Hi! I am truly moved as I write this – more than five years ago, when I joined an informal group of developers at Charles University, I did not imagine myself writing an article to celebrate the fifth birthday of a proper studio that emerged out of it.
Yet, here we are! ⭐️ And since half a decade is not nothing, we have prepared some special things for you. Keep reading and remember: we are where we are in large part thanks to you, for keeping us company all these years. So, thank you from all of us at Charles Games.
To remind ourselves of the journey we've made so far, we created a little video. It is a look back at our humble beginnings as well as our subsequent accomplishments, featuring archive materials as well as commentary by our developers. We hope you like it – yes, you, specifically you, because without you, there would be no us.
Because we are truly grateful to you, our fans, without whom we wouldn’t be able to have made it so far. So, thank you, enjoy, and let’s meet soon. There will be many opportunities to do so in the near future.
The story of Charles Games begins way back in the 2010s, when people from multiple faculties of Charles University gathered to work on serious games. Their passion later made Attentat 1942 happen in 2017 – a game that went on to collect numerous awards, steering the direction of the then-assembling studio. Charles Games was founded in 2020, and Attentat 1942 was there once again, its mobile release being the first title the studio released, along with the next chapter in the form of Svoboda 1945: Liberation.
Since then, we have tried to craft a team and a company that wants something more out of games: to create titles that make an impact, that can be part of the conversation around important topics while remaining engaging. Now, in 2025, it is safe to say that it looks like we have succeeded.
A special occasion calls for special content, and what better way to capture one’s own path than with a timeline? Believe it or not, it also helped us put things in perspective – only after pausing in front of an empty document did we realize that we've done quite a lot over the last five years.
(Click here for the full-size version)
The fact that we’re still here and that we have multiple unannounced projects in the works is a testament to the demand for games about difficult topics, works that utilize interactivity in ways that go beyond entertainment. Not that there’s anything wrong with video games as leisure, but with our creations, we hope to push the whole medium forward at least a little bit. Because, in the end, we truly believe in the power of games to be an expressive medium of the 21st century.
And we can’t wait to show you more of what we’re working on. It’s going to be great, and it will come very soon.
Until then, best regards,
Ondřej