Valingrad

Valingrad is a darkly atmospheric narrative game set in the crumbling heart of a fictional Eastern European republic. In the aftermath of a highly contested election, President Mikhail Chernov has secured a third term. Across the nation protesters fill the streets, rumors of violence swell in backroom conversations, and the government responds not with reform, but with surveillance, censorship, and fear.

You are Dima Orlov, a junior analyst recently appointed to the Ministry for Cyber Integrity and Truth (MCIT) an agency tasked with preserving state security by rooting out subversive individuals through the inspection of their digital footprint. Every day, you are presented with three citizens flagged for potential crimes against the state. Using the MCIT’s vast surveillance database, you must sift through fragments of their lives, search histories,  private emails, and photos. What they write, what they search, what they joke about or fear. all of it is laid bare for your judgment.

The Ministry demands results. It is not interested in nuance. If your decisions seem too lenient, your superiors will take note. If you act too harshly, the citizens will suffer.  Every individual you judge has their own motivations, fears, and secrets. Some are guilty. Some are not. Many fall somewhere in between. The choices you make have consequences that stretch far beyond the office walls — not only for the citizens of Valingrad, but for Dima herself. Over the course of seven tense days, the world of Valingrad unfolds. Your role is not simply to observe, but to participate in a machine that feeds on silence, suspicion, and sacrifice. And in the end, you must decide who you truly serve: the regime, the people, or yourself.