Grief like a stray dog – Build 17201665

An isolated village during the war. Men leave one by one, along the winding forest path painted crimson by distant fires, and do not return. Young Nadia becomes a part-time postwoman filling in for her sick mother. She is now a messenger of hope and of trouble.

«Grief like a stray dog» is a short interactive play about a young postwoman in a tight-knit rural community. In the outside world, WW2 rages at its apex. Nadia is thirteen. She delivers papers, letters. And death notifications to families of those killed in action.

Nadia’s character is based on the author’s grandmother. Inspired by tales of a childhood spent in a village near Rzhev, not far from one of the most brutal battlefields of the Eastern Front, most of the character arcs and plot points are based on war stories told by older relatives and locals; many letters are real.

The main visual inspirations for the game were kid’s drawings, neo-expressionism, Russian lubok art and Soviet book illustration

«Grief like a stray dog» is a meditation on war, community and human fate — part documentary, part Russian folk tale.

Game Features

• A visual novel with elements of an adventure game.
• A rich and touching story based on memories and Russian folk tales.
• Author’s 2D graphics.
• Disturbing and unusual soundtrack.
• Capacious and authentic dialogues.
• Duration: 60-80 minutes.
• A village populated by picturesque characters.