Kujlevka readies for first contact in April

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

An "adventure game of otherworldly encounters" coming next month on Windows and Linux

We've yet to (at least knowingly) make first contact with an alien species, but how would such an encounter play out? There have been many depictions of just such a meeting aross various mediums, but we can expect the next in Callback's upcoming Kujlevka to look quite unlike any that have come before.

The game gets its name from the small "rundown" Russian village where the action takes place, circa post-Soviet 1992. These are dark times for the remote farming community with little hope or prosperity, but all that changes when a "flying saucer crashes into a local chairman's house" and the town suddenly becomes a "bustling center for science, exploration, and the supernatural." As one of the leaders of Kujlevka, it's up to you represent humanity to these extraterrestrial visitors, study them, and decide who else should be allowed to enter the spacecraft to meet them.

Presented in a semi-realistic art style, Kujlevka "isn't your stereotypical alien encounter." At first the aliens seem peaceful enough, content to "steadily observe our species and our vast dreams and desires," but who knows what their real intentions are, or what conflicts your decisions might trigger. As "the middle man between humanity and endless space," it's your job to "learn all you can about these visitors before they have the opportunity to study you." The stakes are immeasurably high, so choose wisely, because what you do will "ultimately determine history’s outcome."

While no specific release date has been revealed just yet, Kujlevka is nearly here, due to launch on Steam sometime in April for Windows and Linux.