Vivat Slovakia

Vivat Slovakia is a third-person (TPP) action game developed and published by the Slovak studio Team Vivat. Wanting to create this game, the developers asked the community at the beginning of 2022 to partially cover the production costs on the crowdfunding platform Start Lab. In the end, they managed to collect six times the amount of the minimum fundraiser goal. Undoubtedly, one of the reasons for the great interest in the project was the clear inspiration from the Grand Theft Auto series by Rockstar Games. The other reason would be the unique setting.

Plot

Vivat Slovakia is set in post-communist Slovakia, specifically in its capital, Bratislava. The presented events take place in the mid-90s, shortly after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia was completed in 1993. Both countries that emerged as a result - the Czech Republic and Slovakia - gained sovereignty.

The young democracy at that time had to deal with deeply rooted communism in the society, as well as with corruption, violence, theft, and a widespread lust for money. The apparatus of power used the "services" of local gangs, which - under the cover of law - openly manifested their influence. Beatings, extortions, and more or less bloody liquidations (for example, blowing up trap cars) were common.

The player takes on the role of a secret agent, whose methods of operation can easily be confused with those used by criminals. He operates "undercover", seemingly working as a taxi driver and not drawing too much attention - just a bald man in his thirties. His task is to bring order to the streets of Bratislava. The story campaign for this purpose consists of over 20 missions and is based on real events.

Mechanics

Since the capital of Slovakia is not the smallest, the game's open world map covers an area of 10 square kilometers (in the real world the area of this metropolis is 367.5 square kilometers). The player can move not only on foot, but also using public transport or over 50 unique vehicles. The latter are inspired by cars characteristic of the region and era, which were then implemented in Vivat Slovakia. The game also features import foreign cars, used by the Bratislava's elite who could afford them.

The creators applied a similar approach in the case of murder tools. Each of them - whether we're talking about firearms or close combat weapons - was indeed used in the criminal underworld. As for their locality, a telescopic bat from the game can serve as an example, introduced at the expense of the "American" baseball bat.

The player primarily makes use of vehicles and weapons by performing tasks that are part of the main storyline, which pushes the story forward. In addition to these missions, there are also side quests available, in which the NPCs often feature people who donated the appropriate amount of money for the production of the game. Moreover, in Vivat Slovakia there is no shortage of minor activities or opportunities to explore the city in search of secrets.

Trivia

Music and the option to adopt a dog are also quite important elements of Team Vivat's game. In the first case, the game offers radio stations like LFO - containing songs from the era created by two popular Slovak DJs (Yanko Kral and Subtension) - or those without songs, but with conversations that reflect the atmosphere of the times, which are led by stand-up comedians known from the television program Silna Reci. In the second case, the developers collaborated with the Sloboda Zvierat animal shelter, as a result of which as many as 14 breeds of dogs appear in the game.