Attentat 1942 is a unique video game that tells the story of Nazi occupation of the Czech lands from the perspective of those who experienced it first-hand. The game includes interactive comics, rare digitized film footage and cinematic-style interviews that were researched and written by a team of professional historians.

“Excellent job. This is the way kids will learn in the future,” says John Romero, author of Doom, who played a prototype of the game at the GLS Showcase Awards 2015 in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, where the game won the first prize. Attentat 1942 is currently featured on Steam Greenlight, where users can vote for its inclusion in the Steam store. English, German and Russian versions of the game will be available for PC and Mac in Q3 2017.

“The game revolves around a fictitious story about your grandfather, who was arrested by the Gestapo shortly after the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, ruler of the Nazi-occupied Czech Lands,” says Vít Šisler, lead designer of the game. “You struggle to discover why your grandfather was arrested after the attack. What role did he play in the attack? Why didn’t he tell his family?”

“Although the story is fictitious, it is based on historical research and real interviews,” says Marie Černá, a member of the game’s team of historians. Attentat 1942 was developed by Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences. Revenues from the game are invested to continue research and science into the field.

Attentat 1942 is a significantly enhanced version of the game Československo 38-89: Atentát that was released in Czech Republic in 2015 and won the Czech Game of the Year 2015 Award in the category Best Debut. It is the first game in a larger project that covers different events from Czech contemporary history. Game development was supported by the Czech Ministry of Culture and the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic.

The game is available on Steam.