The historical strategy game Europa Universalis V from Paradox Interactive was released on November 4. The very next day, Russian players created a modification that changes the correct names of Ukrainian regions in the English localization.
The historical strategy game Europa Universalis V from Paradox Interactive was released on November 4. The very next day, Russian players created a modification that changes the correct names of Ukrainian regions in the English localization.
Ukrainian gamers on social networks drew attention to this.
«The most important change in Europa Universalis 5 is the starting date. We start the game in 1337, and this gives us the opportunity to play for the Ukrainian principalities. In particular, Kyiv, Galicia, Volyn, Chernihiv and try to give the hell to the Muscovites», wrote the author of the GameWay gaming website, Pavlo Kiburga.
Europa Universalis V is a new installment in the global historical strategy game developed by Paradox Tinto and published by Paradox Interactive. In it, players can take control of one of a hundred nations and lead them to prosperity over five centuries.
«Explore an alternative history, shaping a new world according to your ambitions. What if England had satisfied its continental encroachments? And China had built an intercontinental empire? And would the Mongols still rule Russia? Every action opens the way to the original course of history,» the project is described in Paradox.
Ukrainian players noticed that in Europa Universalis V, the developers added Ukrainian, not Russified, toponyms, such as Kyiv, Chernigiv, or Zaporizhzhia. This also applies to the names of local rulers.
Ukrainian player Dmytro Mulin contributed to this, actively pointing out inaccuracies in the names to the developers and asking them to replace them.
«I put so much energy into making sure that the flagship historical game of the decade at least correctly describes our cities that it’s already personal, sorry for the annoyance. Just as in Sumy they haven’t remembered for a long time that Soborna Street was Lenin’s, in 10 years even the most obstinate will get used to the fact that Kyiv is the norm», noted Mulin.
However, these changes did not go down well with Russian players. Some of them began writing complaints to the developers on the Steam forums, asking them to move away from the «modern nationalist rhetoric of Ukraine.»
«It is absolutely anachronistic and absurd to suddenly abandon the name ‘Kiev’ in English — a linguistic convention rooted in centuries-old historiography — in favor of Ukraine’s modern nationalist rhetoric, a 21st-century de-Russification campaign that has no bearing on how English-speaking people adapt foreign names», reads one such post.
Other Russian players have even created a mod that changes Ukrainian place names to Russified ones, as well as changes the appearance and names of rulers. This mod has currently garnered 250 views on Steam.
«There will be a Cossack state in EU5. True, some kind of hybrid of Zaporizhian Sich and Hetmanate, but maybe someday they will make two separate options. The name has already been corrected to Ukrainian Zaporizhia,» said Dmytro Mulin about the Ukrainian content in the game at the end of October.
According to him, the developers have also added localized population classes for Ukrainian cultures, which usually look like Nobility, Clergy, Burghers, Commoners. However, if users provide equivalents from other languages, they are localized «for immersion». Therefore, in the Ukrainian regions of Europa Universalis V, you can find Znat, Horodiany, and Prostoliud.
