Teaser trailer for Russian video game DISTORTION debuts at the National Centre RUSSIA

The future can be a source of inspiration, as participants at the Gaming Lobby "Gaming Session of the Future" saw when the new Russian story-driven action RPG DISTORTION was presented. The presentation was held on 13 November at the National Centre RUSSIA as part of the III International Symposium "Inventing the Future".

Video game fans learnt that DISTORTION tells the story of a world changing faster than people can adapt to it, where only those willing to embrace change can find a way forward. The gameplay combines RPG mechanics, including melee and ranged combat and levelling up, with strategy elements such as building your own settlements and managing relations with others.

The presentation gave Gaming Lobby participants a unique look at how games are made. The developers shared the results and analysis from the first playtest and outlined their plans for expanding the game's universe.

"It was crucial for us to test the game with real players to make sure the engine could run reliably under conditions as close as possible to those it would face in practice. More than 2,000 players have now taken part in pre-alpha testing. The average session lasted more than half an hour, an excellent result for an early build focused entirely on combat. The main technical achievement was keeping large-scale battles running reliably. The game met its performance targets in 97% of cases, even with large numbers of enemies on screen. We also received valuable qualitative feedback. Even at this early stage, players liked the character animations, the visual style and the mechanics of fighting hordes of enemies, which confirms the project's strong potential," said Gleb Kadomtsev, Director of Development at Game Art Pioneers.

The game is set many centuries from now. Players must unite scattered factions and tribes to confront a common threat. The game's vision of the future draws on Byzantine architecture, Soviet Constructivism and the architecture of present-day Moscow.

At the close of the presentation, Gleb Kadomtsev urged the audience to support the Russian games industry. He stressed that the success of projects on the scale of DISTORTION depends directly on the community's trust and involvement, and expressed confidence in the future of Russian game development.

"Believe in Russian developers, because we really do believe in you," concluded Gleb Kadomtsev.

The Gaming Lobby "Gaming Session of the Future" featured in the programme of the International Symposium "Inventing the Future" for the first time. It brought together games industry experts, video game developers, and gaming and esports fans. Participants explored video games as an important cultural phenomenon and discussed trends in the Russian games industry at the public talks "Psychology in the Gaming Environment. Why Do People Play?" and "Esports and Cybersecurity". The public talk and presentation "Inspired by Traditions. New Releases in the Gaming World" focused on new Russian games and the move away from formulaic storylines towards Slavic mythology, classic literature and other stories rooted in local culture. During the open recording of the podcast "Our Game. Russian Industry and Its Global Standing", experts discussed how competitive Russian game development is globally. The gaming programme culminated in the World of Tanks tournament final.

The III International Symposium "Inventing the Future" is an original project of the National Centre RUSSIA. It was held on 12–13 November and brought together more than 8,000 participants from 109 countries, including government figures, scientists and researchers, heads of corporations and business alliances, representatives of the creative industries and civil society organisations, and young professionals. The event was organised at the direction of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, under the auspices of the Decade of Science and Technology, with the support of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.