Vyacheslav Yezhov, the brother of «STALKER Clear Sky» developer Volodymyr «Fresh» Yezhov, who died in 2022 near Bakhmut while defending Ukraine from a Russian invasion, said that he would appreciate how STALKER 2 promotes Ukrainian culture.
Vyacheslav Yezhov, the brother of «STALKER Clear Sky» developer Volodymyr «Fresh» Yezhov, who died in 2022 near Bakhmut while defending Ukraine from a Russian invasion, said that he would appreciate how STALKER 2 promotes Ukrainian culture.
Vyacheslav told about this in an interview with Radio Svoboda. According to him, before the invasion of the Russian Federation, Volodymyr Yezhov worked in a company that developed a fishing simulator. On the eve of February 24, 2022, she relocated most of her employees to Portugal, but Volodymyr refused because he decided to defend Ukraine.
«That is, he knew that he would stay here and protect Ukraine, so that it did not happen. Everyone makes their own choice, and Vova’s choice is a choice to fight to the end,» Vyacheslav Yezhov noted.
He said that Volodymyr was the head of the air reconnaissance unit of 4 people, and «always went ahead.» At one of the exits on December 22, 2022, he came across a mine, which was probably set remotely, and died from its detonation. According to the developer’s brother, he couldn’t believe it at first, but then he understood.
«It’s a pity that it is. Now, in the period of the drone war, these would be golden times for Vovchyk, for his realization as a military man, because his experience in both StarCraft and strategy games, in planning, in adjusting the balance, in the fact that he tried to cover the whole picture, and not in parts, it would be very, very appropriate and apt. People like him are necessary for us to win,» says Vyacheslav.
He said that he shared his brother’s passion for computer games much less. But after his death, he was interested to see the character Loki from STALKER Clear Sky, which was modeled after Volodymyr Yezhov, so he downloaded the game and reached the character to look at it.
«This is, one can probably say, cast in eternity, right? He has two molds for eternity — these are his children. But you can also see him in this computer game,» said Vyacheslav Yezhov.
Volodymyr’s brother said that he had not yet played the sequel to the cult Ukrainian game, but bought it and uploaded it to Steam «for reasons of supporting the Ukrainian cultural product.
«And for Ukraine, in the situation in which we are now, it is critically important to support and develop our own cultural products, especially if they go to, including not only in Ukraine, but also to an external audience, because through this and positioning us as a country,» Vyacheslav believes.
He said that he supports the approach of the developers of «STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl», who abandoned the Russian dubbing and saturated the game with Ukrainian culture.
«I am grateful to the developers and I am sure that Vova would be grateful to the developers for this attitude to Ukrainian culture, to the promotion of the Ukrainian environment, including the international audience. That is, this is something that probably should have been done many years ago, but who knew,» noted Vyacheslav Yezhov.
He added that he is grateful that STALKER has gained such publicity and that «truly Ukrainian narratives and stories are sewn into it.»
«I saw these bundles of Ukrainian matches there, and they left many, many such „Easter matches“ that are familiar and familiar to every Ukrainian, but the Russians, I don’t know, let them play with something else,» said Volodymyr Yezhov’s brother.
