Interviews

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.

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.




A town of killers, hellish dimensions, and an evil league of human/animal hybrids: Interview with Roope Tamminen about the “murder-simulator” Lakeview Valley

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Being stalked by a creepy serial killer is always one of the biggest scares in movies, but also in video games. Even more, if that killer is a grown man dressed as a baby. Several games tried to replicate the feeling of 70s-80s Slasher movies, but not many tried to be truly sandbox or open world. This is when the Lakeview series moved exactly in that direction. Lakeview Cabin and its sequel are incredibly addictive homages to slasher movies. Each level works as an independent horror movie, with different rules, characters, and of course killers. Lakeview Cabin 2 brought this to the next level, creating a violent rogue-like Mad Max-inspired level, and another focused on time travels… and a colossal killer chicken. The great idea behind this game is leaving the player to figure out everything on their own, without much guidance. This while offering the total freedom of interacting with every object to create impossible combinations and traps. Seriously, the player has a sandbox movie to experiment with dozens of strategies to stop the killers.

Lakeview Valley is a departure from the main series, providing a more connected story, deeper RPG elements, and an even more open-world structure. This time, morality is your only limit, as you can be the most nefarious murderer that this peaceful town has ever seen. Or not, maybe you can just attend your garden and help the townspeople. In fact, Lakeview Valley was described as a “murderous Stardew Valley,” where you can kill everybody but still improve your house and garden. But this catch is not the only identifying element of Lakeview Vally, because the game is full of lore, secrets, and gameplay elements. Seriously, between a hellish pocket dimension accessed by sleeping in a bed, weird characters judging your actions, and a day/night cycle bringing huge (and dangerous) changes during the night, the game has a lot to offer. Oh, and did I forget to mention time loops? Have a look at my analysis to have an idea: A peculiar and violent hell in Lakeview Valley: power-up while murdering and send the town to Hell [Evil Quests]

The town is alive and full of characters, each with a specific task and secret to discover. Sure, you can murder everybody, but can you do that without being incriminated by the sheriff? Because this is also an ending in Lakeview Valley. Plus, dark creatures will reward the player with special powers for each homicide. Seriously, there is a lot to talk about, but you can read better in the article Towns with a Dark Secrets, also featuring Lakeview Valley: Towns with a Dark Secret: the most hermetic, cryptic, and bizarre communities at the core of open-world games — Surreal and Creepy

Roope Tamminen is the developer behind the Lakeview series, including Lakeview Valley. Both Lakeview Cabin games are great horror games that are pure fun to play (that you should try!), but for me, Lakeview Valley has a special place, a niched and hidden gem. For this reason, in the following interview with Roope, we will focus more on Lakeview Valley. Of course without forgetting about his influences and future directions. Together with Roope, we will discover the secrets behind Lakeview Valley, a game with an important and unexpected message intrinsic to its development. If you are curious to know more, I suggest you read the following interview.

A battle for the soul of the city is ready to begin

Q1: Thanks, Roope, for the opportunity to discuss with you. Lakeview Valley was a huge surprise, a game really full of lore, secrets, and many things to discover. How did you decide to go toward a more open-world structure compared to Lakeview Cabin?

A1: How I choose my projects varies a lot, but I’ve noticed that a big  part of my decision making comes from what I felt was “lacking” in  my previous release, be it a gameplay element, or something in my  own workflow. So for instance, Lakeview Cabin games don’t have written dialogue. So I had this creative urge to try my hand at writing conversations, so I already knew that my next game would be very text-heavy. 

From a technical standpoint, I was basically just testing out some of the new 2D tileset tools for Unity, that weren’t available for the engine version used in Lakeview Cabin. And that initial prototype just grew and grew, until it was very clear that it was going to be an actual game. 

So while I like to act that I’m just shooting from the hip when it comes to decision making, its actually a mix of careful planning and allowing my day-to-day feelings affect the “art” part of it all. 

Q2: Maybe it was just me, but I had huge vibes from Harvester (which I found great) while playing the game. Which were your main influences for Lakeview Valley?

A2: Yes I’ve hear that before! But it’s actually been a bit embarrassing  for me to admit that I had not heard of Harvester until someone made that same connection. I grew up in the 90’s as a video game loving  kid, but somehow that had slipped under my radar, even through my  teenage years of trying to find the darkest games possible after the  introduction of The Internet.  

But I generally try to get my influences from outside the world of video games. While the gameplay itself might be easily recognizable as some genre of game, I try to think of it as more of a pastiche to  frame my own feelings, or just to channel some inspiration I’ve felt  while consuming other media. 

So back to the actual question, Twin Peaks played an obvious part. Groundhogs Day made an appearance in my mind a lot… I also read the entirety of Berzerk manga during the development, which influenced a  lot of the decisions regarding the underworld.  

But other than just films, books and music, I also wasn’t in the best possible place mental health wise during the development. I’ve  been a depression subscriber since my earliest memories, and while it may sound kinda cliché, I do pour a lot of that into my work as a sort of therapy. But I still think Valley got the brunt of it, and in hindsight I’ve realised that the game as a whole is this sort of  a metaphor for how depression feels, at least for me. An endless loop through life where nothing really matters, where evil seems to be rewarded and every good deed will be forgotten in a week or so. 

Q3: From Babyface to Piggy, the disturbing serial killers, present especially in Lakeview Cabin, became pretty iconic. If you were given the option of directing a slasher movie about one of your killers, which one would you select and why?

A3: That’s an interesting concept to think about… If I had to pick just one of the enemies, it would have to be Babyface. A grown man in a nightgown and a babymask has some serious cinematic potential.  But of course, if Lakeview Cabin ever made a jump to the silver screen, Red would have to be the main character, and his questionable morals could make for some interesting tension building. So there’s more room for him to grow as an anti-hero. But the most interesting thing about it would be trying to adapt something that already parodies the thing you are adapting it into. So the movie would need to be self-aware, and play with the slasher film tropes in some clever way, and while that sort of thing has been done many many times, especially in the slasher-genre (X,  Tucker & Dale, Cabin in the Woods, Happy Death Da-this list could go on and on…), I still feel like there is an approach that would work  in Lakeview Cabins favour, with the amount of fourth wall breaking I like to do… 

But yeah, It’s not like I have thought about this that much, not waiting for a call from A24 at all… 

Babyface in all his “innocence”

Q4: Changes during the night, hidden treasures, and a bed that literally drags you to hell: the town of Lakeview Valley is full of mysteries. Which was, according to you, the most secret and difficult-to-discover element that you hid in Lakeview Valley?

A4: You know… The whole development ended up becoming quite a challenge  to finish, I remember frantically jumping from one thing to another to get everything connected, adding references to tiny little things that might explain a question someone might have… And in all of that  crunch, some stuff might not have ended up working as I had intended. 

Which brings me to one specific thing that a lot less people have mentioned than I initially expected, and that has to do with Morgos past, and how he came to be the way he is when you meet him. There’s  a hidden storyline involving his affair with Mary, who’s death is mostly only hinted at. 

So I did a cutscene of her dying in labor while giving birth to a giant fly, Morgo’s new form. I think I did it as tastefully as possible, but I still expected more players to mention it. Even if only for the fact that it adds some tragedy to Morgo’s character,  since he only wanted to come back from the underworld to be with  Mary again.  

Morgo doing what Morgo does best

Q5: Lakeview Valley doesn’t go soft in allowing the player to do some very evil deeds. What was your most evil action when you were testing the game? Was there a character that you “preferentially” chose as the murder-testing victim?

A5: I think my most evil act might’ve been just making the game? Well maybe not, and actually there is a reason Little Bobby comes to your home more easily compared to other NPC’s. It helped me test things more easily, so he definitely got the worst of every possible weapon  in the game.  

He is also a completely despicable character by design, so he probably gets killed the most by every player. I tried to add an  aspect into every NPC where it subtly makes you want to kill them, but in Little Bobby’s situation there is nothing subtle. He is there to nudge you into playing the game how it is meant to be played. But as a slap to the players face, he is the only villager who seems to thrive in the underworld, even though he is the one you want to suffer the most. 

Not even Hell can stop Little Bobby

Q6: During the night, the town definitively shows its creepy side, with huge changes not only in the threats but also in the townspeople. How did you develop the night world and what were the rules behind its creation?

A6: Not so much rules, but I do remember thinking of it in terms of the themes of the story elements. There is this overlaying theme of becoming something else, wearing a mask to fit into the society. How  we all have a hidden side, or maybe something we aspire to be, but can’t show to the world. And that’s presented in the game with actual metamorphosis happening, with people turning into an animal form after escaping from the underworld, or appearing as butterflies during the night.  

But the moths themselves that appear… While thinking about animals and insects, I started to think about what insect has given me the  biggest heebie jeebies during my life. And I remembered how I really hate that frantic fluttering of a moths wings… Gives me chills just thinking about them. What’s that about then? 

This is a typical scarecrow during night-time

Q7: The Preacher, the Dweller, or the Scarecrow: the town of Lakeview Valley is full of disturbing and mysterious creatures. If you have to define the iconic “cryptid” for the town, which creature will you choose and why?

A7: While in a way the most plain of them all, I still like the Dweller. I like the simple aesthetic, and how he/her/it kinda emulates the frantic fluttering I mentioned earlier.  

But the main thing is how the Dweller is my way of explaining why  the game works like a game. In the end, every single game ever made is a groundhogs day situation. You can always try again. So the  Dweller is my attempt to explain that very simple game “rule” that everyone knows, and give it some reason and connection for the  player. There is a lot of fourth wall breaking in the Valley, with  its endless time loops and talks of infinite possibilities. In the end, the player itself is indicated of being the main reason why all of this evil is happening. All because they want to play the game, and how it only exists while it is running.

The Dweller whispering under your bed

Q8: The Upper League is a group of especially evil creatures wandering the town. How was this evil league born? Were there other possible members during the development?

A8: It might’ve been this subconscious urge to create this sort of  “villain team” after reading Berzerk, and being a huge fan of the  Metal Gear series. I don’t think any of them were left on the  drawing board, I tried to design each monster as something that  might compliment the other ones, in areas that they might be  lacking. 

The whole human/animal-hybrid thing also played nicely into the  themes of evil being rewarded in this universe, by having the worst  of the people become even more powerful beasts. The animal inside of  us being shown to the outside world.  

Q9: Are you thinking of developing a sequel or a side story for Lakeview Valley?

A9: It does sometimes cross my mind, thinking of what a sequel might include and how I might be able to surprise the player. But in the  end, I’m also happy to leave it as it is. In a way, it’s already a “spin-off” from the main series. So I’d much rather make something  new in the universe instead of a straight up sequel to Valley.  

Lakeview Cabin 2 already continues some of the story elements, some characters from Valley return, but for now the Lakeview-universe will stay as it is. Although I do tease where the series might be  going, in Lakeview Cabin 2’s epilogue… 

Q10:  According to a recent tweet, your next game could be totally different, including not being related at all to Lakeview. Could you give us some hints about your future directions?

A10: Yes indeed! I talked earlier about how I’m choosing my projects, and how the previous project affects the next one. And right now, it is the Lakeview itself that I need to get away from. So my next game won’t have anything to do with the Lakeview-series, I guess in a way to prove to myself that I have more in me. 

So I’ve been working on my take on an immersive sim. In a nutshell, your goal is to escape from a prison in 1700’s France. It’s a complete departure from my previous games, and it’s evolving into this fusion of old school point & click adventures and more modern type idle-clicker games. A point and clicker? All I know that I’m very excited about it, and I’m happiest I’ve been creatively in a long time!

Final Remarks:

I would like to thank Roope for the nice opportunity and really interesting answers. I didn’t expect that there was such a personal journey behind Lakeview Valley, and now that I can see it, I appreciate the game even more. And I cannot wait to see what the 1700’s France prison game will be. While waiting for Roope’s next game, you can find Lakeview Valley and the recently released Lakeview Cabin 2 respectively HERE and HERE.

The darkest secrets of Fear & Hunger 2 Termina: second interview with the creator Miro Haverinen

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Fear & Hunger was, in part, the game that made me start this blog. And you can see the results in the many articles I wrote about it. A one-man-army project, Fear & Hunger is probably the grimiest and darkest RPG available, with a satisfying and brutal combat surrounded by a deep lore. Last December, the official sequel, Fear & Hunger 2 Termina got released, bringing the horror and despair in a more modern post-World War setting.

Between an evil moon, grotesque mutations, old and new gods, and a set of disturbing and deadly enemies, Termina brings back the essence of the first title and encases it in a more open world format. In fact, you have three days to join the Termina festival by murdering all the other characters, and each time you sleep and save, the time will dramatically advance. Exploring the town by learning routes and possibilities is essential to survive and understand the mechanics. There is a lot to learn and optimise, not only how to efficiently manage the save points, but also how to use the sigils of the gods to obtain powers and which possibilities are available at a specific times. Because the characters around you move with time, and it is impossible to see many events once day/time changes.

As its prequel before, Fear & Hunger 2 Termina features grotesque and different enemies, some of them randomly appearing to destroy your party, while others are the bad endings of a specific characters. If you want to see some of the most dangerous enemies in the game, have a look at my article: Sadistic maniacs and grotesque abominations: the unique stalking enemies of Fear & Hunger 2 Termina.

When the first Fear & Hunger was released, I had the possibility of asking questions to the creator, Miro Haverinen. Together with Miro we explored the secrets, lore, and references of Fear & Hunger. The interview is available at the following link, if you missed it: 

Interview with Miro Haverinen, the creator of the dark RPG Fear & Hunger. 

Back then, it was the first interview posted here on Dark RPGs and now, with the release of Termina, talking again with Miro is like continuing a path. Because Miro Haverinen was kind enough to provide a “part 2” interview, this time completely focused on Termina. Together with Miro, we will analyse more the references, secrets, and curiosities of Fear & Hunger 2 Termina.

If you enjoyed the game and want to know about its future, or discover the secrets and curiosities behind some mysteries such as the Irrational Obelisk or the Iki Turso, have a look at the following interview.

Q1: Hi again Miro, and thanks for the possibility of asking again some curiosities about the expanding world of Fear & Hunger. Fear & Hunger 2 Termina released last month, bringing a new breeze of disturbing horror for RPG fans. The biggest surprise is probably the change in time, moving from dark middle-ages to post-WW2. Why did you decide to shift toward a more modern setting? Were there also other ideas before, including maybe a more directly-tight sequel?

A1: Hi! Glad to answer these questions again. It helps put things in perspective for me too.

As for the setting – I wanted to create something new. These games are pretty big commitments, it gets boring working with the same setting for years on straight. I also felt like there were lots of other dark medieval games around. The world didn’t really need another one. So a more directly-tied sequel was never in the books really.

I got the idea for the main ending of Termina pretty early on. I felt it was a logical direction for things to progress towards with the rules and themes of this universe in mind. The story idea played a big part in the decision for the setting. I first toyed around with even more modern setting that was lighter in tone, but felt it was too big of a departure, so I dialed things back and came up with the 40s setting. Although I approached the setting pretty liberally and it is far from an accurate depiction of the times. Much like how F&H1 is wildly inaccurate in its historical take, it’s more like a hodgepodge of multiple different centuries. Termina’s 40s is very similar in this regard. There are things in the game that would better suit a 1800s setting and things that would make more sense in 1960s-70s setting.

If the old dungeon was full of monsters, modern war now truly creates monsters.


Q2: If this was hinted at in the first Fear & Hunger, it is now clear how the setting of Termina is an alternative version of our world, with connections and references to existing places and figures. And the perfect meeting point for these influences is Prehevil, the main city of Termina, a complex character of its own. How did you manage to combine the fictional and historical aspects of Termina to build Prehevil?

A2: The game was even more tied to real world history in the beginning of the development, but with each passing month the game universe drifted further and further away from historical events because it felt a bit constraining. I like how with this “strangereal”-like setting people can fill in the blanks in worldbuilding easily but there’s still plenty of room for the world to grow to any direction that benefits the overall story.

As for Prehevil, I wanted the city to have strong European feel in its architecture and the story benefitted from the city being in the middle of all these different coalitions, that’s why I ultimately settled into Prehevil being (very very) loosely based on Prague of Czech Republic. I was browsing through WW2-era photos for inspiration and something about Prague just appealed to me.


Q3: While Old Gods already appeared in the previous game, Rher, the Moon God, was always referenced on the side. But now everything changed, and Rher is the central element of Termina. Why did you decide to use the Moon God as core element of Termina? Which were the references and the ideas to build this god and integrate it into the gameplay?

A3: This delves into the in-universe lore a bit, but in many ways Rher always had the main antagonist role when it came to human progress and reaching new heights. Being the “Jealous Moon” that he is. The first game was mostly set in dark dungeons though. Not much moonlight reaches those depths, but this time it made more sense for the moon to follow the events more closely in broad daylight. I’ve just always been personally fascinated by the moon, I think that’s the main inspiration really. The real thing. I know many draw parallels to a certain Nintendo game with the words “Termina”, the moon and the 3-day time limit, but that game didn’t really play big role as far as inspirations go. The most significant influence Majora’s Mask had to Rher was that I was desperately trying to differentiate Rher’s design from the moon in Majora’s Mask. It’s not easy to design a moon with a face that doesn’t look similar.

The jealous moon Rher watching down from the sky.


Q4: Termina has a new and interesting mechanic based on sigils, which really expands player management during the game. However, Rher’s sigil is a very peculiar one, allowing the player to shift toward an alternate reality made of wood. As a fan of Silent Hill, and in general of parallel dimensions of pure pain, I am curious: which are the lore and the ideas behind building this reality? And why was wood the main element of this dimension?

A4: No comments on the lore reasons, sorry. I don’t like explaining the lore too much outside the game and this particular topic would reveal a lot of big things. The basic aesthetic of it came from some old drawings I had done years ago. I think I originally got that visual of crude wooden walls rising infinitely to darkness above from a dream of mine. My dreams played a big part with many visuals found in the game. The dinner with the mayor, the intro scene, the church, the mold apartment – they all came to me in different dreams. I guess dreams also play a big part in the lore too? Of course the parallel universe also takes strong influence from Silent Hill. No escaping that fact.


Q5: Termina really hits strong with the enemy design, between a horde of grotesque abominations and deadly maniacs. Which is your favourite enemy and why?

A5: I think I like the generic moonscorched enemies the most. Or the evolution they go through from enemy to enemy. Like you can see how moonscorching advances from first slightly distorting one’s features, to their skin peeling off revealing the innermost desires, to hardening of the exposed flesh, until that hardening growth takes over the whole body. It’s pretty interesting visually I think, but it also has interesting implications. The moon reveals the truth and all that.


Q6: Prehevil city hides many secrets, but one that I really couldn’t solve was the Irrational Obelisk. For those who don’t know, hidden inside a shop lies a tower made of clothes, apparently purposeless and impossible to kill. Can you give us some clues about the purpose of this mysterious being?

A6: That thing exists for real. How scary is that? I once saw it in a small art exhibition in Helsinki, Finland. It’s been years since that encounter though, so I probably don’t recall my meeting with that irrational being accurately. This is just my depiction of the events that went down. I’ve had irrational phobia for buttoned shirts too since I was a toddler. That probably played part in its creation too. When making something that’s trying to be horror, you have to go with your gut instincts. I find that stuff weird and eerie.

The impossible battle against the Irrational Obelisk.

Q7: Compared to the previous entry, Termina doubled the number of playable characters from four to eight. Which is your favourite main character and why?

A7: Hard to pick just one. I like the whole cast and my favourite changes based on the time of day. Maybe right now at this moment it’s Tanaka. I like the idea of Hero’s Journey in the world of Fear & Hunger, even if his arc isn’t a complete quest just yet… I guess technically this doesn’t answer to your question though. Tanaka is not one of the eight…


Q8: Are there still secrets that you think people still didn’t discover? Maybe something about the mysterious Doppelgangers?

A8: There are some things I haven’t seen anyone mention. But I’ve been mostly in bug fixing mode since the release and honestly I haven’t properly been able to follow the discourse. It’s hard to have secrets in games these days. People start datamining even niche games like F&H. I think that’s like a magician revealing their secrets. Just makes things more boring. But it is what it is. You probably haven’t seen the last of doppelgängers yet though.


Q9: I already had the same question for the previous part of the interview, but I have the same curiosity for Termina: were there during the development monsters and bosses that were not included in the final release?

A9: Yeah there’s always content that doesn’t get to the game. Although I think I got most content in that I really wanted. I did have delusions of grandeur at times during development when I thought I could expand the game even further, but I never seriously thought that stuff was going to make it. At least not for the vanilla release build. There is at least one Pillarman variation I thought about adding and also wanted to have another Iki Turso creature randomly walking around the city on day 3. Those didn’t make it. At least not yet.

Imagine that Iki Turso was supposed to randomly walk in the city on day 3.


Q10: The first Fear & Hunger received many updates, including new endings, places to explore, and even the more light-hearted School Mode. Are you planning similar support for Termina? If yes, can you give us some clues about what to expect in the future?

A10: I’ll keep supporting the game with free updates. Not 100% sure to what extent quite yet, but there will be things to come. I think the first new content to come tries to deal with some replayability issues. A completely new route to the city might keep early game more fresh on repeated playthroughs and bring some variety to the areas you find in the game. New playable characters and a new ending route are also pretty high on the list. Some of these additions would take a lot of work though, so no idea when/if they are all coming to the game. I’ll just keep working on this stuff for as long as I feel like it. The game has certainly been received well enough, so the motivation is there in that regard.


Q11: Between jumps in time and different continents, such as the mysteriously hinted Vinland, the world of Fear & Hunger is continuously expanding. Maybe it is early to ask since the game only got released last month, but could you say us something about what to expect from the future of the saga?

A11: I have a couple of more fleshed out ideas, but it’s too early to tell if either of them become anything more. When F&H1 was close to being done, I thought of a thematic throughline for a trilogy of games. So I have a pretty good idea what F&H3 would be about even if there is a lot of freedom in the surface story to set it in different places in the timeline. It could take place before the released games or after, and that’s pretty much what those fleshed out concepts are. One happening before the events of F&H1 and one happening after F&H2. The other is a more conservative idea that’s closer to the established formula, while the other one is a wild card. I’d probably prefer to stir things up because I fear if things settle down to a more clear formula, any deviation from that in the future would be more difficult.

I do have some ideas for potential spin-offs too, so who knows, I might make something completely different than what’s on my mind currently. That’s what happened with Termina too. I had few very different concepts for F&H2, but ultimately I picked a wild card idea that came to me at the last minute.

Final Remarks:

I would like to thank again Miro for the opportunity. Miro provided really interesting answers to my questions, and I truly hope to see new contents for Termina in future. As a big fan of the saga, it was a pleasure for me to explore again the grim world of Fear & Hunger, and Termina really offered a huge amount of new contents. Meanwhile, Termina was quite a success, reaching already an “overwhelmingly positive” evaluation on STEAM. And if you still didn’t play it, Fear & Hunger 2 Termina is available on STEAM and ITCH.

In space no one can hear you die: Interview with Cradle Games, the creators of Hellpoint, challenging Souls-like with horror sci-fi atmosphere

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Action RPGs are definitively a prolific genre these days, challenging games often inspired by Fromsoftware’s works for their mechanics. Due to their challenging gameplay, death is always ready behind a corner, and players will learn to advance cautiously. For this reason, “Souls-like” mechanics combine very well with horror or dark atmospheres. However, while many titles use dark fantasy worlds and characters to enhance the stressful environment, very few games try to build a completely different world. Now thanks to Hellpoint, action RPGs have a representative for horror sci-fi settings.

Hellpoint is an action-RPG set on a mysterious orbital station where something catastrophic happened. Between cosmic horrors, claustrophobic corridors, madness, lack of oxygen, and a gigantic black hole constantly imposing its presence outside the station, Hellpoint’s atmosphere couldn’t be more horror. The oppressive feeling while walking around the station exactly triggers all the right notes of a proper horror sci-fi product. Also in terms of gameplay, Hellpoint is a great addition to the genre, including nice variations such as firearms, insane weapons including the hand of an eldritch god, cosmic magic, and alternative dimensions where the main bosses offer dialogues instead of a brutal fight (you can read more here if interested about: Why fighting when you can ally with Cosmic Evil Gods in Hellpoint? [Evil Quests]). And the surprises are not over, because one year from the official release, Cradle Games studio, the Canadian team behind Hellpoint’s development, announced a new DLC called Blue Sun.

While waiting to step back into the claustrophobic tunnels of Idis Novo station, I had the possibility of interviewing Cradle Games to know more about Hellpoint and its development. Cradle Games’ designer, Mathieu Boudreau, was kind enough to answer my questions. Also known as “Gropwel,” Mathieu is a veteran in game development and worked before with Activision and Ubisoft before co-starting Cradle Games.

If you want to know more about the development of Hellpoint, how its atmosphere and system were born, and the future of the series, you should read the following interview with Mathieu and Cradle Games.

Q1: Thank you for the possibility of interacting with you. Hellpoint is an interesting new take on souls-like games, how did the project start, and how Cradle Games was born?

A1: Of course! The project took off in the Fall of 2015 when we founded Cradle Games with a couple of fellow game devs with which I’ve been working for over a decade at Ubisoft and Activision. It all started in my house basement where I concocted this strange dark sci fi universe and we were just obsessed with the new trend of hardcore games. I took all the ideas I’ve been carrying on from childhood from Doom 1993 and Super Metroid and it was on.

Q2: The oppressive sci-fi atmosphere is clearly one of the strong points of Hellpoint. Which movies or games did you use as a reference to create this horror environment?

A2: The main inspiration for the game world came from my love of old Swedish death metal like In Flames and Meshuggah who often incorporated elements of cosmic horror put on top of face melting riffs. Game wise it was 1993’s Doom and Super Metroid that I wanted to explore again, with that unrestrained old-school level design jam packed with secrets and the feeling of no hand holding, the strong feeling of isolation deep within an alien world.

When you are alone in a space station, finding a cult of demonic creature is never a good sign.

Q3: Souls-like games are definitely one of the most famous genres now, with amazing games both from big and small studios. While developing Hellpoint, which were your “to do” and “to don’t” things to create your personal view of Souls-like games?

A3: While we adore the Dark Souls series, it’s really Bloodborne that left the deepest trauma on our gamer mantra. To me the main character is really the game world, and it’s got its own story, logic and attitude so very early on we forgot about the soul series to build and expand our own thing. It’s a really fun process! But from the beginning we made it a point of honor to invent more new ideas and mechanics than we borrowed from existing game, so yes Hellpoint has a stamina bar and “bonfire” kind of checkpoints, but beyond that it is its own thing with the jump mechanic, the real time station orbit, the way we handle multiplayer, etc.

Q4: From the huge hand of a dead god to a scythe made from the bones of an interstellar whale: Hellpoint’s weapons are a true blast of innovative and well-integrated designs. Could you name some of the favourite weapons of your team?

A4: Oh, thank you so much! We’ve put a lot of love in the weapon design and really pushed it as far as was humanely possible for us. My personal favorite is Nemundis Occulus, I find it really bad ass to defeat a boss and then fight using his eyeball. I think the team is really into the new weapons that we’ve produced for the Blue Sun DLC. They are very YOLO.

Some of the amazing combinations of weapons/armors inside Hellpoint.

Q5: Hellpoint is rich in weapons and monsters, but I am curious, were there some creatures or weapons that for some reason were cut out from the final release?

A5: Probably we should have cut more, hahaha! That was a lot of content to produce for our small 11 people team. But yes, there was some cut content but I’m glad to say we’re putting it all back in with the Blue Sun DLC.

Q6: A very unexpected feature of Hellpoint is that the Cosmic Gods are not only enemies to be defeated but, with the right choices, they can become allies and even provide quests. Why did you decide to implement this feature in the game?

A6: Well I think it’s an interesting aspect of the “Lovecraftian” cosmic horror genre that these giant entities are too massive to really give a damn whether we live or die. So it’s an achievement for the player to be able to interact with them in either ways. It also fitted with the concept of the “Underworld” which is an inversion of everything you find in the real world.

Sometimes you can talk with Cosmic Evil Gods, and sometimes you cannot.

Q7: Hellpoint is full of novel and interesting mechanics. One of the most interesting is how the orientation of the ship around a black hole basically defines “hours,” and specific events or places can only be accessed at a specific time. How did this concept evolve during the development of the game?

A7: Something that we always like to do when we make game is try to make it feel like the game world is ever evolving whether you’re in it or not. It’s not like the show Truman where the world revolves around you, rather the opposite. It makes the world feel more concrete, alive and unpredictable. But for Hellpoint, the black hole orbit system was a huge challenge! We had to plan many different game states and mods for environments that were already immense, we had to design a dynamic skybox that spins and twists realistically, we had to make correct maths for the spin of the Irid Novo station so that the black hole always looks glorious in the sky, we had to create many different sets of stat balancing and loot drop tables for every bosses and enemies… a bit insane but it paid off by making the game feel so unique and alive.

View of the black hole in the outer space from inside the space station.

Q8: Surely Hellpoint can be defined as a challenging game, especially some sections (personally still having nightmares about the zero-gravity sections outside the ship). How did you balance the difficulty? Were there some areas that were majorly revised due to being too difficult?

A8: To be honest for us it was rather the opposite that happened. Prior to Dark Souls the whole industry was in a “casual gaming” and “accessibility first” trend so we were very thankful to From Software for making hardcore games popular again. We cranked up the difficulty to make a very skill-based game but we also wanted players to be able to personalize their experience, allowing them to skip to late game environments if they find the right secrets, or letting them craft items that would allow them to lower the stats of the enemies. The character stats and upgrades are basically not capped at all. But the enemies are still savage and can be buffed if the black hole is in the sky. The game can be played in coop uninterrupted from beginning to the end, etc.

Q9: Recently, for the first anniversary, the DLC Blue Sun was announced for Hellpoint. Could you tell us something more of what deadly and lurking things a player should expect in the new DLC?

A9: I think we really outdid ourselves with this DLC! I can’t really say much but I really hope players will see how much we evolved as a team since last year. One thing I wanted to do is making sure the added content doesn’t feel tacked on and expendable, I wanted to make content that makes the whole game more exciting and motivates another playthrough, and make sure that we make it interconnected with the base game so it doesn’t feel tacked on.

Q10: Now that the DLC is coming out, I imagine this will be your main focus for some time, but I am curious, do you already have plans for a future game or a sequel of Hellpoint? Could you tell us something just to satisfy our curiosity?

A10: We’re on fire. We got tons of projects and ideas, we’re expanding, we can finally not worry about money so much and focus on crafting our art and working with our fan base. We got new IP’s in the work as well that is sure to make folks fall off their chair. I don’t think anybody can possibly expect what’s next for us. We want to concretize as many ideas as possible while we’re not too old. It’ll take time but it’ll be worth it.

Final Remarks:

I would like to thank Cradle Games for the nice opportunity, especially Mathieu for the very interesting answers. I look forward to diving again into the oppressive universe of Hellpoint with the new DLC Blue Sun, mentally preparing to slash new grotesque monsters using the eyeball of a cosmic god. While waiting for the new DLC, if you still didn’t try Hellpoint, it is available on STEAM and all the major consoles.

Interview with Glasses Cat Games, the creators of Devil Slayer Raksasi, a souls-like inspired by Chinese legends

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Devil Slayer Raksasi was really a surprise: a top-down action RPG with a souls-like battle system and roguelike elements, together with an innovative dark-fantasy atmosphere with strong references to Chinese folklore. The game has an addictive and challenging gameplay, with strategic boss battles against really interesting creatures, a lot of items and weapons to equip, and a set of 7 main characters with different skills and powers.

The game is still in Early Access on STEAM, but in one year received many updates, from new modes and gameplay-elements, to additional playable characters, bosses, and sub-chapters. The game is yet a complete and challenging experience, with different routes and optional bosses, secret sets to acquire, and the possibility to train and level-up the main characters. The heroines are all quite different, from a half-fox woman using a giant cannon, to a fast demon using knives: the replayability is very high and completionists will need dozens of hours to see everything

Raksasi’s most unique feature is the amazing mix of a novel dark-fantasy universe inspired by Chinese legends, myths, and ancient folklore. Settings, secondary characters, and especially enemies are all very interesting for design and lore. As a great addition, a recent update also improved the bestiary, and now not only it is possible to read the lore of more than 100 creatures, but also to enjoy the gorgeous and detailed portraits of each monster.

Today, together with Glasses Cat Games, the team of three developers behind Raksasi, we will look at the development of the game, the future updates, the lore behind secondary characters, and how the Chinese culture influenced the game. We will also know the favorite bosses of the developers, so if you are curious to know more, check the following interview.

Q1: First of all, thank you for the opportunity. Raksasi is an interesting take on both souls-like and rogue-like RPGs. How the idea behind this project was born?

A1: Devil Slayer Raksasi is inspired by the Souls-like games a lot while we are all big fans of this genre. The early prototype is just a simple top-down action game demo with a souls-like style combat system. Since we are worried if the core mechanism is too simple and a pure souls-like game made by a small team will lack enough game contents, we consider incorporating Roguelike elements to increase the lifespan.

Q2: From the art-style to the gameplay, Raksasi is an interesting production. Which other games influenced your work while developing Raksasi?

A2: We try our best to make our own unique game by standing on the shoulders of giants, and you may find some familiar designs and systems in Raksasi from these great titles: Souls, The Binding of Isaac, Dead Cells, Darkwood, Blade & Sword.

Q3: The art-style is really well characterised and unique, especially the portraits of the main characters and the bosses. Why did you decide to use this particular aesthetic for Raksasi?

A3: The reason is very simple, there is no other choice! because we are a very small team, the only artist in our 3-man development team chooses his own style to create all the artworks. Our artist’s early style was influenced by the Japanese anime he watched in his childhood, but he always had his own unique pursuit and did not follow the trend blindly. Therefore, the final art effect is very likely to be quite different from the current popular and most popular styles and colors and is also more recognizable.

Xilvaron, one of the 6 heroines of the game.

Q4: From the setting to the design of the enemies, the influence of Chinese culture are evident in Raksasi. How Chinese traditions and legends influenced the world of Raksasi?

A4: It’s cool to create a game with the Chinese culture we are familiar with. We did look at a lot of historical and mythological materials, and take many elements and characters from them to build the world. We hope these designs can cause the most common popular culture aesthetic and emotional resonance among Chinese and foreigners are interested in Chinese culture.

One of the disturbing monsters of Raksasi, together with the lore from the Bestiary.

Q5: The main heroines got particularly popular, both for their gorgeous design and for their peculiar weapons. How was the creative process behind the creation of each new main character?

A5: While designing our character artwork, the artist’s first goal is to meet the functional needs in the basic scheme, “it should work well as the plan”, such as the native weapons, race, and so on. After that, these characters will be given different personalities. According to these personalities, the artist will select the appropriate color scheme, decorative style, facial features, etc…Then, Bingo, who is responsible for the stories, will refine the character’s background information based on enough existing visual elements as well as the artist’s markup. Basically, all the characters are formed after everyone collides with each other’s ideas.

Q6: A pale kid, a creepy blind woman, and a giant masked-man: the merchants and the secondary characters of Raksasi are really mysterious. Could you tell us something more about the backgrounds of some of these characters?

A6: The pale kid’s name is Jubilant Altar. He looks like a little child in a wine jar, but actually, he is not a human. The ancient Chinese believed that all things have spirits. An artifact will give birth to wisdom over the years and become a human-like creature with supernatural powers, that is, the “devil” in the title name of this game. Jubilant Altar is a “devil” turned by a wine jar. He’s the warehouse manager, and his biggest preference is to collect all kinds of treasures and organize them every day. And the idea comes from a Chinese movie, The Miracle Fighters.
The creepy blind woman’s name is Raven. You may think her look reminds of Frankenstein a lot, and yep, it’s very similar. Her body is just a puppet created by the ancient gods, but she has a real human soul inside the body. As long as there is energy, she can live forever.  Through countless years, she has accumulated a wealth of knowledge.
The merchant, Baldwyn, is a fat guy with a mask, who is a member of a large and mysterious organization that operates many wilderness stores, selling secret treasures to adventurers. Many people think they are not just a purely commercial organization.

  • Raven and Jubilant Altar, a couple of mysterious secondary characters.

Q7: Between so many dangerous enemies to face, which are your favourite bosses and why?

A7: Haha, we love all of them. For example, the five immortals are all mysterious, powerful, and highly individual:
The rat boss, Gray Immortal, has countless henchmen, hiding in the forest, brewing some kind of conspiracy. The snake boss, Willow Immortal, has a white Snake and a green Snake as partners, and they are from a familiar story to the Chinese called Madam White Snake. The weasel boss, Yellow Immortal, who is an old man addicted to drug research often picks medicines in the deep mountains. The hedgehog boss, White Immortal, is obsessed with fighting and always looking for powerful opponents. The fox boss, Fox Immortal, who is the noble and beautiful king of the foxes can confuse people’s minds.
The ideas are from some folklores of Northeastern China influenced by Shamanism a lot.

Q8: The game is still in Early Access (EA) but got many conspicuous updates in the last year. Do you have some surprises or clues of what will be the next contents available before the final release? Maybe some clues about new bosses?

A8: We will continue to announce our upcoming new content in our steam community. We are always trying to add richer and more interesting content to our game. Soon, the game will have a new update, which adds new map Sea Caverns, and new bosses, as well as a very fun challenge mode.

The Gray Immortal is the first of 5 deadly bosses called the Immortals.

Q9: Which were the elements that changed more during the EA period?

A9: In the EA phase, we’ve added a lot of new content, such as new difficulty modes, a wooden tablet system, and a Soul charms system. In the process, a lot of new bosses, maps, characters, weapons, and props have also been added. The difficulty system is one of the more important mechanisms, the easy difficulty can be adapted to more users, and the new high difficult mode called Demonic can provide a more interesting challenge for these game masters.

Q10: Of course, I imagine that finishing Raksasi is your priority right now, but I am curious, are you already thinking of your next project? Maybe a sequel of Raksasi?

A10: Yes, we have some ideas about the next title, and we are doing some preparation work now. But there are a lot of things that are not determined and take longer to explore. So it’s too early to determine what the next game will be like.

Final Remarks:

I would like to thank Glasses Cat Games for their quick responses and the interesting answers. It is really fascinating to know more on how the Chinese traditions influenced this interesting dark fantasy world, and I cannot wait to face the new creatures in the future update of the Sea Caverns. Even if it still in EA, Raksasi already got >1200 reviews with an overall “Very Positive” grade on STEAM, so if you want to check it, the game is available HERE. Also keep an eye on Dark RPGs for a future article about the Chinese-influenced bestiary of Raksasi.

Interview with Chris Bourassa, co-founder of Red Hook Studios and Creative Director of Darkest Dungeon

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Darkest Dungeon is one of the most original and innovative dark RPGs ever. The addictive gameplay, the incredible art-style and the horror elements, created the perfect formula for a game that defined a new genre. As the name suggests, this is a really dark RPG, with strong horror components rooted in an unforgiving and complex system. Permanent death, mental and physical diseases, balance of light and darkness, Darkest Dungeon really knows how to perfectly integrate horror elements into a modern RPG. Worth also to specify that the world of Darkest Dungeon is one of the most original dark fantasy settings, from every abomination lurking in the darkness to the original classes.

With the recent announcement of Darkest Dungeon 2, the series is back to bring horror and despair upon the players. I had the opportunity to chat with Chris Bourassa, co-founder of Red Hook Studios and creative director of Darkest Dungeon. With more than 14 years of experience as art director and concept artist for several videogames, series and also pen-and-paper games, Chris is not only co-creator of Darkest Dungeon, but also the main artist behind the distinctive art-style of the game.

His answers provide information on how Darkest Dungeon was born, about his art-style, and also some details about a very interesting unreleased creature (which I really hope to see in the sequel). If you are like me, craving for news regarding the sequel, the following interview is the perfect reason to dig even more in the lore and the secrets of Darkest Dungeon.

Q1: I would like to thank you for the opportunity of interacting with you. Darkest Dungeon (DD) became in the last year a new reference for dark RPGs, with many games inspired by its art-style and mechanics. How the idea of Darkest Dungeon was born?

A1: Darkest Dungeon began as a series of loose sketches I would chip away at on my bus rides.  It struck me that that power in games is represented primarily through more and more elaborate gear.  However, in reality, it’s the willingness to fight, rather than the rarity of the sword that is the mark of a hero. Tyler Sigman and I sought to explore a more subversive take on the traditional RPG tropes – one that embraced the idea that heroes are human – have flaws, weaknesses, and shortcomings.

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Q2: The gorgeous art-style of DD is also something that contributed to the mainstream success of the game, something really unique that now defines a new style by itself (often you can read around “Darkest Dungeon style”). Why did you decide to use this particular art-style to portray the world of DD? Which are the main influences in your style?

A2: I had spent many years working in a variety of styles, generally more painterly.  However, I decided Darkest Dungeon needed a look that would reinforce its central themes.  Hard edges reflect the uncompromising choices a player is faced with, and the pooling black suggest ever encroaching disaster. I looked at a lot of illuminated manuscripts, medieval woodcuts, and modern comics including Mike Mignola’s Hellboy and Guy Davis’ The Marquis.  The latter being my favourite graphic novel of all time! All of these ideas and influences helped me craft a style that was morbid, but iconic.  I like to think that despite the subject matter, there’s still some ‘fun’ injected into the work.

Q3: There are many interesting references inside DD, but personally I love how you integrated in an original and personal way concepts from Lovecraft in the world of DD. Why did you choose Lovecraft’s myths as one of the main references for DD? Was there something “Lovecraftian”, such a tale or a setting, that you truly wanted to introduce, but at the end you were not able to?

A3: What appealed to us most was cosmic horror.  We didn’t want to make a Lovecraftian game, we wanted to make our own dark corner of the earth, and work with Lovecraftian themes like the cosmic insignificance of man.  I will confess that the story ‘Rats in the Walls’ was a touchstone for the narrative set up of the game, but we consciously avoided established nomenclature and specific creatures/references from Lovecraft.  By this time, all the DLC has come out, and I can’t say that we left much on the cutting room floor!

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Q4: DD implements several mechanics maybe more common in horror games, from sanity, to light/darkness management and permanent death. Why did you implement these features into DD? How these mechanics are integrated into the world you created?

A4: It was important that our game feel like high stakes poker – the player is playing with her best characters, each of whom represent a certain amount of time investment.  Permadeath in this context helps increase the tension and player engagement. Other mechanics, light torchlight help sell the feeling of dread and pressure – crucial to creating a good horror experience.

Q5: Fantasy RPGs are often quite standardized and can be easily full of stereotypes, especially regarding the heroes/classes. However, when the majority of the games have the Mage and the Paladin, Darkest Dungeon was really able to create unique and interesting classes, such as the Plague Doctor, the Grave Robber or the Hound Master. How did you came up with the idea to go far from the standard fantasy stereotypes? 

A5: Establish tropes carry a lot of expectation with them from audiences – that’s part of their appeal.  However, it can create dissonance when those expectations aren’t met. We explicitly decided to avoid standard RPG nomenclature and character classes wherever possible – the tropes themselves can really box in creative thinking.  If I tell you we have a Rogue in our game, but that the Rogue can’t turn invisible, doesn’t backstab, and has a pistol instead of dual daggers, your response would probably be “…that’s not a great Rogue.” But, if I tell you it’s a Highwayman, suddenly, as a creator, I’m free to dictate what makes this character cool, unconstrained by your expectations.  Additionally, the sense of discovery a player experiences as they learn about these new character classes is an engaging and refreshing journey!

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Q6: Still regarding the heroes/classes, which is your favourite hero and why?

A6: I like them all 🙂

I think I identify most with the Highwayman – something about the practical jack-of-all-trades brawler appeals to me.  I referenced The Shadow when coming up with his design, and I like the mystery that the bandanna brings. That said, the Leper and Plague Doc were milestones for us in terms of how we thought about our classes. 

Q7: DD was one of the finest example of a good use of the Early Access (EA). For the fans that didn’t follow the game since EA, what was the mechanic that changed the most from EA to the final release?

A7: Enemy corpses and skill/trinket balance are the things that changed most throughout our stint in Early Access.  Obviously, we added a ton of content as well, but as far as gameplay-oriented changes, those were the big ones.

Q8: DD is famous to be a challenging and unforgiving game, with a deep system difficult to master. Did you have some challenges yourself while testing the game?

A8: The biggest challenge we faced was getting the actual game finished!  Our team was small, and everyone worked extremely hard. There were periods of elation, periods of despair.  We had children born, and loved ones pass away. It was an intense, exhausting, and profoundly rewarding time in our lives.  We even began referring to our current state of mind in game terms, admitting when we were stressed, ‘afflicted’, or celebrating when someone over delivered by telling them they passed their stress-check!

Q9: DD is a unique game also for the design of the enemies. From the Collector to the Swine Prince, each boss battle is unique and interesting both for design and mechanics. How did you create these creatures and what inspired you the most during the process? Was there a creature you really wanted to introduce, but at the end was cut-out from the final release?

A9: The monsters and bosses were great fun to design and draw.  Often times they were built ‘theme-first’ – that is, the Hag and her pot was such a great visual that we figured out how to make the mechanics work after the fact [Figure Below].

I had an idea for a schoolteacher whose classroom was full of desiccated corpses tied to their chairs.  If you let him complete the lesson, he’d drive you mad. It was a cool idea. Actually now that I think about it, maybe we’ll put that in the sequel!

dd_hag

Final Remarks

I would really like to thank Chris for his courtesy and kindness. It was really interesting to discover the complex processes behind the developing of such important game, and I am sure that fans of dark RPGs will appreciate too. As many others, I am really looking forward to discover which new classes and terrible abominations will be available in Darkest Dungeon. While waiting for the sequel, I suggest to the readers to try Darkest Dungeon, which is available for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, PlayStation Vita, and Xbox One.

Interview with ” The Game Kitchen”, the Spanish team behind the dark metroidvania Blasphemous

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Blasphemous was one of the most successful Kickstarter’s campaigns, and one of the most awaited indie game of 2019. The gorgeous and detailed pixel-art caught almost instantaneously the attention of the press and the players, but there is a lot more in Blasphemous‘s world other than the graphic. The game is a really dark and gruesome RPG metroid-vania, with a strong horror background, especially for the grotesque enemy design. The world of Cvstodia, land where Blasphemous is set, is directly influenced by Catholic religion, creating a unique, twisted and disturbing atmosphere, where religion meets horror.

The Game Kitchen is the brilliant Spanish studio behind Blasphemous, previous authors of the horror point and click saga of The Last Door. Using as inspiration traditions and celebrations from Spain, this independent studio was able to create a really unique and dark world, and one of the most mature and original metroid-vania ever created.

I had the possibility to ask some questions abut Blasphemous to the Game Kitchen. In the following interview, you will find details on how the world of Blasphemous and its creatures were created, the traditional influences of the team, and what are the future plans for the game. If you want to know more about Blasphemous, I hope you will enjoy the following interview.

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Q1: Thank you for your time and for the opportunity. Blasphemous looks a really promising game, with an interesting and unique setting. As an action-platform, Blasphemous is very different from your previous titles, the horror point and click adventure saga of The Last Door. How the idea behind Blasphemous was born?

A1: (Enrique Cabeza) Sorry for my English in advance. After The Last Door we needed to lay the foundations for a new project and after a lot of testing we felt that the next game should be different and could attract a wider range of players but, more importantly, that the game would be very attractive to ourselves as developers. At that time the team was extremely small and the project was going to have a minimal budget, but after the Kickstarter campaign, everything changed and we were able to increase the size of the team and the budget considerably. In addition, the success of the Kickstarter campaign indicated that the game was attractive enough and that we were heading in the right direction.

Q2; Which are the biggest influences for the design, the lore and the gameplay of Blasphemous?

A2: Well, gameplay influences come from games like Castlevania, Strider, Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, Metroid, Dark Souls or Devil May Cry. We wanted to mix Hack&Slash combat styles and progression and exploration of the metroid-vania genre. In terms of lore we have followed the heritage of the Souls saga format that we love so much, but really the stories are inspired by legends of our city Seville of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and mystical religious writers such as Santa Teresa, Gonzalo de Berceo or San Juan de la Cruz. 

Q3: What was the most challenging part of the developing?

A3: From my point of view, the most challenging thing has been to unite the artistic part of the game with the combat design with the giant bosses. That’s probably what caused us the most nightmares. We’ve learned a lot about how not to do some things.

Q4: Spanish traditions, folklore and culture seems to have an interesting influence in the world of Blasphemous. How much Spanish traditions influenced the world of Blasphemous? Could you make some examples?

A4: We realized that our own city, Seville, was full of interesting and unique elements that could serve to create our own dark fantasy. The cultural richness of the city is enormous from the artistic, architectural and historical point of view, so we felt that we were doing an honest job and our own. 

For example, one of the Spanish painters whose works have influenced us the most is Francisco de Goya because he has a series of dark and macabre paintings whose atmosphere fell in love with us and that fit perfectly into the tone of the game we wanted to create. Seville is full of religious art with hundreds of years of antiquity. One of its most important traditions is Holy Week which is truly spectacular. Really, all these works and traditions are not lived here as something merely religious, but it is something cultural and traditional, and a part of our DNA.

Q5: From the title to the world itself, Blasphemous clearly integrates religious figures and symbolism, for example Michelangelo’s Pietà for one of the first bosses [Figure 1]. How did you integrate religious topics in a horror environment?

A5: Much of the religious art, especially that of Andalusia, in southern Spain, is very dark and gloomy. Seville is full of religious iconography that represents suffering and tragedy in a unique way. I think it was a good decision to inspire the art of the game in all this art and heritage of southern Spain.

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Figure 1: Boss inspired by “La Pietà” of Michelangelo

Q6: I am a personal fan of the creature design of Blasphemous, especially one of the bosses: a gigantic blindfolded child lifted by a humanoid dark creature [Figure 2]. The design is really terrifying and unique, is this boss still part of the game? Could you provide some details maybe about the background or the battle against this creepy foe?

A6: We don’t want to give many clues about it because inside the game the players will be able to find a lot of information about all the characters and the world of Cvstodia. We think it’s better for players to find and discuss the whole lore of the game. We have published a two hundred page art book explaining the artistic influences and creative processes that have given rise to all the creatures and characters in the game. I hope you find it interesting!

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Figure 2: One of the most creepy and disturbing bosses of Blasphemous

Q7: Let’s continue to talk about the unique creature design of Blasphemous. Which is your favourite monster or boss so far? Why?

A7: I think Crisanta is one of my favourite bosses, the design of her armour is very iconic, also the girl climbed to the giant is one of my favourite enemies and has turned out to be one of the most shocking for players, is inspired by one of the most important Spanish paintings in history and the universal painting ‘Las Meninas’ [Figure 3]. One of my favourite characters is Desamparados, the woman in the painting that appears in the Blasphemous comic “El Arrodillamiento”, which is published in Steam, I think is one of the characters I enjoyed most designing and writing.

Q8: How are you balancing the difficulty of Blasphemous? Will it be more difficulty levels or maybe a New Game+, in the way of Souls game for example?

A8: Yeah, there’s a New Game+ on the way. The balancing in the games is something very difficult to achieve and I think the gameplay designers of Blasphemous have done a tremendous job. Hopefully we can even improve this aspect in future updates with the help of the community.

Q9:  The world of Blasphemous looks a really interesting place to explore. How much focus will be on the exploration and on the search for secrets? Just to have an averaged idea, how big will be the map in terms of hours to be fully explored?

A9: It’s complicated to say. I think we’ve introduced a lot of rooms to explore and secrets to discover with the budget we had. There are players who complete the game after thirty hours and others much earlier.  However, we have plans to add more and more content to the game which we hope players find very satisfying.

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Figure 3: Artwork of the creature inspire by “Las Meninas”

Q10: My obvious last question will be about the future of the game. Are you planning to support the game after lunch, with DLCs for example?

A10: Yes!! We are already working on new game content as well as correcting and improving existing aspects of the game. Blasphemous has just started!

Final Remarks:

I would like to thank the Game Kitchen, especially Mauricio Garcia Serrano and Enrique Cabeza, for the great opportunity and for their interesting answers. As probably many other fans, I am also curious to discover what monstrosities will be lurking in the future DLCs. I want just to remember that Blasphemous is available for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and also STEAM.

Interview with Miro Haverinen, the creator of the dark RPG Fear & Hunger

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Fear & Hunger (F&H) is a dark and mature RPG, with a strong horror and survival component. The grim world of F&H is definitely a mature experience, dealing with strong topics to create one of the most dark fantasy experiences. F&H is a wind of fresh air in the world of indie RPGs, especially in terms of morality and horror integrated in both lore and design. More information regarding the game can be found in my review.

What surprised me the most is that Fear & Hunger was practically created by just one person: Miro Haverinen. I had the possibility to talk with him regarding F&H, knowing more details about his creative process and his future ideas. Miro kindly answered to all my questions and, if you are interested in knowing more details about F&H, below you can find the complete interview.

Q1: Fear & Hunger is an original RPG with a dark, mature and disturbing setting. How the idea of Fear & Hunger was born?

A1: The original idea was born during my school studies few years ago. In our class we had this tradition of asking random (like truly random) questions from each other. During one class I started asking one of my classmates what he would do in these different morally awkward scenarios that would all happen in a morbid dungeon. The scenarios would continue for a while and more and more people got involved. In the end it started to take a shape of a pen & paper RPG and the dungeons were named ’The dungeons of fear & hunger’.

Later on I had to scrap together some academic credits and I decided to turn the dungeons into a video game format and make a school project out of it. I even ended up writing my thesis about the game. The thesis was about the aesthetics and thematics of horror in video games and the practical part of the thesis was the first demo of Fear & Hunger.

Q2: The setting and the lore of Fear & Hunger are original and interesting. What inspired you the most while creating the game? Which are the major influences for your work and for the complex lore of the game?

A2: I was originally inspired to create a sensation of relentless darkness. I wanted to experiment different ways to evoke hopelessness and horror in a sense. I think this is more apparent in the earlier builds of the game. It has since taken more of a ’video game’ form with the later updates if that makes any sense… As for the influences, there are so many that it’s difficult to pick just few… I guess the biggest influences would be Silent Hill, Hellraiser, Amnesia, Nethack, Berserk and the Souls games. I also want to name Mortal Kombat here, because the lore of MK is really underrated in my opinion. Also the early Mortal Kombat games had a really frightening and vile atmosphere.

The way the lore is presented in F&H is obviously heavily inspired by the storytelling and the world-building of Souls games. But the lore itself doesn’t try to replicate any of those titles. It felt like the game wrote itself on its own really, which is pretty weird looking back to it.

Q3: Let’s know a bit about you, Miro. What did you work before focusing on Fear & Hunger? Were there other videogames/projects before this one or you worked in a completely different field?

A3: Ah, well… I did play around with game developing when I was really young. I found game engines like the RPG Maker and Game Maker among others, but I couldn’t really concentrate on any single project for long and most of the games I made back then died within few weeks or months. I did release a couple of game demos back in the day but unfortunately I don’t have them anymore.

Eventually I drifted away from game development, thinking that there was no future in playing around with simple 2D graphics. Funny enough, right after I quit, the indie gaming exploded so it wasn’t necessarily the best move at the time. Later on I got into graphic designing and I really wanted to make art. Graphic art, music or whatever. There are some album covers around with my art and also some light graphic novels in which I took part. I didn’t really consider game development until I had to get those academic credits from somewhere. I decided to revisit RPG Maker as it was the engine I was the most familiar with. Then people seemed to like the early versions of the F&H and after the first Let’s Plays of the game I was hooked. With games I could fuse together all my interests in different art forms and it was very rewarding to see the immediate reactions Let’s Players had with all the things I had created.

Q4: Which are your favorite videogames?

A4: I have a deep love for Souls games. Demon’s Souls especially awakened something inside me. Also the first three Silent Hill games have a special place in my heart. I’ve never felt the same kind of dread as the 10-year-old me felt with the original Silent Hill. Other than those, I’d say Final Fantasy VII, Ocarina of Time and the original Resident Evil 2 are probably my favourite games of all time. It’s a pretty boring and obvious list haha. Maybe I should throw some more obscure names here too? From the top of my head – A Blurred Line, Legion Saga 2, Devil May Cry 3, Seiken Densetsu 3 and Lost Planet 2 are all cool.

Q5: Fear & Hunger is a really mature game, including sex and gore. In my opinion everything is not gratuitous and it adds darkness to the world, but I was curious: was there something that you deleted from the final release because you considered it too mature or dark?

A5: No, not really. Every time I felt bad about making some things I figured I was on the right path. If it created a repulsive feeling in me, it had to have an effect to people playing the game too. There were some things removed though, but not because they were too dark or mature, but because I felt they took the game more to the meme territory. Like for example the ’Stinger thrust’ attacks of the guards originally caused – erm – …different bleeding statuses during the combat. It was a bit too silly. The status ailment is still in the game, but it’s not too frequent now.

Q6: Personally, I love the monsters of Fear & Hunger, both in terms of design and for the unique battles. Which is your favorite monster and why?

A6: I really like the Skin granny [Figure 1]. Her design is really cool and menacing I think and on my playthroughs she is always one of the more intense fights. If you miss some of the attacks on the first turn, things can go south really fast. Also I think the very first enemy most people run into, the guard [Figure 2], is really the best enemy as far as the gameplay balance goes. In general I’m really happy with the way designs ended up too.

Q7: Developing a videogame could be complicated and many ideas often are cut from the original plan. What was an idea you wanted to implement but at the end was cut from the actual game? A creature or boss fight?

A7: Seeing as I still keep updating the game, I can’t say any of the features were really cut from the game really. They could just be waiting for the future updates! But originally I planned that in the place of the Salmonsnake boss fight [Figure 3], there would’ve been a random variation to the boss fight with a tentacle monster instead. I thought it was a pretty cool idea to go to the lengths of making randomized bosses too. But since that fight is optional to begin with, I felt that that the time it would have taken me to make that functional would be better spent elsewhere. So that’s probably something that will remain cut from the future updates too. There were also supposed to be swimming sections to the game in underground tunnels, but that might be cut out entirely too. Who knows?

Q8: What was the most challenging part of Fear & Hunger development?

A8: Things have gone relatively smoothly with the development. I’d say the most challenging part has been finding the time to make the game. It has demanded so much time for the past 2 years. I really can’t recommend game development to anyone who wants to keep on to their other hobbies and social life haha.

Q9: Fear & Hunger can be a really challenging and punitive game. During the testing, which was the monster/trap that killed you the most? I am talking about something that you really hated yourself, and maybe you also ended up fixing a bit for how much difficult it was.

A9: I didn’t really hate anything during the test runs. Otherwise I would have removed those elements entirely. If I die on my test runs, it’s usually within the opening hours and the cause is the guards. They can be pretty punishing if I go about too carelessly.

The boss fight of the Ending B was originally meant to be hard mode only, but since I could never beat the boss on my test runs, I changed it so that the boss appears in the normal mode as well. I can’t really think of other things… But I’ve changed many things according to the feedback I’ve gotten from the other players though.

Q10: Miro, what is your plan for the future? Are you planning to add contents to Fear & Hunger, or already thinking/developing a new game or a sequel? I would be curious to know some details, if for you is ok.

A10: I’ll continue updating Fear & Hunger to some extent. It has still been my priority, but I’ve also started to plan and make some early work for a follow up game. After the next update I think the priority will shift more towards the next game. So yeah there will be a ’sequel’. But it’s going to be different. I’m not sure if all the people agree with the direction the next game will take, but I feel like I want to make something a little different for a change of pace. And some details? Hmmm…. The game will use the same lore, but won’t be a direct sequel per se. Although it is going to follow one storyline F&H set up already.

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank Miro for the friendly talk and for his cooperation. I will curiously wait for more news regarding the future of F&H. I would like also to remember the Fear & Hunger is available at itch and STEAM.

Reference Figures:

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Figure 1: Skin granny

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Figure 2: Guard

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Figure 3: Salmonsnake