Hard To Be A God

3rd April 2008

The transfer of films, TV shows and comic adventures to videogames is very common, with film directors and actors often getting involved. However, there are also many examples of novels being the inspiration for video games. Hard To Be A God, the new action and adventure game from Ascaron to be released in April, was inspired by the classic Russian novel of the same name written by the Strugatsky brothers.

Strugatsky Brothers’ Hard To Be A God

The Strugatsky brothers were famous Russian science-fiction authors. In their novels, they created a universe where earthmen are the explorers and conquerors of space. Hard To Be A God is one of the novels in this series and follows a spy from a futuristic earth as he explores an alien planet stuck in a medieval time.

Written in 1964, political undertones are very apparent in the book, with references to the negative effects of an overpowering church, differences between capitalism and communism, fascist dictatorship and the Nazis.

Bringing a novel to life

Great care was taken to bring the world envisioned by the Strugatsky brothers to life. All the characters, locations and factions have been recreated in fine detail, right down to a character’s individual attitudes towards others. The planet Tsurinak has been designed with an authentic medieval appearance. Clothes, structures, surroundings and basic weapons, such as swords and crossbows, reflect a medieval time.

Akella’s Hard To Be A God

The game is a sequel, set two years after the book. The Kingdom of Arkanar has been torn apart by internal wars and the nobles have entrenched themselves in their castles. Anarchy rules the world as an agent of the imperial intelligence organisation is dispatched to the rebellious kingdom with an order to kill the leader of the insurgents.

During the quest the agent comes up against bandits, mounted guards and monsters in a range of challenges, from finding lost children in a corn filed, to defeating immortal beings.

Try your luck at survival by visiting www.hardtobeagod.com to download the demo.

Fast facts:

Publisher: Ascaron Entertainment / Nobilis

Web: www.Ascaron.com / www.hardtobeagod.com

Developer: Akella/ Burut CT

Release date: 11thApril 2008

Price: £29.99

PEGI: 12+

Format: PC

Genre: RPG/Hack’n’Slash

For further press information please contact Media Safari:

Stephen Denton / Matt King

T: +44 (0)1225 731388

E: stephend@mediasafari.co.uk / mattk@mediasafari.co.uk

About Ascaron Entertainment

From 1989 Ascaron Entertainment has been one of the leading European “boutique” distributors and Publishers of games for the PC, with many successful titles released including DarkStar One, SACRED and more recently, Call of Juarez, American Civil War and City Life 2008 Edition.

Ascaron maintains development studios in Germany, and an International Department in Birmingham (UK).

Ascaron Entertainment (UK) has a professional reputation and a wealth of experience in the games industry. The UK office manages the international releases of Ascaron's catalogue, whilst also providing a bespoke publishing, sales, PR and marketing function to selected affiliate label partners.

About Nobilis

Nobilis Group, founded in Lyon in 2001, is specialized in the publication and distribution of video games and video game accessories. Nobilis produces multi-platform games for PC, XboxTM, Xbox360TM PlayStation®2, PlayStation®3, PSPTM, Nintendo Wii™, Nintendo DSTM, and Interactive DVD.

Nobilis has distribution subsidiaries in France (Nobilis France in Lyon), Spain and Portugal (Nobilis Iberica in Madrid), Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg (Nobilis Benelux) and Italy (Rome).

Some of the most prominent partners that feature in Nobilis’ catalogue feature 1C Company, Akella, Capcom, Cenega, City Interactive, Enlight Software, Focus, JoWooD, Lago, Lighthouse, RTL Enterprises GmbH, ZUXXEZ Entertainment AG…

Nobilis’ own games include “Destination Treasure Island™”(PC), “The Secrets of Da Vinci, the forbidden manuscript™”(PC), ” Mountain Bike Adrenaline featuring Salomon”(PlayStation®2), “Moto Racer 3 Gold Edition”(PC), “Coffee Break™” (PC), “Destination: Treasure Island™”, “Cleopatra: a Queen’s Destiny™” (PC), “Emma® at the farm” (Nintendo DS™) ...

Nobilis France is also a manufacturer/distributor of accessories thanks to his own brand: Subsonic ™. Nobilis produces multi-platform accessories for Xbox360TM, PSPTM, PSPTM Slim & Lite, PlayStation®2, PlayStation®3, Nintendo DSTM & Nintendo DSTM Lite and Nintendo Wii™.

About Akella

Akella, founded in 1993 and headquartered in Moscow, Russia is a leading Eastern European developer, publisher and distributor of PC, console games and multimedia products. Akella’s own distribution network is rapidly growing and, to date, it covers all the CIS countries. A true world leader in naval games development, Akella is committed to constant capacity building. Currently more than 200 qualified employees and top managers are engaged into increasing Akella’s position as a powerful, reliable and interesting partner for Russian and international companies. Akella’s shareholders include Quadriga Capital (EBRD fund) and Intel Capital.

About Burut CT

Burut CT is one of major Russian companies in the sphere of PC game development. Today Burut CT owns a few development studios, a sound production and animation departments, localization and programming studios. As a whole, Burut CT unites more than 100 professionals – game designers, 3D modellers and designers, 2D designers, animators, programmers, script programmers, vizualizers, sound engineers, translators, artists, and testers.