DISPATCH // BEGINNINGS [RDC-TRIDENT]
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[/p][p][/p][p]// DISPATCH[/p][p][/p][p]We’ve talked a lot about gameplay and immersion — the mechanics, tactics, player agency, modding, all the things that make this different from the usual “point-and-shoot” tactics game — but we haven’t stepped back and shined a light on why the first theater is what it is. There’s a real reason this story starts here, and it ties directly into the experience we’re building. Before diving deeper into everything else, it felt right to put that reasoning back on the table.
[/p][p]// BEGINNINGS[/p][p]Beginnings. Everything has a beginning. Ours was born from frustration — with shallow gameplay, paper-thin treatment of what war does to people, and the lack of agency in most games. Burned Horizons is a tactical war game, yes — but it’s also about stripping the glamor off war. War is brutal. War breaks people. You wouldn’t know that from most of what’s out there. A few titles, like This War of Mine, come closer. But there are not nearly enough that do so.[/p][p]Enter Burned Horizons — our rejection of business-as-usual game design. We’re building systems with depth, complexity, and consequences that mirror the real world. How trauma shapes behavior. How experience changes people. How war breaks them. We’ve thrown out the gamey — RNG coin flips, XP trees, bullet sponges, robotic AI. Modding isn’t an afterthought here — it’s built in. And the maps? They’re big. Not “skirmish at a barn” big — full-theater, multi-region, sprawling, immersive. Because we’re not simulating a firefight. We’re showing what war feels like — and what it does to the people caught in it.
[/p][p]// WHERE & WHY[/p][p]And that brings us to where. Where does this begin? That led us to Ukraine. As much as we’re building a sandbox war sim, we’re also telling a story — one with some hard, eternal truths behind it. There are plenty of places around the world where stories like this could begin. But we chose Ukraine, because what the people there have been enduring didn’t start in 2014. And it sure as hell didn’t end there.
[/p][p]// RDC-TRIDENT[/p][p]So Ukraine — and the surrounding regions of Belarus, Russia, Moldova, and Poland — became our first theater. We talked about fictional countries. But it didn’t feel honest. We’ve shifted the timeline, condensed real events, and changed the names of cities and locations. Yes, we changed the names. Out of respect. Because we’re not here to use someone else’s grief as a prop. This isn’t a documentary — it’s a story. A story drawn from history, sharpened into something playable - but what we’re sharing is still the truth. A truth that was clear long before Putin’s latest wave of terror and brutality. A truth that monsters like him don’t stop — until someone stops them.
[/p][p]// CHOICES[/p][p]And for us — narratively, morally — that struggle needs to be told and felt. One of the foundations of our story is choosing what’s right over what’s politically safe. In Ukraine’s case, that’s a lesson some Western governments still haven’t learned. Dribbling out aid. Giving just enough for people to survive — but not enough to win. Not doing everything in their power to undermine Putin's regime. That’s not help. That’s letting political calculation decide how much brutality the world can stomach.[/p][p]You’d think history would’ve taught them how that plays out.[/p][p]Burned Horizons is built for the people who want more than a game. Who want to see what’s real — and decide what to do with it.
[/p][p]//----
[/p][p]DEDICATED TO THE PEOPLE OF UKRAINE — AND TO ALL THOSE STANDING WITH THEM TODAY.[/p][p]We see you. We honor your struggle. We acknowledge your sacrifices. We mourn those you've lost. And we believe for you, for everyone who chooses freedom over fear— the only way forward is victory. Victory over a brutal tyrant in Moscow, and those who follow his path.
ПРИСВЯЧЕНО НАРОДУ УКРАЇНИ — І ВСІМ, ХТО СЬОГОДНІ СТОЇТЬ ПОРУЧ З НИМИ.[/p][p]Ми бачимо вас.
Ми вшановуємо вашу боротьбу.
Ми визнаємо ваші жертви.
Ми оплакуємо тих, кого ви втратили.[/p][p]І ми віримо — для вас, для всіх, хто обирає свободу замість страху — є лише один шлях уперед: перемога.
Перемога над жорстоким тираном у Москві та тими, хто йде за ним.[/p][p][/p][p]Slava Ukraini.[/p][p]Heroyam Slava.[/p][p]Слава Україні. Героям слава.
//----
Always Forward.
👉 WISHLIST + FOLLOW // Every mark adds weight to the push ahead.[/p][p][/p][p]OPN-FULCRUM // PHASE 2 -KICKSTARTER \[JAN 2026] → JAN 2026. Mission-critical funding op to carry Burned Horizons forward. Stay locked in — followers get the deployment notice first.
Join the Discord[/p][p]
[/p]
[/p][p]// BEGINNINGS[/p][p]Beginnings. Everything has a beginning. Ours was born from frustration — with shallow gameplay, paper-thin treatment of what war does to people, and the lack of agency in most games. Burned Horizons is a tactical war game, yes — but it’s also about stripping the glamor off war. War is brutal. War breaks people. You wouldn’t know that from most of what’s out there. A few titles, like This War of Mine, come closer. But there are not nearly enough that do so.[/p][p]Enter Burned Horizons — our rejection of business-as-usual game design. We’re building systems with depth, complexity, and consequences that mirror the real world. How trauma shapes behavior. How experience changes people. How war breaks them. We’ve thrown out the gamey — RNG coin flips, XP trees, bullet sponges, robotic AI. Modding isn’t an afterthought here — it’s built in. And the maps? They’re big. Not “skirmish at a barn” big — full-theater, multi-region, sprawling, immersive. Because we’re not simulating a firefight. We’re showing what war feels like — and what it does to the people caught in it.
[/p][p]// WHERE & WHY[/p][p]And that brings us to where. Where does this begin? That led us to Ukraine. As much as we’re building a sandbox war sim, we’re also telling a story — one with some hard, eternal truths behind it. There are plenty of places around the world where stories like this could begin. But we chose Ukraine, because what the people there have been enduring didn’t start in 2014. And it sure as hell didn’t end there.
[/p][p]// RDC-TRIDENT[/p][p]So Ukraine — and the surrounding regions of Belarus, Russia, Moldova, and Poland — became our first theater. We talked about fictional countries. But it didn’t feel honest. We’ve shifted the timeline, condensed real events, and changed the names of cities and locations. Yes, we changed the names. Out of respect. Because we’re not here to use someone else’s grief as a prop. This isn’t a documentary — it’s a story. A story drawn from history, sharpened into something playable - but what we’re sharing is still the truth. A truth that was clear long before Putin’s latest wave of terror and brutality. A truth that monsters like him don’t stop — until someone stops them.
[/p][p]// CHOICES[/p][p]And for us — narratively, morally — that struggle needs to be told and felt. One of the foundations of our story is choosing what’s right over what’s politically safe. In Ukraine’s case, that’s a lesson some Western governments still haven’t learned. Dribbling out aid. Giving just enough for people to survive — but not enough to win. Not doing everything in their power to undermine Putin's regime. That’s not help. That’s letting political calculation decide how much brutality the world can stomach.[/p][p]You’d think history would’ve taught them how that plays out.[/p][p]Burned Horizons is built for the people who want more than a game. Who want to see what’s real — and decide what to do with it.
[/p][p]//----
[/p][p]DEDICATED TO THE PEOPLE OF UKRAINE — AND TO ALL THOSE STANDING WITH THEM TODAY.[/p][p]We see you. We honor your struggle. We acknowledge your sacrifices. We mourn those you've lost. And we believe for you, for everyone who chooses freedom over fear— the only way forward is victory. Victory over a brutal tyrant in Moscow, and those who follow his path.
ПРИСВЯЧЕНО НАРОДУ УКРАЇНИ — І ВСІМ, ХТО СЬОГОДНІ СТОЇТЬ ПОРУЧ З НИМИ.[/p][p]Ми бачимо вас.
Ми вшановуємо вашу боротьбу.
Ми визнаємо ваші жертви.
Ми оплакуємо тих, кого ви втратили.[/p][p]І ми віримо — для вас, для всіх, хто обирає свободу замість страху — є лише один шлях уперед: перемога.
Перемога над жорстоким тираном у Москві та тими, хто йде за ним.[/p][p][/p][p]Slava Ukraini.[/p][p]Heroyam Slava.[/p][p]Слава Україні. Героям слава.
//----
Always Forward.
👉 WISHLIST + FOLLOW // Every mark adds weight to the push ahead.[/p][p][/p][p]OPN-FULCRUM // PHASE 2 -KICKSTARTER \[JAN 2026] → JAN 2026. Mission-critical funding op to carry Burned Horizons forward. Stay locked in — followers get the deployment notice first.
Join the Discord[/p][p]
[/p]