We are moved by all the responses to Svoboda 1945: Liberation! As a thank you, we just released our first patch, fixing some issues with our card minigame and little fixes here and there - by the way thanks for reporting them to us, our info@charlesgames.net is here if you need something.
And to add to the cheerful atmosphere, reviews started coming in and they are better than we could have asked for. To keep it short, we complied them together:
And thanks so much for the reviews here on Steam as well. We read each and every one and they help us tremendously, so if you played the game, please write us a review. Much obliged!
That's all for now, but mind you, we have a lot up our sleeve in the coming months and weeks, including the Linux port.
Talk soon!
Ondrej Charles Games
💎Svoboda 1945: Liberation is here! 💎
Hello, I hope you're having a great day because ours definitely is. Why?
Svoboda 1945: Liberation is finally released!
After three years of intense development with the past few months full of polishing, testing, and making sure everything is in order, we are happy to say: it's done. As of now, players all across the world can immerse themselves in a game that we poured our hearts into and stories that are often left untold.
So join us! And if you know about anybody who'd be interested in our unique take on the historical game, with moving personal stories, captivating playable memories of the past, or interactive comics, let them know. Any little bit helps.
We’re also going to have a stream later today at 19:45 CET (13:45 ET) with the whole studio, celebrating! Join us via the event page (you can also set up a reminder) at https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1076620/view/2992064312017115328
And we are so glad we are sharing this journey with you, our great fans. It could not have happened without you.
Hello, we just wanted to say hi from all of us here at Charles Games as we are making final touches and polishes to the game we have been working on for the last three years!
We are so much looking forward to hearing what you'll have to say once we release it tomorrow on August 3, 16:00 CET (7:00 PT / 10:00 ET). We'll also be doing a stream later at 19:45. See you all there!
We're happy and thrilled and eager to finally show Svoboda 1945: Liberation to the public!
So see you tomorrow, Ondrej
Svoboda 1945: Liberation Release Stream ⭐
Special occasion needs a special event! As promised, we're gonna celebrate the launch of our long-awaited Svoboda 1945: Liberation with a developer stream 🎉 Join our core team with lead designer Vít, lead programmer Ondrej, studio lead Lukas and the rest of the team.
Ask us anything, hang out, have a good one and help us launch our long-awaited game. The stream will be taking place here on Steam.
So add it to you calendars and add Svoboda 1945: Liberation to your wishlists so you won't miss the release on August 3, 16:00 CET (7:00 PT):
Svoboda 1945 releases in 6 days: historical rundown
Hi! Ondrej from Charles Games here with one of the last posts before the release of Svoboda 1945: Liberation on August 3, 16:00 CET!
Yes, that's right and we cannot be more thrilled - our three-year work goes public in 6 days. Which is the best time to give you, our fabulous fans, some historical context for the story that'll start unwinding on Tuesday.
You might know some of these facts, but even in Czech school this is not something commonly talked about. So - let's get into it.
Where does Svoboda 1945: Liberation takes place?
The unofficial name of this region is Sudetenland, the Czech-German border area. Our village is situated in the Žatec region. Roughly there:
The region had a sizable German-speaking minority since the inception of Czechoslovakia, so it's been a multi-ethnic republic from the start.
What happened in Sudetenland during World War 2?
The key date is September 30, 1938, when the Munich Treaty happened. Enduring a long pressure from Nazi Germany, Czechoslovakia was ultimately (with the consent of Britain, France and Italy) forced to give up Sudetenland to the Third Reich.
The popularity of Nazi-affiliated parties in these areas of Czechoslovakia was rising ever since Hitler came to power in Germany. This will be important later.
In March 1939, the rest of Czech lands were taken over by Nazis and made into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. That is what our Attentat 1942 is about.
And what about when the war ended?
After the Nazi surrender, Sudetenland was returned back to Czechoslovakia. But the post-war reconciliation was not so easy - enter the story of Svoboda 1945: Liberation.
At first wildly, later officially by the government, most German speaking citizens were being expelled and their property expropriated. Often violently. Around 2.4 milion people were made to leave their homes.
How is this important today?
The fate of Sudetenland formed the contemporary face of the Czech Republic. Former Sudetenland regions are generally the poorer parts of the country, often ridden with social problems. And the expulsion itself is still a controversial topic, often stirring up heated debates about guilt, justice or nationalism.
This is, of course, just one of the many events that took place in the turbulent time right at the end of the war - death marches, coming of Volhynian Czechs, liberation efforts, communist putsch, collectivization.
With Svoboda 1945: Liberation we want to add our piece to the historical puzzle, showing what happened in a nuanced, truthful and moving way.
I hope you are now better prepared to take the plunge on August 3.
See you on Tuesday! Ondrej Charles Games
Svoboda 1945 is a finalist of 2021 GEE! Awards & new screenshot
Hi to all! It's now less than four weeks until release (August 3!) and that means not only a full sprint on the polishing and debugging track but also the time festivals, awards, recognitions, and competitions.
Today I am happy to share that Svoboda 1945: Liberation has been nominated for the prestigious 2021 James Paul Gee Learning Games Award in the category Informal Learning! Even though our game is not educational per se, we are still happy that the learning potential gets recognized.
Check out the other categories and our co-finalists here.
The winners will be announced during the Play, Make, Learn conference, starting August 5 (yay).
There's also gonna be a people's vote from July 16 so if you wanna help us, we won't stop you and will notify you once it opens.
So anyway we just wanted to share this great news with you and let you know we are looking forward to the final game so much. So much, in fact, that below is an exclusive collectivization mini-game scene screenshot for you:
Looking forward to catching you later and during the launch party!
Ondrej from Charles Games
Wir freuen uns auf euch: Svoboda will be in German!
Hi, it's Ondrej from Charles Games once again.
Germany has a long and complex relationship with the Czech Republic. Svoboda 1945: Liberation (releasing August 3!) is dealing with some dark and challenging chapters of our shared history. The game takes place in Sudetenland from where a large number of German people were expelled after World War 2 - often just because of their nationality. Homes lost, families torn apart.
Our Anna Grötschel was one of them and now she's back for the first time, to show her granddaughter around a place that is full of memories.
From all of this, it's apparent that we are dealing with history that crosses national borders, the one that is shared by both Czech and German people.
To honor that complex history Svoboda 1945: Liberation will be available in German!
With subtitles, transcripts of historical documents, and items. Our goal is the same as with Attentat 1942 - to make the game that talks about our common history more accessible to those it talks about as well.
We are working hard on making the German localization available upon launch. So if you have any German-speaking friends you think would be interested in a game that is about history we share and one that doesn't shy away from showing the difficult parts of it, let them know.
We are really looking forward to the feedback of our German players. Talk to you soon!
And as always, thanks so much to you, our fans, for your continuing support. See you on August 3!
Ondrej
P.S.: Check out our gameplay video if you haven't already:
[previewyoutube="FQRWpNPxlfk;full"]
Release date & gameplay trailer!
Hi, Ondrej from Charles Games here. Big news!
We will release Svoboda 1945: Liberation on August 3!
That means our teasing will soon be over and we can't wait for you to play the full game. We have everything basically complete and we're testing, polishing, and adding accessibility touches, to ensure you'll have as smooth an experience as possible.
And to give you an idea what to expect, behold, our gameplay trailer:
[previewyoutube="FQRWpNPxlfk;full"]
It shows not only more interviews and story snippets but also interactive comics and other scenes such as our favorite attic exploration - in much more detail, alive, and captured right in-game.
Honestly, we are pretty happy with the results. What about you? As always, any feedback in the comments or on our Discord is welcome.
In the meantime, enjoy your summer! And see you on the 3rd of August during our online launch party :)
Ondrej
Svoboda 1945 is the Best Social Matters Game at BIG festival! 🏆
Hello! As the August release of Svoboda 1945: Liberation gets closer and closer, we have started submitting our game to festivals, because we are eager to show it to gaming community.
One of them was Brazilian BIG festival, arguably the most important south american gaming event!
And apart from being a great (online) party, WE WON BEST SOCIAL MATTERS GAME AWARD!
We are so happy, because an award such as this means that the topics in Svoboda 1945: Liberation resonate with people outside of Czechia and outside of Europe. It's a proof that experiences of our characters might be local, but the story is relatable to everyone.
Including you!
Thanks to everybody who played the demo and got back to us with any feedback, it means a lot to us.
Looking forward to sharing the full game with all of you in August!
Ondrej Charles Games
LudoNarraCon Streams Are On Youtube
Hello and thanks to everyone as LudoNarraCon has been a complete blast.
A lot of people played our demo and the feedback we got was great so we decided to keep it alive :) So if you know about anybody who is interested in historical adventures, we'd be super happy if you'd shared our game. Thanks in advance!
And if you played our demo, you can always watch our gameplay stream of the full game or listen to lead designer Vít talking about his approach to contested history:
Doing streams has been a good deal of fun and we definitely plan to do them again as we are closing in to the game's release.
So a reminder: Svoboda 1945: Liberation is releasing in August 2021, so it is only three months away!
We are thrilled, but also eager to hear what you have to say. So if there is any particular section of the game, concept art, anything that sparked your interest, let us know in the comments. I'd be happy to show you as much as I can.
