NOTE: This interview was conducted prior to the game’s 1.0 release.

"The Early Access period was crucial in shaping Core Keeper. Community feedback directly influenced key design decisions, guiding us in refining mechanics and expanding the game’s content."

How has the Early Access period benefited the development of Core Keeper? Has the dialogue and feedback from the community influenced the direction the game took in a major way?

The Early Access period was crucial in shaping Core Keeper. Community feedback directly influenced key design decisions, guiding us in refining mechanics and expanding the game’s content. The game’s success also allowed us to broaden its scope significantly. Players’ interactions with the game provided invaluable insights, particularly in balancing and setting priorities for updates.

As we approached 1.0, our focus naturally shifted to finalising the core progression, but we also made sure to enhance the entire gameplay experience—from early game to late game. This includes adding more varied items and tools, as well as introducing new areas to explore. Our goal has been to keep the journey through Core Keeper fresh and engaging throughout. We believe the improvements in 1.0 significantly enhance the depth and diversity of the experience, making progression more rewarding at every stage.

What new content and features can players expect in the 1.0 release compared to Early Access?

The 1.0 release is packed with new content and features that expand the game in exciting ways. Players can look forward to exploring new areas, including The Passage, a biome that introduces some experimental elements. We’ve also added new tools, materials, and crafting options that encourage more creativity and strategic play, such as magic and new playstyles. Additionally, there are new enemies and bosses to challenge players, along with fresh narrative elements that further enrich the lore of the game.

Will players’ progress from Early Access carry over into the 1.0 release?

At the 1.0 launch, all Early Access worlds will transition over to what we are calling ‘Classic Worlds’. While Early Access players will still be able to access their Classic Worlds after the 1.0 update, we strongly recommend starting a new game, as much of the 1.0 content will not be accessible in Classic Worlds.

"The 1.0 release is packed with new content and features that expand the game in exciting ways."

This 1.0 release also marks your launch on consoles. How was the experience of developing for consoles different from PC development for a game like this?

Developing Core Keeper for consoles brought its own set of challenges and opportunities. One of the key differences was optimising the game to maintain a stable and high frame rate across various hardware specs, ensuring a smooth experience on all platforms. These challenges also presented opportunities to refine and optimise the game, which has positively impacted the PC version as well. We’ve enhanced the visuals with improved graphics and lighting, including the use of path tracing without requiring an RTX graphics card, while increasing frame rates for all players.

What kinds of things do you have planned for the game’s future? Should players expect a continued rollout of new content for the game following its 1.0 release as well?

While our focus is on delivering the best possible 1.0 launch, we’re committed to supporting Core Keeper well beyond its release. We see 1.0 not as the end, but as an important milestone. The community’s creativity and enthusiasm continue to inspire us, and we plan to build on the game’s foundation. The adventure in Core Keeper is far from over—we’re excited to see where it takes us next.

"We were excited to work with the Karate Kid franchise and integrate it with this genre, as we saw a great fit for it."

The beat ’em up genre has enjoyed an incredible resurgence in recent years, which, combined with the obvious draw of the Karate Kid IP, means there’s going to be a lot of eyes on The Karate Kid: Street Rumble. Does that bring added pressure?

We didn’t feel pressured by the popularity of the beat ’em up genre. On the contrary, we saw it as a great opportunity to put our own twist on an established market. At the start of the project, we played many beat ’em up games, both classic and modern. After our analysis, we came up with the “Focus bar,” a dynamic resource that can be used both defensively and offensively, rewarding an aggressive playstyle and changing the classic playability of beat ’em ups. We were also excited to work with the Karate Kid franchise and integrate it with this genre, as we saw a great fit for it.

The game features a gorgeous retro 16-bit aesthetic. What was the process like of landing on this look for the game? What other alternatives did you consider?

From an art direction perspective, our goal was to capture the essence of nostalgia from the golden age of beat’em ups, especially considering this IP originated in that era. Once this direction was decided, the rest of the process became simpler: we needed to blend the old-school aesthetic with modern mechanics and techniques. To achieve this, we implemented combos with fluid animations and strong keyframes, along with vibrant colors in the visual effects, while always maintaining a limited color palette.

Pixel art was our first choice, although we explored various alternatives and styles during development. We experimented with smaller designs, more cartoonish ones, and even some more realistic styles. Each of these styles affected the design of the characters, environments, and their color palette, influencing what we wanted to convey with our game. Ultimately, we felt we made the right decision with the chosen direction for the project. As fans of the genre, we couldn’t resist paying homage to iconic games like TMNT.

"Pixel art was our first choice, although we explored various alternatives and styles during development."

The Karate Kid: Street Rumble is going to cover the story of the entire original trilogy, but was there ever a discussion within the development team to perhaps tell a different story set in the same universe? What drove the decision to retell those iconic stories?

The original idea was to make a game where you started a new character in the world of the Karate Kid, selecting which dojo you wanted to join and learning new abilities with the iconic characters as NPCs. Ultimately, we decided to focus on the nostalgia and love for the original trilogy considering this is its 40^th Anniversary since its inception. This way we could deliver to fans a way for them to connect more intimately with the original story and allow the players to experience the glory that it is.

What can you tell us about the combat in The Karate Kid: Street Rumble? Should players expect a variety of karate moves and combos? This being a beat ’em up, what role will weapon pickups play?

We wanted to give players freedom when exploring their moves and the combat system of the game. Every character has multiple combos mixing light, heavy, and signature moves, as well as passives that level up with your character. Additionally, each playable character has different play styles, allowing the player to explore different ways to beat the game. The game doesn’t feature weapon pickups, this decision was made early in development as we felt it didn’t fit the franchise.

What should players expect from the different stages they’ll be going through in the game? How interactive will each stage be? What kind of level of detail should players expect?

Each of the stages represents iconic moments from the three movies. It was very important for us to capture the feeling of the original story in our detailed pixel art. To achieve this, we conducted extensive research on the movies themselves and the 80s culture. Players will find a high level of detail and numerous small easter eggs. If a few kids ask their parents to go to an arcade shop after playing our game, it means we achieved our objective.

"We wanted to give players freedom when exploring their moves and the combat system of the game. Every character has multiple combos mixing light, heavy, and signature moves, as well as passives that level up with your character."

Roughly how long will an average playthrough of the game be?

Completing the story once should take a few hours, but that’s only a fraction of the full content of the game! You’ll need to go back and play more to see all the game’s content including playing as the other characters, mastering their unique moves, and trying out additional game modes.

Do you plan on also offering an online co-op option down the line?

While we aren’t in a position to discuss confidential plans, the success of the franchise can certainly open up a lot of opportunities for potential offerings down the road!

NOTE: This interview was conducted prior to the game’s launch.

"For the longest time we’ve wanted to create a game that took the visual language of comic books and brought it to interactive, animated life. With Dustborn, I believe we’ve succeeded."

Dustborn has a visually very striking art style. How did you settle on this look for the game?

Here at Red Thread Games, we’re big comics fans. I’ve personally read comics my whole life, and still do — although there hasn’t been a lot of spare time these past few years.

For the longest time we’ve wanted to create a game that took the visual language of comic books and brought it to interactive, animated life. With Dustborn, I believe we’ve succeeded, largely because of art director Christoffer Grav’s background in illustration and graphic design. His art style and direction has been central to the game’s development.

Not only does Dustborn look like a comic book; we also tell the backstory of the characters through an in-game comic (which also exists in printed form for those who bought a physical copy), and at the end of every chapter you get an illustrated recap of the game’s events — great for reminding players what’s happened, especially if they stop playing for a little while. It’s like those “previously on” segments you see before a new TV episode.

Dustborn was made with the Unity engine, so we had to write our own shaders to accomplish the unique look… and we plan to continue this style with one of our upcoming (and unannounced) games.

The setting of the game sounds incredibly unique. What were your inspirations for the game’s story?

Oh, there are so many influences, it’s hard to name them all — but the story was heavily inspired by real-world events in the past decade. There’s a growing political and societal division between people, not just in North America and Western Europe, but across the globe. Part of this divide is due to social media and the spread of mis- and disinformation. We wanted to tell a story where this theme — the power of words, and how language can be weaponized — was central to both the narrative and the game mechanics.

We were also inspired by games like the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series — which has done such a great job mixing genres and play-styles, and balancing a serious story with lots of silliness in a unique and interesting way — and by Final Fantasy 15, and Life is Strange: True Colors.

On the comic book front, The X-Men is an obvious source of inspiration, along with Preacher and Transmetropolitan — and many others. We obviously dug deep into our collection to see how we could use that visual language in a video game.

But Dustborn was also informed by our love of road trips and the desire to tell a story about a journey across an alternate history North America, visiting different locations and biomes along the road, and spending time with a diverse group of characters inspired by our own personal experiences.

Will players be able to influence the story through their action? We know you can have branching relationships with the other characters, but does that influence the main narrative?

To some degree, yes; each major character in the game receives their own ending, informed by Pax’s words and actions, and some scenes play out differently based on how you decide to solve problems, and on the characters’ current emotional state. The game really isn’t about those major narrative branches — it’s much more about the little things, about how people feel and react, how they respond to your dialogue choices — but you can certainly influence the plot in a variety of ways, and there’s room for replay.

"There are so many influences, it’s hard to name them all — but the story was heavily inspired by real-world events in the past decade."

One of the things Dustborn promises is a lot of varying gameplay mechanics depending on the location and what’s going on in the story. How deep can players expect the different gameplay mechanics to be?

Honestly, Dustborn is more about variety, joy and delight than deep game mechanics. There’s combat, there’s a music rhythm action game, there’s something we call “Echo recording”… along with lots of mini-games. Our goal was to keep players on their toes, constantly, and to mix genres, vibes, tones and moods, and to make the game easy and accessible for narrative players to get through the story — not to make a hard-core game that’s particularly challenging.

That said, there’s depth if you go looking for it and invest the time. The combat system, for example, allows you to upgrade your magnetic flying bat (!) in three different ways, using discarded tech you collect during exploration. You also craft new “Shouts”, which are used in combat, and combined with your crew’s powers unlock new combos. And the music game has different completion levels, based on your performance — and these affect the dialogue in the game.

The central gameplay mechanic – using words to fight and solve all sorts of problems in the game – sounds incredibly intriguing. What can you tell us more about it? How did the idea for it as a gameplay mechanic first come about?

This is the central theme of the game: words have power, and we have to be careful about how we wield and weaponize them. This ties back to how social media has become such a powerful force in our lives, and how information — including mis- and disinformation — affect us all, culturally, politically, spiritually, emotionally. We wanted to make a game where that theme manifested as a game mechanic, and that’s how the idea of Vocals (or “Vox”) came about. Pax and her crew can use their Vox — powerful words — to manipulate people and fight enemies.

It sounds like music plays an important role in this game. Could you elaborate more on what players can expect?

Music does play a large role in Dustborn. Pax and her crew pose as a punk-rock band on their journey across America, and you have to both write new songs and perform them at venues along the road. Your performance affects the story in small ways; you don’t have to be good at it, but there’s room to practice and improve, and to expand your set list.

Our composer and audio director Simon Poole was a key person on the creative team, and the game’s score was written alongside the design and development of the rest of the game — we believe that sound and music are crucial to the player experience, and the audio and soundscape are also closely connected to the game’s meta-story, which is about the origins of language itself.

"This is the central theme of the game: words have power, and we have to be careful about how we wield and weaponize them."

Roughly how long will an average playthrough of the game be?

If you rush through the game, you can probably complete the story in 12-15 hours — maybe less, if you’re rude to everyone and cut them off! But if you take your time with every conversation, get to know each character, explore all locations fully, look for collectibles and enjoy the journey, you could easily spend 20 hours or more on this road trip.

Do you have any plans to bring the game to the Switch, or perhaps its upcoming successor?

Not to the original Switch, no, but we’re very interested in Nintendo’s next console, and if Dustborn performs well, I wouldn’t be surprised if we announce something in the first half of 2025!

"The Showdown Tour has been created and implemented to give players the freedom to experiment and express themselves as they progress through the game."

The Showdown Tour sounds like a very comprehensive and ambitious campaign mode. Can you tell us more about what kinds of events players can expect in it?

The Showdown Tour has been created and implemented to give players the freedom to experiment and express themselves as they progress through the game. The Showdown Tour contains all different kinds of events: from the ones that fans know more like freestyle and head to heads, to the ones we’ve created specifically for this game such as circuit racing or the special Horde game mode. Players can focus on facing specific kinds of events if they prefer, for example, freestyle instead of racing, and then move to a completely different set of events to get better in that specific discipline. The Showdown Tour is all about tailoring your own experience on yourselves.

How long should it take a player to get done with The Showdown Tour on average?

After some testing and considerations, The Showdown Tour should take players around 10 hours to complete. This time does not take into consideration the time spent to complete challenges to get exclusive and specific rewards such as unlocking new Monster Jam trucks or new paint-outs for them.

The environments in a monster trucks game are obviously crucial to players being able to push their machines to the limits. Can you tell us more about the environments players can expect in Monster Jam Showdown?

After studying US geography we’ve identified three specific areas that we thought could well represent the variety of environments in the United States territory: Alaska, Death Valley, and Colorado. Each one of them is immediately recognizable by its look, with amazing color palette and naturalistic characteristics. On top of that, each one of them is really unique because of the different kinds of weather conditions they can unleash: sandstorms, snowstorms and rainstorms.

"After studying US geography we’ve identified three specific areas that we thought could well represent the variety of environments in the United States territory: Alaska, Death Valley, and Colorado. Each one of them is immediately recognizable by its look, with amazing color palette and naturalistic characteristics."

What was the process for coming up with the environments on a conceptual level and then actually designing them for the gameplay experience?

As I previously mentioned, we wanted to find 3 different kinds of environments that, as a whole, could convey the majesty of nature in the US territory. These 3 biomes were identified because they were really different from each other and could be immediately recognized by players as some of the wildest places on Earth. However, this was just the first part of the challenge. The second part of the challenge was represented when we had to create circuits and wild arenas that could fit these biomes: each zone had their own specific features that we had to use while designing tracks in order to make them feel and play differently.

Monster Jam Showdown is a welcomed rare exception to the norm these days in that it supports local split-screen. What were the challenges associated with getting that up and running for a game with as much going on at any given time as this one?

Split-screen, technically speaking, means having two screens rendering at the same time and I’m sure you can understand how complicated this might easily get. One of the biggest challenges we had to face was actually having it run as smoothly as possible on all the different consoles that we have the game running on. To do so we had to make a lot of iterations with both our environment artist and graphics programmers to identify all the details and assets and effects that we could more or less downgrade in order to achieve a good-looking result and a smooth gameplay. This is not an easy task and takes a lot of time and balance.

"Similar to what we had done with other games, Monster Jam Showdown will have post-launch support."

What should players expect from Monster Jam Showdown as far as your post-launch plans are concerned? Milestone has often supported its games excellently following release. Can we expect something similar for this game?

Similar to what we had done with other games, Monster Jam Showdown will have post-launch support. On top of that, we plan to release different DLCs that will offer players new Monster Jam trucks and a completely new environment. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the DLC is called “Aloha Expansion” so I’ll let you figure out what the new biome will be!

"The setting is what makes Detective Dotson truly unique. It’s as vital to the storytelling as the main character! We are looking to build a cultural joyride through India."

Detective Dotson being billed as a love letter to India with its story, characters, and setting is one of its most eye-catching elements, especially in an industry where India has typically had little representation. How heavily will the game emphasize this particular aspect? How significant of a role will the setting play in the overall experience?

The setting is what makes Detective Dotson truly unique. It’s as vital to the storytelling as the main character! We are looking to build a cultural joyride through India. And we are layering on details galore. From beautiful indigenous trees to UI backgrounds inspired by local textile patterns, we are curating delightful and charming motifs from the India we live in and putting it in the game for players to enjoy.

Detective Dotson sports a gorgeous art style. How did you land on this look for the game?

We knew we wanted pixel characters to represent the people of India as the cute and endearing lot that we are. One of our early experiments was to place an animated pixel Dotson inside a photograph of an abandoned house. The juxtaposition looked so compelling that we decided to make the environments real while keeping the characters bright pixel art.

What can you tell us about the evidence board mechanic and the role it will play in the core gameplay structure? How much time will players be spending sorting through and lining up clues on boards? Will it involve much trial and error, or will it be fairly automated, sort of like the case board in Alan Wake 2?

The evidence board mechanic is somewhat inspired by Case of the Golden Idol. The idea is that you are solving a sentence but the nouns are missing. The nouns are the clues that you explore the world to find. Ultimately the sentence should make sense. So it’s not so much trial and error as it is reasoning about a plausible sentence describing what happened. Our evidence board is a graphical version of this sentence. We think it’s a great way to expose the story clue by clue. It’s also flexible enough that the player can discover clues in any order and ultimately feel satisfied at piecing together the puzzle. In terms of time spent, a majority of the time will still be spent finding the clues. The actual act of solving the board is less than 10% of the total case time.

"One of our early experiments was to place an animated pixel Dotson inside a photograph of an abandoned house. The juxtaposition looked so compelling that we decided to make the environments real while keeping the characters bright pixel art."

How extensive will the disguises mechanic be? How many choices will players have access to in terms of the disguises that they can put on, and how much flexibility does something like that afford in how to tackle certain obstacles?

We are looking at 10 disguises to launch with (though we have already designed 24!) It is a pretty extensive mechanic. Each disguise is meant to be more than just a key around an obstacle. It’s meant to be a whole new lens to explore the world with. It’s shaping up to be the most fun part of the game.

Being able to pick up, use, and throw a variety of objects scattered throughout the environments is an interesting mechanic. Can you tell us how the game uses it for the purposes of things such as puzzles? What level of variety should players expect in the objects they’ll find and be able to pick up?

The throwables mechanic is for the player that wants a bit more action and chaos. Throwables can break/disable stuff, anger/subdue other characters or simply set off a chain reaction that changes the environment. But remember if you hit the wrong person, it could anger them and other characters can throw stuff at you too! We want to go fairly whimsical with the variety of throwables – so everything from paper planes to cursed coconuts will feature as throwables.

Roughly how long will an average playthrough of the campaign be?

An average case would be about 12-15 minutes. The entire campaign is about 5 hours.

Detective Dotson is also set to feature a local co-op mode. How significantly will playing with another player change the experience?

All the co-op mode cases will be specifically designed for two players. They will be a bit more challenging and require efficient use of the split screen. While the basic mechanics will be the same for each individual player, two new playable characters – Inspector Durai and Journalist Jotson will bring their own special skills to the table.

"We want to bring this game to as many platforms as possible."

With the game’s couch co-op cases set to be standalone and separate from its single-player campaign, how sizable will its co-op offerings be, in terms of pure gameplay hours? Is this a part of the game that you could perhaps add to with, say, post-launch DLC cases?

Co-op content will be 2.5 hours of gameplay on top of the 5 hours of single-player campaign. In terms of launch – PC single-player launches first, followed by Xbox which is the single-player + co-op. Upon the Xbox launch co-op content comes to PC as a free update. We do plan to do DLCs but that comes after this core 7.5 hours of content.

Do you plan on adding online co-op down the line?

No, but Steam Remote Play works great with Detective Dotson!

Do you have any plans to eventually also bring the game to PlayStation and Switch?

Absolutely, we want to bring this game to as many platforms as possible. We have confirmed PC and Xbox for now. Stay tuned for more details on other platforms!

"Limiting gameplay to 2.5D was both helpful from a design perspective, but also lent itself to really interesting gameplay opportunities."

Beyond Galaxyland’s semi-retro 2.5D aesthetic is one that instantly catches the eye. How did you land on this look for the game?

The main reason it’s primarily 2.5D is because I wanted to tell a giant story and thought an entirely 3D world would be biting off more than I could chew as a solo developer. Beyond that, I felt pixel art would convey the amount of detail I was looking to target while still being manageable for such a large-scale world. Also, I love the pixel art aesthetic (and grew up with it: aka that sweet, sweet nostalgia).

How did the idea to blend a 2.5D adventure game with RPG mechanics first emerge? Is Beyond Galaxyland a case of a core idea for mechanics leading to the game’s setting, or were its setting and story the things that you arrived on first?

The main goal was always to tell a cool story. I’m a huge fan of sci-fi movies, and just movies in general. I also happen to love the JRPGs I grew up with, notably Chrono Trigger which is my all time favorite. Limiting gameplay to 2.5D was both helpful from a design perspective, but also lent itself to really interesting gameplay opportunities. I think the platforming and RPG mechanics merge nicely to form some strange, cohesive whole. The 2.5D platforming aspects fuse with the RPG battle elements in lots of interesting ways: You can jump over enemies to skip battles, or even attack enemies before battle and defeat them without entering combat (if you are strong enough, of course).

Beyond Galaxyland’s retro-futuristic sci-fi setting is one of its more eye-catching elements. What can you tell us about the role it will play in the game and its larger story, and how much the game emphasizes things such as worldbuilding?

This game has a huge emphasis on world building. I want players to feel completely immersed in the strange world of Galaxyland (and beyond). I strongly believe narrative is what keeps players coming back to games years later, so building an awesome world to tell an epic story in was a major priority. I hope players will appreciate the unique ‘brand’ of the world, funny but also serious, silly but also grand and lived in. I tried to strike a precise chord between offering something humorous but that can also be taken seriously. A quick example: Most names in the game, and some side characters are really silly and not to be taken seriously (such as many NPC robots are named OtherBot), but lots of main characters and villains are not to be messed with and treated with further layers of gravitas and precision.

"This game has a huge emphasis on world building. I want players to feel completely immersed in the strange world of Galaxyland (and beyond). I strongly believe narrative is what keeps players coming back to games years later, so building an awesome world to tell an epic story in was a major priority."

How much variety can players expect from the locations that they will visit across the entirety of the experience?

Oh man, a huge variety! That is one of Beyond Galaxyland’s stronger suits. I’m something of a minimalist, so I try to keep each planet to mostly one theme. This refers to the graphics, stories told there, and also importantly the music. It’s key for me to make each location feel different from the last, and serve its own purpose. One of the goals with each planet was to deliver a unique biome, often referencing classic tropes, i.e.: There’s a desert planet, jungle planet, an ice planet, etc… But each one has unique twists to take advantage of the freedom of the setting of space/Galaxyland. Just a fun example of how stories differ: One planet in particular mimics a classic fantasy RPG setting, where the villagers believe in a sort of magic and fairytale… not the sort of adventure you’d typically expect to have lightyears from Earth!

What can you tell us about Beyond Galaxyland’s combat? How do you play with the game’s 2.5D perspective in the turn-based battles? How heavily is strategy emphasized?

I’m such a huge believer in combat systems not needing to be overly bloated to feel strategic, intense, and most importantly: fun. Getting back to Chrono Trigger, this is something that game did so incredibly well. Chrono Trigger has very limited combat options compared to many of its peers/modern games, but in that simplicity comes so much exciting strategy. There’s a holy grail for turn-based games as I see it: If done right, battles should feel incredibly intense, as if each matter is life or death, and the clock is ticking… but in actuality, the game is basically in a total state of pause waiting on an action. I think it’s a fastening concept that a “chess” like game can create such a sensation of immediate danger.

Beyond Galaxyland also features a mechanic for capturing enemies and using them in combat. How extensive will this aspect of the experience be? How large is the roster of capturable creatures available in the game, and how significantly can they affect the flow of combat?

There’s a total of 29 capturable enemies/bosses. The cast of creatures extends to most basic enemies throughout the game, and more bosses can be captured than cannot (I wasn’t about to add a capture mechanic and not let you capture giant, optional side quest bosses).

Once caught, you can equip and level up captured enemies in order to use their abilities, which functionally replace spells in this game. You can, for example, capture an Ice Elemental to cast Ice, or a Baby Raptor which can boost the party’s strength. Once the Ice Elemental is at level 3, you may use Ice All against all enemies at once. I always say that captured summons are functionally similar to Materia from Final Fantasy 7 (OG), for those familiar.

"I hope, like many aspects of Beyond Galaxyland, players will find the mechanics streamlined and easily accessible, while also offering a satisfying feeling of depth."

What should players expect from Beyond Galaxyland’s progression mechanics, especially given its nature as an RPG? How much will players be focusing on things such as build diversity and party composition?

This game takes many of its progression notes directly from the classics like Chrono Trigger and FF7. In addition to leveling up in the traditional sense (EXP granted at the end of battle), Beyond Galaxyland offers a lot of build diversity and party composition options through its Artifacts and Summon systems.

Each character can equip up to four Artifacts, which will do things such as: Counterattack enemies, poison enemies, begin battle with Haste, etc… So you may have one character focused on physical attacks with a combination that allows them to counterattack and poison the enemy whenever the enemy strikes… While another character might be focused on healing with support summons equipped along with Artifacts to boost summon effectiveness.

I hope, like many aspects of Beyond Galaxyland, players will find the mechanics streamlined and easily accessible, while also offering a satisfying feeling of depth.

Roughly how long will an average playthrough of the game be?

Players can expect the main story to take around 14 hours, 18 hours if you include all side quests, and 20 hours for completionist players (all hidden tokens found, monster arena conquered, etc… and perhaps even a hidden development museum? Who knows?) I think this is also a good place to note that this game features zero “fluff”, something I’m quite proud of. No fetch quests, no backtracking, no tedious grinding, no extremely lengthy dungeons, and lots of other deviations from the standard “formula” like that.

Also regarding side quests: Some planets are entirely optional and function like their own individual story (there’s some neat ones in there I’m so incredibly excited for players to discover). In other words, the side quests are robust and treated just as thoughtfully as the main story. I like to think Beyond Galaxyland is paced closer to a movie than a video game, and I hope that will show while playing. It has all the heart of a major 50-hour RPG but condensed into a tightly packed, blazingly fast adventure.

"Rather than a sequel to Mark of the Wolves, we are making this game as an all-star battle of sorts for the FATAL FURY series."

This is the first Fatal Fury game in 26 years. What prompted a return to this IP after a hiatus this long?

I’ve wanted to develop a new entry in the FATAL FURY series ever since I initially left SNK. Ideally, I would have wanted to bring back the series earlier, but now I finally have the chance to do so.

Speaking of that hiatus just a little longer, why did Fatal Fury end up taking more than a decade and a half off?

The FATAL FURY development team had left SNK from 2000 to 2014, and from 2014 onwards, we didn’t have a sizable development team at the company. We worked on KOF, SNK Heroines, and SAMURAI SHODOWN over the span of several years. As a result, it took a long time for us to return to the FATAL FURY series.

Did the long break contribute to any decisions made with the game? For example, this game has a roster of returning characters from all the previous games along with newcomers, unlike Mark of the Wolves, which was almost entirely new characters. Was that because of this being the first game in so long, you wanted to appeal to the series’ fans as well as newcomers?

That’s exactly right. Rather than a sequel to Mark of the Wolves, we are making this game as an all-star battle of sorts for the FATAL FURY series.

Since this game is supposed to be a direct continuation of Mark of the Wolves, will there be a recap feature of some sort to help catch new and returning players up with the narrative?

All we can say is we hope you look forward to future announcements regarding FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves.

"The REV System was created based on the idea of bringing together the many game mechanics that have appeared in the FATAL FURY series. We also focused on making the action look flashy and easy for the player to quickly recognize what’s going on during a match."

The Rev System sounds like an interesting new addition to the series’ mechanics. What was the thinking that led to its conception and inclusion?

The REV System was created based on the idea of bringing together the many game mechanics that have appeared in the FATAL FURY series. We also focused on making the action look flashy and easy for the player to quickly recognize what’s going on during a match.

We wanted to talk about the Smart Style control scheme. How are you approaching the challenge of designing a control scheme that is friendlier for less experienced players, without taking away the depth and nuance that would make the gameplay compelling for genre veterans and competitive players?

We have seen several games try to implement this kind of control scheme in the past, but we are designing it with key mapping in mind, which could make it a fundamental control method going forward.

The game’s inclusion of an English voice track surprised everyone, with this being the first SNK game in over a decade and a half to add one. Was the decision to add the voice track made early on in development?

Yes, we received many requests for English voice acting, and now we were finally able to make it a reality. It was much more difficult to implement than we initially expected.

NOTE: This interview was conducted prior to the game’s launch.

"To set a sequel on the high seas was actually planned for already when we made the first game. Well, it’s actually more of a big lake since it’s all set on one of the shards of the shattered Earth."

SteamWorld Heist was a great entry in the SteamWorld series, and fans have been waiting for a direct follow up for quite some time. What led to the long gap between releases?

We’ve been busy making other games! But ever since making the first game we’ve been talking about how much fun it was and how much we’d like to do another one, so it’s been simmering all this time. We also don’t want to make a sequel just to make more of the same; we want to make sure that it contains enough new great stuff to make both us and everyone else, whether fans of the first game or newcomers, excited about it.

What prompted the change from the space setting of the first game to the naval setting here?

To set a sequel on the high seas was actually planned for already when we made the first game. Well, it’s actually more of a big lake since it’s all set on one of the shards of the shattered Earth. We loved the shattered Earth setting that was established in SteamWorld Heist and SteamWorld Dig 2, and we knew we wanted to make games that were set on the actual shards as well instead of just looking at them from afar.

Besides that narrative reason, we also wanted to greatly expand on the exploration between missions. Having it set in a grounded environment, rather than the emptiness of space, provided a much more interesting world to explore. The lush Caribbean-like setting also fit the mood we were looking for.

The original Steamworld Heist had a lot of procedurally generated levels, while Steamworld Heist 2 seems to be going for handcrafted environments and characters. Are we to assume that this game will not have procedurally generated levels anymore, or will there still be some level of procedural generation involved?

There is still some procedural generation, but it’s more controlled and primarily serves to make it fun to replay the same hand-crafted missions by changing things around just enough that you don’t know exactly what will happen. So I wouldn’t call the levels procedurally generated, but they (and some other parts of the game) have carefully tweaked procedural elements. In fact, this is similar to SteamWorld Dig 2 which also has some procedural stuff in it; something I would assume most players do not know. Because after all, a good procedural system doesn’t feel procedural.

"There is still some procedural generation, but it’s more controlled and primarily serves to make it fun to replay the same hand-crafted missions by changing things around just enough that you don’t know exactly what will happen."

The original Steamworld Heist was made for the Nintendo 3DS originally. How has the scope of the game been impacted by the fact that even the weakest system of the ones that the sequel is targeting is several times more powerful than the 3DS was?

The 4K graphics would be the easiest thing to point to, but the graphical fidelity has been raised on all fronts: a highly dynamic lighting system that really makes the 2D come alive, gorgeous particle effects, more advanced animations and much more. There are also lots of gameplay changes with more things going on at the same time, especially with the naval exploration and combat on the world map, more advanced enemies and abilities, more and bigger bosses, and so on. Then there’s also the fact that we could now design the interface for a single widescreen from the start, instead of having to adapt the 3DS’ dual screen setup into something completely different for the other platforms; so that’s been a relief for development and it has allowed us to make a more cohesive and thought-through interface.

I wanted to talk about the job system. That’s always one of my favorite things in an RPG. You’ve introduced that to SteamWorld Heist 2, and also overhauled the gear system to go with that. Can you elaborate on the kind of character customization that might lead to?

We love job systems too! We’ve taken what we’ve liked in other games, including our own (you might recognize the cogs from SteamWorld Dig 2), and taken our own spin on it to best suit Heist. For players new to the concept, it should be easy to understand and use and you should be able to play the game on the lower difficulty levels without engaging much with it for the first half of the game to allow anyone to learn the game’s many features gradually. But once you do start to make use of it, you should discover a tremendous amount of depth; which you will need to master if you want to conquer the higher difficulty levels. Our goal has been that there should be as much synergy as possible between the abilities from different jobs, as well as with various pieces of equipment; any time you wonder if you might be able to combine ability X with ability Y, the answer should be yes.

Let me give two simple examples: Give the Sniper’s perfect aim ability to a Boomer who uses rockets; and suddenly you get to preview not just the path the rocket will take but also the size of the explosion to allow you to really finetune your shooting angle for maximum effect. Another example is the hammer-wielding Brawler job that has an ability that lets it move after making a kill. This is useful to let them get out of harm’s way after exposing themselves to make a melee attack. But then give them the Reaper’s “extra attack after making a kill” ability, and now the Brawler can move and attack after each kill; again and again and again.

"For most players we’ve seen an average of 35 hours, with more if you want to truly complete everything. And for those looking for even more, I can recommend replaying the game on the higher difficulty levels and using a different set of characters as you’ll likely find yourself enjoying the game in new ways."

Roughly how long will an average playthrough of the story mode be?

For most players we’ve seen an average of 35 hours, with more if you want to truly complete everything. And for those looking for even more, I can recommend replaying the game on the higher difficulty levels and using a different set of characters as you’ll likely find yourself enjoying the game in new ways. I’ve lost count of how much we’ve played the game at the studio but the many ways you can play it and customize your characters have kept it feeling fresh for us all this time, so I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone’s playthroughs.

NOTE: This interview was conducted prior to the game’s launch.

"EvilVEvil at its core is a co-op game but we have also built it with solo players in mind. There are no enemies in EvilVEvil which locks down a player or requires another player’s support. All objectives can be accomplished with any number of players."

How many different playable characters will the game feature? How significantly will they differ from each other with their abilities and moment-to-moment gameplay?

EvilVEvil is released with 3 playable characters which have their own progression tree as well as their unique set up of abilities. The characters also have some unique artifacts for further customization.

For future content drops we are planning to add 3 new playable characters.

EvilVEvil is clearly placing a strong emphasis on co-op, but is it going to be a viable experience for someone looking to run through it solo?

EvilVEvil at its core is a co-op game but we have also built it with solo players in mind. There are no enemies in EvilVEvil which locks down a player or requires another player’s support. All objectives can be accomplished with any number of players.

Elements of the progression tree will unlock artifacts to further bolster a solo build. For example, the Phoenix artifact gives the player 1 instant-revive (with a cool-down) instead of having to rely on teammates to get revived.

EvilVEvil is also released with an offline mode so you can play the game in solo-mode without internet.

What can you tell us about how artifacts will work within the game’s progression mechanics, and how much build diversity they will promote?

The artifact system for characters and mod system for weapons are meant to allow players to customize their build. You can build towards guns, abilities, quick-melee, hoover, feeding, headshots etc.

The artifact system is also something we want to expand upon in the future and right now the characters have some artifacts that impact their abilities but we hope to double down on this with future content drops.

"We’ve just teased the next content drop, which will add 3 new playable vampires to EvilVEvil plus a new arena game mode which uses all of Evil score systems to maximum and we can’t wait for people to bite into it."

What should players expect from EvilVEvil roster of weapons? How much variety will the game boast on this front, especially with its mix of modern weapons and ancient relics?

EvilVEvil’s weapons are divided into two groups, kinetic and saber weapons. Kinetic weapons are physical weapons that are strong against humanoid enemies and saber weapons are UV-based weapons that work well against demonoid enemies as well as shields.

And EvilVEvil comes with a big variety of shotguns, SMGs, assault rifles, snipers, pistols, LMGs.

Given the game’s co-op focused nature, do you have any post-launch plans for the game by way of new characters, missions, or something else?

Yes. We’ve just teased the next content drop, which will add 3 new playable vampires to EvilVEvil plus a new arena game mode which uses all of Evil score systems to maximum and we can’t wait for people to bite into it! We’ll be revealing more at a later date.

"The visual concept began with sketches of the initial room and the “rat” character, establishing the game’s visual style characterized by grotesque imagery and a dark, cold aesthetic."

Centum boasts a gorgeous art style that instantly catches the eye. Can you tell us how you landed on this look for the game?

Centum is focused on its storyline, so the art department closely collaborated with the screenwriter. The goal was to emphasize the game’s originality and unconventional nature. The visual concept began with sketches of the initial room and the “rat” character, establishing the game’s visual style characterized by grotesque imagery and a dark, cold aesthetic. The art style drew inspiration from various sources, including well-known dark fantasy games like Dark Souls and Fear and Hunger, as well as The Golem, a novel written by Gustav Meyerink, and even dungeon synth albums. The art director maintained the style, while each artist added their personal touch to the project, bringing in their interesting visions and references. So collective creativity also allowed us to bring many interesting aspects into Centum’s look.

A narrative adventure game with an unreliable narrator- surprisingly we don’t see a lot of them. What prompted you to explore this storytelling technique, which has become popular in other media, but doesn’t seem to have caught on as much in games?

The reality of Centum is hostile to the characters for their own good—a paradox, indeed. It views the player as a character in the game, but the player doesn’t necessarily have to agree with it. Therefore, this narrative device seems the most appropriate for telling this story.

⁠In your opinion, why are unreliable narrators rare in video games?

Some of our greatest inspirations for Centum are games where the plot and narrative used this technique to some extent, from relatively unknown projects to widely acclaimed hits. It implies a somewhat greater involvement of the player in the narrative process, pushing them to act and resist the game world, essentially becoming a game within a game.

⁠What games would you say were your inspirations for this title? The Stanley Parable comes to mind as an obvious analog, but were there any others?

The Stanley Parable to some extent, and to some extent Doki Doki Literature Club. However, the main source of inspiration was the Cyberdreams1995 masterpiece I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream.

"The main source of inspiration was the Cyberdreams1995 masterpiece I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream."

Tell us about the dynamic dialog system. How does that work, and how much variation can players expect from it?

The dialogue system is not much different from those found in other games. However, it is self-aware of its own limitations. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes a completely non-obvious choice may appear. Here, we tried to create a part of a game that an artificial intelligence might create, not fully understanding what it is doing and how games of this genre should work. And this AI knows he’s terrible at his job. Of course, we tried not to cross the line where it stops being a narrative method and turns into an annoyingly poorly made game with bad dialogue.

How significantly will players’ actions impact the ending? How many different possible endings does the game have?

This is more a game about the illusion of choice. In the reality of Centum, all choices have long been made, and we are merely observing the consequences. The endings of the game are more about why these decisions were made rather than what consequences they led to. There are quite a few possible answers to this question, so despite there being five endings in the game, they can differ in various nuances across different playthroughs. The player’s decisions are crucial, even though the end is predetermined.

Roughly how long will an average playthrough of the game be?

You can expect about 8-10 hours.