The Great Game: The Making of Spycraft | Full Polygon Documentary
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- Опубликовано: 5 фев 2025
- In 1995, former KGB Major General Oleg Kalugin and ex-CIA Director William Colby collaborated in an unexpected way. They made a video game.
The Great Game traces how both men rose to the tops of their fields following World War II, before falling out of favor with their respectives agencies - on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain. For Kalugin, a growing discontent with the KGB’s treatment of Russians radicalized him against the institution. Meanwhile William Colby, an OSS operative and the CIA’s man on the ground in Vietnam, was fired by President Ford after testifying before Congress about controversial CIA programs like MKULTRA and CoIntelPro.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, both living on American soil, Colby and Kalugin played themselves in Spycraft, a multi-million dollar game that was among the most advanced of its time - and is now almost entirely forgotten.
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Will have more things to say later I am sure, but for now, you can indeed find Spycraft on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/569220/Spycraft_The_Great_Game/
it's just There.
$6!!
Y'all need to take another pass on the captions on this one. A bunch of Maya Vinokour's speech is not captioned from 18:27 to 18:39. TKTK is written instead of what Carl Colby is saying around 1:06:00. Some of Colby's words are missed from 1:07:57 to 1:08:11. I've noticed a pattern of incomplete or incorrect captions with a number of Polygon videos; I strongly advise Vox Media to hire someone whose job focus is captions and video accessibility. Alternatively, Tom Scott uses a fantastic service called Caption Plus who specialize in high-quality captions that take full advantage of what RUclips can do (multiple colors, sub- and superscript, different positions, that sort of thing), and they may be able to caption your videos in future. Whatever you decide to do, I do ask that you improve in this area, because this is an issue of ensuring that no viewers are discriminated against for being hard of hearing or having audio processing difficulties.
Honestly I imagine they'll see a big uptick in sales after this video, it looks VERY cool.
Literally nothing in my notifications has ever made me as excited as the words “full polygon documentary” omg
Same!
The fact that a documentary of this length and quality is just completely free and on youtube is *astounding* to me. I will be sharing this with everyone I know
The McElroy jumpscare was crazy, but don't forget about the Jacob Geller jumpscare!
We do it for you
this is literally what i came here to comment 😭 this documentary is absolutely increeeeedible that i can barely process it, but having justin & jacob involved made my whole week
Just finished, this was really good!! I'd love to see more docu type stuff from you guys in the future! Really wonderful job Simone & Clayton, and everyone else who pitched in as well!
Thank you so much for watching!!
Incredible work, 10/10 reminds me of some of the stuff from 'people make games'. It's incredible how much actual journalism lies buried just beneath the surface of our fun hobby.
HOLY SHIT SUDDEN JUSTIN MCELROY... he did it. He completed the FMV Quest.
a full documentary??? hell yeah!
also, starting with the "that man killed my father" is INSANE
And at the same time, it feels like Kalugin was the one with cleaner hands than the other - going by Colby's work in Vietnam alone. That said, Colby had the opportunity to unmask the CIA, which Kalugin never had a chance to do in the much more corrupt Russian system.
They both worked for manipulative, violent, authoritarian regimes. Who knows what their impact would have been had they been able to stay in power and gain allies.
Wow! I'm so glad Simone and Clayton got to do this. I quite enjoyed it, and I hope they enjoyed making it.
10/10 - Love this, and thank you for the pacing. I didn't even pause the video once it was so engaging, and the information was stitched together so well. Too many "documentaries" out there wringing out 5 mins of content. Meanwhile y'all packed a whole history lesson into a game video that runs the fastest two hours I've experienced in a while.
This is so nice to hear, thank you!!!
I'm sure this was a crazy amount of work, so I don't really expect y'all to ever do another one, but this absolutely lived up to the hype and I would love more long form documentary style stuff! It's sad that so many interesting stories like this in gaming are largely forgotten, and y'all did a great job putting everything in its historical context.
I grew up playing this with my dad. We both loved point and click adventure games, spy stories and near-future technology. We spent hours trying to figure out if you could access the cut content somewhere in the game. I still have the disks somewhere in my apartment. Thank you for making this. I was so excited to see a deep dive on one of my absolute favorite cult classics and a game that, in many ways, shaped my early teenage years.
this is one of the best RUclips documentaries I've seen! great work on this one, would love to see more like this
Incredible work Simone and Clayton!! That was such a fascinating and well made documentary!! I'm personally hoping this is the first of many feature length projects from the team!!
A full Polygon documentary. Just what I needed after a stressful day.
You and me both.
SO MUCH WORK WENT INTO THIS AND IT SHOWS. amazing 😭😭😭😭
THANK YOU 💖💖💖
Phenomenal! A documentary about not only the making of a landmark video game but also providing the context for why it's so important as well as teaching about Cold War conflict. I've learned a lot about this era thanks to this documentary. Thank you, Polygon!
This is so, so impressive. Riveting topic, incredible writing and editing, obvious passion for the subject - what a fantastic video. I know I'll be rewatching often. I hope they get the chance to make more of these!
This was excellent from top to bottom, thank you for the effort evident in documenting all of this! I would love to see more like this from Polygon in the future.
My grandfather loved this game and let me play along with him even though I might have been too young for its mature themes. But still have nostalgia for this great game. 😊
I'm old enough to remember when games being on multiple disks was a sign of The Good Stuff
A sign of pride
This was a fantastic piece of work, I was totally hooked the whole time! I feel like coverage of video games as a legitimate form of art which interacts with the historical and cultural landscape is still far too rare, so I'm really happy to see things like this being made!
I know this must have taken an enormous amount of work so I'm not necessarily expecting you to make more, but if you ever do make more in-depth documentaries like this I will 100% be here to watch. (Polygon/VOX, give these people funding for more big projects please!)
I'm blown away by this. Not just the clearly substantial effort or the top-tier quality, but also just them trying out a completely different voice to Polygon's usual and nailing it on the first attempt.
The idea of polygon doing full docs got me so hyped
How have I never heard of this game?? FMV, Soviet era espionage, actual spies taking part, it’s an insane idea already…
and it's on Steam!
@@polygon link? 👀
@@genarotorresvargas5513just pinned the Steam link in a comment!
This is wildly high quality for a RUclips video, huge well done to those involved!
Polygon thank you for doing serious cool shit about the interesting things video games mean not just scores out of ten.
Thirty minutes in, need a tea break, but damn this is good???? Polygon, you never fail to delight me, ugh. ❤❤❤❤❤
This channel is so great. Despite being "corporate" the RUclips manages to still feel down-to-earth in a sense
Wow. This was awesome! The cold war is one of my favorite topics and this is a game most people never would've known about or played, so it's mega cool that we all get to learn about it now. Fascinating. Congratulations everyone on a job well done and thank you for your hard work!
I left the notification up on my phone all day and planned to watch this after I settled for the evening. Great job. I love Polygon
I both love and hate learning about things I'd never seen before this, but DAMN this is SUCH a cool way to learn about such a brilliant looking game! This was so brilliant and intense and so fun to watch!
Everyone else is here because they're excited about a Polygon doc. I'm here because Spycraft changed the direction of my life.
Say more!!
@polygon ironic that THIS is the comment that gets seen. Sorry guys, those NDAs are still in effect.
Interesting subject, incredible range of interviews, excellent editing and clear narration where needed. Have always appreciated Polygon's thoughtful perspective and analysis on the world of video games. (And hilarious play throughs, of course!) You've raised the bar once again, well done!
Team!!! This was incredible, y’all did so good. I love these long forms as much as I loved the shenanigans of 16-17. Arrful Squad and Yellface and all were cool, but so the hell is this!!
This was awesome! Thank you Polygon!
This game, along with The X Files FMV game, were definitely highlights of gaming during my childhood.
I always love Polygon video content, even about topics and things I seemingly have little initial interest in. I appreciate the stories you weave and uncover. This is really great.
This is genuinely one of the best documentaries i’ve ever seen
Thank you for this amazing documentary!
I watched this entire thing with my jaw open. What an incredible documentary, so well researched and contextualized. It felt like such a natural extension of the other videos y'all do, where you use video games as both a springboard and way to ground these incredible political and historical discussions. Thank you so much to everyone who put all this work in!!!
Also shoutout to the Hoops jumpscare, 10/10, other documentaries take note
This was excellent, team. I can't wait to see what more deep dives you take.
Great job! Really impressed! Can't wait for the next one!
I weirdly feel proud of polygon for making this incredible documentary
OH MY GOD I'M SO EXCITED TO WATCH THISSSSSSS AS SOON AS I AM ALLOWED TO HEAR SOUNDS
The 90s were so weird...
The path from Spycraft into CoD is such a great coda, I would love to learn more about how those seeds grew at Activision...
Loved learning about this game that I've only really heard about in passing before. I hope that it was as fulfilling to make as it was fun to watch! I wouldn't dare wish for it, but I'd love to see another of these documentary style videos!
This was exceptional! Thought I was going crazy hearing Jamelle Bouie’s voice, and then…!
It's finally here?? I'm literally going to make popcorn for this 🍿
Having this full doc on RUclips is such a gift, thank you Polygon
you guys have outdone yourselves. fantastic work.
I think it says a lot 2 men who oversaw so much evil and oppression rebuked their agencies and chose to make a game. Games have always brought people together.
WOW. I've been so excited for this and it was so fantastic to see it all together, incredible work on a fascinating story!!
A *DOCUMENTARY?* Alright I'm in
Thank you for doing a behind the scenes deep dive around one of my favorite FMV game from my childhood.
Incredible work - I hope this is the start of something new and exciting for Polygon!
I’ll be so happy if Polygon joins the likes of Noclip in making documentaries that preserve gaming history like this while we still have access to the people who were there.
So excited to dive in to this!!
This documentary is fantastic
!! this was so slick!!! so interesting -- thank you!!!!
So excited this is finally out!
Holy crap they got Jamelle Bouie
Holy crap, had no idea people were aware that this game existed. Loved this as a kid and never seen anybody ever mention it.
Justin is finally putting his expertise to use
I worked on Spycraft! I joined the team a few months after filming. I could have SWORN I had a PDF of the script somewhere, and that it was over 500 pages long
WOAH THIS RULES!!! Let us know if you find it!!!
Fascinating documentary! I never played Spycraft (because I also didn't have a phat (90's parlance yay) rig) , but this makes we want to play it, with a proper appreciation of what happened to make it possible. Good job, everyone!
FANTASTIC video, was enthralled by all of it!!
The titles of the music use makes me laugh, but I did catch a couple Serj Tankian credits in there! Pretty cool haha
this was so weird and riveting and wonderful! i still can't believe this is a real thing that happened. also want to point out 2 points where the english subs were missing: 1:06:32 - 1:06:53 and 1:07:58 - 1:08:12. thanks!!
Thank you! I used to play Spycraft The Great Game. It was one of my Favorites. Never Knew
There was a Doc about the Game.
It would be fantastic to have more of this from Polygon. Exploration of strange but forgotten games… Imagine a full on documentary to Dinotopia, an extension of Simone previous work. I can also see a sudden rise of people grabbing this on GOG/Steam.
amazing documentary!!!! love this long form media!! and i love the attention to detail. i haven't heard of this spygame beofre this video, but i see it now as an actually important piece of gameing history
THIS!!!!!! IS SO COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
great doc! seriously brilliant piece. I'm doing the algorithm dance
clickbait title: how a CIA Chief made the Call of Duty precursor
Narrated by jbouie? I should have watched this sooner. The whole team should be proud of what you’ve made.
beardless Justin McElroy jump scare
i really do think about this all the time- the effort that was put into this, the research, the heart… it’s all deeply moving and powerful! and on such a fascinating topic!!!
People Make Games probably deserves a little credit for this very refreshing pivot by Polygon
Stellar work!
Finally got around to watching this one. Very cool!
this is phenomenal
Really, really good stuff.
This is extremely interesting. Guess I gotta play Spycraft now!
haven't watched yet just need to comment HOW HYPE I AM FOR THIS
WOW THAT WAS REALLY GOOD proud of y'all for this in-depth work!
As I write this, Spycraft is on sale on GOG for $2 USD for the next day and a half.
I've loved this game since it was released. That being said I'm 25 minutes into the documentary and I do not remember ANY of this from when I played it as a 10 year old.
Now that's some sobering well made docu. And I really thought FMVs are long dead as a genre.
Incredible nuanced history of the fall of Soviet Union damn
quite interesting. thanks!
I never played this game.
I did however play the 2004 MMORPG 'World of Spycraft': My class of choice was 'Coup Devil' and my go-to move was 'Arm the Rebels' followed by 'Assassinate Diplomat' and finishing with 'Overthrow Government'.
In all seriousness; great job!
Jacob Geller voice jumpscare.
I miss this game ! It was so cool and i was so proud when i finished it
Juice is in this? Incredible
Aw yeah, spooky 1980s spy's making a video game.
I simply did not have Francis Fukuyama on my 2024 Polygon bingo card, though of course it's obvious in retrospect.
I'm really enjoying this video, but the captions just kind of disappear and stop showing up at around 21:12 . I hope that can be fixed because I'm really enjoying it so far.
Sorry about that, some sort of YT glitch, they should be working now!
The torture scene was one of the weirdest things they put in the game.
1:04:40 -The Prodigal Jacob Returns.
Spycraft was ahead of its time. Imagine a Web3 revival: your .Web3 domain as your spy identity, carrying assets and reputation across games. The future of gaming is here!