The island town

Places you can walk into

There are no painted-on façades in this town: you can walk into every one of these buildings, climb the stairs, open an office door and meet the people who actually work there.

The town hall. Housing keys are handed out here, and the polling station stands in the lobby

The hospital. Anyone who comes off worst wakes up here, and the doctor and nurse start their shift here

The school. The teacher gives the lesson, the pupil earns a grant and moves up a year

The bank. Loans, deposits and a queue to the banker, who has a rank of his own

The supermarket. Food, small things for the house and a job behind the counter

The bar. Open from morning to midnight — you can tell from the extractor smoking above the roof

The church. Services, weddings, and the one place where nobody draws a weapon at all

The army base north of the ring road. You get in through the guard post; the gates do not just open

Hunting & Arms. A licence and a hunting exam come first, and only then the purchase

Things to do

Unload the Ostrovityanin today, take a café or hospital delivery run tomorrow, then go fishing and work the line yourself. Jobs pay for each in-game hour, while purchases and services feed money back into the island economy.

Errands from neighbours and five story chains

Rent a house and furnish it: comfort changes the game

A street stall, a shop, a bank, a café and a church

The cemetery, where the keeper talks about buried treasure

The lighthouse on the western cape: the outer stairs go up

Evening falls: the sun goes into the sea

The pier: cast with real force, watch a float that moves, and feel the fish pull the line its own way

The footbridge by the pond. Tackle and bait decide what bites; playing it in is up to you

Furnishing your home: every purchase adds comfort, and the “wiring” line tells you when to call the electrician

Roads and cars

The cars here are rounded old saloons and estates of a kind you no longer meet on the road. Each one belongs to somebody, each has its own papers, and almost any of them can come to you in four different ways.

Budget, ordinary, expensive and sporty — the dealership only sells the expensive ones

The used-car market: second-hand cars, haggling, and the papers made out in your name

The impound lot. An abandoned car is towed here and later goes to auction

Ostrovok Car Sharing, for the days when owning a car is not worth the trouble

The garage. Bodywork really does dent, and beating a dent out costs ₽120

Traffic lights, crossings and road signs. You can run a red — but that is now an offence

Eight stops, four buses to a route, the next one along in about half a minute

Driving means keeping to the right and minding everyone else: only one car enters a junction at a time, and steering, skidding and braking come from physics rather than animation. A car left at the kerb gets moved into the nearest lay-by, and you can find it again on the map.

When the police come after you

Running a red light might be forgiven. Knocking down a pedestrian, taking somebody else’s car or denting a patrol car will not be. The wanted level is counted in stars, and the more of them you collect, the more insistent the town becomes.

First one set of lights appears in your mirror. By three stars there are several, and one car runs ahead to block the street you were heading for. Once they have boxed you in and stopped you, an officer gets out, runs over and offers to settle it here and now: “Fine”, “Cuffs and the station” or “Run”.

Give yourself up and the weapon leaves your hands, you take the back seat, and they drive you across town to the station. Run, and they will chase you down on foot — and an officer in pursuit does not wait for a green light. There is no blood and nobody dies: both the baton and the shot only knock you down, but you come round in a cell rather than in hospital. Getting away is possible too: stay out of sight of the patrol for half a minute and a star goes out.