Indie Games

The secrets of human-animal hybrids escaping from a SCP-like facility: Interview with RE Atelier, the team behind the great JRPG Break Wolf

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Last year was really great for horror RPGs realised with RPGmaker, with amazing titles for story, setting, and gameplay. One of these surprises is Break Wolf, a JRPG set inside a disturbing research facility where human-animal hybrids must fight to survive. Luckily, the main character, with the help of a human-cat woman, will quickly start his breakout from the facility. However, each floor of the facility hides grotesque monsters, tough champions, and moral choices, complicating the escape.

Break Wolf has an amazing art-style, especially in the characters’ and monsters’ portraits. The color palette also helps to shape the style, creating a world of gray morality. Plot and characters are also well defined, and you quickly feel involved in the fate of the bizarre group of outcasts. The gameplay also supports the disturbing setting, with brutal one-vs-one battles including metamorphosis, special attacks, and different metrics to balance. The items are essential in Break Wolf, with a wide set of items for any situation, from powerful bazookas to… throwing cats to distract the enemy. Break Wolf has many secrets, from different routes leading to completely different end game scenarios, to the possibility of recruiting a Cat God (check more about it here: When Cats and a Cat God help you escape from a SCP-like facility in the dark JRPG Break Wolf [Mechanic]).

RE Atelier is the team behind the amazing Break Wolf, a Korean studio including two developers: Rei and Catspam. Today, I had the opportunity to exchange questions with the team, exploring the secrets behind Break Wolf, how everything started, and what to expect from the future. If you were also surprised by this great indie JRPG, I suggest you check the following interview with the team to discover more about Break Wolf.

The brutal battles of Break Wolf

Q1: Thank you for the opportunity to interact with you. Break Wolf was a great surprise, an intiguing JRPG with great setting and art. How did you start developing games?

Rei: I originally debuted and worked as a web comics artist. Creating a world and expressing my own perspective directly through drawings was a great source of joy for me. At the same time, I also liked games because I remember first encountering RPG Maker when I was young, and I was torn for many years between pursuing comics and making games. Back then, I felt that game development was a realm of elites I could never reach. But whenever my emotions overflowed, it was hard for me to hide them, so I naturally started creating small game projects eventually.

As I continued working, I realized that shaping a world while considering multiple choices and possibilities gave me an even greater sense of fulfillment than comics. I still feel a little apologetic towards comics, but since my time making them was honest and precious, I was able to approach game development with the same sincerity.

Catspam: When I was young, I stumbled upon the existence of an engine called RPG Maker 2003 while browsing the internet. At first, I played with it almost like doodling on a blank sheet of paper. As I grew older and understood more, I realized it was an engine with far more possibilities than I had imagined, and I became interested in implementing systems that had previously existed only in my imagination. I suppose that experience eventually led me to where I am today.

Q2: How was the idea of Break Wolf born?

Rei: The origin of Break Wolf is a short free game I made in 2017 titled “怪盜(meaning Monster Thief, not Phantom Thief)”. I had a vivid dream of monster thieves stealing treasures using their abilities, and it left such a strong impression that I impulsively created the game as soon as I woke up. My skills were lacking at the time, and with just about 4 weeks for development, the game had many shortcomings.

But when I finally got the chance to remake it, I reorganized the idea entirely and developed it into Break Wolf. Looking back, I think most of my beginnings have been impulsive. I don’t particularly like that impulsive side of myself, but projects that began that way grew into sincere explorations, and discovering unexpected aspects of the characters eventually led to the birth of Break Wolf.

The prototype of Break Wolf (image provided by Rei)

Q3: Break Wolf is (almost) entirely set inside an experimental facility. How did you design the place to keep players entertained?

Rei: To prevent the environment from becoming monotonous, we hid many small ‘strange things’ throughout the area. For example: Character conversations triggered when picking up items, Events that occur when throwing certain items during battle, Weird balloons with cassette tapes inside, Odd cats, Gene equipment, and other peculiar objects…

Rather than a simple loop of battles, we wanted players to experience small surprises that make them think, “What is this?”, gradually enriching the gameplay experience. As a player myself, I’ve always loved the joy of unexpected discoveries in games, so I tried to include many such moments in Break Wolf.

Catspam: We believe that repeating the same things too much can bore players. So as the story progresses, we prepared fields that offer additional actions, as well as increasingly expanding combat systems that become complex as the game continues. At the same time, we were also careful not to overwhelm players from the start, so we tried not to place overly difficult obstacles at the beginning, before they become familiar with the mechanics.

Personally, I think Stage 3 is where the really interesting systems begin to appear, and I sometimes worry if the gap until that point is a little too long, but I couldn’t find a better solution. Thankfully, Rei contributed many sub-event contents and side interactions that helped fill that space.

Balloons hide important hidden recordings

Q4: The relationship between the main characters is at the core of the game, but the secondary characters are also very interesting and dramatic figures. Which is your favourite character and why?

Rei: All characters have their own charm, but my personal favorite is Adius, the final boss. He is intelligent and possesses vulgarity and aggression, yet strangely, he is easily swayed by Eichi’s words. Something about that made me feel pity for him – he’s like a ‘clever fool’. At first, I wondered if he was antisocial, but he wasn’t the type to reject emotional bonds entirely, so I couldn’t label him that way. And the way he expresses emotions through strange words or actions felt familiar to me – I also have that kind of tendency.

I love villains who speak grandly but ultimately desire something very human. The villains of Break Wolf are cruel yet fundamentally human, sentimental and childish. Among them, Adius especially evokes sympathy and affection. Although he has a large adult body, I imagine he’s just someone who secretly wants his head softly patted.

Catspam: For me, Eichi left the strongest impression. I think being around him would be funny and entertaining. But it’s also true that Eichi committed terrible crimes. Although not depicted in detail in the game, he caused the greatest number of victims among all main characters.

I’m not sure why I ended up viewing him positively. Was it because his behavior was funny? Or simply because he treats the protagonist well? In the past, Eichi nearly killed the protagonist due to reckless experimentation, and even Eichi himself doesn’t deny he is evil, yet I still liked him for some reason, and I’m not sure why.

Eichi is a very peculiar character

Q5: Were there other prisoners inside the facility cut out from the game? Which characters changed the most in appearance or personality during the development?

Rei: As you pointed out, there were other monsters in the syndicate, but I felt including them in the story would disrupt the pacing, so I settled on the idea that they were away on external missions. I regret not being able to mention this properly in the game. The character whose personality changed the most during development was Jector.

Originally, he was planned as a stereotypical villain: arrogant, violent, and entirely devoid of guilt. But characters don’t always behave the way the creator expects. As development went on, he grew into someone with an overwhelming desire for recognition. Because he is intelligent, his intelligence fueled his conviction that “I can’t possibly be wrong”, and when that belief broke, he became a character capable of admitting his mistakes. He still retains some elitist tendencies, but having guilt toward a certain person eventually helped him suppress those traits.

Since he changed so drastically from the initial concept, he became one of the most memorable characters for me.

Q6: Break Wolf has 3 main Routes, completely changing the endgame with new enemies, settings, and bosses. How did you decide to divide the endgame into different Routes?

Rei: At first, I only planned the “Escape Ending”. I hadn’t considered multiple routes. But after finishing it, new thoughts naturally arose:

“What if the player chooses A?”

“What if they choose B? Would B become a different story?”

“Then what would a world look like where both choices happen?”

These questions expanded the narrative naturally into three Routes: A, B, and Extra. (Including a Normal Ending where only certain allies survive, there are essentially 4 outcomes). Even though the project began impulsively, I found myself wanting to add more and more things as development continued.

Catspam: I consider myself a huge turn-based RPG nerd. I love endgame content where new and unique challenges block the player’s path, and the player must use everything they’ve learned to overcome them. This inspired the creation of the Extra Route, which features unique bosses and special strategies. Originally, the Extra Route wasn’t meant to have much story – it was planned as bonus content for players who enjoy difficult battles. But Rei wanted to embed deeper meaning into those battles, so a proper main story was also incorporated into the Extra Route.

Q7: Could you describe to us one of your favourite boss battles and which strategy do you like to use to win it?

Rei: My favorite is Adius in the Extra Route. Initially, his motivation to fight is difficult to understand, and seeing him fight even while using a Morphing Form that he personally dislikes, left a strong impression on me. It made me reconsider what truly moves a person. A trivial reason for one person can be a desperate, life-risking reason for someone else. Maybe that’s why the world (and myself) are filled with strange, impulsive actions.

As for tactics, my favorite is equipping the Morph-related Genes, and maintaining high Contamination throughout the combat. Winning while using a Morphing Form makes me feel a surge of testosterone, and it greatly amplifies the protagonist’s presence, which is very satisfying.

Catspam: If I have to choose, I would say Clone Calbat and Annihilator from the Extra Route. Clone Calbat introduces mechanics that match its personality while also being unique to this game, and its abilities are intuitive enough that players quickly understand how to counter it, yet flexible enough to allow different strategies. Annihilator is a late-game boss with 3 phases. In fact, I considered it as the “true final boss” during its design. It is overwhelmingly strong, forcing players to use everything they’ve learned so far. However, a few unique mechanics allow players to drastically lower the difficulty of certain phases. (Some players may already know that there is a dedicated countermeasure for the mid-battle BLIT attack 😉).

As for tactics, my preferred tactic is overall stability. I prefer stable, defensive builds with versatile Gene combinations, rather than aggressive ones. I also enjoy using items at the right moment to turn the tide of battle.

The monsters inside the facility can be quite grotesque

Q8: I was unexpectedly surprised by the sudden appearance and fight against the Ink Maid, an extra battle toward the end of the game. Can you tell us something more about the Ink Maid?

Rei: There is actually no detailed backstory behind the Ink Maid. It is simply a female-shaped monster that Adius created out of loneliness during his time in hiding. However, Ink Maid is not a true sentient being, and its nature is closer to aggressive than friendly, so it never truly eased his loneliness. It can understand and follow orders, but only reacts to commands. I believe Adius must have felt unsatisfied with its existence.

The Ink Maiden in all her disturbing appearance

Q9: Are you planning more updates, DLCs, or maybe STEAM Achievements for Break Wolf?

Rei: I have several DLC ideas, but I’m still thinking carefully since I’m not sure what players would actually want. For example, an “Eichi-survival route” which doesn’t exist in the main game, and a separate Route based on losing against Adius at the Extra Route…

These ideas interest me personally, but since they’re based on my own taste, I’m not sure if players would enjoy them. And saving (or reanimating) Eichi is also complicated. He caused far too many casualties due to his desires, and even if he survived, his self-destructive tendencies make it hard to design a story where he lives on.

(Of course, maybe I’ll find an answer if I continue writing a parallel-world based story 😅).

Catspam: We would also love to support Steam Achievements, so we’ve been researching related information a lot. However, due to the lack of stable implementation methods for RPG Maker 2003, we’re approaching it cautiously until we find a reliable method. If we eventually find a reliable solution, we definitely want to implement it. We also hope to support Steam Cloud and Steam Workshop in the near future, but we’re still unfamiliar with its structure, so we’re unsure whether it would work smoothly.

Q10: If I am not wrong, Crow Castle will be your next game, a JRPG having as protagonist a humanoid crow. Since one of the main Routes also includes a boss battle against a similar character, could you tell us something more about Crow Castle, and the connections with Break Wolf?

Rei: Rather than being a direct sequel to Break Wolf, Crow Castle presents a different layer of the same world. However, there are natural contextual connections. For example, Schroder from Route A of Break Wolf, appears as a main antagonist in Crow Castle. The story of Crow Castle takes place about 8 years after Romit finishes the Extra Route in Break Wolf. During that period, the world has changed a lot. Previously, monsters existed mostly in the shadows, but over time, some began to act openly. However, unresolved problems among monsters caused incidents in the timeline of Crow Castle.

The monsters in Break Wolf were created through relatively stable processes, but the crow monsters in Crow Castle have severe defects from birth – their genes and neural structures were damaged due to reckless experiments. They suffer from periodic blood reflux, damaged genetics, disrupted neural structures, and imbalances in dopamine, GABA, oxytocin, and other neurotransmitters, causing uncontrollable impulses and emotional deficiency. Thus, Crow Castle explores what these monsters lack, what they desire, and why they eventually become a threat to human society.

I hope players will also enjoy exploring these stories. Players can understand Crow Castle without playing Break Wolf, of course, but familiar characters appearing from time to time may bring a sense of a connected universe.

An example of a battle from the upcoming Crow Castle

Final Remarks:

I would like to thank Rei and Catspam for the opportunity to discover more about Break Wolf. Their answers were really great, and I cannot wait to see more about Break Wolf while waiting for Crow Castle. If you haven’t tried Break Wolf, which, at the time of writing, still sits at 99% positive reviews on Steam, you can find it HERE.

Grimdark JRPGs for fans of Fear & Hunger

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Fear & Hunger (F&H) is one of the best examples of indie dark RPGs, set in a brutal dark fantasy world inspired by Berserk, where every amorality is allowed. However, regardless of its shocking value, F&H is an intriguing and original product, set in a world full of lore, featuring brutal combats that involve menomating the enemy’s limbs, and boasting a huge connection to survival horror titles. In fact, the enemies in F&H do not provide experience, and avoiding dangerous encounters is essential to survive. Brutal deaths, tough decisions, and sacrifices shape the freedom of this title, a world where you can side with really obscure beings, or die of starvation after jumping into a well.

F&H is a new starting point for indie horror JRPGs, with many incoming titles showing a similar brutal battle system or set in really dark fantasy worlds. While many proper “fhunger-like” games, or clones of F&H, will probably release soon, other very interesting horror JRPGs are yet available for people looking for another really dark and mature experience. Many dangerous and hopeless worlds, where grotesque enemies can brutally kill the party, bad endings are behind every wrong decision, and often sacrifices are necessary to proceed.

In the following article, which I will continue to update, I will write about the darkest, most horrific, and grim indie JRPGs available. I will focus on the most interesting and brutal settings, with challenging battle systems, a bestiary full of disturbing creatures, dubious choices, and bad endings. I will focus especially on games released after the first F&H (so from 2018), briefly describing the overall world, setting, system, bestiary, and whether tough choices are included. Some products are really inspired by F&H, while others are simply too good dark JRPGs not to be part of this list.

If you are a fan of F&H or, in general, of really dark and horror RPGs, this is an article that can definitely get your interest.

Look Outside

The best indie horror RPG together with Fear & Hunger, and not simply a dark JRPG or a F&H clone, but a completely independent product. The game is set in modern days, where something terrible happened. People live trapped inside, with the window closed, because only by looking outside, they mutate into a horrible monster, entirely losing their humanity. The setting is extremely dark and disturbing, especially at the beginning, with a few moments of comedy relief. For 15 days, the main character must survive while trapped inside his apartment building, with a lot of freedom on how to spend the days. Between recruiting neighbors, scavenging, exploring the other flats, fighting grotesque abominations, or simply spending time playing videogames, Look Outside has an insane amount of content to offer. And with each new update, the game gets even bigger, featuring a parallel dimension made of meat, around 10 different endings, and a world of secrets. Every apartment is a new world, a place shaped by the horrible mutations that happened there. An example is the “Teeth Apartment,” where every monster is uncontrollably growing teeth out of their bodies… for a very disturbing and sad reason. 

The bestiary of Look Outside is insanely huge. Seriously, I have no idea how many enemies and bosses are now inside the game, but definitely more than 50… if not more than 100. From grotesque insects to an entire boiler room or the different faces of a painter, fighting the monsters is not an easy task, and the player must scavenge improvised weapons to defend themselves. The problem is that every weapon can break if you are unlucky enough, even the super-secret weapons such as the Hellblade. Luckily, there are many melee weapons to discover, from bats to machetes or chainsaws, including firearms and throwable weapons.

The world became a hellish mutant landscape, and everyone is suffering from the effects of this change. From kids to innocent people, the grotesque mutants, when insane, must be eliminated. Some people seem to retain their sanity, even while mutated, and can even be recruited. However, for every small bright side and comedy moment, there are even more horror and extremely tough decisions. For example, a hungry hole will only feed on a child… or a main character’s arm, wounding him for all the game or forcing him to lose a party character. The majority of the endings are also incredibly bad, often involving the destruction of the entire earth (including being absorbed by a hamster god, check about it here: The Rats in Look Outside: A spreading disease of fur and teeth) or terrible mutations for the main character. There are also proper game-over endings while making quite bad choices, often after trusting somebody who definitely shouldn’t have been trusted.

Materialization of Memories

The game is probably the first F&H clone, following everything that made F&H famous. With one big difference: the characters are mainly… well… anthropomorphic animals. The protagonists are working on a mysterious experiment, which will soon go sideways, teleporting everyone to a mysterious parallel reality. This place is infested with anomalies, deadly and invisible events, causing harm to whoever gets too close to them. And of course, deadly monsters also roam every corner of this parallel world. Because here, everything wants to kill the main characters.

The three main characters always fight together, each of them covering a specific role, from healer to brawler. Thankfully, several weapons are also there to help, including firearms. The battles are almost identical to F&H, including targettable body parts. The world is freely explorable and very open, with almost every building accessible since the beginning. Looting a building is always an extreme danger, due to the unknown creatures roaming inside. The monsters are well varied and with different strategies, from a horde of TV-headed illusions with only one of them real to a disturbing smiling entity summoning biting mouths. The healer can also perform an autopsy on the monsters’ bodies, revealing lore and important information on how to defeat them.

The grimdark parallel world is full of dangers and monsters, where everything is ready to kill or mutilate the party. Finding a way to escape this world is the main task of the characters, but soon, this will become even more difficult. A group of deranged NPCs will soon start to torment the main characters, offering brutal choices, including permanently wounding or killing characters.

Blood Soaked Bastard

Just by looking at the amazing and dark art-style, you see how this game fits the article. Set in a dark fantasy world, the story follows an unconventional antihero: a blood knight, a dark paladin using blood as a weapon. During his journey, the knight will meet other twisted and peculiar individuals, from a ghoulish mass of flesh to an ugly elf obsessed with being a chef. While the game shows some hints of comedy, the world is always a hopeless and violent place, inhabited by grotesque and mischievous beings.

The game is a bite-sized dark fantasy JRPG, a short but intense experience. The party characters all have different powers and roles to play, including specific equipment. While there are very few enemies, the main bosses are different and satisfying to battle, from a zombie lord to a peculiar siren. But the first price goes to the final boss, an insane battle with 4 completely different phases. 

Even in its small size, the adventure offers an unexpected set of tough decisions and evil choices. Party members can be coerced into a ritual to be reborn as bloodthirsty abominations, and boss battles can be avoided by permanently sacrificing a character. Moreover, every “normal” person is terrified of the main character, since the blood knights are feared across the land.

Do you want to check all the weird and grotesque party members and the evil moral choices related? Check our video here:

The Pale City

Set in a city, on a platform made of bodies, existing high on a black and deadly sea, Pale City offers one of the most hopeless and grim settings in any JRPG. Seriously, in this world, babies are born from tunnels and must crawl to the city to be adopted, all this while a cult of cannibals loots for the bodies inside tunnels. I could write many paragraphs about this dark and complex world… but since I already did that, feel free to read my article about the setting of the Pale City: The grim world of the Pale City: where cannibals are looking for eternal life and babies are born crawling out of Tunnels [Grimdark Worlds].

The gameplay is a linear JRPG, amazingly written, and full of “gray morality” characters, including dumb or mad Gods. While the enemies are serviceable, with grotesque demons and other disturbing beings, the characters are what truly shape this complex world. For example, magicians are truly scary beings, able to rip people in pieces with a world or to coexist with grotesque skin parasites.

The game always walks on a dense gray line, following a linear and well-written path where many terrible things happen, and characters evolve toward their tragic fate. However, toward the end of the game, some quests feature some drastic choices. For example, you can join the cannibalistic Cult of Life, partaking in their special meal to increase your health, side with an imprisoned titan to help him in his revenge, or even murder the only human Gods.

Slimes

Slimes is a philosophical and extremely grim RPG inspired by Lucah Born of a Dream, an amazing surreal action RPG. While the similarity in the art style is evident, the two games drastically diverge in gameplay and setting. The world is a dangerous place due to the descent of a mysterious winged entity from the sky, taking residence on the moon. However, the scales from its wings crossed the sky as falling stars, reaching earth and causing terrible events. The main changes that this phenomenon brought include magic and monsters. Among the monsters, the weakest and dumbest are the slimes, which all originated from a single dungeon, deep underground. But if the slimes are so mindless and weak, why has nobody ever come out alive from their dungeon? On the other hand, magic is persecuted by insane crusaders. And one of this religious fanatics is the protagonist of the game, accompanied by a magical healer.

The main characters are not only at the opposite of morality, divergent on every topic, but also in terms of fighting mechanics. The priest uses bullets and firearms to fight off slimes, while the magician, of course, needs to balance the mana for healing and debuff. While venturing into the dungeon, each floors offer new mysteries, battles, and a lot of dialogues, often based on previous expeditioners. The bestiary is quite straightforward, basically involving almost only slimes, but their design and abilities evolve during the game.

The setting and the plot are extremely mature, dealing with heavy themes, such as persecution and religious fanaticism. The main character is far from likable, and even far from an anti-hero. During the evolving clashes between the main characters, the healer is of course the one to side with more easily. Moreover, the mysteries about the real origin of the slimes and dungeon keeps the interest high, offering other complex moral dilemmas.

Break Wolf

Break Wolf was a true surprise, a JRPG with an amazing art-style entirely set inside an SCP-like facility. The main characters are human-animal hybrid experiments, forced to continuously fight and win in order not to be disposed of. Between true friendships and brutal manipulations, the main characters survive this environment till the beginning of a lucky escape. Floor after floor, the main characters will try to escape this hopeless world. The biggest surprise? The characters are all well-written and likable, part of a cohesive story. The facility is also full of secrets, including hidden rooms, deadly bosses, and even a Cat God to summon (check more here: When Cats and a Cat God help you escape from a SCP-like facility in the dark JRPG Break Wolf [Mechanic]).

The game is heavily focused on battles, brutal 1-on-1 fights between the main character and the other grotesque experiments. With multiple health bars, fine-tuning of the many abilities, and a great set of items, including bazookas or flamethrowers, every battle is a tough and brutal tactical puzzle. An example? The main character will also learn to morph into a werewolf, adding an extra layer of complexity, while the recruited characters act as special abilities that need turns to recharge. The bestiary is well varied, including grotesque animal monsters such as bats with humanoid legs or colossal worms with a drill in their mouth.

The game includes some tough choices regarding the secondary characters, who can die or survive based on the player’s choices. And choices truly matter, because based on the characters saved, the game has an entirely different final chapter, with new locations, enemies, and bosses, based on the Route selected. And by finishing both Routes, the player can unlock an even more difficult Extra scenario. Break Wolf also includes mild sexual scenes between the main characters, which can be performed in “quiet” rooms.

Trench Face

Trench Tale has some great thematic connections with F&H2, especially for its setting inspired by WW1. As a soldier with a permanent gas mask stitched on the face, you must venture through eerie bunkers and foggy trenches inhabited by disturbing puppet-soldier entities. There is no hope or help in those trenches, only enemies and mysterious cows helping you save the game.

In the beginning, you can select between different classes: brawler, sniper, or medic, including two other unlockable classes. Exploring the hopeless world is a huge challenge, since the enemies hit hard, provide no experience, and healing is quite costly. Moreover, saving requires rare resources, and finding metal scraps around the battlefield is essential to craft items. The enemies are relentless puppet abominations, suspended between life and death, from normal soldiers with a gun to colossal skeletal whales. They each possess multiple body parts, often including the threads that keep them suspended, and are able to kill the player with a couple of attacks. As you guessed, combat is very similar to F&H, and fans will feel at home.

While the atmosphere is constantly dark and oppressive, the gameplay is quite linear, with almost no choice. Exploring every new trench, while avoiding monsters and looking for save points, is the main gameplay loop. There are very few NPCs, and the hopeless journey proceeds in almost complete solitude. While the game is pretty short, a recent free DLC doubled the length by offering a new story.

And if you are interested in the enemies of Trench Face, here our video covering all of them:

When Cats and a Cat God help you escape from a SCP-like facility in the dark JRPG Break Wolf [Mechanic]

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Break Wolf is a very interesting JRPG that is entirely set inside a research facility. The amoral syndicate in charge of the structure is amorally experimenting on combining human and animal DNA, creating humanoid hybrids. The poor prisoners only fight in this structure, trying to score high enough not to be disposed of. However, something triggers between friendship and relationship, and from the depths of level B9, a rebellion toward the surface starts.

Break Wolf is very peculiar in several details, from the brutal 1-vs-1 battles to the anime art-style and animation. Gameplay-wise, the game shows quite some deep mechanics and many secrets, including Genes to equip to alter the gameplay, different Routes leading to entirely novel end-game scenarios and abilities, and secret bosses. The items found during the game are also unique and powerful tricks to treasure during the tough boss battles. A Bazooka can easily remove an entire enemy’s lifebar, while a rare injection can provide two free turns. Interestingly, some items change their effect based on the situation or the enemy faced, or they can even be powered up. For example, use noise generators against bat creatures to stun them, but a power-up can be found later on to have the same effect on all creatures. Or try to use a Cryoblaster on cold-blooded creatures to freeze them. Fur burns pretty well if you use a flamethrower, and even more if you throw kerosene the turn before. However, the most unique and bizarre items are definitely cats.

During the escape, one floor at a time, you will find empty cages as items. Using them in battle is pretty useless, only doing minimal damage while triggering a funny conversation, with your healer suggesting to use your fists to fight the enemies. However, you can also find free-roaming cats scattered around the facility. Some of them will willingly join you in the cage, while others must be convinced with meat. But what is the purpose of having cats in your inventory? Well, surprisingly, cats are very powerful and versatile items.

Throwing a cat during a battle against an enemy could have different effects, especially on bosses. In general, cats offer a great distraction, giving malus or free turns where the enemy is not active. Plus, each boss has quite a comedy scene when “dealing” with the cat. For example, the cat will jump onto the back of the first boss, which will run around like a crazy man, offering you an opening. The third boss, instead, is not impressed by the cat, claiming to be a dog person. However, his healer likes cats, and will start to distract by chasing the cat around. Cats really hate the last boss and will attack him directly when thrown. Cats are not only a powerful item to gain free distraction against difficult bosses, but they also provide interesting hidden scenes with lore and comedy. And in a game dealing with extreme experiments, abuses, and violence, these moments provide needed relief. Sadly, cats do not always work. For example, the second boss, a blind woman mixed with bat DNA, loves cats, and throwing her a cat will only make her giggle with happiness.

Regarding cats, the end of Route A hides a funny secret. When venturing inside the sewers of the crow’s bunker, at some point, the water in the middle becomes of multiple colors. If you walk long enough in the water with cats in your inventory, they will mutate! The cats’ icon changes in a composition of colorful cats, a radioactive rainbow of bizarre creatures. The items also change their function, at least for one use. The colorful cats now inflict a huge amount of damage, and also remove any buff effects from the enemy. After being used, the radioactive cats come back to their usual function.

Cats also have an additional function related to a secret boss battle and a recruitable character. In one of the offices, you can find a golden cat statue, a bizarre idol with an even weirder story. A hilarious scene reveals how a crazy amount of the research budget was used to build the statue, in order to hide a powerful ally to help the main character during the escape. But how to summon this ally? Of course, by bringing 7 cats to the statue. After collecting enough cats, the golden idol will indeed summon the Mighty Cat, a tough and ultra-muscular humanoid cat wielding a toy hammer… and covered in blood. The only problem is that the cat will not help you till you show your worth in a fight. The battle against the Mighty Cat is incredibly hard. The creature has 7 lifebars, hits really hard, often buffs its evasion and attack, and has some special attacks, such as The Big Bang Hammer, able to stun and inflict insane damage, or the Radioactive Conversion, which converts contamination into healing and bonus attack. Moreover, while other bosses offer to immediately retry the battle, with the Mighty Cat, you have only one attempt. After that, the Mighty Cat will mock you and disappear. If you are finally able to defeat the Mighty Cat, it will really join your group, offering a powerful item and ability. The Mighty Cat can inflict huge damage to the enemy, plus removing all the buffs on them.

Why are cats so important in this disturbing research facility? First, let’s start with Amoria, the healer of the main character, and the character who starts the escape from the facility. She is a shy and quiet girl who suffered through a lot, with the ability to heal even the most lethal and brutal wounds with a series of thin artificial appendages. Like every character in the game, she was also mixed with animal DNA, specifically cat DNA. For this reason, Amoria has an affinity for cats, and this is why she collects them around the facility.

Eichi is the main scientist creating the hybrids; however, instead of being a pure evil mind, he is a weird and bizarre character wearing a cardboard box on his head. For the main character, Eichi is almost a father figure, even if he is the one responsible for the wild experiments and brutal tests. Eichi is also obsessed with cats. Not only is he the one who created the golden cat idol, but he also claims to have an imaginary cat friend. However, in theory, he sent his imaginary friend to protect Amoria, because she needed it the most. Of course, this imaginary cat could be only a figment of his crazy mind, or maybe it could be the Mighty Cat itself, which, afterall, is quite real. Eichi is also the crazy mind responsible of bringing all the cats inside the facility. Why? Because not only he loves cats but he also want to share them with his test subjects, saying that having cats around will improve the morale.

Break Wolf has an amazing fighting system, with very interesting and diversified items to use during the escape. Specifically, cats are very intriguing items with several applications, from distracting bosses to a one-use nuke and unlocking a secret boss fight.

Building a tower to reach heaven in a world that could be from a cult lost PS2 RPG: Interview with Ghrian Studio, the developer of BURGGEIST

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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.

A showdown between demons couldn’t be more epic than this

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.

An original concept art of the colossal Burggeist [credit Ghrian Studio]

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.

The world of Aliscans is full of impossible architectures

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.

Even the menu is full of style in Burggeist

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.

A rain of bullets from the top of Mount Gelwaz

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.

She has a really important story to share

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.

The Abhorers and a Metademon in an amazing concept art [credit Ghrian Studio]

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.

I am pretty sure that they will be visiting a Tower in the future DLC [credit Ghrian Studio]

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.

Forever trapped inside a picture after kissing an eldritch being: all about Lyle from Look Outside

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Look Outside is a huge surprise: a dark JRPG with a killing art style, challenging, and full of secrets. The player wanders entirely in one apartment building since something outside is horribly mutating people. You have only 15 days to explore, gather supplies, and discover what is happening. And with 100+ grotesque monsters and disturbing bad endings behind every corner, this will not be an easy task.

During these days, you can meet different NPCs. Some are still hiding in their flats, while others come knocking at your door. However, deciding who to trust is challenging, since several neighbors already “watched outside.” Because trusting and welcoming to your place a devious maniac, who then demands your bone marrow, is not the best choice.

Luckily, in all this grotesque madness, there is always Lyle. He is a nice neighbor, well, maybe a bit creepy and stalkerish, but not that bad. Lyle lives in his flat and happily welcomes you inside. He is passionate about photography and even has a dark room in his flat. However, regardless of his kindness, the fact that is wearing a long robe with a hood, and that bug-like appendices are coming out of it, are probably a good sign that Lyle watched outside. In fact, he tried to take a picture of whatever being was up in the sky.

Luckily Lyle retained his personality after watching outside, and he can still help the players by providing them with photographic paper to capture the bizarre phenomena around the building. However, Lyle will ask for something in exchange. Something as simple as taking a picture of the main character… or a kiss. Don’t worry, nothing super pushy, and you can refuse it. In this case, Lyle would break the tension by joking about it. If instead, you accept the wild proposal, Lyle demands you to close your eyes before the kiss. Would you really trust this creepy creature? Luckily you can, except for the feeling of kissing something burning and mechanical, nothing bad happens. However, Lyle will also take a picture of the main character, with or without the kiss.

During the game, Lyle can also help you to develop pictures in his dark room. He doesn’t allow you inside, because he is working on a secret project, but gladly develops the picture for you. Again, he will ask for a kiss as a reward, and again you can refuse. Just try to don’t break his heart, because Lyle is a good guy, especially in a world of grotesque dismembering monsters. But seriously, you can truly break the poor guy’s heart by peaking after closing your eyes during this second kiss. In this moment, you can glimpse Lyle’s true appearance: a mechanical grinning face with a lens in the middle. While the main character’s face appears terrified in the reflection, Lyle’s only reaction is to run away ashamed and in tears. He locks himself in the dark room, crying and with a broken heart. Yes, monsters do have a heart, and you broke it.

As for any other NPCs in the game, the player can also attack Lyle at any moment during the dialogue. However, the battle against Lyle is quite unconventional. First, he doesn’t directly attack the player, he just passively endures the attacks, showing to be stronger than the appearance, with really high defense. After being attacked, with a broken heart, Lyle shows the player the picture he took of them. At this moment, the Polaroid also joins the battle, appearing in the top-left corner. Starting now, the player has only a few turns to kill Lyle before the picture is fully developed. At every turn, the picture reveals a grotesque face behind, each time more disturbing. The problem is that the main character’s portrait also mutates in synchrony with the polaroid, becoming at each turn a far more twisted being. And then, they will become forever trapped inside the picture, reaching a very unexpected Bad Ending. Or not that bad, considering that Lyle will always bring you around in his pocket, taking the picture out only to show you the world around. Sadly, one day Lyle will lose the picture. And the main character will remain there, forever alone and trapped inside the picture.

During the fight, if you attack the Polaroid instead of Lyle, especially using fire, you can challenge Lyle’s true form. If you defeat the Polaroid before being trapped in it, a furious Lyle will reveal his true form. However, Lyle is not exactly angry with you but more sad about the loss of his treasure. He wanted to keep that picture (probably with the main character’s soul imprisoned inside) forever with him, and now everything is lost. The true form is the one of a disturbing bio-mechanical abomination, a sort of caterpillar mixed with cameras and lenses, with grinning mouths, eyes, and pictures all across the body. Lyle’s passion for photography got imprinted in his design after he watched outside. Regardless of the twisted and disturbing appearance, the grotesque Lyle is not a very dangerous enemy, and he is still weak against fire. After all, he needs to protect his body from extreme temperature and light, as if he was made of film paper.

After killing Lyle, regardless of his form, you can acquire the key to his dark room. What kind of mysterious project was he developing there? The answer is easy and only slightly shocking: dozens of pictures of the main character, his apartment, and his door. Apparently, Lyle was truly obsessed with him since he was still human, a crush that started to become a disturbing obsession. After all, we warn you that Lyle was kind of a stalker. Moreover, if pictures all around are not enough, hidden in a corner you will find a copy of the key to the main character’s apartment. If Lyle already used this key or not, and to do what, is a secret that will die with him.

Lyle is a fragile soul, a grotesque being, a helper, and a creepy stalker, all packed together in a well-written character with a striking design. Lyle truly shows the potential of Look Outside, a small game with so many secrets, variables, and details to discover. And, of course, in a world of devouring rats, teeth spreading like a disease, and beings who steal your flesh if you stare at them, Lyle “the kind stalker” is not such a bad NPC.

This article has also a video compendium on the Surreal and Creepy channel, where you can see all about Lyle:

Monster of the Week – Ouroboros (Brutal Orchestra)

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Origin: Brutal Orchestra

Appearance: A colossal purple snake coming out of the water, Ouroboros is a challenging boss inside the Purgatory of Brutal Orchestra. While its size can be intimidating, the most disturbing detail about its design is surely the too-much human face. Or better, the human anatomy of ONE of fhe faces. In fact, Ouroboros has two faces piled up on each other, one with human attributes, more serious and less intimidating, while the lower one is a grotesque anatomy mainly composed of teeth. The human anatomy on a sea creature always creates an uncanny being, and the Ouroboros is not an exception. In battle, the Ouroboros is composed by three parts: the grotesque head, part of the body coming out of the water, and the tail at the end. Once a body part is destroyed, it will come back as half-broken and devoured.

Background: The Ouroboros is one of the possible bosses of the second biome, the Orpheum. The battle against the colossal serpent is long and challenging, involving meticulous positioning, and the necessity to break down a huge health pool. While the body can also attack, the head is the damage dealer to absolutely avoid. In fact, every few turns, the head will use the Starvation attack causing an insane amount of damage to the character in front of it. However, if nobody is in that position, the missing attack will weaken the creature, now starving from hunger. And if avoiding that position looks easy on paper, the other body parts, especially the tail, can push all the characters one position toward the deadly maw. Moreover, if a three-target boss with high HPs and an almost instant killing attack is not challenging enough, the “killed” body parts come back as rotten flesh able to heal the creature.

The Ouroboros is based on the snake with the same name, a representation of the time cyclicity by eating its own tail. Just in Brutal Orchestra, the self-eating goes even more literally. According to the official Wiki, the Ouroboros was once worshipped by a cult, who believed that, with enough sacrifices, the human face would have finally spoken a mysterious truth. Interestingly, this is not the first game where the Ouroboros appears with this disturbing design. In Swallow the Sea, from the same developers ItsTheTalia, the grotesque fish-human hybrid is called Orro. The two games are somehow connected, this is because Brutal Orchestra is set in a huge purgatory where the creatures that died in other games, including the Orro, spend the eternity or reborn there.

I contacted Talia Bob Mair, one of the developers, to learn something more about the Ouroboros, and they were kind enough to reply with some information about the design, lore, and even secrets behind the Ouroboros. They even provided an interesting concept image of the Orro from Swallow the Sea. So I will leave now space for the words of the dev:

The Ouroboros / Orro is a strange creature, as she is really the product of a long running trend in my artwork of adding humanoid features to fish. The double face element of the Ouroboros/ Orro actually was inspired by the Manga Berserk and its habit of it’s apostle monsters featuring two faces, a monstrous face and a human one. The Orro originally had brown skin [Image below] with purple innards as both the face and skin tone were taken from Angad Matharoo (my co-developer on Perfect Vermin). A fun fact is that Pearl, a party member in Brutal Orchestra’s design, is actually a scrapped design for the Ouroboros’ head in Swallow the Sea. Speaking of Brutal Orchestra, the Orro shows up in that game as the Ouroboros, this was done to try and translate some of the immense amount of Swallow the Sea players to Brutal Orchestra but also because we have fallen too deeply in love with the face whale to let her go. I don’t think she will show up in another game for a while but you will likely see her again someday.

As a bonus fun fact I will reveal something strange I did while making Swallow the Sea that has previously been kept secret. Every rock in Swallow the Sea was placed by hand as our procedural attempts were lackluster. This meant for almost 2 weeks all I did was place every rock in the game. For some reason I decided to make one of these blocks shaped like male genitalia and began hiding it throughout the game. There are roughly 300 instances of this cock-rock in the game and no one has ever noticed it.

Demons and cultists in 15th-century Slovakia: Interview with Jozef Pavelka, the creator of Felvidek

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Felvidek is a surprising RPG set in a dark fantasy version of 15th-century Slovakia, with great art-style, nice combat, and a good balance of comedy and horror. The animations are especially great, both during combats, with detailed pixel art attacks, and cutscenes, including trippy and bizarre scenes. At the core, Felvidek is a JRPG with turn-based combats, where the characters must explore a small but rich open world. Moreover, Felvidek is full of secrets, hidden paths, and easy-to-miss secondary quests, everything to expand the characterization of the game even more.

In this grim historical world, you must be ready to face Hussites, Ottomans, and other human enemies in challenging turn-based combats. However, things will get a dark fantasy twist once the Cult is revealed, the main antagonist of the game. Every enemy has a specific color palette here. For example, the Hussites tend to be yellow while the Ottomans green. And purple is the color of the Cult and its bizarre members. In the beginning, the enemies are regular robe-wearing cultists, or more armed soldiers, normal humans associated with the Cult. Then, grotesque maws and eyeballs start to appear on the humanoid designs, creating a new breed of disturbing cultists. Later on, true abominations will join the Cult’s ranks.

A nightmarish being visiting the protagonist

Everything in Felvidek irradiates personality, from the art-style to the animations and unconventional characters. In fact, the protagonist is a drunk soldier always grinning and obsessed with reconquering his wife that cheated on him. Felvidek takes huge inspiration from Slovakia, from traditions to jokes and history. Even the language is heavily influenced by the Slovak.

In the following interview, I had the opportunity to interact with Jozef Pavelka, one of Felvidek’s creators with Vlado Ganaj. Together with Jozef, we will analyse the work behind Felvideks, its secret, and a possible future DLC.

Q1: Thank you, Jozef, for the opportunity to interact with you. Felvidek is one of the most interesting RPGs released this year. How did the development of the game start?

A1: The project originally started at SUTNARKA (faculty of design and art) as a visual exercise with the goal of creating a design for the exterior, interior, and a character that could traverse them. It snowballed from there.

Q2: What were your references and inspirations while developing Felvidek?

A2: It’s important to note inspirations differ for me and Vlado Ganaj, the writer of Felvidek, although there is a lot of overlap. My greatest inspiration was Teodor Schnitzer, Slovak graphic print artist. As for the games, Gothic, original Fallout and Hylics come to mind. Vlado drew a lot of inspiration from Slovak literature and movies.

Q3: How challenging was it to combine historical events and characters with more occult and dark-fantasy themes?

A3: Felvidek is not historically accurate educational material, even though a lot of research was made into the material culture and the events surrounding the story of Felvidek. We use the medieval setting more for atmosphere and visuals. Occult themes lend themselves for such environment.

A fortified cathedral… inside the belly of a monster

Q4: Felvidek has a very peculiar and interesting art-style, including animation, cutscenes, and the specific color palette for particular characters (for example, purple is for the Cultists). How did you define this specific style and color scheme?

A4: The style is a result of a dance on the intersection of digital and traditional graphics. I love exploring new ways of incorporating traditional printing techniques into digital art and vice versa. This approach to digital art was at the core of my academic studies.

Q5: Felvidek is a game completely rooted in Slovakia history and traditions. Which is your favorite legend or myth from Slovakia incorporated into the game?

A5: I love that we incorporated Hussites into the story. Most people don’t know that they were on our land in the 15th century, let alone the impact they had. Also a lot of Slovak memes, politicians and some jokes are referenced, in one way or another.

Even a well could hide a mystery

Q6: What instead about a myth or legend from Slovakia that you didn’t include inside the game? Thinking about it now, how would you include it in Felvidek?

A6: I won’t tell, for I would spoil a bit of our planned DLC.

Q7: Sharp knives, cheating, and a smile always on the face: the love story behind Felvidek is definitively a peculiar one. Could you comment on how this love story became a central element of the plot or helped to define the characters?

A7: Vlado needed a personal story for the characters to create an emotional reason for the plot to be driven, as opposed to the characters just investigating some unholy plot.

Is the main character finally kissing his wife?

Q8: Felvidek is full of secrets, sub-quests, and hidden elements. Which is the most hidden secret that you are proud of?

A8: I love the original interaction with Pištík you get when you approach him after you were robbed by Ida.

Q9: Eyeballs, maws coming out of the stomach, and fleshy demons: which is your favorite enemy?

A9: Has to be Numbnut. I mean, what a bloke.

Grotesque monsters slowly join the human enemies

Q10: We are very curious to know which are your future plans. Is Felvidek 2 a possibility or are you working on a different project?

A10: Right now I am working at Warhorse, but we are currently also developing a DLC for Felvidek with Vlado. I have plans on what to do after, but those are projects that will take up years.

Final Remarks:

I would like to thank Jozef for the nice opportunity and really interesting answers. It was very nice to learn more about the work behind Felvidek, and I am really curious about the future DLC. While waiting for the DLC, you can find Felvidek HERE.




The Walking Cataclysm from Mars and the other bizarre and creepy NPCs of BURGGEIST

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Burggeist is one of this year’s best surprises, an action RTS with tower-defense elements, amazing world-building, and innovative mechanics. Burggeist looks like a lost Japanese PS2 game, a combination of the reflective open-world of Shadow of the Colossus with the disturbing characters of Drakengard.

The main character is Ignace, a magician working for a mysterious society. His wife was petrified by a mysterious illness, but when all hopes seemed lost, his daughter found a solution. Or better, Axiom, the demon communicating only through letters with Ignace’s daughter, found a solution. Only by building a tower to heaven, Ignace will save his wife. Finding a place to build the tower is easy enough, but protecting it from the hordes of Abhorers is another topic. Luckily for Ignace, the demon Burggeist, a titan bringing around an assault platform, will help him in the task.

Aliscans is a peculiar land, a mix of dark fantasy and medieval Europe. There are some hints of the real world, such as the Black Plague or some tribes. On top of that, Aliscans is a world of magic, hidden relics, and mysterious demons, with a lot of dark and deep lore. For example, demons can only be seen between the fingers of a kid’s hand. For this reason, several magicians implant a kid’s arm on their bodies. In Aliscans, building something too high is impossible, and will cause a horde of monsters, the angelic-looking beings called Abhorer, to appear to destroy it. Outside the common world, the Onion Universe exists, divided in Spheres which are possible to reach and influence each other, still based on the Solar System.

The world has several places to build a tower, and even if you need only a 5000m towers to move toward the end-game, building different towers will expand the game. In fact, when a tower is high enough, a character could come to visit it, starting a secondary quest with usually incredible rewards. And of course, all the characters are peculiar, bizarre, and in some cases disturbing individuals, reminding me of Yoko Taro’s games such as Drakengard or the first Nier.

In the following article, I will analyse some of the most peculiar and disturbing characters associated with secondary quests.

Marius

Marius is a mite and peaceful man, a farmer looking for a good place to live in this harsh world. He found the perfect house in a hidden spot, with even a field ready outside. However, he is worried that could be a trap and is here in the tower to ask for your help. Just to quickly check the house to see if it is a safe place. Sounds like the most common quest in an RPG, right? 

Well, after reaching the house, you find the inside filled with growing tumors of flesh, swallowing the walls. If this could be just an encounter with a random monster inside the NPC house, the far terrifying truth is revealed inside a hidden note. Marius is not human, but a disturbing, powerful, and sinister entity. A proper Slenderman or Boogeyman hidden in sheep’s clothes.

Do not run from him, You must match his conversation, Do not mention what you know: these are only some of the pieces of advice hidden inside the note. Moreover, Marius is an entity that enjoys transforming humans into grotesque lumps of flesh with a simple touch. This explains the flesh growing inside the house. Marius is known as the Walking Cataclysm from Mars, an entity coming from the external spheres of the Onion Universe, a being only looking for destruction.

However, till the victim follows its plan, without giving signs of knowing the truth, Marius will not show its real face. Only metaphorically speaking, because Marius’ real face is a hole of meat. Luckily Marius has a weakness: flies. The entity dislikes flesh flies, creatures swarming dead meat and flesh, an anathema for this disturbing NPC. Flies can scare Marius away, but the Walking Cataclysm will bring its act somewhere else, since it is impossible to kill.

Iron Egan

A knight in full armor, Egan escaped the war and the Black Plague. However, while death and disease surrounded him, these are not Egan’s main concerns. Right now, he is terrified of his armor, since he is unable to remove it. However, the truth is even more terrifying, because the armor is not simply stuck on Egan’s body, but it is completely hollow inside. What happened to Egan’s body?

Well, the body disappeared because the cursed armor fed on it, and now the cold metal is the only body hosting Egan’s personality. However, in this condition, Egan is practically immortal, unable to die, and willing to change the world. When he will get tired of being alive, a Tempest of Mercury is the only natural phenomenon that could finally kill him.

Herzeleide

The Abhorers take different bizarre shapes, from sort of flower artilleries to flying balls with hands. They relentlessly attack any tall construction till it is destroyed to the ground. They especially enjoy targeting the colossal towers built by the protagonist, stopping only after being annihilated.

What the protagonist never expected to see was a humanoid Abhorer. Herzeleide looks like a doll, gorgeous, with pale skin, and good manners. Her only problem? Well, during the first meeting, she misses parts of her head. Other than being quite creepy in this state, she is not dangerous.

After recovering her missing fragments, Herzeleide will be complete again. She wanders around the land looking for her family, the purpose she needs to fulfill as Abhorer. Herzeleide doesn’t wish to destroy tall buildings, but only to look for her brother. Avoiding spoilers, her mission is crucial to the game.

Man in the Hole

The 26 Reciprocities is a mysterious blank book holding huge power. It is a sort of spell book based on palindromes, and to use it, people need to flip through two different copies of the book in opposite directions. If done correctly, a hole appears inside the book, connected to a peculiar pocket dimension. From inside the darkness, a young man with gigantic eyes stares back at the readers.

Simply called the Man in the Hole, this weird being is a relic of an ancient time, somehow connected to a previous humanoid civilization. The Man in the Hole is a being associated with wisdom, able to provide, twist, or deny knowledge. In fact, when the Man stares at the readers, several formulae and equations flash in front of it, highlighting its role as keeper of hidden and secluded knowledge. The Man doesn’t speak, only stares back. However, its power is so intimidating that even Ignace refuses to deal with it, offering the book to his master.

Aunty Halja

The world of Burggeist retains similarities with Dark Ages Europe, including the Black Plague and Witch Hunt. Usqiss is one of the last witches, the only survivor of witch-hunting. She is able to ride two flying brooms at the same time, but other than that, she doesn’t have huge powers. However, she always carries around a very disturbing souvenir of her past life. The head of her grandmother, Halja, who once was a great sorceress, now hanging from her granddaughter’s belt.

Halja was a very powerful witch, with huge black powers. While Usqiss brings around the head as a sort of charm in her quest for revenge, Halja still retains a fraction of her powers. In fact, when Usqiss is asleep, the head regains her conscience and can even speak. Halja provides real powers to Usqiss, even if she doesn’t realise it. Usqiss is obsessed with her revenge against the inquisitors, but the grandmother knows that she is only risking her life, thus, she is trying to stop her. This quest is full of contradictions and, while Usqiss will ask Ignace to find the inquisitors, Halja will ask him to stop her.

You can also have a look at all the cutscenes involving these peculiar characters in the following video from the Surreal and Creepy Games channel:

Play as a werewolf, a maniac, a Yokai, or an abomination in GUTTER the Cursed, RPG inspired by LISA

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LISA is definitively one of the best indie JRPGs ever made, pushing the RPGmaker engine to an impossible edge. It doesn’t come as a surprise that other games took huge inspiration from this masterpiece. Gutter the Cursed is one of these games, set in a brutal post-apocalyptic town where brutality and comedy clash and merge. The combat system is also heavily inspired by Lisa, with combinations of attacks associated with more powerful skills. However, the similarities end here, since Gutter is a hidden jewel of open world and sandbox mechanics. While exploring the city, the player can attack everybody, from merchants to the bosses of the different factions. The game also features many secrets, endings, and two DLCs expanding the world with complex side stories: the Rejected, where the player is a failed clone, and the Perished, where the player is a ghost roaming the underworld.

A deep gameplay element of Gutter comes at the very beginning of the game: the backgrounds during the character creation. The player can decide between different origin stories, each coming with perks and bonuses. Some backgrounds will slightly change the game, making it easier or more difficult, providing unique weapons and skills. Now let’s check some of these examples.

Raised by Snake Charmers makes you fast and resistant to poison, while also providing a pet snake for your adventures: a weapon with 95% chance of poisoning the enemy. Feral Child increases the resistance against diseases and provides the perk Cannibalism, which unlocks special moves to bite the enemies, healing or inflicting bleed. Moreover, backgrounds slightly change when creating a male or female character. For example, a male character can become an Ugly Outcast, which makes you weaker while increasing the evasion rate. Instead, the female equivalent is a gorgeous creature, specifically the Beautiful Harlot, which is similar but also provides the perk Beauty. Other backgrounds only available for female characters are Tomboy and Circus Performer, which unlocks the special skill Throwing Knives.

Other backgrounds can instead drastically change the game, creating a completely different playthrough and affecting party characters. In such a post-apocalyptic wasteland, the main character can of course also be a sick psychopath. The Disturbed Mind background has a huge effect during the game since it affects your relationship with the other recruitable characters. Some characters will refuse to join your party, feeling the evilness emerging from your body. On the other end, another character will become recruitable only when the Disturbed Mind is available. When reaching the Theatre in the main town, the spectacle inside is terrifying. Mutilated bodies all around, but still alive, willingly allowing the dominatrix hiding in this place to hurt them: Malice. In a normal playthrough, this will start a complex battle against the insane woman. However, with Disturbed Mind, Malice will be mesmerised by your “evil aura,” joining the party. And of course, she is an extremely powerful character. It is very interesting that choosing a specific background, among more than 10 others, unlocks a new recruitable character.

While being evil or with a troubled but cool past is not new, the Special Mind background is definitively unexpected. In this case, this origin doesn’t allow any positive perk but will drastically change almost every dialogue inside the game. The main character has huge social impairments, altering the choices into incomprehensible mumblings. As the Abomination background for Gutter the Rejected (below), Special Mind is one of those backgrounds that offers a completely different experience, thus reserved for specific runs after finishing the main game. Every dialogue and choice is in fact far more difficult to understand, and it is difficult to comprehend where “poking your nose” could lead in the conversation.

In Gutter the Rejected, the first free DLC, the backgrounds will go in an even crazier direction. This time, the main character is a cloned experiment that wakes up inside a lab. Foreigner DNA was combined with a human host, creating a specific abomination. For example, having Alligator or Squid DNA in your body unlocks special moves. The main character will gain useful skills to use during the battles, respectively 50% resistance to every damage and tentacles to trick the opponents into falling to the ground.

The Werewolf is another background available in the free DLC The Rejected. Among the many monsters to choose from, the Werewolf is one of the most interesting mechanic-wise. While the main character is still a normal human, at least in appearance, the transformation is intrinsic to the gameplay. During the battle, the character accumulates Rage to perform special moves that, when reaching the maximum, will allow the metamorphosis into a werewolf by using War Form. While the form lasts, the character will gain an insane strength, allowing deadly attacks and combos.

If playing a hybrid clone borne from an experiment that went wrong is already an interesting choice, the Abomination is definitively the most intriguing background of Gutter the Rejected. The Abomination is a grotesque creature borne from pure darkness. The main character will receive incredible powers, including strength, HPs, and special attacks. However, almost every character will be terrified of the Abomination. By playing this background, the player will lose access to many secondary quests, since the secondary characters will be terrified by the Abomination. Some of them will simply refuse to talk, while others will attack the player at the first dialogue. Moreover, the human party member refuses to join the Abomination. This background drastically changes the game, creating a really unique evil playthrough… maybe for a “kill them all” run.

The last DLC, Gutter the Perished, brings the post-apocalyptic RPG into the afterlife. In this DLC, the main character is already a ghost, who now roams the afterlife fighting ancient phantoms while discovering the reason behind their murder. While the underworld can be explored as the main game, roaming the land of the living plays as small puzzles, where you can use ghastly powers or possess people to unlock the next steps of the case. And of course, spirits from different parts of the world are available as background. The ghosts have different skills during the fight, and can solve the puzzles with their specific powers. For example, a Banshee can obsess people with creepy talks, sending them crazy, while a Jinn can enter inside the dreams of sleeping characters. Other ghosts can instead mess with the environment. A Revenant can hijack electric devices… including robots, which can become killing machines. The Yokai are the most interesting ghosts, able to appear in the human world with different forms, from a tiny messy rat to a fearful werewolf.

Gutter the Rejected was released few weeks ago. Meanwhile, I hope for another future DLC to see which other crazy backgrounds will be available.

Dark-fantasy ancient China meets steampunk: the creepy automaton kids from the ARPG Phantom Blade Executioners

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Let me start by saying that, usually, you don’t see here many phone-only games. However, Phantom Blade Executioners (PBE) is one of the few exceptions since this game surprised me in every aspect. The art-style is simply gorgeous and effective, the lore and the setting are truly original, the enemies are disturbing beings, and even the plot of each episode is intriguing and captivating!

But let’s start from the beginning. PBE is an action RPG set in a dark fantasy version of ancient China, a world shaped by many sects and religious orders, each with personal doctrines and values. The world is shaped by the Sha-Chi energy, a force flowing into special people and great martial artists. By dominating this force, people can achieve incredible powers. But the world of PBE is not only shaped around the Sha-Chi, but it also features steampunk elements. Specifically, mech masters and automaton are also common in this world, disturbing humanoid beings and weapons created by ancient artisans. What happens when you combine the two elements? Ordinary people looking for powers tried to invest mechanical devices inside their bodies to generate artificial Sha-Chi energy: the Sha-Chi Mod. If it is true that these people achieved incredible powers in the blink of an eye, long exposition to the Sha-Chi Mod mutates the owner’s body into a grotesque and mindless abomination.

While the Sha-Chi Mod is typical of end-chapter bosses, the automatons part of the steampunk side of the game are pretty common enemies, with a killing aesthetic and disturbing design. The first enemies are gigantic automaton axe-man, deranged maniacs with porcelain-like skin. Other automatons are instead smaller figures, for example, the insane pyromaniacs throwing bombs, which according to the lore are very well-selected people turned into mechanical beings. There are also female automatons, in the shape of musicians playing the lute with six arms, able to play a deadly melody and levitate above the ground.

But if mechanical men and women are not that disturbing, wait to see how creepy are the automaton kids. And the iced mountain in episode 3 is full of creepy automaton kids. They have small bodies and far bigger heads, looking like parodical creatures, with gigantic grin smiles on their faces. Even if only slightly different, there are both boy and girl versions of these automatons. The kids can be recruited as Phantoms, entities summonable by the player. Their cards are completely missing details, which are instead only summarized in creepy laughs such as “Muahahah” or “Ehehehe,” highlighting the maniac side of these synthetic kids. But how were they created? According to their official biography, “Kids with worry-free faces have the most innocent smiles. No one bears to kill a child with an innocent smile.” So yes, these smiling kids were created so that people would lower their guard, and they would easily kill even the strongest master.

These kids attack like bandits, using small weapons and vomiting a toxic gas. They are not so strong enemies when alone, but their strength in numbers can create a lot of problems. And since the kids also have automaton mothers, the mountain is swarming with them. The Imp Mother is a creature with an incredible design. A sort of female mechanical witch standing on top of a gigantic cauldron, with several arms going out from it, and also helping it to move around like arachnid paws. In combat, the Imp Mother throws toxic swamps all around, but that is the least problem since the mother also generates the automaton kids. The reason behind her summoning is especially creepy. Long ago, the Imp Mother lost her children. Since then, she has been kidnapping human children every 10 days, to then turn them into automaton kids. But she is never satisfied with their mechanical love, hence, she continues to kidnap more children.

Why is the mountain full of mechanical mothers and progenies? Everything is related to the sect of female fighting monks living in the mountains. The sect was fighting in favor of justice but had very strict rules regarding the chastity of the members. One day, a powerful woman, and the favorite candidate to become the next master, fell in love with a man. In secret, she became pregnant, and then the man disappeared. Waiting for his return, while keeping secret the pregnancy, the woman suffered alone. Betrayed by a close rival, the woman was persecuted by the heads of the sect. And she was forced to lose the child. After disappearing, mad from the tragedy, she accepted the gift of Sha-Chi Mod, and used her new powers to create a colossal automaton infant. A surrogate child to pursue her revenge against the sect. The story is more twisted and complex, but I am trying to avoid too many spoilers.

During her boss battle, the woman will literally ride the gigantic child from inside its huge broken head, while the baby crawls around trying to kill the player. Every boss battle inside the game is epic and visually striking, but the gigantic baby of the third chapter is definitely the most unexpected and creepy boss battle. The crawling automaton infant is the largest automaton inside the game, and the most terrifying but also sad being. But there is another gigantic kid automaton missing from the list, even “younger” than this one and unable to crawl. However, to meet this creature we must leave the cold mountains toward an experimental hospital.

The last baby automaton is another colossal being, obese, and disturbing. The chubby creature is an experiment, always hiding its deadly power behind an innocent facade. The Chubby Doll has a very weird and disturbing story, hidden inside its Phantom description once unlocked as a summonable ally. The creature has a huge complex of inferiority, hating people for considering it dumb and goofy, but too slow to crush them while following the hate. Sad of being unable to rip apart fast people like ants, the Cubby Doll discovered that in some rare moments, it could become very fast. So fast to crush and rip people having fun of it. During the fight, the doll will alternate between two attacks. The first is maniacally crying on the ground, damaging all around. The second one is much faster, probably its “haste,” where the baby will jump in the air to then crush the player beneath. The obese creature is unable to move, and will simply stay there. However, due to its insane HP pool, defeating the Chubby Dolls is not trivial.

The world of PBE is an amazing and complex scenario, full of disturbing elements and pieces of lore to discover. The automaton kids are a small part of it, and I hope to see more of this intricate world in future updates.