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Hello Stalkers!
We started our next mini-series with the profile of General Kozlov. It was just a warm-up. Today we are serving you material of a much larger caliber. We will tell the story of the woman who started it all.
Tatyana Amalieva, 30, born in Murmansk. The fiancée of Igor Chymynuk, who worked with her at the Chernobyl power plant. She disappears on April 26, 1986, the day of the catastrophe, and after almost 30 years appears in Igor's dreams. Why? Has Igor gone mad and experience hallucinations, and Tatyana is one of them? Or is Tatyana alive and sending him a message from another world? Whatever it is, it is very effective - she lures Igor to Pripyat so that he can find answers to all of his questions. The inspiration of Silent Hill 2 is clearly visible here.
Tatyana is anything but a typical damsel in distress. Igor doesn’t try to rescue her from the master villain's hands, only to find out at the end that the princess is in another castle. Tatyana is a fully independent character who haunts Igor in his dreams. And she does it in two guises: one is ephemeral, caring and loving, and it bases her monologue on sentimental memories. The other is the anguished voice of terror coming from the real Tatyana, trapped somewhere between our world and… well, what?
It's hard to tell Tatyana's story without spoilers. Because, unlike Kozlov, this is not a small piece of history, but a powerful and very important plot element of the entire game. That's why we decided to approach her from a completely different angle. We will tell you how Tatyana was "created".
The role of Tatyana was played by our friend Joanna, a model and 2D artist. If you go to the board in Igor's room and look at scraps of newspapers, documents and photos - it's her work. The few who read the end credits know this. The vast majority, in turn, know her as a mysterious woman in a characteristic red dress who loves to play the violin. Although it wasn't obvious at first that it would look like this.
Traveling to Chernobyl was an opportunity for us not only to collect materials for the game, but also to look for inspiration. Being there, equipped with cameras and huge trunks full of clothes, we were looking for identities for key characters in the game. Thanks to this, you can find a lot of photos on our social media, e.g. Black Stalker wandering around Pripyat in full gear. And if you think that dressing a large man in a stalker outfit is a challenge, how about a walk in a dress in the open field at sub-zero temperatures?
Joanna remembers her trips to Chernobyl well, although working there was not easy. All photos had to be taken early in the morning when there is adequate light. It was necessary to get up early, put on a proper dress, put on make-up and with full equipment in the form of cameras and lamps go to the designated place. It is also worth mentioning that at this time of year (we went there between late autumn and early winter) temperatures rarely exceeded zero degrees Celsius. Joanna took off several layers of jackets for the photo session, and after that she quickly put them back on. It was so cold.
She talks more about her experience on site in the video below.
Before Tatyana appeared in the game in a distinctive red dress, the concepts for this character changed like a kaleidoscope. Each subsequent fitting of clothes and new make-ups are further attempts to find an answer to the question of who Tatyana is, or rather who she is supposed to be. You can see the effects of our experiments on the numerous photos and materials we took in Chernobyl. Tatyana in a wedding dress, Tatyana in a ballerina costume, Tatyana in a coat, Tatyana... as Alma from F.E.A.R.
Especially the last image of Tatyana impressed the tourists visiting the Zone. Not necessarily ina a positive way, because we scared them a bit too much and got yelled at by them. But hey, in the end it's all about the good effect.
The photos and videos we took were finally used in the game, as exemplified by the videos displayed on the projector or the photos scattered around the Zone. However, it was the red dress that turned out to be a real game changer. In this outfit, Tatyana is standing among the ruins of the former Chernobyl and playing a wistful melody on her beloved violin. This is exactly the picture we wanted: beautiful, even touching, but on the other hand filled with sadness after the loss. But after losing what? You'll have to find out for yourself.
That's it for today!
Take care, Stalkers!
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