In a world of extraction shooters and games that are all the same, Burggeist is a fresh wind. Inspired by classic Japanese RPGs and adventures, Burggeist is able to create something completely new and innovative while appearing as a lost Japanese game for PS2. Because if you feel similar vibes to Shadow of the Colossus, Nier, or Drakengard, you are totally right. And be aware that, as a huge fan of Yoko Taro’s work, I tend to use this comparison very wisely.

Burggeist is set in a unique land, Aliscans, a place where elements of our reality clash with magic and demons. The protagonist, Ignace, together with the gigantic demon Burggeist, must build a tower reaching the heavens to save his petrified wife. However, this information comes from Axiom, a demon that communicates through letters only with Ignace’s daughter. And since demons can only be seen between the fingers of a kid’s hand, several magicians implant a kid’s arm on their bodies. However, the main obstacle to this task is that building something too high is impossible in Aliscans, and will cause a horde of monsters, the angelic-looking beings called Abhorer, to appear to destroy it. As you probably already understood, Aliscans is an unconventional, bizarre, and unique place full of lore to discover.

From the very beginning, the game offers you complete freedom, without holding your hand. While the goal is simple, building a tower of 5000n, the player can freely decide where to build the tower while exploring the open world. Whether you are looking for collectibles or only seeing very different and vibrant places, the world is a silent and iconic place to explore at your own pace. This is due also to the complete absence of enemies in the world. Of course, the pace drastically changes when building a tower. In that case, hordes of Abhorers will try to destroy the tower, marching toward it while you bomb them with a rain of magical attacks. Because of course, the cannons that the giant Burggeist brings around on the platform are not just a decoration. Moreover, the main character can unlock an insane array of magical attacks, from a Gatling gun that uses in-game money as bullets to explosive traps and fireballs, and the majority of them are affected by gravity. So the higher you are positioned, the higher the damage on the battlefield.

Secondary characters will come to visit your towers once they are high enough. This is another side of the intricate gameplay, with complex and long cutscenes, quests, and amazing rewards, including new skills to travel the world. The characters add a dense layer of lore to the already convoluted world, offering every time some unique moments. Seriously, I could talk a lot about the brilliant and unconventional characters, with their different shapes of gray morality, but since I already wrote a big analysis about them, go to check it: The Walking Cataclysm from Mars and the other bizarre and creepy NPCs of BURGGEIST

Burggeist was a huge surprise, and one of my favorite games of the last years. Burggeist is so well done and innovative that already got a place in the Top 10 RPGs on this page. Today, I have the unique opportunity to talk with Ghrian Studio, the solo developer behind Burggeist. Yes, you read it right, Burggeist is the work of one passionate and talented developer. Together with Ghrian Studio we will discover more of Burggeist development and secrets, including Abhorers’ lore, how the fictional language was born, the influences from Astrology, and, of course, the future DLC.

Q1: Thank you for the opportunity to interact with you. Burggeist was one of the biggest surprises of last year. How did you start working at Burggeist?

A1: I’m truly grateful to you for giving me this valuable opportunity. Burggeist is the third work from our studio, and we had decided that odd-numbered titles would be major projects, crafted over a long period of time. I love immersing myself in the worlds within games, and I believe there’s nothing better than if that world is something I’ve created myself. With that in mind, I decided to develop an open-world game where the presence of that world could be felt even more deeply.
Additionally, developing an open-world game single-handedly might seem, by any normal standard, like an insane undertaking. However, I intend to continue making games in the future, and I also wanted to test how far I could push myself to endure such a challenging development process.

Q2: Which were your main references and inspirations while developing Burggeist?

A2: The core pillar of the setting is, without a doubt, “Western astrology”—specifically, the version that was once suppressed in Europe, passed through Islamic culture, and then returned. Horoscopes required calculating the positions of stars to predict births during the day, and that’s why mathematical elements are woven into the story within the game.
Beyond that, I’ve drawn inspiration from a wide range of sources, including medieval European history, animal behavior, numerical sequences, and even oddly shaped rocks—really, all sorts of things.
I’ve always enjoyed researching history, so while I didn’t necessarily aim to make the game strictly historically accurate, I wanted to have a basic understanding of things like how inkpots were used or the spacing between pillars in buildings. That said, I’ll admit I got pretty sleepy when reading medieval court records about adultery cases.

Q3: Burggeist features an invented language, the Cargrish, which is spoken during the dialogues. Can you tell us something more about the process behind defining this new language?

A3: Cargrish is a language used across a wide region, including Galacia and Diutisk. As you can tell from the characters’ names, their roots—whether tied to a specific region or generation—vary widely, and so do their speaking styles and quirks.
This game was designed with support for multiple display languages in mind, but when it came to voice acting, recording in several languages proved challenging for various reasons. Since Burggeist is set in a fictional world, I thought, “Why not have them speak a language no one understands? It’d really enhance the atmosphere of this world.” That’s how I decided to create an original language.
Cargrish was built from Japanese, which served as the base script, mixed with French-like sounds and a touch of hieroglyphic-inspired tones, then generated using an original cipher tool. In fact, the name “Cargrish” comes from “Cardan grille,” the encryption tool that inspired it.
While Cargrish was born out of various production constraints, when I actually started generating it with the tool, I ran into issues like unpronounceable combinations. In the end, it took an incredible amount of effort to tweak each line by reading it aloud, adjusting it while considering the length of the audio.
Naturally, since there are no real-life speakers of Cargrish, it was nearly impossible to predict what kind of troubles might arise during recording. There’s a substantial amount of dialogue, and I hadn’t seen many games with a fully voiced fictional language before. Yet, the recording sessions went remarkably smoothly. Even now, I feel truly fortunate to have worked with such talented voice actors.

Q4: From tower defense to action RPG, the gameplay of Burggeist is very diversified. How difficult was it to combine all these different gameplay elements?

A4: I didn’t set out to create a game by deliberately combining specific genres or rules. I decided to make an open-world game, but when you’re doing it solo, you quickly run into problems that anyone could easily predict. Typically, the fields in AAA open-world games are packed with quests, caves, and other locations—because without that, you’d just end up with a pointlessly vast, boring space. Naturally, creating a game that relies on that kind of sheer volume isn’t realistic for one person. So, I turned my attention to “ordinary terrain irregularities.” I was familiar with a terrain generation software called “World Machine,” and I wondered if I could make gameplay out of the landscapes it produced. If even the unintentional bumps and dips of the terrain could be entertaining to some degree, it’d be hard to find a more efficient game design approach.
For example, I came up with ideas like dropping something from a height to gain potential energy, spotting an enemy raid from atop a hill, or issuing commands to allies. Climbing to high ground offers strong advantages, but it comes with the time cost of getting up there. Plus, if there’s “something to protect,” you might need to decide to leave that spot depending on the situation. I thought that gameplay where you weigh these benefits and costs while running around the field could offer a unique experience unlike anything else.
That “something to protect” refers to the towers. Since they stretch upward, they’re easy to spot in 3D space, even in environments full of obstacles.
In terms of design philosophy, imagine a strategy game where you move a UI cursor to direct characters and execute plans—Burggeist takes that cursor movement and turns it into an action game. Even getting to a position to intercept enemies is part of the action gameplay, so there are challenges like falling off edges or being unable to move straight ahead due to ledges. Players overcome these with control skills or by spending some resource to skip movement altogether. And that’s how this game’s design carved its own unique path.
Since I solidified these aspects before starting development, I didn’t go through much trial-and-error like “build it and scrap it.” As a result, I didn’t face too many struggles with the game design itself. If I had, I might not have released it yet.
That said, the bigger challenges came from the high degree of freedom in movement and the sheer volume of systems I had to implement.

Q5: In Burggeist, building towers across different locations is a core element of the gameplay. However, the player needs only one tower to reach the ending, and different locations offer a different challenge. While testing and developing the game, which was your favourite tower to build and why?

A5: It’s the tower on Mount Gelwaz. The battles at this tower are designed around a strategy where you throw all your available resources into fending off enemies who charge in with overwhelming numbers and momentum. It’s a location with fewer obstacles and slightly deviates from the core gameplay of fighting while being mindful of the terrain, but I think it showcases the broad scope of this game’s design. Also, back during development, the difficulty was far higher than it is now at release. I vividly remember repeatedly challenging it during the tuning phase, only to have the tower destroyed over and over again. Nowadays, Salina Porporossa comes closest to that original difficulty. That place has its own charm—its striking color palette contrasts with being the toughest challenge in the game, and I really like that gap.

Q6: From a woman looking for her head to the disturbing Cataclysm from Mars, the NPCs visiting the towers are very unique unconventional. How did you decide to create them to be so unique?

A6: The stories of the tower’s visitors are positioned like a breather between battles, somewhat akin to quests you’d find in a typical town. This is purely a matter of personal taste, but if I had to choose between being given a ton of simple requests like “Gather three herbs” versus having just one memorable request, I’d pick the latter. It’s because the emotional range in a given time is greater that way. I get that ensuring game volume or providing small, frequent success experiences is important, though.
When creating them, I didn’t start this game intending it to be an adventure game, so I felt that drawing out dense human drama at length wasn’t really the right approach. Instead, I focused on crafting fleeting interactions with NPCs who have strong personalities or backgrounds, leaving a lasting impression in just a few exchanges.
Each story is given a purpose, with elements that let players sense the world’s backdrop. Things like witch hunts or the Black Plague fit into this. And by shifting the tone of each tale—almost as if you’re stepping into a different work—it makes them stand out. Depending on the story, it might feel like a comedy, a horror, or even a sci-fi vibe reminiscent of SCP—all sorts of flavors.
Since these stories are kept short, I can’t pack in too many developments. That naturally leads to conversation-driven scenes with characters who embody the elements above. This might be what makes their presence so striking, elevating them beyond typical quest NPCs into something far more unique. That said, after writing all this, I should add that the characters in my works tend to be pretty weird to begin with.

Q7: As you previously specified, Burrgeist’s fantasy world is still quite connected with our reality, from the Black Plague to the Solar System. Can you explain to us about these connections between fantasy and reality?

A7: Those familiar with astronomers like Albumasar might have already noticed, but the medieval European view of the universe was generally geocentric, and in Burggeist’s world, somewhere along the line, a misstep turned that into reality. For example, being born on a Tuesday might make you prone to certain illnesses, or there might be specific professions suited for those born on a Wednesday.
Of course, to us in the modern era with advanced science, these rules seem utterly nonsensical. In Burggeist’s world, fantasy serves as an element that seemingly reconciles these absurd rules. The “Demon” is a prime example of this—an entity that isn’t clearly perceived by humans but subtly distorts the natural rules, bringing its effects into reality.
These “anomalies” are concentrated in Aliscans, which is why the setting feels so steeped in fantasy. However, in truth, if you leave Aliscans, the world beyond—at least on the surface—stretches out as something quite ordinary, much like our own reality.
There’s a line from a certain character near the end: “Because an incorrect proof was made.” It’s interesting to think about what kind of stance or background that statement comes from.

Q8: The Abhorers are the main enemies in the game, a flow of different entities marching to destroy towers. Which is your favourite Abhorer for design and lore?

A8: It would be the round-shaped enemy that moves by jumping. It has not yet been given an official name, but in English, it is simply referred to as “Fluffy.” This enemy possesses a somewhat relaxed demeanor, yet it exhibits extreme aggression by striking the tower with powerful punches when it draws near. Observed from afar, it appears somewhat endearing, but up close, it reveals an unsettling and savage nature—a duality reminiscent of a megamouth shark, which is perhaps why I find it appealing. However, despite my appreciation for its appearance and movement, I find it a challenging foe due to the difficulty of landing attacks on it.
To expand on this in relation to Abhorers as a whole, Abhorers are monstrous entities crafted from Heleticlime and human flesh, created by the Metademon Primshlange. Each Abhorer draws its motif from objects or entities that once existed in Aliscans, such as weapons or plants. In the case of Fluffy, it appears to be inspired by a mushroom combined with another element.
Primshlange is a Metademon fixated on the pursuit of Repunit primes, endowed with abilities associated with repetition. One of its most notable powers is the ability to repurpose the dead of Aliscans into Abhorers. The Margrave, a brilliant demonologist, summoned Primshlange to Aliscans with the intention of reuniting with his sister, who had perished there long ago. His continuous production of Abhorers served a strategic purpose, as he states in the game, to establish a military buffer zone. However, his personal motivation was akin to a lottery, an attempt to retrieve his sister
from among the deceased.
The walls and floor of the Margrave’s room are marked with countless lines, as if counting something. These represent the number of times he failed to resurrect his sister.

Q9: Recently you confirmed that Burggeits will receive new content, including towers, quests, and characters. Can you tell us something more about what to expect?

A9: I’ll answer this with the caveat that much of it is still TBD and subject to change. In a major update, the terrain of a certain section of Aliscans will be altered, turning it into a new site for tower construction and a battle area. As with the other towers, new visitors will appear, and some kind of interaction with them will begin there.
In addition to things tied to what’s already in the game, I expect yet another strange entity to show up. The character featured in the visual released with the announcement is one of those visitors. Also, separate from the above, there might be an event with a slightly unusual format.

Q10: While I am really looking forward to find new towers and NPCs in the future update, I am also curious about your plans further in the future. Are you already planning a sequel for Burggeist or a new title?

A10: Burggeist could certainly have its story continued, but creating a sequel on the same scale as this one—or even larger—would likely take another seven years or so, which is a bit of a tough call. Part of me wants to write a sequel, but another part wants to create something entirely new. It’d be great if someone could make it for me, though.
As for new titles, I do have rough plans for the next two projects. It’s still a long way off, but the next title will be the studio’s fourth work, an even-numbered one, so it’ll likely be more compact than this one. It might be something that resonates with the readers of this article, so I’d be delighted if you’d consider covering it when the time comes.

Final Remarks

I would like to thank Ghrian Studio for the nice opportunity and really interesting answers. The work behind Burggeist is incredible, not only to build the world and the gameplay, but also to create something so rich and full of references. Learning about the influences from Astrology, the lore behind the Abhorers, and how the Cargrish language was created, was a unique opportunity to learn more about Burggeist. And now that I know it, I appreciate the game even more. As a huge fan of the game, I really cannot wait to see the new characters and entities appearing in the DLC. I would also like to especially thank Ghrian Studio for sharing such cool concept art with us, the ones used in this article. While waiting for the update, I urge you to play one of the best RPGs out there, and if you don’t believe me, check the 100% very positive reviews. You can find Burggeist on STEAM HERE, but be quick, because I am sure that this game will soon become a huge hit.