Nuclear Chronotope in Ukrainian Video Games: The Ontology of the Invisible and Symbolic Invariants of Catastrophe

Abstract

The article provides a philosophical analysis of the nuclear chronotope in post-apocalyptic video games created by Ukrainian developers. The work aims at a comprehensive interpretation of nuclear symbolism as a metaphysical category, around which the structuring of video game space and the construction of a system of symbolic invariants (anomalies, radiation, invisible energy, etc.) occur, all referring to the phenomenon of a radiation threat. The methodology of this study is based on T. Morton’s concept of "hyperobjects," through which radiation can be viewed as a spatio-temporal entity beyond the grasp of human reason. The work also utilizes M. Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological approach, allowing for an analysis of the transformation of player sensibility within the virtual environment through instrumentalized mediators (dosimeters, detectors, etc.). Additionally, a postcolonial approach is employed to investigate the deconstruction of Soviet technocratic myths. The study clarifies the mechanisms through which the nuclear chronotope in Ukrainian post-apocalyptic video games (S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Metro 2033, Cryostasis, You Are Empty, Collapse) functions as a universal matrix creating a space of alienation. The ontological status of the "nuclear" hyperobject is explored, which significantly influences survival rules and strategies in the virtual world of the video game, displacing the human (active player, non-player character, etc.) to the periphery of being. The research demonstrates that the ruined post-apocalyptic space acts as a peculiar palimpsest of memory: uncontrolled nuclear energy symbolizes the finale of the modernization project and the transition to a secular eschatology of technology. Thus, the nuclear invariant can be perceived as the central phenomenon and ideological axis of the Ukrainian video game post-apocalypse, marking the status of virtual space as a "post-historical" chronotope. A crisis of anthropocentrism is recorded, as the virtual game space of the post-apocalypse becomes a territory for processing the trauma of the Chornobyl disaster, which appears here as a model of the universal experience of the end of civilization.