Overview of the exhibition-festival of Russian video games "Igroprom 2025"
From September 19 to 21, the third festival "Igroprom" took place at the MainStage venue. Although its history began earlier – the online indie developer competition "Igroprom" had been held since 2022. In 2023, the festival transitioned to a physical format at VDNH. The event was organized in pavilion No. 57 – the same one where "Igromir" once took place. The organizers made a strong emphasis on continuity.
However, festivals began to multiply with enviable energy – "Fan Fest", "Red Expo", "Homyakon", and this December, Yandex plans to revive "Comic Con" and "Igromir", merged into one festival. This year, "Igroprom" was held for the second time at MainStage and decided to go its own way, focusing on a cozy atmosphere and an emphasis on domestic indie developers (well, and not-so-indie, but more on that later).
Business Day
The first day of the festival was specifically designed for developers, publishers, journalists, and industry experts. There wasn't as rich a show program as in the following weekend, but there were three panel discussions ("APRIORI: a view through the industry", "Content on the Edge: how to attract attention and avoid wrath" and "Supporting the gaming industry"), two reports ("Why you should watch Russian games" and "Checklist for a competent release on RuStore: tips from the editorial team"), as well as showcases of indie projects and an awards ceremony for the winners of the "Our Igroprom 2025" award.
The developers competition "Our Igroprom" has been held for the fourth time and this year reached a benchmark of 65 participants. There were also quite a few nominations, so all worthy projects were awarded. The ceremony featured the Arcanum ensemble and the band "Square Man".
And, in fact, the winners:
"One More Move!" - "Sparta 2035"
"Game of the Year" - "Siberian Way"
"Explore and Jump" – "Slavania"
"Pocket Gaming" – "Three Heroes. Adventure Arena"
"Meme and Fun" – "Rus against Lizards 2"
"Co-op" – "KLET'"
"Adventures" – "Choice of Life: Wild Islands"
"Time and Again" – "Immortal. Tales of Old Russia"
"Role-playing Experience" – "Saturn"
"Best Action" – "Drakkar Crew"
"Cultural Code" – "Northern Path"
"Educational Game" – "We Live in Russia. Learning New Things, Playing and Studying with Bodo Borodo"
Best 2D graphics – "Immortal. Tales of Old Russia"
Best 3D graphics – "Sparta 2035"
Nostalgic Old School – "Iron Meat"
Special nominations:
"Encyclopedia Runiversal Choice" - "Saturn"
"VK Play Choice" – "Seaward Pirates"
"Radio Maximum Choice" – "Iron Meat"
"Personal Choice of the Hosts" – 1C War of the Worlds: Siberia
"Streamers' Choice" – "KLET'"
"Igroprom's Choice" – Ah, the little sorrows following the dog, Storm, Union of Gnomes
"Best Streamer" - beloved_lisa
Unfortunately, I cannot comment on all projects – some I haven't even seen, let alone played. But I can say that the nomination "Nostalgic Old School" that Iron Meat received was quite deserved. Nothing can evoke the '90s as much as the boss-electric train in Contra.
Main Program
September 20 and 21 were weekend days, when most of the 12,000 total visitors of the festival came. Cosplay parades, spectacular staged fights (on Saturday there was a lightsaber duel by the "Saber Fighting Art" studio, while on Sunday – a mini-plot in a dark fantasy setting), as well as prize raffles and presentations of various projects took place regularly on stage. The show program concluded on Saturday with a performance by the metal-folk band Helvegen.
Of course, a gaming festival couldn't do without a traditional quest to visit the stands. By completing all the points indicated in the "route", participants had the opportunity to win one of the many prizes drawn on stage: headphones, keyboards, and mice from gaming brands, free educational courses on psychology and game development, board games and certificates from Hobby Games, books on gaming themes, and various merchandise.
The luckiest participants received unique super prizes: an LG Monitor, 2 Steam Decks from KB Games, 4 chairs from Zone 51, a Yandex SMART TV, and 3 Yandex Alice speakers. However, for those who didn’t believe in luck from the start, there was an opportunity to exchange the stickers-coins received at the stands for souvenirs and game keys provided by the online store GamersBase. And this could even be done without completing the entire route! Personally, I consider the latter a significant plus compared to similar festival quests, where the only reward is just the chance to get something valuable. (And of course I also took the opportunity to exchange a few tokens for Steam keys).
The main activity, of course, was the entertainment at the stands. Both large companies, like SMP Racing and Fogame, and small indie studios offered to play their projects and chat with the developers, expressing wishes or conversely asking about nuances. Some even organized their own lotteries and contests.
Among the most curious activities was the opportunity to try voice acting characters at the Voice Band stand. Historical reenactment and tournament enthusiasts could watch medieval combat on a rocking deck. Of course, the deck was balanced by a special mechanism, and the weapons were blunt, but the battle was quite real – after all, teams fought for prizes.
For those who preferred more modern combat actions, a laser tag combat zone was set up on the second floor. And those who preferred something more relaxed could play a session of a tabletop role-playing game of their choice right next door. On the first floor in the Hobby Games zone there were also places for board games, but mostly non-role-playing.
Modern technologies were also represented at the virtual reality stands, motion capture (from the company Mocap Tric), and Yandex stations. It might have been worth getting to know these stations better (I had already tried VR glasses and motion capture equipment at previous exhibitions), but there wasn’t enough time for everything.
The "Retro Zone" featured numerous gaming spots, from working computers with a library of early 2000s games to arcade machines with retro games and even a stand with iQOO smartphones running mobile versions of classics like Max Payne and Disco Elysium. Furthermore, there was a separate stand where invited authors of prospective projects currently under development talked about their games and future plans. After each presentation, attendees could ask questions to these authors.
In this sense, I regret that I couldn't clone myself and attend all the activities and presentations going on at once. After all, the main stage featured not only cosplayers, but also developers with project presentations and experts discussing the industry and its prospects. Personally, I was only able to fully listen to the discussion "Content on the Edge", which discussed the connection between bloggers and ordinary gamers, and the round table "Supporting the Gaming Industry", where, accordingly, the problems of the gaming industry as a whole were talked about.
I also managed to conduct a number of interviews, including with several participants of the panel discussion "Games and Literature". But I will tell more about that in a separate post. Most of my time was spent at computers, playing demos and alpha versions (and in some cases already released versions) of domestic games.
Domestic Gaming Industry Projects
In general, many of the games presented at the festival have available demo versions on various platforms. In my time, I managed to play both "Sparta 2035" and "Seawalker Saga" and even "Zemsky Cathedral" (by the way, its demo version has now also appeared on VK Play for all interested). However, some games at the stands revealed unexpected aspects.
At the Frozen Ship stand, a survival simulation on a huge all-terrain vehicle navigating a freezing world, there was a cosplayer in a quite fantastical guise. It turned out that in the later stages of the game, the "snow desert ship" will indeed encounter a cult led by a kind of snow queen with mystical powers.
At the stand of the mentioned "Zemsky Cathedral", you could not only try out the updated demo version of the project and leave feedback but also enjoy tea with pies or pastries. I also generally liked the game. The dialogues, however, were at times prolonged and clichéd, but playing as the Cossack Kirsha is interesting, both in battle and stealth. I hope that some rough edges will be smoothed out, and the promised "detective line" will offer something more intricate than search for gates with a wolf's face painted on them.
Also promising is Clinch Legends from Antelus Games. The demo version here, however, still needs significant polish, but the foundations are laid. A conversation with the project’s scriptwriter unveiled quite interesting features of the local magic and lore that I'd love to learn more about.
There were some very interesting projects at the "Berloga" stands. The initiative "Berloga" to create educational and beneficial games for development is quite intriguing. On one hand, they have already released several titles that require analytical thinking, programming robots for building defenses, or piloting drones. On the other hand, there is a universe uniting all these elements with sentient bears. Yes, bears, but it's presented quite balanced – not overly serious, yet not too childish.
Among the projects that have already been released is Warplanes Inc – a two-dimensional side-view aviation arcade. Interestingly, the author was inspired by the game Bluetooth Biplanes, which was made in Java for mobile phones in the mid-2000s, while being completely unaware that the gameplay is actually much older and was already in the game Sopwith from the mid-'80s.
By the way, when I played Sopwith, I thought about how cool it would be if airplanes had different weapons, there were some missions, or even parachuting from the plane and running around the map like in a platformer. So in Warplanes Inc, all these features appeared. Even running around the map as a person (the appearance can be customized for a donation, by the way), a player can capture one of the planes standing on the ground and head back into aerial combat.
Among the presented games was even a pair of browser games that you can already play in the social network VKontakte. One of them was an adaptation of the board game "Kaiden" called Landlords, and the second was an engaging arcade "Drill-Digging". I advise being especially careful with the latter – after "Igroprom", I decided to study it better and ended up glued to it for several hours.
In general, the projects were very diverse. Of course, not all demos I managed to complete. The platformer Gennady with rogue-like elements turned out to be too difficult for me. The quest "Sanatorium At the Graying Treska" referred to quests from the '90s, both through video inserts and gameplay with frustrating puzzles. And in the game "Eve of 1919", I somehow quickly ran out of all resources, and thus the passage of this rather gloomy cinematic platformer (though the authors say they were inspired by Last Station) became significantly complicated for me.
In principle, there were stands without demos. The project "Garadryki", for example, is not yet ready to be handed over to overly curious players (although there are already gameplay videos). Therefore, to attract attention, the developers brought a real drakkar to the exhibition. Well, at least it looked like a real one, and around it, the development team members were hanging out in the authentic attire of knights.
Loot and Merch
For those wishing to take away not just tons of impressions from "Igroprom", but something material, there was the "Trade Alley". There were mainly figures, badges, pillows, and other souvenirs of an author's work and famous characters.
I would like to especially note two stands from the publishing house "Bombora", where books and art books on famous games, as well as works dedicated to the gaming industry were sold.
And for those who wanted freebies, several stands (including the Donatov.net store) were giving away stickers. A few others were offering Rot-Front bars; the factory was a partner of the festival overall. At the stand of the energy drink brand Haunt, you could taste all six flavors available today. There was even a stand where you could try cheeses and ham, but the portions were quite meager. It would be better to just buy food – fortunately, there were several food courts at the festival.
At many stands, business cards, badges, booklets, brochures, and even tickets with codes for some discounts or bonuses on corresponding portals were given away. In general, no one left the festival without a gift or at least a free coupon.
Final Impressions
I left with very positive impressions from the "Igroprom" festival of 2025. It is especially encouraging that the organizers are developing their project, adding interesting activities and worthy participants, improving various aspects of the exhibition and correcting shortcomings. It's a pity that the festival still lacks free Wi-Fi access, which is present at most events, even smaller-scale ones.
Currently, the gaming industry and exhibitions-festivals are experiencing a boom after the pandemic and other issues that severely disrupted the holding of large-scale events for fans of games and other media. And "Igroprom", if its administration continues to maintain a balance between traditions and development, as it has so far, will definitely find its place among its peers in mass culture.
More information about the festival "Igroprom" can be found on the website of the event and its communities on VKontakte and Telegram.