Press Kit: «My Child Lebensborn Remastered»

«My Child Lebensborn Remastered»

My Child Lebensborn – Winner, BAFTA 2019 «Game beyond entertainment»

My Child Lebensborn – Winner, Norwegian Spillprisen, «Best Game, Small Screen, 2019»

My Child Lebensborn – Winner, TapTap, «Best Narrative»

4,8/5 on AppStore and GooglePlay, 9,9/10 on TapTap

A story-driven simulation game letting you experience the fates of Children Born of War. Take care of Karin or Klaus and manage the day-to-day tasks while helping them through the challenges of living in a hostile and abusive society. The game is based on true events.

The remaster introduces expanded caring gameplay, offering players even more opportunities to engage in everyday activities, and providing more ways to foster a meaningful connection with your virtual child.

Produced by Teknopilot AS
Developed by Sarepta Studio AS
Address: Grønnegate 83, 2317 Hamar, Norway

Press contact:

Community manager Eylul Ozekes , eylul@sareptastudio.com

Creative Producer Elin Festøy, elin.festoy@teknopilot.no Phone: +47 91 53 79 79

Website: www.mychildlebensborn.com

Platforms My Child Lebensborn Remastered: Android / iOS, and PC.
Platforms launching soon:

PS4, PS5 worldwide – December 20. 2023
Xbox One, Xbox Series X worldwide – December 20th, 2023
Switch: Nintendo of America – December 20th, 2023
Switch: Japan and Korea – December 21st, 2023
Switch: Nintendo of Europe – January 15th, 2024

Original release

The game «My Child Lebensborn» premiered in 2018, May 8 on Google Play and May 18 on AppStore.

A version ported for PC and console was published by East2West in 2020.

The remaster of the game with added interactivity and updated graphics was launched for all platforms in 2023.

Description

The game «My Child Lebensborn Remastered» is a story-based nurture game. It combines genre and theme in a unique way.

You play as the ward of a young Lebensborn child in Norway after World War II. But parenting is hard when your child grows up in a hostile, hateful environment.

The game shows a different side to war – how hatred towards an enemy creates war victims even in peacetime. You take part in the journey of a child going through devastating moments in his/her life.

Taking the nurture genre and adapting it to a serious tone, the game can be compared to a mix between “My Talking Angela” and “Papers Please”.

What do you say to a child that is hated? Play through real events. Help Klaus or Karin cope with the heavy inheritance of German soldier genes in a country celebrating its freedom. Can you make a difference?

Gameplay

My Child: Lebensborn has a linear narrative structure, and can be completed in approximately 5 hours.

The player takes the role as the adoptive parent of a Lebensborn child. The challenge of the game is to get the child through a very difficult period of his/her life, and to mitigate the damage to their development. Players must balance time and resources to help their child.

Answer hard questions about hatred, bullying, inheritance and guilt. Discover the past and try to make things better. The nurture elements of the game are focused on everyday activities linked to the shifting times of day, while the storyline progresses in time, starting in 1951.

Key features

Based on true events
Adopt a boy or girl – care for your child
Earn money, forage, craft toys and clothing
Balance meager resources and emotional needs
Choose what to say – Influence the child’s personality, feelings and views
See the effects in the child’s body language and expressions

Historical context

This game addresses a largely unknown part of war history – the fates of Children Born of War.

«Children Born of War»

During a war, there are always children born as the result of forced or consensual contact between occupying forces and the occupied. These children, growing up in post-war societies, have very similar fates no matter which conflict, geography, culture or historic time they belong to. Research shows how the remaining hatred towards an occupying enemy is taken out on the small children that have the enemy’s genes.

«Lebensborn»

In Norway, we have a doubly tragic example of this phenomenon.
During World War 2, the children of German soldiers and Nordic women were registered into the Nazi’s «Lebensborn» program. This «Spring of Life»- program was started by Heinrich Himmler and was another grueling example of the Nazi’s twisted look on race and genes. After the war ended, the infants in the Lebensborn Program were especially vulnerable to maltreatment, both officially through adoptions and placement in children’s homes and by the treatment they got in their local societies.

The story of the Lebensborn children shows in a striking way how crazy it is to rate a child’s worth based on the genes that they carry.

The history as part of the gameplay
The game “My Child: Lebensborn” lets you experience situations that are based on the actual experiences of Norway’s Lebensborn children. In a way, the game works like a life-simulator, placing the player in the midst of actual, historic events and challenging him or her with helping the child cope as well as possible.

By choosing the intimate format of a “My Talking Angela” or “Tamagotchi”-like nurture game, we can show what such a situation looks like from the child’s limited perspective, while giving the player the opportunity to be a positive force in the child’s life. Combining this nurture genre with a linear story

The storyline and scenarios of the game have been approved by surviving Lebensborn children, and are also representative for Children Born of War from other wars or conflicts.

The companies

The game project “My Child Lebensborn Remastered” is a co-production between the production company Teknopilot AS and the game studio Sarepta Studio AS. The two companies work closely on the project, Teknopilot focusing on marketing, funding and historical context while Sarepta Studio is doing the game design and -development.

Company bio: Teknopilot AS
Teknopilot is a production company working with experimental storytelling, with productions ranging from film to game and interactive projects. Teknopilot is the IP owner of the game. More information about Teknopilot

Company bio: Sarepta Studio AS
Sarepta Studio is a game development company that is part of the Norwegian game developers hub Hamar Game Collective and co-producer of the game. They have previously developed the game “Shadow Puppeteer”, currently available on Nintendo Wii and PC. More information about Sarepta Studio. Sarepta Studio is also the global publisher of the game for all channels.

Our social media channels:

Gameplay trailer Xbox:

Story trailer:

Also visit our YouTube-channel.

Images:

Concept art:

Screenshots:

Klaus at the dinner table "That was really good! Thank you."

Klaus in the bathtub. Bandages on his face. Sad he asks "What is a Nazi-kid?"

Karin happily fishing in wintertime.

Karin sitting on the floor in her closet. Upset.

Summertime overview of the neighbourhood.

The player's workroom and office.

Logos:

Inquiries – production / IP:

Elin Festøy

Mail:elin.festoy@teknopilot.no

Inquiries – game development, publishing and support:

Catharina Due Bøhler

Mail:catharina.bohler@sareptastudio.com

The team:

Elin Festøy, Teknopilot AS, Producer, writer

Catharina Due Bøhler, Sarepta Studio AS, Lead Game Designer, writer

Ørjan Svendsen, Sarepta Studio AS, Artist

Kjartan Forthun, Sarepta Studio AS, Artist

Philip Hallangen, Sarepta Studio AS, Artist

Stian Røbergeng, Sarepta Studio AS, Artist

Richard Barlow, Lead Programmer

Nuno Correia, Sarepta Studio AS, Programmer

Øyvind Rasmussen, Sarepta Studio AS, Programmer

Christine Stensberg, Progress Interactive AS, Animator

Simon Poole, Sound designer, composer

Ozan Drøsdal, Writer

Sofia Lersol Lund, Consultant writer

Awards and nominations:

Winner, BAFTA 2019 «Game beyond entertainment» (Video from ceremony)

Winner, Norwegian Spillprisen 2018, «Game of the Year, Small Screen»

Nominated, Pocketgamer, Mobile Games Awards 2019, «Best Storytelling»

Winner, TapTap, «Best Narrative»

Nominated Creative Gaming Award – Most Creative Game

Nominated, Gamescom Indie Arena Booth 2018, «Best Storytelling»

Selections for curated festivals and exhibitions:

TIFF, Tromsø International Film Festival 2019, Workshop

IDFA 2018, official DocLab selection

BIFF, Bergen International Film Festival 2018, Expanded Exhibition

Tokyo Game Show, 2018, Indie Area

Gamescom, 2018, Indie Arena Booth

Some previous press coverage:

2019:

Dagens Næringsliv: Minister of Culture congratulates My Child Lebensborn on BAFTA award

Evening Standard: The winners of BAFTA Games Award

Gamer.no: Norwegian My Child Lebensborn wins prestigous award

Gamer.no: Google Play removes game due to «controversial content»

2018:

Polygon: The top 50 games of 2018

The New Yorker: Best video games of 2018

Der Spiegel (review): «Haken Dran»

The Guardian (Review, Game of the Month, June-18): Could you raise a Nazi baby?

PocketGamer: Top 5 Indie games, Summer 2018

Polygon: «My Child Lebensborn tells a disturbing tale about innocents in the aftermath of World War 2»

PocketGamer: «My Child Lebensborn is a deep, thoughtful experience»

2017:

Polygon, reporter Colin Campbell
«A game about hatred, children and war«

Gameranx
«War-torn Indie «My Child Lebensborn» tugs at the Heartstrings«

4Gamer.net, reporter Hosoda Tokuoka

Review of the game’s early demo at GDC-17 (in Japanese)

Alpha Beta Gamer

Coverage of launch of beta 2

2016:

Norwegian national broadcaster NRK, reporter Ellen Wesche Guttormsen
NRK P1 Ekko

4Gamer.net, reporter Hosoda Tokuoka
Article (In Japanese)

Montages, reporter Martin Sivertsen
Media podcast (In Norwegian)