Odessa resident Kostyantyn Reus has created a computer game called Broken Life, illustrating the war in Ukraine through the eyes of a character – a military cat named Leo. The storyline follows a journey through a devastated world, searching for family and fighting for survival after occupation.

The idea for this project emerged from Kostyantyn’s personal experiences during the full-scale invasion. He began working on the game in March 2023, with the first part released in April 2025, and a total of three episodes planned.

The main character, Leo the cat, returns to his hometown after its liberation and seeks to uncover the fate of his family.

“In the story, a nation of dogs attacks cats with the propaganda slogan ‘we are one nation with you.’ I wanted players to visually perceive: these are different peoples, represented as different animals,” Kostyantyn Reus stated in an interview with Suspilne.

The game's narrative is inspired by real events experienced by the author and his wife while helping people in the villages of Mykolaiv and Kherson. Kostyantyn recalls witnessing destruction and debris after the occupiers left, which was a profound emotional shock.

During the shelling of Odessa and prolonged blackouts, he conceived the idea of creating a survival game. Initially, the project was meant to include practical advice, such as how to start a generator or find food, but the storyline evolved into something deeper and more complex.

The character of Leo the cat was inspired by a walk through Odessa when the author saw the graffiti “Cats of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” which motivated him to create the character.

The gameplay is structured non-linearly, and the player's choices affect the story's development. There are no strictly positive or negative decisions in the plot – everything depends on the path chosen by the player.