: Winner of the "Most Amazing Game Awards" at the A MAZE 2018; problematic publication , online at: 4players.de/
  2. ↑ a b c Award-winning Czech computer game "Attentat 1942" is not yet allowed to be played in Germany, broadcast by Radio Praha (Radio Prague) from May 4, 2018, online at: radio.cz / ...
  3. ↑ a b c Curious: Game forbidden in this country wins German prize , online at: pcgames.de/
  4. ↑ a b c Attentat 1942 , lots of information on the game's website, online at: attentat1942.com / ...
  5. ^ Assassination attempt in 1942 comes for school lessons - News | GamersGlobal.de. Retrieved August 1, 2020 .
  6. ^ Assassination attempt in 1942 | Discounted educational licenses for schools. Retrieved August 1, 2020 .
  7. ^ Vít Šisler: Contested Memories of War in Czechoslovakia 38-89: Assassination: Designing a Serious Game on Contemporary History . In: Game Studies . tape 16 , no. December 2 , 2016, ISSN  1604-7982 ( gamestudies.org [accessed August 1, 2020]).
  8. ↑ 'Attentat 1942': What the new game can do about Nazi crimes and why it has not yet appeared in Germany , online at: motherboard.vice.com/
  9. ↑ Stephanie Stark: From Wolfenstein to the assassination attempt in 1942: § 86a StGB. In: Grimme Game. October 30, 2018, accessed August 1, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Assassination attempt 1942: USK grants age rating from 12 years (update) , notification to Gameswirtschaft from September 10, 2018, online at: gameswirtschaft.de / ...
  11. ↑ Hello! We're finally available in German (y)! , Developer announcement of September 10th, online at: steamcommunity.com / ...
  12. ↑ Jana Ballweber: Serious Game on National Socialism - Google does not allow critical play in Germany. In: netzpolitik.org. July 30, 2020, accessed August 1, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Alissa McAloon: Despite gov't approval, Google rejects Attentat 1942 from Google Play Store in Germany. In: Gamasutra. July 20, 2020, accessed on August 17, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Great news! Initially rejected, assassination is finally available on Google Play. Compare text in the published image: "(...) everywhere, except Russia". In: @CharlesGames_cz. August 14, 2020, accessed on August 17, 2020 .
  15. ↑ After some wait due to updating availability, Attentat 1942 is now fully available in Google Play Store in Germany! (...). In: @CharlesGames_cz. August 17, 2020, accessed on August 17, 2020 .
  16. ↑ a b Metacritic.com: Assassination attempt in 1942. Retrieved on August 19, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Tim Stone : The Flare Path: Czechs and Choppers , in: Rock, Paper, Shotgun , online at: ...
  18. ↑ Anthony Marzano : Review: Assentat 1942 , in: Destructoid , online at: destructoid.com / ...
  19. ^ Moshe R .: Review: Attentat 1942 (PC) , in: Digitally Downloaded , online at: digitallydownloaded.net / ...
  20. ↑ Jeremiah McCall : Attentat 1942 - Review , in: Gaming the Past , online at: gamingthepast.net / ...
  21. ↑ Rebekah Ocker : Assentat 1942 Review , in: GameCritics , online at: gamecritics.com / ...