The scheduled worldwide release of a controversial computer wargame billing itself as a true and accurate simulation of Russia’s 2022 “victorious” battles around Kyiv and profiling the invading forces as heroes has been delayed by a week and will be available on Steam at the end of March, developers said in a statement.
The real-time strategy game “Ukrainian Warfare: Gostomel Heroes” (Russian title: Гостомельские богатыри/Gostomel Bogatyrs) will be on sale on Steam on March 31 instead of March 24, an announcement by the Russian “indie” developer Cats Who Play (Russian: Играющие Кошки) said.“The main reason is that we do not want to overlap with the Steam Spring Sale, which will last until March 26 (we initially overlooked it)…this is a huge minus for promoting the game in the West. On March 24, on Steam, we plan to release the international demo version …it will feature English voice acting for the story dialogues and text in English/Chinese languages),” the developer’s March 19 statement said in part.
The world’s biggest computer games marketing platform, Steam, does not publish sales figures. According to industry estimates, Steam likely sells more than $10 billion worth of computer games annually in markets worldwide.
A Kyiv Post check of Steam on Wednesday, March 24, found the demo had not, in fact, been released. A Steam notice said: “This game plans to unlock in approximately 7 days.” At the time of the check, Steam had blocked access to Ukraine, but VPNs from Europe, the US, and Singapore worked fine. Steam had not responded to a Kyiv Post request for comment by the time this article was published.
Gostomel Heroes (It would be “Homstomel” were it correctly transliterated into English from Ukrainian) gameplay allows a player to command Russian airborne paratrooper units fighting battles in the Ukrainian capital’s northern suburbs, and on the tarmac of the military airport Hostomel. Gamers will “relive the Battle of Kiev [sic], a turning point in the Ukrainian conflict” and to “witness the untold story of 2022 through the eyes of those who fought,” promotional material says.
The game was first published on the Russian platform VK Play on Feb. 24, 2026, the four-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. During development, the proposed price of a copy was $9-10. The current price is equivalent to $4. The price point for international markets reportedly is $15.
The impending release of a Russia-produced computer game promoting the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine to international audiences, and depicting troops carrying out that attack as heroes, has drawn heavy criticism in Ukrainian gaming forums and media.
Especially provocative, for Ukrainian audiences, is the game’s high-fidelity depiction of the towns of Irpin and Bucha, both scenes of mass murders of Ukrainian civilians by Russian troops, and praise of the skill and efficiency of Russian paratroopers fighting at those and other locations.
“Heroes of Gostomel” renders civilians, but in little detail. Simulated Ukrainian civilians are non-speaking 3-D models present on streets or in buildings, or more rarely, public transportation. The simulated residents of the battle area react to gunfire and explosions (including fires directed by the player) by standing in place or moving slowly. They neither panic nor run.
When caught in crossfire or by artillery, the game “kills” civilians and triggers death animations. The player penalty for damaging a civilian building or a simulated Ukrainian civilian is the same: loss of victory points needed to win the mission. By game design, it is always possible to complete every “Heroes of Gostomel” successfully, irrespective of the number of simulated Ukrainian civilians killed by the player.
The United Nations has confirmed Russian troops murdered at least 73 Ukrainian civilians while occupying territories north of Kyiv in February-March 2022, especially in Bucha. Ukrainian authorities and most media reviewing graves in the area usually put the figure at 419-458 bodies recovered with signs of violent death like shooting, torture and trauma. Estimates of Ukrainian civilians killed by combat activity following the Russian invasion of the region usually range between 500-1,000 people.
Andrei Voronkov, Deputy General Director of the Russian state-funded Institute for Internet Development (IID), in a 2024 statement praised “Heroes of Gostomel” as an “important step in the development of patriotic gaming content” and said that “current events” (i.e. Russia’s war in Ukraine) require “courage” in Russia’s gaming industry.
Culture writer Kateryna Serohina, in a March 13 article on the news platform RBC-Ukraine, said that the Ukrainian gaming community was up in arms about planned sales of the game to Western audiences, calling it “promotion of Russian propaganda about the war…and a tool of information warfare.”
Lifestyle Writer Polina Horlach, in a March 12 article in Suspilne Culture magazine, wrote the game and its depiction of battles around Hostomel “seek to justify armed aggression and serve…as an instrument of propaganda of Russian fascism…based on manipulative facts.”
Kyiv Post review of within-game missions found significant and at times fairy tale gaps between Russia’s invasion of northern Ukraine as depicted by the Russian developers, and the actual events and actual battles experienced by actual greater Kyiv residents.
In Mission 1, the initial helicopter-borne assault on Hostomel/Antonov Airport is briefed as a “brilliant Russian airborne assault.” The player kicks off operations with his forces landed safely on runways, intact, in good morale, with solid communications and reliable support by artillery, air strikes and reconnaissance drones. In a typical 30-60 gaming session, the player usually destroys all Ukrainian forces and captures the airport fairly easily, even at high difficulty settings.In the real battle on Feb. 23-25, about 300 paratroopers from Russia’s 31st Guards Air Assault Brigade, along with commandos from 45th Guards Spetsnaz Brigade, rode helicopters to attack Hostomel airfield and lost about one-quarter to one-third of their strength prior to landing because Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile teams waiting along the Russians’ flight route ambushed them.
The Russians were surrounded and then mostly cut to pieces by counterattacks led by the Ukrainian national guard, air assault, and special operations units. The presence of a Ukrainian howitzer battalion proved decisive because during the actual battle, the Russian paratroopers – in sharp contrast with the game – had little artillery support of their own.
In later missions, the player carries out attack missions simulating reinforcement, expansion from the airfield, convoy interdictions and repelling counterattacks. There is no option to play the game from the Ukrainian side.
In the game’s final mission, entitled “A Gesture of Goodwill” (Russian: ЖЕСТ ДОБРОЙ ВОЛИ), a briefing informs the gamer: “Peace negotiations are taking place in Istanbul, which are concluding successfully, and peace is already beginning to loom on the horizon…The Russian leadership has decided to withdraw Russian forces from the Kyiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv regions as a gesture of goodwill.”
In fact, countryside flooded by Ukrainian engineers, thousands of civilians volunteering to serve in armed militia, the rapid transfer to the sector of a pair of combat brigades, 40-kilometer (25-mile) long armored vehicle traffic jams, repeated behind-the-lines ambushes and strike drones picking off key Russian vehicles – and mounting losses – were the main factors for Russian retreat from Kyiv and Hostomel.
During the final mission, in-game voice recordings reinforce a different message: one of a mission completed successfully by Russia’s warriors. Snippets include: “We have to cover the columns that are falling back…It’s time to go home…Our job is done.”