Nous étions a Irvine en Californie, Jean Martial Lefranc, Rémi Herbulot et moi pour un rendez-vous avec Martin Alper, le big boss de Virgin Games aux US. Après la signature du ralliement de l’équipe entière de feu ERE INFORMATIQUE chez Virgin Loisirs, sous la houlette de Jean Martial Lefranc et Frank Herman, il fallait discuter de la ligne éditoriale.  Martin Alper et Frank étaient impressionnés par le succès de Captain Blood  et très vite Martin a prononcé le mot « Dune » ;@  mais il fallait obtenir les droits. Droits du livre de Frank Herbert ? Ou droit du film de David Lynch ? Wait and see…

J’avais, par provocation, un petit pins a ma boutonnière. Un authentique pins du KGB acheté dans un marché de Loubiana.  Martin me  fit remarquer que j’était culotté de me balader avec un truc pareil aux US. Mais cela suscita une discussion sur les services secrets et l’idée germa de faire une série de jeux d’aventures : >KGB, CIA, M16, MOSSAD…

C’est ainsi que naquis l’idée de KGB.

Quelques mois plus tard, après la sortie de la version disquette, Martin nous demanda une version CD rom, on passait de 1,5 Mo a 612 Mo 🙂 C’est ainsi que je proposais l’idée de rajouter un personnage en vidéo qui aiderait le joueur. Johan Robson écrivit plusieurs centaines de phrases qui devaient êtres dites par un comédien. Virgin proposa Sean Connery, ce fut Donald Sutherland qui accepta le rôle :))

Crédits

Designed by Johan Robson
Produced by Jean Martial Lefranc
Directed by Yves Lamoureux
Background graphics by Michel Rho
Character graphics by Didier Bouchon
Animations by Sohor Ty
PC music by Stéphane Picq

© 1992 Cryo Interactive Entertainment – Virgin Entertainment

The KGB File

Welcome to The KGB File! This website is dedicated to a better understanding of the amazing game KGB, developed by Cryo Interactive Entertainment and released in 1992 by Virgin Entertainment, on PC and Amiga.

KGB remains to this day a unique and excellent game, and is one of my favourites of all time. It’s also very challenging. It trusts your intelligence to understand what’s going on without spelling it out for you. Because of the complexity of the story and the large amount of characters, it can be difficult to understand at times, especially since the ending is rather abrupt and you may be left with more questions than answers when you finish the game. This is why I made this website.

This website is for you if you have finished KGB and still have questions you’d like to see answered.

This website is not so much for you if you’ve never played and finished KGB. There are major spoilers everywhere, so if you haven’t finished it yet, I advise you to stop reading, bookmark this website, and come back when you’re done playing this amazing game.

The KGB File contains a comprehensive analysis of the plot and the characters, a F.A.Q. section to resolve the plot points that most commonly puzzle players, a short history section if you are unfamiliar with the historical events referenced in the game, as well as a walkthrough, mainly to be used as a reference if you’ve forgotten something since the last time you played.

Before you start reading, I must say that I can explain with certainty about 95% of the story, but after playing the game inside and out, I have reached the conclusion that the remaining 5% is never given a definitive explanation and is thus open to interpretation. You must use your imagination to fill in the blanks.

KGB or Conspiracy?

KGB is a great and self-sufficient game, that doesn’t need any update or enhancement. However, it was later rereleased on CD in a new version renamed « Conspiracy ». This new version adds poorly made videos starring Donald Sutherland (in the role of Rukov’s father), which really bring nothing to the gameplay and even distract from it. It also replaces every instance of the word « KGB » within the game with the word « Conspiracy », which is pretty lame in my estimation. I strongly recommend you play the original KGB.