At the beginning of April 2025, social networks discussed the release of the computer game “The Russians” - allegedly, the Russian analogue of The Sims. We checked whether such a game actually went on sale.

On April 4, photographs of the DVD box with the game “The Russians” began to circulate on the Internet. He was allegedly spotted in one of the stores in St. Petersburg, the name of which was not specified. Judging by the description on the back of the box, the game offers “to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of a Russian village, where time flows slowly, and the main values are faith, family and love for the native land.” Many Internet users notedthat the characters on the cover resemble the head of the Safe Internet League, Ekaterina Mizulina, and the singer Shaman. Among the major Telegram channels this news was published “Live broadcast. News"(786,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Creative with an asterisk" (335,000) and "The customer is always right"(230,000). Mizulina herself also shared a photo with subscribers (234,000 views) and commented him: “Where can I buy one?” In addition, the news was published by numerous media outlets, including “Gazeta.ru", Ura.ru And "Chalk", as well as users X, "VKontakte", Instagram And YouTube.

In September 2023 in the State Duma of the Russian Federation offered to create a domestic analogue of the game The Sims in order to broadcast “Russian traditional values” using the virtual world. By opinion the authors of the initiative, the Russian simulator will have to reflect the basics of civil legislation: raise the topics of taxation, corruption, payment for utilities, and also give players the opportunity to commit illegal actions for which criminal punishment would be imposed. In February 2025, the Yakut studio MonsterAttack released game Panelka is an apartment improvement simulator inspired by the game The Sims, but in a typical post-Soviet setting.

Images from the game Panelka. Source: vgtimes.ru

Photos of a box containing the game “The Russians” that appeared in April raise suspicions for several reasons. Firstly, the photo of the back of the disk shows the system requirements: Windows XP / Vista / Windows 7, Intel Celeron M 1.5 GHz processor / AMD Sempron 2200+. They correspond games released more than 15 years ago are far from modern. Secondly, the box itself also looks shabby, and it doesn’t look like it just hit the store shelves. Thirdly, judging by the price tag, the game is sold for 119 rubles, although in specialized St. Petersburg stores prices even for used discs are calculated thousands of rubles.

In addition, despite the very wide spread of the news (according to TGStat, almost 7 million views on Telegram alone), all users share the same two photos of the box. In the case of a real existing game, especially one that attracted such public interest, there would be a lot of pictures, reviews and videos from different users on the Internet. On April 7, it still appeared in some Telegram channels video, in which a woman is holding a box in her hand, and then the video allegedly shows gameplay recording which caused a stir in the game. Nevertheless, it is obvious that the first part of the video was created using a video editor or artificial intelligence: the woman’s finger is superimposed on top of a viral photo (for example, the location of the price tag and its irregularities coincide).

“Verified” managed to find the original source of this video. It was created by Instagram user @the_sims4_world_. Back on April 4, the blogger posted video with the caption: “Who has already played this new game? “The Russians” is just super!” And four days later she appeared second part video - with a church, a bathhouse and a tame bear. However, in the comments @the_sims4_world_ admitted that this video is from an add-on to a licensed game “The Sims 4: Country Living", released July 22, 2021. Indeed, the gameplay graphics of the game “The Russians” completely coincide with graphics that original game.

Screenshot supposedly from gameplay "The Russians" and frame with site official developer of The Sims 4

In response to one user's comment, “Is this true? Or did someone simply recreate it (the game “The Russians” - Ed.) in the regular “Sims 4” with the appropriate mods?” blogger wrote: “It’s The Sims, of course.” And in another comment she added that, most likely, the game “The Russians” does not exist: apparently, someone simply printed the cover and put it in an old disc box.

This version is also confirmed by the fact that modifications (mods) and additions for The Sims 4 in 2025 spread predominantly via the Internet rather than on physical media. There are custom modifications, which add elements of Russian culture to The Sims: for example, mods from Russian kitchen And clothes, With bathhouse and Orthodox icons, mods for replacing American names with Russian ones, etc. However, users and enthusiasts, as a rule, share them through specialized sites And forums like Sims 4 Updater, rather than on disc through retail stores.

Custom modifications for The Sims with Russian surroundings

The earliest “Verified” publication found, containing two viral photos, appeared in the Telegram channel “Creative with an asterisk» April 4 at 14:59 Moscow time.

Thus, most likely, the game “The Russians” or a corresponding mod for The Sims does not exist. News of its appearance came from two photos of the DVD box. However, apparently, the authors of the pictures simply created the corresponding cover, printed it out and inserted it into the box with the old game.

Cover photo: Telegram