''Sex with Stalin'' is a 2020 comedy-parody

dating sim Dating sims, or , are video game subgenre of simulation games with romantic elements. Dating sims are often dialog-heavy and focus on time management. The player must befriend and carefully build and maintain a relationship with one or more ...

video game developed by Georgiy Kukhtenkov, also known as "Boobs Dev". In ''Sex with Stalin'', the player character, a contemporary Russian, travels back in time and has several sexually charged conversations with former Soviet leader

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

. In addition to being a parody of dating simulators, the game also functions as a critique of modern-day Russian society. The game received mixed reviews.

Gameplay

The game begins in modern-day

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, where the protagonist is complaining about the state of the economy and education in the country. After bragging about having sex with his neighbour's wife, the protagonist enters a time machine and is transported to Joseph Stalin's office in mid-1940s Russia, where they meet Stalin. The game takes place over several conversations with Stalin, where the player can discuss several things with the man, including asking for his opinion on geopolitical matters, and can also engage in sexual activities with him. ''Sex with Stalin'' has 25 endings, which include convincing Stalin of the benefits of

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

, causing him to live to the age of 102, getting Stalin interested in

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

, which causes him to devote the resources of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

to creating the ''

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The seri ...

'' franchise, or having Stalin burst out from the player's chest, similar to a

xenomorph The Alien (also known as a ''Xenomorph XX121'' or ''Internecivus raptus'', or simply a xenomorph)Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report is a fictional parasitoid, endoparasitoid Extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial species that serves as the ...

from the ''

Alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

'' franchise.

Reception

''Sex with Stalin'' received mixed reviews. Rich Stanton of ''

PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...

'' gave a positive review of the game, calling it "better than I expected" and a "labor of love", also praising its ambience. Honza Srp of the Czech news portal spoke positively of the game, declaring that it would be enjoyable "if you like black humor and speak English" and praising its subversiveness, while also finding it to be better than the 2009 video game '' Stalin vs. Martians''. Nate Christiansen of ''

Foreign Policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

'' gave a negative review of the game, calling it "surprisingly dull", and declaring that "not a single moment of it is erotic". Ashley Bardhan of '' MEL Magazine'' analysed the reviews the game received on

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

, finding that its reception from users was mostly positive, with the largest section of negative reviews coming from players who were disappointed that the game largely revolves around conversing with Stalin, rather than having sex with him. The game received a negative reception from

Russian communists Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Maxim Suraykin Maxim Alexandrovich Suraykin (russian: link=no, Максим Александрович Сурайкин; born 8 August 1978) is a Russian politician who has been the leader of the political party Communists of Russia (2012–2022) and member of ...

, leader of the

Communists of Russia The Communist Party "Communists of Russia" (CPCR; russian: Коммунистическая партия «Коммунисты России»; КПКР; ''Kommunisticheskaya partiya «Kommunisty Rossii»'', ''KPKR'') or simply Communists of Russi ...

party, called for it to be banned and its developers arrested. The more moderate

Communist Party of the Russian Federation , anthem = , seats1_title = Seats in the State Duma , seats1 = , seats2_title = Seats in the Federation Council , seats2 = , seats3_title = Governors , seats3 = , seats4_title ...

called for it to be investigated for potentially lawbreaking content, with

State Duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...

member

Olga Alimova Olga Nikolaevna Alimova (russian: Ольга Николаевна Алимова; born 10 April 1953) is a Russian politician who was a member of the State Duma for Saratov Oblast from 2011 to 2016 and from 2018 to 2021. She was re-elected to the ...

declaring that the game's developers were "clinically insane", stating that they should seek medical advice.

References

{{reflist MacOS games Video games set in Moscow Video games set in the Soviet Union Political satire video games Parody video games 2020 video games Video games about time travel Video games based on real people Video game controversies Video games developed in Russia Video games set in the 1940s Dating sims Windows games Works about Joseph Stalin

Gameplay

Reception

See also

References