Novikov's Entries (Night of the Patriots)

This page is dedicated to archiving all of Lieutenant Novikov's entries in the visual novel "Night of the Patriots."

# Act 1: The Introduction

## Opening Credits

This is the introduction to the story. As the camera pans down towards a convoy of winter-painted T-34/76 tanks, this is where you’d expect the credits to be. The tanks seem to be rolling down a snowy road some time in late 1942-early 1943. Within the scene, we see various soldiers, though the back of their heads instead of their faces as they continue through the forest into an open field.

The tanks continue through the open field, before stopping to engage a countering group of Panzer IVs. The first shot from the T-34s is synced with the music at 1:21. One of the T-34s is disabled. As the battle dies down, the rest of the T-34s move past the burning Panzer IVs, with the accompanying infantry tending to the now-abandoned T-34, as well as any surrendering troops. The tanks make it to a bivouac site, owned by the Soviets, where our first character is introduced.

It is later revealed that in the T-34 that was disabled in the intro, the company commander did not survive, which leads to the premise for the rest of the story.

## Entry 1: December 27th, 1942

The player is greeted by a title card with the date, as well as the location of the chapter. There is an abrupt explosion after

In the dialogue, the tankist introduces himself. Before saying his name, he goes over his background, explaining his education, his interests, then finally introducing himself as Senior Lieutenant Artyom Novikov. Novikov explains that he is an officer in the 22nd Tank Brigade, currently stationed near the City of Rzhev. He isn’t very wordy in his introduction, something that changes later on in the story. Novikov seems to be unsure of a lot of his statements, with his introduction filled with “maybe” and “something like” as well as other probable words.

Novikov continues his introduction talking about his military life, though very sparsely talking about actual time in battle. He mentions his awards and his patriotism to the Soviet Union, as if he was talking to a political deputy rather than to himself. This refers to the fact that he didn’t willingly start to write in a journal, and rather was coerced by his unit’s political officer.

There is a brief section where Novikov complains about his current unit, trying to explain where he would rather be. He mentions the Japanese front, and proceeds to talk about his friends who had ended up at the Battle of Khalkhin Gol back in the early 1930s. In theme with the music, he ends up going on a tangent about the Imperial Russian Army during the Russo-Japanese civil war, comparing his experiences in Rzhev to the piles of corpses that formed the Manchurian “hills.” This is in reference to the nickname “Meat Grinder of Rzhev.”

# Act 2: Meeting the Others

## Entry 2: May 1st, 1943 - Ivnya, southwest of Kursk

Novikov briefly forgets about his journal for a few months as the unit he’s a part of is tasked to act as the rear guard for Red Army forces located within the Kursk Salient.

In a position where his unit now can rest months after the Battle of Rzhev, Novikov goes back to journaling. He starts his journal off with some thoughts in his mind. Leant up against the back of his tank, he explains his current situation, where he’s now acting as his company’s commanding officer, after the death of the preceding one back in December. Due for another promotion, Novikov explains that despite their past attempts to promote him, he’s never accepted a one willingly, since he’s always only had to ride on his father’s coat tails.

Novikov goes on about his duties as a senior officer, and explains that as a teenager, wasn’t really interested in going into university. He talks about his theories about war in the 1930s, and how pursuing an education further than 7 year school seemed useless to him. His argument eventually turns into him whining about his brother, who he promptly mentions being promoted to a battalion level commissar.

## Entry 3: May 9th, 1943

Novikov introduces Efreitor Konstantin Koch (sometimes referred to as Von Koch later on) to the reader. A member of the 22nd’s Motor-Rifle Battalion, he found himself fighting alongside the Soviet forces to defeat the Fascists. He explains his distrust for Koch, after learning about his history as an ex-German tanker. He talks about Koch’s many attempts to convince him that he’s not a spy, speaking down about every single one of his tries. This brings Novikov to vow to not talk to the man, stating that it’s not because of his dislike for Germans, but because he’s an infantry man.

He continues this submission rather than making a new one after tending to some administrative duties. Novikov talks a bit about the upcoming battles and how he plans to execute his actions via the commands that he’s been given.

## Entry 4: May 16, 1943

The entry starts with Novikov writing about the past 7 days that he wasn’t writing. The lieutenant claims that he lost his book in the tent, and over the past couple of weeks, hasn’t been able to find it. He then contradicts his own claim, by blaming Konstantin for stealing his stuff. WIthout evidence, however, he isn’t able to back up his claim and no one gets in trouble. Too bad for him.

Novikov speaks about the T-34 for a bit. He writes his opinions about the tank, and how his unit’s been fairing with it. It seems that recently, they received a new shipment of T-34/76 tanks of the 1942 variant with the hexagonal turret in order to replace their old 1941 models.

Novikov’s unit, which served during the Battle of Rzhev, seem to be collectively paranoid about switching out their tanks, with many older members who survived the bloodbath (see: Rzhev Meat Grinder) refusing to take the newer tanks in memory of their fallen brothers. Novikov is impartial to the debate, and doesn’t voice any significant opinion, calling the debate “stupid” as well as other various negative words. He tries to give a solution, but knows that if he doesn’t take these new tanks, he’ll get absolutely shat on by Stalin and the High Command.

Novikov ends the entry talking about the absolute headache just thinking about this is giving him.

## Entry 5: May 20th, 1943

This entry is written by someone else other than Lieutenant Novikov.

The entry starts with some character introduction from an NCO named Sergeant Lukyan Pavlov. He explains that Novikov has caught a cold and he asked him to write an entry for him. Novikov believes that he is so sick that at this point, he needs a friend to write his will into his notebook for him.

His will, written out by Pavlov, says the following:

“I, Artyom Antonovich, will give all my assets, INCLUDING my cat, to Lukyan Nikolaevich Pavlov.”

Novikov eventually snatches the journal out of Pavlov’s hands and starts to write for himself. This is where Pavlov’s real introduction is. It turns out that Pavlov is a sniper from the 13th Guards who had recently been sent to the rear to regroup following the Battle of Stalingrad. As the Kursk Salient had been silent for the past 3 months, Pavlov had stumbled upon the location of Novikov’s unit, to which he wandered around and accidentally deserted his own unit. The communication from the 13th Guards was only made a couple days prior, in which Pavlov had already accidentally wandered away.

Novikov explains that due to Pavlov’s position as:

1. A Hero of the USSR, and
2. The son of another Hero of the USSR, who happens to be a colonel

He, as one of Pavlov’s childhood friends, was instructed to keep him around. Wow. Power struggle is a real thing.

A drawing that Pavlov made himself is pasted into the book.

## Entry 7: May 21st, 1943

Novikov has intrusive thoughts. He wakes up in a cold sweat from his sleep, and takes the time until sunrise to write. It seems that nightmares have become a regular thing for him, which is why he’s never written about them, but this time, stuff feels different.

Novikov is still sick, though is getting better. His nose is blocked, which is terrible for him due to the current weather. As the days get warmer, he gets sweatier, and now he’s waking up in pools of sweat every morning. He explains that he’s been doing most of his work from bed, though he’s been mostly quarantined for the time being.

The lieutenant talks a bit about the state of the medical services within his brigade. He talks a little bit about the nurses and how they take care of him. He mentions that many soldiers end up falling in love with the nurses and start to have affairs with them, to which he starts to talk down about relationships within the armed forces.

Novikov ends the entry abruptly after starting to fall asleep.

## Entry 8: May 23rd, 1943

Now better, Novikov went back to his duties as company commander. The unit seems to have moved further into the salient in order to form the 2nd line of defence to protect Kursk. As a backup unit, his men end up stationed further in the rear than to the front.

His sister company has finally phased out their BT series tanks and replaced them fully with T-70s. Novikov talks about the T-70 light tank and compares it to his T-34/76, praising its small silhouette while criticising the 2-man crew style that gives it its individuality. He

Novikov starts to doodle some battle plans in his journal, but quickly stops after drawing one or two tanks, scribbling them out. Instead, his writing turns into some notes from a meeting he is apparently having while writing this entry. Novikov ends up writing some illegible words, which are such due to some water damage. The paper is stained with coffee, which ends the entry.

## Entry 9: May 25th, 1943

The lieutenant is able to dry out his journal and keep writing, though his last entry had been half-destroyed.

He explains that tomorrow, he has a meeting with the brigade’s colonel and a few of his fellow staff. He talks about being officially promoted to the rank of captain, hoping that that may be the case for the young officer. Novikov starts to talk about his successes while sick, and shows his confidence in his soon-to-be promotion.

He eventually changes the subject towards the eerie silence that the Germans had kept them in for the past few months. He talks about the usual artillery attacks on the Soviet lines, but as of recent, he’s seen less and less, as well as heard less and less about them.

It seems he has reconciled his friendly relationship with Koch and has given him a chance to prove himself. Novikov talks a little bit about Koch’s life as an infantryman as part of a tank brigade. He explains the “desant” concept, which at the time was effectively used by the Red Army to support tank troops with infantry. A hastily drawn concept of Koch is pasted into the journal.

## Entry 10: May 26th, 1943

Soviet song (1956) - I Love You, Life (English subtitles)

Novikov starts his 10th entry by talking a little bit about loving life as it is. He speaks about this wonderful sunflower field that he’s found nearby, which he often visits. In this entry, he writes a few lyrics similar to Mark Bernes’ “I love you, Life.” The song was not published until 1956, so how he knows the lyrics is unknown.

Novikov talks about the tree he’s currently leaning against, and how he, as a tired soldier, trusts this tree to keep up his weight and to keep him safe and hidden from any straggling Germans while he rests and writes. Novikov uses this as a segway to trusting his own officers, as he then recounts what happened during his meeting with the colonel.

For the first time in his life, Novikov had been relieved from a position. He no longer had to be acting company commander, as they had allocated a captain to fill that position for him. Novikov graciously complied, happy to work with another officer and to be given less responsibility over his men, but something about this new officer seemed off… His name, Captain Fyodor Strelnikov, formerly attached to the 189th Tank Brigade during the Battle of Stalingrad, doesn’t seem to ring any bells for Novikov, which is odd, because he has many colleagues from the 189th who have never mentioned Strelnikov’s name before… odd.

Novikov describes Strelnikov as around his height, though definitely looking older than he is. He mentions that Strelnikov studied to be a political commissar before going to tank school, which to him, may be a reason why he doesn’t know who he is.

## Entry 11: May 29th, 1943

The first few days with Strelnikov as commander were relatively chaotic. Strelnikov has been calling for company form ups every single morning, changing the diet of the soldiers rapidly, as well as forcing his hand on changing the tanks to the newer T-34 (1942) models. Safe to say, Strelnikov has been moulding the unit to his will, something that Novikov neglected to do during his time of leadership. This causes Novikov to continue talking down on the new captain, claiming that due to his lack of experience with the unit, that he’s tearing the team apart.

Novikov decides to change his writing a little bit, and scratches out various insults against the man. He decides to give Strelnikov another few days to redeem himself in the lieutenant’s eyes.

Novikov is redelegated back to platoon level work, to which he starts to talk about his assigned soldiers. A group of mediocre tankers, he realises that most of his old staff have been replaced due to the growing need of NCOs replacing officer ranks. Because of this, there are many of his subordinates in which he doesn’t have a personal connection with. Novikov voices his frustration in his writing by using quite vulgar words.

## Entry 12: May 31st, 1943

Word floats around the troops a bit. Theories that the Germans may attack at any time fill the ears of the lower soldiers, to which it arrives eventually to Novikov. Novikov agrees with the gossip, that there is no way the Germans have been this quiet for the past few days. As the days close in towards the summer, Novikov starts to notice odd behaviour from Strelnikov. For longer periods of time, Strelnikov would disappear, only to reappear some hours later.

Novikov at first assumes that he’s just not paying attention to Strelnikov’s actions as much as he thought, and leaves it be for the time being.

In this entry, Artyom talks a bit about the administrative team that works with the Battalion Command. He explains that he has become distant with the command team as he has with his old tank platoon, due to his lack of duties related to administration nowadays.

He mentions some gossip about one of the replacement staff, joking about how they’re putting frontline fighters from rugged lifting to office jobs. He mocks the replacement, though not knowing who exactly they are. Novikov explains that he believes that being moved from combat to admin without a promotion is considered a downgrade, as if one’s service wasn’t doing well prior to their transfer.

Novikov ends his submission by talking about Koch, who corrected Novikov’s half-assed attempt at speaking German. Intrigued, Novikov has made the decision to have Koch teach the platoon a few words, and how to pronounce them correctly. After all, if they win this war and make it to Berlin, they’re gonna need to know a little German to survive.

## Entry 13: June 1st, 1943

Novikov is once again visited by Sergeant Pavlov. Novikov questions how Pavlov is able to travel such far distances without anyone questioning where he is, to which Pavlov replies:

“I don’t know, I just started walking, and all of a sudden, I’m here.”

At this point, Pavlov might as well be called a deserter, due to the sheer amount of times that he’s wandered off in places where he’s not supposed to be. He disappears for a few days, and returns every time, somewhat unscathed.

Novikov has a long conversation with Pavlov about the grand punishments that’ll await him the moment the commissars get a whiff of his actions. Pavlov doesn’t care, and asks Novikov if he would rather give him a job instead of letting him laze around. Novikov remembers his suspicions of Strelnikov and tells Pavlov about them. After discussing the actions that Novikov has seen in the last few days, Pavlov offers to follow Strelnikov the next time he sees him. After all, Pavlov just happens to be a sniper, and you won’t believe this, but his main job is to WATCH and complete RECON. He may be stupid, but he knows how to complete his job efficiently.

Pavlov ends up leaving to complete the task that Novikov gave him.

## Entry 14: June 4th, 1943

With the various absences of Captain Strelnikov, Novikov ends up having to run to administration at some point during the day, to which he meets the very pissed off secretary. Novikov finds out that she knows about the rumours and the mocking that he’s been doing over the last week, and goes off on him, giving him a good mental beating. Novikov writes his negative thoughts about the secretary, explaining how he believes that he shouldn’t be shouted at since he ranks over her. Novikov has a verbal shouting match with Vasilevskaya, eventually leading to another soldier breaking it off, and Novikov receiving a write-up. Wow.

Novikov ends up spending the rest of the day looking for Pavlov, who apparently had stumbled back out of the bush to see what Strelnikov was doing. After going through a ramble having to do with stuff he did as a normal person, Novikov starts to get anxious. Especially after that first write-up, he doesn’t want to risk his position or even expulsion from the Armed Forces.

Pavlov ends up reporting that Strelnikov carries a radio with him and starts speaking in a foreign language, though Pavlov is not sure which one. Pavlov asks Novikov if he knows about Strelnikov’s background, to which he mentions that Strelnikov was born in Lithuania, and not Russia, so there’s a possibility that Pavlov heard him speaking Lithuanian. Pavlov says that he’s sure he didn’t hear Lithuanian, to which Novikov slightly dismisses.

Pavlov shortly returns to his unit after this entry.

## Entry 15: June 7th, 1943

Still processing the result of yesterday’s events, Novikov finds himself taking a break from the madness by sitting out in a sunflower field nearby, listening to the wind blow. This is where he’s writing his submission, and he makes it obvious by writing a poem about the sunflower fields. He is still in great thought about the newfound information about Strelnikov, though isn’t sure what course of action he should take in order to confront him about it.

Novikov gets up to ask Vasilevskaya about her opinions on Strelnikov, and if she’s been noticing anything strange. On the way, he bumps into Koch, who’s also been apparently speculating about Strelnikov’s absences. Novikov insults Koch, asking him what he’s doing bumping into people. Koch tells Novikov that he has something important to say, but doesn’t know who to tell, since none of his platoon staff respect him enough. Koch believes that Novikov, as a non-Russian (Novikov is well known to be significantly more Estonian) is the right person to confide in, and decides that he’s the only one he can trust.

Koch talks about what he’s been noticing about Strelnikov’s behaviour. Though he doesn’t work closely with Strelnikov, Koch recognises his behaviour from his time in the Wehrmacht. He notes that Strelnikov is often absent in times of need, and when he is here, he overcompensates for the time he isn’t by being overly nice. Koch compares this behaviour to his own right during the Battle of Stalingrad, where he himself had disappeared for long periods of time before eventually defecting to the enemy.

Novikov, finding out this information, asks Koch if he thinks that Strelnikov is thinking of defecting.

Koch shrugs his shoulders and simply says that he thinks that Strelnikov might be bluffing. He explains how he’s scared of telling anyone else just in case he’s wrong, and eventually begs Novikov not to tell the commissar or any other staff members. Novikov reassures Koch that everything he said will stay confidential.

Novikov forgot to talk to Vasilevskaya in this entry.

## Entry 16: June 9th, 1943

Novikov eats breakfast and rushes straight to talk to Vasilevskaya, who often sits with the other reserve staff, usually attached to their medical or engineering units. Though she’s busy, he knows that he must get her opinion in order to confirm what Pavlov has said about Strelnikov.

He approaches her and attempts to speak, asking her about her job and such. She takes his questions as an attempt to socialise with her, to which she immediately turns any sort of debate down. Novikov, confused, explains to her that he doesn’t want to fight, and needs important information about a person, which he cannot access without her help. She agrees, leading him to the administrative tent. As she lets him in, Strelnikov passes by and taps Novikov on the shoulder. Strelnikov asks him a few questions, and gives him some encouragement as he sees Vasilevskaya. Novikov briefly explains that he’s not there to “rizz” up Vasilevskaya, to which Strelnikov laughs and leaves him alone.

Vasilevskaya is still suspicious of Novikov, but doesn’t talk about what Strelnikov suggested. Novikov suddenly does not feel safe talking to Vasilevskaya in the tent, and offers to meet her in a nearby sunflower field to talk the next day. She agrees, and Novikov leaves the tent.

Shortly after, Novikov finds himself talking to Koch, who interrupts his evening to talk again about Strelnikov. Koch notices that Strelnikov’s accent has started to stray further from his usual Russian. Koch half-dismisses it as he did in the last conversation, though this time Novikov interrupts him, intrigued with what Koch is now telling him. Novikov is now having suspicions about Strelnikov’s outside activities, with the most reasonable being that he’s talking to other people. Novikov can’t say that they’re exactly Germans, since perhaps he’s been talking to partisans, but the idea remains open.

## Entry 17: June 10th, 1943

Novikov starts his day with a meeting with Strelnikov and the other staff. He complains about the long meeting, and how he was struggling to stay awake while listening to the boring news. Novikov was even asked if the stars on his shoulders were so heavy that he was getting tired of carrying them. Novikov ends the meeting, to which he’s pulled aside by Strelnikov to talk about some arbitrary topic. He briefly expresses his distaste for Novikov, but at the sight of Novikov’s medal, changes his look and praises his commandership, though at the platoon level. Strelnikov has a talk about scepticism, and how he rather rumours not float around and instead Novikov should just talk straight to him if he has any issues.

After that brief conversation, Novikov headed out of the camp to a sunflower field nearby to talk to Vasilevskaya as he had promised. He thinks nothing of the meeting location or any of the setup as he goes to talk to her. Busy in the mind, he thinks about his conversation with Strelnikov and ponders about what he had just heard. Was that evidential?

Whatever. Novikov and Vasilevskaya meet in the field to talk. Uninterested in any shenanigans, Novikov is greeted by Vasilevskaya sitting among the flowers. He settles down beside her and starts to take out his journal. It seems Vasilevskaya is acting odd towards him, being weirdly nicer than she usually is. Novikov brushes her off and starts to show her the notes in his journal, talking non-stop about Strelnikov’s actions. She listens to his rambling and assures him that he can look in the files when they return.

Novikov hears this and puts away his stuff, ushering her to go help him find Strelnikov’s file. Vasilevskaya, however, seems like she isn’t interested in going right away, and tells Novikov that she would rather enjoy the sunflowers first, and offers for him to join her. Novikov is hesitant, but ends up staying with her. Vasilevskaya ends up falling asleep on his shoulder, probably exhausted from her work. Novikov is happy that someone is able to trust him.

## Entry 18: June 12th, 1943

Novikov starts the submission with his confession of love for Vasilevskaya. He beats himself up for thinking this way just because he spoke to a girl. Novikov speaks about never really knowing how he feels about himself, let alone another person. This seems to be the biggest part of Novikov’s submission, though mostly rambling and useless text for most of it.

More importantly, a package comes in for Novikov from Pavlov, however, it doesn’t come through the post, instead coming through a communications officer. The letter is not written in his own handwriting, which probably means most of the contents were compiled by someone else. Inside the package includes various pieces of photo evidence that Pavlov had apparently collected in the past few days. On the way back to his unit, Pavlov encountered a group of partisans. Out of sheer luck, he was able to convince a few of them to keep an eye on Artyom’s unit, especially the commander. Hidden out in the forests, the partisans were able to move to a position where they could survey the area over time without being caught as suspicious by both allied and enemy forces.

As Novikov looks through the photos, he finds a lot of them to be pretty useless. Mostly photos of various German units around the area, stuff that would come to him through his unit’s own scouts anyways. Novikov then looks closer at a few of the images, spotting artefacts that may be related to Strelnikov. Writing on paper… ‘captured’ clothes… is that his hat?

Novikov decides that this is too much to process at once, and gets Koch to meet up with him the next day.

## Entry 19: June 13th, 1943

The day starts with Novikov waking up from another nightmare. He makes a very scribbly sketch of what he saw with his pencil, with illegible writing on the screen. Novikov’s writing is incomprehensible, with various parts of his writing being scribbled or ripped out of the page. Novikov is unable to form comprehensive words.

Novikov’s nightmare is intervened by a passing by soldier, Ekaterina, who takes it upon herself to enter his living area and help him get ahold of himself. In tears, Artyom ends up sobbing quietly while being consoled by her. For the first time, Artyom mentions to someone about his mental issues, and how he needs help from someone.