Vladivostok Developers Cancel SVO Shooter 'Best in Hell'

Whatever anyone says, the modern gaming industry has many successful works from Russian developers: the visual novel «Bunny» (18+), the first-person shooter Atomic Heart (18+), the multiplayer shooter Escape from Tarkov (18+), and others.

Periodically, novice game studios from Vladivostok also try to make a name for themselves. One such studio in 2024 was NoName Company—an anonymous team of developers who started not with a small indie project but aimed for a cooperative shooter dedicated to the special military operation. A small trailer was enough for the news of the development to be picked up not only by local Primorye media but also by federal outlets.

Thousands of users subscribed to NoName Company«s social media, but that same year, the company unexpectedly stopped maintaining public pages without explanation. VLADIVOSTOK1.RU compiled the story of the never-released shooter »Best in Hell« (18+) and tried to understand why the unusual project never saw the light of day.

«Our game is not a mindless shooting gallery»

News of the game«s development appeared on 10 April 2024—it was a standard post where NoName Company briefly introduced themselves and their plans for the project.

«The game is made by the independent game development studio NoName Company. The team»s goal is to develop the direction of game creation in Russia and popularize them worldwide. Our game is not a mindless shooting gallery. It is harsh battles with a smart enemy, where you are nothing without your team. Our game is not mindless ultrapatriotism. We want to tell the story of the horrors of war, which, unfortunately, is sometimes unavoidable,« the message said.

On 16 April, without a major PR campaign, the developers published a sensational cinematic trailer that sparked hundreds of discussions. In it, they showed the game«s graphics, shooting, and several mechanics, and indicated that the project was being developed on the Unreal Engine 4. But one of the key moments was the appearance of a 3D model of Yevgeny Prigozhin—head of the Private Military Company (PMC) »Wagner«.

The developers also wrote that over the year they had communicated with combat participants and learned their stories, and the plot of the game was based on the film of the same name «Best in Hell» (18+) by Hero of Russia Alexei Nagin, which is based on one of the assault operations carried out by PMC Wagner fighters during the special military operation. For this, the studio obtained the appropriate license.

«We, a young and ambitious company from Vladivostok »NoName Company,« present our first project—the computer game »Best in Hell.« We believe that today there is a lack of patriotic game projects based on historical events in modern Russia, within which we find ourselves today. Therefore, this is not only a gaming project but also a social one, but it is important to us that the game is interesting. The game was created without state or any other financial support. This project is the personal initiative of the company»s founder,« the developers wrote.

NoName Company became the first studio to publicly announce the development of a game based on the special military operation, and this could not help but cause a stir. Dozens of bloggers and streamers recorded reactions to the trailer. Major gaming publications and portals also covered the news: «Igromania,» CyberMeta, GoHa, and others.

However, the developers almost immediately faced problems: just two hours after the trailer«s publication, YouTube blocked it for unacceptable content, and later deleted the studio»s channel as well.

The reaction from players, including Russian-speaking ones, was predictably mixed. Some praised the developers, considering their decision to develop a game on the topic of the special military operation bold; some simply liked the idea; and others condemned the connection to PMC Wagner, attempts to play on patriotism and politics, and the technical aspects of the game. Some believed that the trailer used CGI animations and the actual gameplay would differ significantly from what was shown.

CGI animation (Computer-Generated Imagery) is the creation of moving images, special effects, characters, and worlds using computer graphics and 3D modeling, which allows for generating realistic or fantastical scenes for film, games, advertising, and VR/AR technologies.

On the same day, 16 April, «Igromania» published an interview with NoName Company head Alexander. He said that it was important for him and his colleagues to build the game around current combat actions despite the riskiness of the chosen theme.

«We want to show the senselessness and hopelessness of war through gameplay, but at the same time, we don»t want to forget that games are made to be played. The key idea of the film «Best in Hell» was in the phrase «They think the same as we do.» This is a powerful message, and we want to express it through gameplay. And of course, we want to show the heroism of our guys at the front. These are people who, despite all the horror and overcoming their own fears, carry out assigned tasks. For them, it is far from just «running around with a rifle and shooting,»« Alexander said.

He also stated that there would be no interaction with civilians in the game, to avoid pressuring the player«s emotions and »manipulating the audience.« He also gave some information about the story part: it was expected to take 6–8 hours to complete and would be divided into several stories of different special military operation participants—from a career military officer to an inexperienced soldier who hadn»t thought about being sent to the front just yesterday.

«Situations will run parallel: sometimes the player will see the consequences of their own actions from a minute ago, and sometimes, conversely, create the holes in walls that another character passed through half an hour ago,» Alexander said, clarifying that the developers chose the games Spec Ops: The Line (18+) and F.E.A.R. (18+) as main references.

Spec Ops: The Line is a cult classic third-person military shooter from 2012, developed by the German studio Yager Development. The game is known for its deep, dark plot about the psychological breakdown of heroes in Dubai devastated by combat. The characters face the horrors of war, war crimes, and their own hallucinations.

F.E.A.R. is a series of video games in the first-person shooter genre with horror elements, consisting of three main games. It was created by the American studio Monolith Production. In the plot, the player controls a special forces soldier, fights clone supersoldiers and a paranormal threat—a ghost girl named Alma, as well as mystical phenomena occurring in the city.

In the same interview, Alexander clarified that the team consists of 11 people of different ages and not all are from Vladivostok, but this, in his opinion, is only a plus.

«Actually, it»s very convenient. You wake up earlier than everyone, evaluate the work all day, make plans, and in the evening there are calls, motivation, and debriefings,« the studio head said.

He also emphasized that the game was originally planned as a solid mid-tier project with a reasonable budget, not a huge multi-million dollar one.

There were many promises

On the day of the interview with Alexander, an audio broadcast took place in the studio«s VKontakte group, during which two other developers, Sergei and Andrei, stated that they would release a 15-minute demo by the end of May that everyone could play, but later it was postponed to mid—late summer, and the full game was promised no sooner than in two years.

«It will be something like a small weapon demonstration, a shooting range, and a small level. We haven»t decided which one yet, but it will be something like clearing a floor of a building. We have several levels, and we«ll choose the one that seems best,» the developers said.

They also refuted accusations of using CGI animations in the trailer and claimed that the in-game graphics would be even better, as they have a small studio where they can make animations based on real human movements.

In addition to the story branch, the developers promised that the game would have a cooperative mode and repeatedly emphasized that, despite the limited budget, the quality of «Best in Hell» was very important to them. They estimated the maximum price at which the game would be sold at 200 rubles (about $2 at current rates).

«Initially, we thought about distributing the game for free, but unfortunately, it is still partly a business project, albeit a small one. We don»t expect to recoup or even cover the money spent on development, but we believe that 200 rubles is the maximum amount accessible to people,« the developers said.

Interestingly, the studio did not announce any fundraisers or call on users to donate money—on the contrary, comments requesting an account for financial support were often ignored. Later, the developers stated that they had their own funds to work on the project, and the only thing they allowed was the possibility of pre-ordering shortly before the game«s release.

«We do not accept donations or any monetary contributions, although, of course, we are very pleased that so many people are willing to help us. We adhere to the principle »do it yourself first, then ask for help.« We currently have funds for development, and when everything is ready, we might consider some investments, but that»s not certain,« one of the publications stated.

On 18 April, NoName Company published another video that heated up interest in the project—a small shooting demonstration by game designer Alexander, nicknamed Sleeping.

The studio«s social media actively grew, and in less than a month, the VKontakte group gained 10,000 subscribers, and NoName Company shared sketches of game characters and location illustrations, receiving dozens of enthusiastic reviews.

The developers also actively conducted now-lost live streams at the time of this publication and even appeared on the broadcast of Vladimir Solovyov«s program »Solovyov Live« (18+), where they talked a bit more about working on the game.

At some point, scammers even tried to profit from the project—fake groups and Telegram channels appeared online, whose owners called themselves employees of NoName Company and offered cooperation.

On 20 June 2024, a half-hour interview with a PMC Wagner fighter with the call sign Charon, who was consulting the developers, appeared online. The video, which seemed like another confirmation of the studio«s serious intentions, turned out to be the last—no more information appeared on any of NoName Company»s social media pages.

Loud announcement, quiet exit

Now, we can only guess why the developers simply disappeared. Users still leave comments in the VKontakte group: some are sad about the project being frozen, and others hold out hope that NoName Company is too engrossed in the game creation process and simply has no time for managing social media. Sometimes, you can also find people who missed the loud announcement in their time and don«t understand whether the project is suspended or not.

«What»s with the development, anyone know? Did they shut down the shop or something? The admin was last online over a month ago...« wrote user Dmitry Viktorovich.

«Where did you go? I»m really waiting for the demo...« commented Denis Davydov.

In addition to sad comments and questions, some users began to speculate about what exactly caused the sudden departure. The most popular version: the game, connected to PMC Wagner, was shut down due to the mutiny of Yevgeny Prigozhin, which occurred a year before the studio«s last publication.

Users also suggested that Prigozhin himself financed the game as a way to advertise his PMC, and development was suspended due to the cessation of investments after his death in a plane crash.

On the evening of 23 June 2023, head of PMC Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin accused the Russian Defense Ministry of allegedly conducting a missile «strike by the Russian Defense Ministry on Wagner rear camps,» after which an armed uprising by the PMC began, and it took control of Rostov-on-Don. The Defense Ministry officially refuted Prigozhin«s statement, and a criminal case was opened against him »on the fact of incitement to armed mutiny.« In Rostov-on-Don and other cities, authorities announced the »Fortress« plan. The mutiny lasted a day, after which Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko negotiated with Prigozhin.

Yevgeny Prigozhin died on 23 August 2023 as a result of the crash of a private Embraer Legacy 600 plane in Tver Region, flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Besides Prigozhin, 9 other people died: PMC Wagner commander Dmitry Utkin and other crew members.

Some linked the freezing of the project to the fact that it is based on the special military operation, which implies that the game would show the deaths of not only Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers but also Russian ones.

There were also people who considered the entire game a scam, and the published screenshots, concept art, and videos—a show.

«The company appeared out of nowhere, registering social media right before the trailer release. The company has no previous projects. They started actively posting various concepts. The question arises: why didn»t they post earlier, and suddenly started in spring? At the same time, given the project«s ambition, they promise a demo in just 3 months, but the game»s release in 2 years. Not a single gameplay video. This is only what«s on the surface. If you dive deeper into analysis, I»m sure you can find even more signs, but why?« wrote Alexei Krasnov.

What exactly the possible scam entailed is unclear. NoName Company did not collect money from users and refused donations. Pre-orders also never appeared on any gaming platform.

No game, and developers hid behind masks

Trying to understand the topic, the VLADIVOSTOK1.RU editorial team began searching for information about the developers, but it turned out that the studio, which unexpectedly announced itself, carefully hid all information about its employees.

During joint streams, they only called each other by first names or nicknames (Alexander, Andrei, Sleeping), and in webcam videos, they were only in frame from the neck up or in masks covering their faces. Also, on some recordings, the hosts« voices underwent slight processing.

It is possible that the developers hid their faces for security reasons, as, according to them, accomplices of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at some point announced a bounty for any personal information.

There is also no information about the date the studio was created or whether it is registered as a legal entity, and the only administrator in the NoName Company VKontakte group is a page named Best In Hell, whose owner hasn«t been online for over six months. The developers completely deleted their profile on the Yandex.Zen platform but left an email for feedback. We wrote there two months ago but never received a response.

«Best in Hell» is a vivid example of a modern gaming project that attracted a lot of attention and created huge hype but fizzled out in just three months, existing from April to June 2024. Whether it was a not very well-considered creative impulse by a young studio or a carefully thought-out PR campaign is unclear. Some people still hope that the developers will give at least some comment on the state of the game.