Welcome to the second edition of the Dev & Play Media newsletter.

Before we get to the games, I just want to say thanks. Over at Linkedin, we crossed 100 subscribers this week! Watching this list grow so fast has been great, and I really appreciate you taking the time to read this.

Our small team wants to celebrate the occasion, and what better way than with a game? Thanks to Hound13, we’re giving away one copy of Dragonsword: Awakening! All you have to do is leave a comment below—say whatever you like. At the end of the week, we’ll randomly pick one winner and send them the game! If you’re on LinkedIn, we’d also really appreciate it if you subscribed to our newsletter.

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We ran a bunch of interviews over the last two weeks with developers working on vastly different stuff. While I was editing the transcripts, one thing stood out: they all gave out some genuinely great advice. Whether they’re keeping a 16-year-old MMO alive or making a cozy game about donuts, the realities of game development are pretty universal.

Sixteen years is forever in live-service games. Over at Cryptic Studios, keeping Star Trek Online running means they are currently tearing down ancient code to rebuild “The Ultimate Klingon” story arc.

Messing with a two-decade-old framework based on a 60-year-old IP sounds like a nightmare. You have to balance a veteran player base against established franchise lore. We asked Executive Producer Thomas Marrone how they keep a community happy for that long, and he pointed straight to how developers treat their players.

“I have noticed that sometimes game developers have an adversarial relationship with players akin to the punitive dungeon master of classic D&D. There’s a temptation to feel like you’re smarter than players or ‘know better.’ It’s a dangerous mindset to have and can create a situation where a sustainable equilibrium is ruined by designers or product managers who think they know better.” – READ THE FULL INTERVIEW!

It’s an easy trap to fall into—forgetting the actual people playing your game. That applies to pretty much any creative field, not just games. Big thanks to Thomas, the Cryptic Studios team, and Lauren Treon at Sandbox Strategies for the chat.

On a completely different scale, we talked to Yangyang Mobile about High Times.

It’s a dating and cooking sim centered on a donut shop, but the hook is that the pastries are your dialogue choices. You serve specific flavors to help customers deal with heartbreak, anxiety, and strained relationships.

Writing a branching story for over 30 characters using donuts as a conversation mechanic is a lot of work. Writers Carlos Valdes and Vesper Fox were upfront about the scope of it all.

“Don’t go full ham and commit to this many characters because my god there were so many moving parts and there were just so many scenes to get done… But in all seriousness, for a narrative experience, start with the characters. Personal growth, eccentricities, fears, hobbies—so much of this story started from the simple question of ‘What makes this person relatable?’” – READ THE FULL INTERVIEW!

We love that they grounded a complicated game mechanic right back into basic character writing. It’s easy to get bogged down in systems, but if the cast doesn’t click, none of it matters. Thanks to the Yangyang Mobile team and Vincent Gallopain at Not A Shark Company PR.

Handing over control to the players comes with its own headaches. Night Zookeeper’s ambitious new multiplayer game, Wilds, asks players to literally draw their characters from scratch.

The game’s engine then translates those flat, unpredictable doodles into rigged 3D models. It’s a massive technical swing that completely decentralizes the game’s look. Co-founder Joshua Davidson told us that letting players draw the world is a core philosophy for the studio, but it comes with a catch.

“In a world where anyone can go from imagination to reality faster than ever before, inviting players into your game design might be the only way to truly reflect their world. That said, a game design is still an engine that needs to be tinkered with and built for fun. Therefore, my only advice would be to know your game really, really well so that you can open up the parts that make sense to other collaborators, without breaking the core experience.” – READ THE FULL INTERVIEW!

User-generated content only works if the core game loop is actually fun to play first. Thanks to Josh, the Night Zookeeper‘s crew, and Rebecca Attard-Phillips at BOOST COMMUNICATIONS.

Building that core loop is exactly what the DragonSword: Awakening team focused on.

This is a huge Unreal Engine 5 action RPG with 19 tag-team characters and custom toon shading optimized for handhelds. Getting all of that to run seamlessly in an open world was a massive headache for the studio.

But when we asked about their hardest lesson, it had nothing to do with rendering or engine tweaks.

“The bigger the scope of a project… the riskier a ‘build now, polish later’ approach becomes, because the amount you’ll eventually have to revisit grows exponentially. Our advice to other developers preparing something similar would be: don’t rush to build flashy content first. Invest the time upfront in solidly designing your initial terrain layout and the relationships between characters.” – READ THE FULL INTERVIEW!

You can’t out-program bad planning. The urge to build the flashy stuff first is real, but technical debt will eventually catch up with you. Thanks to the team for the interview (and for delivering a game we ended up giving a 10/10).

Finally, we looked at the fear of starting in the first place.

OFFBEAT by Whetstone Games is a digital audio workstation disguised as a tycoon game. You repair gear and do weird client jobs, but you’re actually just learning how to produce real music without the awful, dense menus of standard software.

Studio Head Ed Sibley Gamescom built it to help people overcome the intimidating learning curve of music tech. He had a great perspective on the creative struggle.

“I am a great believer that perfectionism is the enemy of progress, and yet when it comes to making art, people can often get hung up endlessly redrafting the beginning of their great work and never make it to the middle. In this valley, we lose geniuses.” – READ THE FULL INTERVIEW!

‘In this valley, we lose geniuses.’ That’s rough, but it’s true. Just getting a draft out the door is always better than getting stuck trying to make something flawless on the first try. Thanks to Ed and Anni Valkama at Pantaloon.

That’s it for this month! Thanks again for 100 subscribers. If someone forwarded this to you, consider subscribing to get future interviews straight to your inbox.

Catch you next time, happy gaming!

We recently sat down with the duo to talk about their seven-year journey from AAA comfort to indie survival, the brutal realities of programming from scratch, and how they injected top-tier combat feel into a quirky, top-down roguelite.

This interview would not have been possible without the wonderful people at Vicariously PR. Many thanks Brandon Moore!

Bringing the Weight of Sparta to an Indie ARPG

God of War is universally praised for its hyper-polished combat and seamless, single-shot presentation. It’s one thing to animate Kratos, but it’s another to translate that visceral and heavy impact into a top-down, fast-paced roguelite. Curious about their pedigree, we asked how much of that AAA animation philosophy they brought into the mechanical frame-data and “juicy” melee hits of Swordcery.

“Oh yeah, that philosophy is absolutely something we bring to Swordcery. Having worked on a game like God of War that requires so much polish, we’re always making sure animations blend nicely whenever possible and we even do things like unique return-to-idle animations after attacks,” the duo explained.

“These aren’t even seen by the player most of the time since you can cancel out of the return-to-idle animations by moving since that feels better for gameplay, but we just feel obligated to add those extra touches. And feeling the weight behind attacks is something we love! I feel that pushing these attacks/moments as much as we can is really something that makes our game special. It’s not everyday that an indie game is worked on by a team of 2 animators and we try to inject that extra personality wherever we can. For example, we could’ve just saved time on our Greatsword light attack combo by making it more basic, but clearly it’s more fun to include some sick flips!”

Trial by Fire: The Coding Curve

Moving from specialized 3D animation to building an entire game engine ecosystem is notoriously difficult. The transition required them to sideline their art expertise to master backend systems like AI logic, UI coding, and database management. When asked about the steepest technical hurdle they faced during this transition, their answer highlighted the sheer grit required to survive indie development.

“The process of going from animation to learning how to do everything else was insane! We can’t even begin to describe how challenging that was. In the beginning for about 1 year straight, we sat down together and learned how to use Unity and code in C#. And the battle from that point has pretty much been a critical thinking boss battle of learning one skillset after another. The steepest technical curve has definitely just been anything involving programming for us. We come from art backgrounds, so the logic side has always been the more daunting aspect of game development. Over the years, we’ve definitely gotten smarter about it and even developed more streamlined ways of managing things like sword and enemy creation. But oof, the process of getting here was rough indeed!”

That streamlined approach became crucial when managing Swordcery’s massive, absurd arsenal. Mechanically building a game where weapons range from standard broadswords to a “sword-fridgerator” required a shift in how they wrote their code.

“So initially we had alot of bespoke code under the hood. That ended up being fine for a while, but it was just too slow/tedious. We’ve since revamped that whole system to be more modular to allow us to make swords faster, especially since our swords can be upgraded which further change how they work. To accomplish this we started using Scriptable Objects along with some custom scripts that allow us to flexibly adjust attributes like # of projectiles spawned, angles, lifetime, pierce amount, etc.”

The Dance of Blades: Cancels, Combos, and QA

In Swordcery, every blade belongs to a “Sword Class” for regular combos, while also packing a unique “Swordcery” magic ability. Marrying heavy, animation-locked melee combat with chaotic magical abilities without breaking the game’s flow is a monumental technical challenge. We wanted to know how these two systems interact programmatically, and how they prevented weird clipping errors or frustrating animation cancels.

With millions of potential combinations of swords, relics, and procedurally generated dungeons, balancing the game seemed like an impossible task for a two-person team. They credit their stringent design rules and a dedicated community for keeping the game balanced.

“Fortunately, we have a great discord community that gives us plenty of amazing feedback. We can’t thank these community members enough for all the bugs and balance issues they discover. A big part of our workflow when creating systems/items or anything really is that we make a ruleset for ourselves. For example, whenever designing passive relics we determined the functionality/effects of common/uncommon/rare/mythic beforehand and craft these relics with these in mind, rather than just creating things we thought would be cool and categorizing them after.

It’s important to us to design with these limitations in mind because it makes balancing less of a pain when you have so many swords/relics/upgrades. And then we just test thoroughly and watch people play. Simply just seeing how someone’s run on youtube plays out is incredibly insightful and we take that info along with our feedback from playtesters to balance.”

Seven Years of Scope, Sweat, and Burritos

Temple Door Games was founded in 2019, making Swordcery a seven-year labor of love. Seven years is a lifetime in game development, and we were curious about the biggest scope-creep hurdles they encountered, and if they had a time machine, what technical mistakes they would warn their past selves to avoid.

If they could open a portal back to 2019? Their advice to themselves is simple and resolute:

The Truth of the Indie Dream

It’s easy to romanticize the indie developer lifestyle—quitting the corporate AAA machine to make your dream game with your best friend. But Mike and Don are quick to pull back the curtain on the harsh realities of wearing every single hat in a studio. For other AAA developers sitting on a comfortable salary and dreaming of making the leap over a shared burrito, Temple Door Games offers a sobering, yet essential piece of advice.

Despite the hurdles, the blood, sweat, and endless coding tutorials seem to have paid off. Swordcery is shaping up to be a uniquely charming, mechanically robust love letter to action games.

Swordcery hits Steam Early Access on August 11th. You can try the demo now and join their Discord to discuss the wildest blades in Armorial.

We sat down with Rafał Polito, UGC Program Manager, and Alexandre Breault, Associate Game Director, to unpack how integrating modders directly into the core console experience might just be the ultimate survival tactic for this zombie-infested sandbox.

This interview would not have been possible without the wonderful Paulina Dziedziak, PR Manager at Techland! Thank you so much, Paulina!

The Power of Player-Driven Worlds

Treating mods as a fully integrated, cross-platform feature is a monumental shift for a franchise built heavily on curated, developer-led narratives. Many studios treat mods as a separate, PC-only sideline. We asked Polito what exactly drove this long-term strategy for Dying Light 2. His answer pointed straight to some of the industry’s biggest titans, highlighting that community content acts as an “early access” testing ground to keep the game alive long after official DLCs stop rolling out.

Rafał Polito: We have some very strong examples, such as Skyrim and Fortnite. Skyrim has maintained and even grown its audience for over 10 years without major game updates, largely thanks to mods and UGC. The community continues to support and expand the game without new DLCs or gameplay features from Bethesda.

Fortnite is another great example. During some weekends, more players engage with UGC experiences than with Epic’s core modes, including Battle Royale. In some cases, UGC can account for around 60% of the entire audience.

We’ve always wanted to stay closely connected to our community, and Dying Light 2: Stay Human already has a very active modding scene. This update can only increase interest in the game and create even more content for players to enjoy.

UGC is also a great platform for new ideas and experimentation. In a way, it gives us an “early access” environment for fresh concepts in a four-year-old game. If certain mods or maps prove especially successful, we can consider integrating similar ideas into the main game in the future.

We’re also entering the final year of official support for Dying Light 2: Stay Human. Through UGC, we can extend that support in a new way by collaborating more closely with the community.

Curating the Chaos

Opening the floodgates to community content is one thing, but maintaining quality control requires a delicate touch. Techland has adopted a two-pronged approach, mixing raw community submissions with featured maps co-developed alongside the studio. When we pressed Polito on how they decide who gets the official “Techland stamp,” it became clear that scouting talent and early collaboration are just as crucial as the underlying code.

Rafał Polito: We selected some of the best-performing creators who were interested in collaborating with us.

At the same time, we’re trying to support as many creators as possible. If your content stands out, you might even receive a direct message from me on Discord.

The Techland stamp is reserved for content that we co-create with modders from a very early stage. A good example is the Reloaded Edition update. We knew we were planning to introduce firearms and approached creators with the idea of building maps designed around that new feature, so players would have new experiences to enjoy alongside the update.

With creators running wild with official tools, the potential for bizarre, game-breaking gameplay variants is incredibly high. we were curious to know what internal modifiers shocked the team enough to warrant shipping them. Surprisingly, Polito’s response bypassed the weird and went straight for the jugular of competitive play.

Rafał Polito: We’d love to have a PvP mode in Dying Light 2: Stay Human!

Retooling the Core Experience

While UGC looks to the future, Techland is still hyper-focused on the present. Patch 1.28 arrived with a surprisingly heavy hand, rebalancing the game’s opening hours and tweaking early loot. However, streamlining the tutorial meant cutting beloved narrative beats—specifically, the character Spike. It’s a classic development trap: optimizing for onboarding metrics sometimes means accidentally sacrificing the game’s soul. Breault candidly admitted that the team is actively scrambling to fix this misstep after hearing the community’s outcry.

Alexandre Breault: We did it with all best intentions, as newcomers to the game felt it took too long to get into the actual open world content or co-op with friends, and was a major cause of new players dropping out - and we had reams of data that backed this up.

But by making the edits to tighten things we understand we went too far. We are very lucky to have a character base that generates such loyalty and affection, but the reaction to the loss of Spike in prologue has been huge.

We are now looking into how we can implement the Spike content in a post-Summer update.

The tinkering didn’t stop at the onboarding pacing. The patch also dialed in on environment elements, lighting, and color balance to resurrect the grittier, darker atmosphere of the original Dying Light. For veteran players, this was a massive win, and Breault confirmed it was a direct response to longstanding franchise fans.

Alexandre Breault: Yes, we have seen how the community and fans talk about how Dying Light 2: Stay Human has a different tone to the other entries of the franchise. It was important for us to bring Dying Light 2: Stay Human back closer to the overall franchise and make sure it resonates with Dying Light fans.

Empowering the Creators

Atmosphere and onboarding tweaks will keep players around, but sustaining a UGC ecosystem means keeping the creators happy. Building a rolling schedule of themed worlds is a marathon. Polito explained that the secret to their rolling schedule isn’t just about providing good software—it’s built on deep trust, direct communication, and bringing modders behind the curtain with NDAs.

Rafał Polito: We are in very close contact with our creators and maintain regular communication with many of them. In fact, I personally reach out to creators from time to time to discuss their feedback, ideas, and experiences with the game.

We value these relationships highly and see creators as an important part of our community. To support more open and meaningful conversations, we often sign NDAs with selected creators. This allows us to share insights into our development process, discuss upcoming plans, and gather feedback on ideas that have not yet been announced publicly.

These conversations help us better understand what resonates with players, what concerns the community may have, and how we can continue improving the experience. It is a two-way exchange that gives creators an opportunity to better understand our vision while providing us with valuable perspectives from people who are closely connected to our audience.

Shrinking Terabytes into Megabytes

Of course, good intentions and NDAs mean nothing if the tools are broken. Integrating deep modding capabilities into Techland’s proprietary engine is a vastly different beast compared to using standardized software. For fellow developers looking to empower their own communities, Techland’s biggest technical victory was spending nine months translating an overwhelming 1TB developer environment into a lightweight, console-friendly kit.

Rafał Polito: The biggest lesson is making the tools accessible for creators who don’t have professional development experience. We essentially prepared a simplified version of our internal editor for the community. It’s still an advanced tool, but much easier to use than the version our developers work with.

Our situation was particularly challenging because we’re using our own proprietary engine. Studios working with Unity or Unreal often have a more straightforward process.

To give some perspective, we spent around nine months improving the Developer Tools to make them easier to use and fully compatible with the game.

One of the biggest challenges is that internally we work with source files and assets that can take between 500 GB and 1 TB of storage. With the Developer Tools, creators only have access to compiled assets prepared by our DevOps and Release teams. These assets offer less editing flexibility, but they make the entire setup roughly ten times smaller.

Scott, the CEO of mod.io, once told me he was impressed that community maps typically take only 50-100 MB rather than several gigabytes. That’s especially important on consoles, where storage space for user-generated content is limited.

We’re able to achieve this because community creators reuse assets that already exist in the main game.

As Dying Light 2 steps into its final year of official support, the passing of the torch seems to be in incredibly capable hands. By blending candid developer feedback with the boundless creativity of their community, Techland are letting the game evolve. We can’t wait to see in what ways!

Game Atelier is no stranger to visually striking titles. The devs are coming off critically acclaimed releases like the vibrant Monster Boy and the heavy Unreal Engine 5 showcase Otherskin. Going back to a chunky amd lo-fi PS1-style horror game is a massive gear shift. Yet, with their new asymmetrical co-op game Follow Us, the studio is trading high fantasy for high anxiety.

This interview would not have been possible without the wonderful people at Plan of Attack PR, many thanks Sergey Khoroshykh!

Creative Director Hugo sat down with us to explain the catalyst behind this surprising retro aesthetic and why scaling down the scope felt like the right move.

“We focused on the studio’s strengths: creating fun gameplay with mechanics that constantly renew themselves (similar to the transformations in Monster Boy and Otherskin), all built in Unreal Engine 5 with an art direction that is less realistic and inspired by older games, giving that retro feeling while exploring abandoned locations,” Hugo explains. “The real challenge was online co-op, which was a first for the studio! The scope of Follow Us is also more modest than Monster Boy or Otherskin, but our quality standards remain the same. We simply chose to create a more focused experience, without compromising on attention to detail and polish.”

Turning Panic into Mechanics

In Follow Us, the Explorer (EXY) is physically on location facing visceral scares, while the Operator (OPY) is locked safely in a command van, guiding them. Translating inevitable, organic screaming matches into hard gameplay mechanics without feeling forced was a priority.

“The game is based on communication between players, and horror disrupts that communication,” Hugo notes. “It’s always harder to talk to someone who is screaming, which creates fun moments, scary moments, and many emotions in between. The mechanics challenge the exchanges between players and are supported by the enemies and systems unique to each level. EXY performs tasks that put them in danger while OPY ensures their safety, a safety that will eventually be broken by in-game events. Our goal is to maintain constant tension rather than relying on jump scares, making the experience feel less artificial.”

Asymmetrical games are notoriously difficult to balance. Keeping the Operator engaged so they don’t just feel like a passive Twitch viewer required careful systemic design.

“The game’s asymmetry is also reflected in the emotions we want to convey to players, while allowing them to generate their own fear naturally. Each level is based on discovery. EXY explores a new environment while OPY guides them and manages systems unique to that level. For now, the tension inside the van comes from having to solve several problems at the same time, allowing a casual gamer to play alongside a more experienced one. In future levels, we intend to involve OPY more directly in both the action and the horror. During our playtests, many players enjoyed OPY’s calmer role, so we are currently working on experiences that can satisfy both players who want stress and those who prefer to chill.”

A Recipe for Miscommunication

With levels that completely flip the script—like dodging an invincible stalker in Employee of the Month versus the twisted “spot-the-difference” setup in A Night with DJ Susan—the team actively searches for ways to cause miscommunication.

“Some mechanics exist purely to create misunderstandings between players,” Hugo admits. “It is a deliberate choice to split gameplay responsibilities between the two players and encourage communication. In fact, this is often how ideas are born: we ask ourselves what could challenge the relationship between the players. Once we find a mechanic, we build a level around it to make it shine and create as many situations as possible where it can be used. Follow Us also relies heavily on playtesting and feedback from the community.”

Branded as a “relationship stress test,” the game has clearly done its job internally. We had to ask: just how many of your internal playtests ended in actual arguments between coworkers or friends? :)

“I don’t have the exact number, but I would say that couples are usually the ones who argue the most, both during and after the game,” Hugo laughs. “We also have quite a few moments where players betray each other, especially in the third level, which creates memorable arguments. This will be one of the main focuses of the new levels coming during Early Access: creating moments of conflict between players.”

The recent “Cheaper Than Therapy” trailer debuted at the Midsummer Night’s Scream showcase. Pitching Follow Us amidst a crowd typically looking for pure, isolating terror meant leaning into the game’s lighter, cooperative elements.

“Beyond the horror aspect of the game, we really want to emphasize the fun side of the experience There are moments that will make players laugh and others that will genuinely scare them. At the heart of Follow Us is empathy. Even though EXY is physically alone on location, OPY goes through the experience alongside them. They move forward together. That makes it relatively easy for us to stand out from more traditional horror games, because emotions other than fear become part of the experience.”

Navigating Early Access and Independence

While Game Atelier has been around since 2010, Follow Us marks a return to fully independent, self-funded development. The creative freedom is liberating, but going it alone presents its own distinct terrors.

“Obviously, the scariest part is wondering how many players will actually play the game when it launches… We’ve received very positive feedback from people who have already played it, but it’s difficult to know whether the game will truly find its audience. On the other hand, being completely independent gives us the freedom to experiment with gameplay as unusual as Follow Us. We have also surrounded ourselves with great partners in playtesting, marketing, and advisory roles who understand the challenges faced by indie studios and help answer the many questions we constantly ask ourselves: Will players like the game? (We certainly do.) Have we communicated well enough? Should we add this feature or that feature? And sooo many other questions…”

With a Steam Early Access launch scheduled for June 5th and a 6-to-12-month roadmap, players will inevitably break the game’s systems. Figuring out whether a mechanic is genuinely broken or if two players are just communicating terribly is a unique hurdle.

“Since communication is a core element of the game, it is obvious that if two players do not communicate, they will struggle to finish it. Our job is to provide enough information so they do not get stuck, without giving away too many clues. Finding that balance is mostly intuitive. What helps us identify problematic mechanics is the testing we organize through Discord beta tests and both internal and external playtests. That said, it is also a deliberate design choice to give players freedom in how they solve certain problems, even if that means they discover solutions we never anticipated. Every form of communication is different, just like every relationship, and that’s what makes every playthrough unique.”

As a final piece of advice for fresh indie developers tackling multiplayer or asymmetrical titles, Hugo emphasizes one crucial element.

“The number one trap would be not playtesting your game. Playtesting is already important in single-player games, where the player is more focused on what they are doing, but imagine how much more important it becomes when you have two players thinking in completely different ways and trying to cooperate. Pushing your ideas as far as possible and creating new experiences for players is essential, because that is how a game stands out. And finally, don’t forget to get enough sleep to stay creative!

Ready to test your relationships? Follow Us hit Steam Early Access on June 5th. We hope you check it out and, most importantly, we hope you don’t ruin your friendships! :)

Thank you for reading!

Here’s a shotgun, go shoot some monsters before they get you. That’s what most horror games do. Necrophosis is not most games. This interactive piece strips you bare and drops you inside a Zdzisław Beksiński painting. Developed by the Greek indie team Dragonis Games, this puzzle-horror title replaces combat with poetry. Jump scares? Who needs them when you have suffocating and surreal atmosphere? With the Full Consciousness edition bringing the base game and its new memory-focused expansion to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on May 28th, we reached out to the team to find out how they pulled off a world that feels like a playable bad dream. Come closer stranger. And let the words of true artists flow through you!

This interview would not have been possible without the wonderful people at Critical Hit PR. Many thanks Achilleas Soumpasitis!

Painting a Nightmarish World

Beksiński’s dystopian art is famously haunting, but it’s also completely static. Turning those skeletal, impossible structures into a 3D space players can actually navigate required more than just copying textures.

“From the very beginning, Necrophosis was heavily inspired by the surreal and haunting works of Zdzisław Beksiński. The biggest challenge was to pair the world art with the story and the gameplay mechanics and to create an explorable world while still preserving the emotional weight and mystery of the original art,” the developer explained.

The solution wasn’t just technical; it was a total shift in how the team viewed level design.

“I approached every environment almost like a moving painting. Instead of focusing only on realism, I focused on emotion, shape language, atmosphere, and symbolism. We wanted players to feel like they were walking inside a nightmare or a decaying dream rather than a traditional game level. At the same time, I added my own artistic identity and style so the world could feel unique to Necrophosis.”

Vulnerability as a Weapon

Stripping away combat entirely is a massive risk. You can’t just fight your way out of a bad situation in Necrophosis, meaning the tension has to come from somewhere else.

“We intentionally decided very early that Necrophosis would not include weapons or traditional combat. The goal was to make players feel vulnerable and emotionally immersed in the world rather than powerful,” they noted. “For us, horror becomes much stronger when the player cannot simply fight their way through danger. Instead, tension comes from atmosphere, sound design, exploration, and psychological discomfort. This decision also changed the way we designed the environments and pacing. Every space had to tell a story, create unease, and maintain suspense without relying on action mechanics.”

That same “less is more” philosophy bled into the writing. There are no NPCs dumping exposition or audio logs explaining the monster’s origins. Players have to piece it together themselves.

“Our writing process was very different from traditional narrative-driven games. Instead of explaining everything directly through dialogue or cutscenes, we wanted the player to uncover the lore naturally through exploration. Poetry, environmental details, symbols, and puzzles all work together as fragments of a larger story. We treated the world itself almost like a character that communicates through emotion and visual storytelling.”

Leaving things unsaid wasn’t just a budget constraint—it was the point. “We believe mystery creates a much deeper connection with the player because everyone interprets parts of the world differently based on their own imagination.“

Descending into the Subconscious

The new expansion included in the Full Consciousness bundle pushes this weirdness even further. It abandons traditional reality entirely to explore spaces shaped by raw emotion. Making puzzles out of a fever dream is a wild concept to try and execute.

“When designing puzzles for the DLC, we tried to move away from logical or mechanical puzzle structures and instead focus on emotional logic. Dreams and memories are fragmented, symbolic, and often irrational, so we designed puzzles around feelings, atmosphere, and visual associations rather than straightforward rules,” the developer shared. “A lot of the design process involved asking ourselves: ‘Does this feel like something the subconscious mind would create?’ That approach allowed us to create experiences that feel surreal and emotionally unsettling at same time.”

Because the expansion is a shorter, enclosed chapter, the team had to completely rethink their approach to pacing.

“The DLC was designed as a more focused and self-contained experience compared to the slow-burn progression of the main game. While the original Necrophosis takes time to slowly immerse the player into its world and mystery, the DLC is more concentrated emotionally and narratively. The pacing is tighter, and the transitions between environments feel more dreamlike and intense. We wanted the expansion to feel almost like descending deeper into the subconscious mind.”

The Art of Decay on Next-Gen Consoles

Making a game look this disturbingly good is one thing; getting it to run smoothly on consoles is another. The May 28th launch marks the game’s debut on modern hardware, meaning Dragonis had to wrangle some serious technical optimizations.

“Bringing Necrophosis: Full Consciousness to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S was a very important step for us, but also a major technical challenge due to the density and visual complexity of the environments. We worked closely with PQube and iPHiGames to optimize performance while preserving the artistic quality and atmosphere of the game. A large part of the process involved balancing high-detail visuals, lighting, memory usage, and stable performance across consoles without sacrificing the immersive feeling that defines Necrophosis.”

Even before the console ports, simply designing the rot and ruin of the world took a massive toll. Making decay look interesting for hours on end is a tough balancing act.

“One of the biggest challenges was making the world feel disturbing and organic without becoming visually repetitive. Decay in Necrophosis is not just destruction it is part of the world’s identity and storytelling. We spent a lot of time experimenting with ideas, textures, lighting, and environmental composition to create environments that feel alive, corrupted, and emotionally oppressive. Achieving the right balance between beauty and discomfort was probably one of the hardest parts of the artistic process but also came out naturally.”

Creating a game as weird, oppressive, and heavily symbolic as Necrophosis is an uphill battle for any indie studio. For players inspired to try making their own atmospheric horror games, the developer’s takeaway from the whole cycle is surprisingly grounded.

“The most important advice I can give to new developers is to create something personal and unique rather than trying to imitate trends,” they stressed. “Players remember games that have identity and emotion behind them. Technology and graphics are important, but artistic vision and atmosphere are what truly make experiences memorable. Also, finish projects. Many people start ideas, but completing and releasing a game teaches you far more than endless prototypes ever will. And finally, do not be afraid to show your work to the world. The internet allows small independent creators from anywhere even a small team from Greece like us at Dragonis Games to reach a global audience.”

Necrophosis: Full Consciousness launches on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on May 28th. If you’re looking for a game that will leave you unsettled long after the credits roll, this nightmare is worth walking through. Check out the trailer on the game’s store page, and let us know in the comments below: are you ready to face the surreal puzzles of Necrophosis?

Lover’s Enigma is a project from the folks at FallenCranberry Studio. It’s a title that throws you headfirst into the terrifying reality of a hidden cult, tangles you up in romance with four male leads, and doesn’t shy away from heavy themes like trauma and grief. We recently sat down with the development team to see how they pull off this intense balancing act.

This interview would not have been possible without the wonderful people at Okasan’s Recipe. Many thanks Sylvie Hoang!

First off, we wanted to talk about the main character, Miyuki. Visual novels often use a “blank slate” protagonist so players can easily project themselves into the story. But Miyuki is different; she’s a woman dealing with a freshly shattered life. We asked the studio why they went this specific route.

“When we were thinking of making a lead character for the game, we decided we wanted a character that reflected young women wanting to break free from their parents trying to coerce them into joining their cult, we thought having the lead constantly tormented by their surroundings (that includes work, parents & even friends) would let players relate to them more.”

Mixing Romance with Psychological Horror

Giving players a character dealing with all that heavy baggage sets up a tricky dynamic. The game bounces between building romantic tension with the leads and exploring the chilling backdrop of the cult. Managing that kind of tonal whiplash is tough, so we were curious how they make the romance feel earned without ruining the mystery.

“Romance between the Male leads is done by letting the players “Find” them throughout the days of the game. This lets players explore the character’s personalities more and why they do the things that they do. Doing this also lets players find out more about the world around the MC. We believe it’s a smooth transition, but also welcome a bit of a ‘whiplash’ in certain ways. ;)”

Hearing them embrace that whiplash actually makes a lot of sense when you look at what inspired them. When we asked if the game’s Japanese title hinted at specific horror tropes or Josei manga, they pointed to two very different, but equally beloved, titles.

“We were actually very inspired by a couple of different games. Mainly, South Korean Otome; ‘Mystic Messenger’ by Cheritz with how the routes and male leads were done and “World of Horror” by Panstasz’s aesthetics. However we put our own spin on it with the Cult aspect of it all and everything more or less spiraled down from there.”

Making Choices Matter in a 100,000-Word Script

With a script hitting over 100,000 words, Lover’s Enigma is a massive undertaking. And with all those words come a lot of choices, leading to more than ten different endings. In games like this, bad endings can sometimes just feel like a random “game over” screen. We asked the developers how they ensure the darker outcomes feel like fair consequences.

“We tried to make the bad endings feel like a logical outcome to the choices that the player makes, rather than a sudden punishment or a hidden trap that the player accidentally clicks on.

Maybe the player chose these specific choices because they thought it was the right course of action, so by the time they hit a bad ending, it’s a cumulative sequence of events.”

A big part of making those sequences hit hard is the art. FallenCranberry took a big step up by committing to fully animated CGs. This isn’t easy for any indie studio, so we asked them about the biggest hurdles in animating those key emotional beats.

“Taking the time to communicate the idea, draw them and then communicate to our animator on how we wanted to go about doing it. The timeline was the only thing that we felt was the biggest hurdle for us.”

Finding Sanity in the Dark

The game clearly doesn’t shy away from serious mature themes, including topics like suicide and PTSD. But the team also built in a fascinating mechanic: a rhythm mini-game tied to the protagonist’s “sanity.” We wondered if this was always planned as a gameplay loop or just a way to give players a break from the darkness.

“Ever felt just absolutely wasted from the dozens of paperwork, stress and burdens given to you and wanting to head to the toilet, not to use it, but to just sit on it and faze out? That’s basically what we wanted for the MC.”

That kind of grounding moment is probably necessary when dealing with such raw material. We had to ask if they ever felt the need to censor themselves or pull punches during development because a scene felt too heavy.

“We never really needed to lighten the scene as we wanted to have a certain balance for the heavy themes of the game from the start. Safe for the jumpscares, of course. ;)”

Spending years writing and developing a game about grief and cults takes a toll. Keeping your head above water while working with a horror script for so long is a real challenge. We asked how they manage their own “sanity meters” behind the scenes.

“We try to stay positive throughout our game development journey, by making sure that our own mental health is taken care of. Though, ultimately, our deepest motivation comes from our commitment to our players and supporters. We wanted to deliver a profoundly meaningful experience that respects your time and trust, and we hope that we were able to convey that story in the game.”

A Word for Future Creators

It’s obvious that FallenCranberry Studio is pouring a lot of care into this project. Before we wrapped up, we wanted to get their advice for other aspiring indie developers out there who might be sitting on a script about a sensitive or niche topic, hoping to find a supportive audience.

“Just let whatever happens, happen! Keep posting your clips on twitter/X, Tiktok, instagram or wherever, and players that want to play your game will eventually find you. :)”

We really appreciate the team at FallenCranberry taking the time to chat with us. Lover’s Enigma seems like an interesting mix of romance and mystery that respects its audience and its themes. The game is out now, make sure you also check the demo!

We sat down with Nathan, alongside OI Games Studio Director Michael Patton and Lead Designer Ian Clark, to discuss balancing chaotic 150-mod weapon combos, surviving a decade-plus development cycle, and why sometimes, letting players completely break your game is exactly the right move.

This interview would not have been possible without the wonderful people at Plan of Attack PR, thanks a million Jeffrey Matulef!

14 years is an eternity in indie development! When you look back at your original concept from 2011, how much of that initial DNA actually survived into the final game launching this May?

Nathan Hiemenz: “Has it already been 14 (15) years? That’s crazy. The initial prototype was a very rough concept. The game engine was very rough, rendering the entire game at once, and no original art. We did also consider a roguelike at one point but the concept just never gelled. Really from day 1, it was a metroidvania about weapon building with a rules system. Even the early project codename – simply Ambrosia – has survived to this day.”

The press kit mentions that development “really took off” when Ian joined as a full-time designer in 2016. What exactly changed in your workflow or design philosophy when he came on board?

Nathan Hiemenz: “I never really saw myself as a content designer, although I did implement some of my own concepts in early prototypes. Plus, up until late 2025, I had a full time job that wasn’t working on Clockwork Ambrosia. So Ian coming on board, he was full-time, which was great. And his talents, he has an intuitive grasp for content – enemies, levels, sound, and so on – so he filled in for my weaknesses. And all along, having someone else to bounce gameplay or system design problems off of was really invaluable.”

With the core team solidified, they were able to tackle the game’s primary hook: an incredibly deep weapon crafting system. But immense player power often comes at the cost of curated challenge.

You’re promising over 150 weapon mods with stuff like “screen-filling shot splitters.” Metroidvanias are already notoriously tough to balance—how did you make sure players could go wild with combos without completely breaking the game’s difficulty?

Nathan Hiemenz: “I am not sure we did! This was definitely a big design puzzle. Unlike the Souls-like metroidvanias, there is more of an RPG progression to making the player character stronger. In Clockwork Ambrosia, the player gains more capability with their mods, so it’s not as simple as giving enemies more health or more attack power. That said, we had to pay a lot of attention to damage output with different mod setups to try and keep things aligned across weapons and builds during the early and mid game.

In the end, for the very final chapters of the game, we threw in several mods that let players start to break out and break things. But those final bosses are meant to be tough too, so we figured it would balance out. But as far as breaking it, it feels good to reward the player’s ingenuity so we don’t want to over correct too far in the other direction either.”

Ian: “I had to be sure I didn’t tie enemies to one particular gimmick that required one right answer to defeating them. Enemies were not meant to be mod puzzle boxes with a single solution but fun to fight with both basic equipment and advanced setups. Where I could, I included some enemy traits and quirks that gave some mods advantages if players did work them out, to reward that. But making enemies inherently fun to fight, regardless of player build, ultimately also made them fun to fight regardless of the player’s power level.”

With so much explosive power at the player’s fingertips, traditional game boundaries naturally begin to bend.

How are you handling progression with the crafting system? Are you worried about players sequence-breaking too early, or are you leaning into that kind of chaos?

Ian: “I never wanted the game to be broken in a bad or unfun way, but I like sequence breaks. I intentionally left several in the game for players to discover, while trying to smooth out ones that led to unfun situations. I embraced this as much as possible. Discovering a sequence break should feel rewarding and not lead to unexpected gameplay consequences.”

Nathan Hiemenz: “Letting players sequence break, as long as it didn’t prevent the player from continuing, wasn’t our biggest worry. The metroidvania community enjoys sequence breaking so to some extent we were ok with that happening.”

Surviving 15 years in development means watching the entire gaming landscape—and the metroidvania genre itself—shift around you.

Did playing newer titles over the years make you want to go back and rework your own mechanics, or did you purposefully try to keep blinders on?

Nathan Hiemenz: “A little of both. The game has been in development so long, metroidvania game design has really evolved and modernized. You can’t just ignore that. Our save system, for example, is a lot more retro, and pre-launch it was even more unusual with players just resetting to their save point. So we had to update to keep to the original vision, but still update it so it made more sense to players in 2026 with a limited lives system.

“The healing system was more unique too. We wanted there to be some mid-run healing option, but we didn’t want it to be as simple as health farming like in original Metroid.”

The hand-drawn art looks gorgeous. But with all those crazy weapon effects firing off, how hard was it to keep the combat visually readable so players don’t just lose Iris in the chaos?

Nathan Hiemenz: “It’s still a challenge. I’m not sure we don’t need to give players some options to tune down explosions if they are struggling to read things, for instance. But in general, we fell back to some basic design principles. Ensuring enemy projectiles are very distinct from player projectiles was a huge step, for example. Whenever you design an enemy or player weapon, you have to consider that visual language to ensure players can parse the screen in the heat of combat.”

As this massive project finally nears the finish line, the team reflected on what it takes to survive such a marathon.

Looking back at the entire journey, what’s the biggest lesson or piece of advice you’d give to a new indie dev who is just starting to draft up their own massive dream game?

Nathan Hiemenz: “Really understand what you’re getting into. Also, don’t choose an unusual camera perspective that will require niche artists to work out and understand. So basically, from the beginning, understand the toolsets and strengths you have on your team and build around that. Also, don’t make a metroidvania, haha!”

Ian: “Don’t start with your dream game. Start with smaller projects and work your way up. Games of any scope only come together through some amount of luck and fortune, and the bigger that scope, the more luck you will need to avoid a 14-year development cycle. I don’t recommend following our path. Also, if you are going to make your own engine, really understand what that means.”

Michael Patton: “Every game has a project manager, whether they know it’s their title or not. When you have a big team, or a big game, you also need a good process. And having leadership who can focus on that problem, while you focus on the game design problem, is invaluable. But understand that if your team can’t support that dedicated function, then a developer is going to be the project manager. But the same rules still apply – have a process, follow it.”

It’s clear that Clockwork Ambrosia is a labor of love, battle-tested through time, engine changes, and the ever-evolving landscape of the metroidvania genre. This gem is already out. Make sure you check it out!

The survivor roguelite genre has exploded in recent years. It has undeniably been largely defined by the single-character power trips of games like Vampire Survivors and Brotato. But what happens when you take that addictive core loop and introduce the strategic chaos of a full RPG party? That’s exactly what Luminas: Parasite Reign aims to achieve! Built by a small team of three friends, this upcoming indie darling trades the lone-wolf concept for a dynamic, three-hero party system. And it’s all adorably wrapped in a charming 3D voxel art style.

Luminas: Parasite Reign Fast Facts:

Status: Upcoming Early Access, free demo available!

Developer: SOTO Game Studio

Genre: Party-based Survivor Roguelite

This interview would not have been possible without the wonderful people at Starfall PR. Many thanks to Lyndle Montgomery and Madison Terrill!

We recently sat down with the developers to discuss the challenges of balancing synergistic chaos, their tight roadmap for Early Access, and the surprising depth hiding beneath the genre’s simple exterior.

The very first thing that stands out about Luminas is the decision to control three heroes simultaneously. It’s a bold move. It is, afterall, a genre that usually focuses on a single protagonist getting absurdly strong. SOTO Game Studio has executed the concept brilliantly. We praised the team for this intriguing departure from the norm, and they noted that disrupting the genre’s standard formula was the plan from the very beginning.

“Thank you, that means a lot to hear!” the developer shared when asked about the party mechanics. “The party system was actually the very first thing we locked in, it wasn’t something we arrived at later. From day one we knew we wanted Luminas to feel different from the rest of the genre, and the most interesting space we could see was the social one: what happens when you’re not just making one character stronger, but managing three personalities, three roles, and the relationships between them?

Once we committed to that, everything else started to make sense. The skill trees, the relics, the way runs unfold, they all exist to serve the question of ‘who’s in your party and how do they play together.’ It also gave us a creative excuse to design lots of different Luminas with their own identities, which has been one of the most fun parts of development.”

Breaking the Rules of Roguelite Permanence

That party system isn’t the only way SOTO is breaking the rules. In most roguelites, choices are permanent. If you commit to an upgrade, you live with it.

Luminas, however, allows players to swap treasures between characters on the fly mid-run. This radically shifts the focus from punishing mistakes to rewarding boundless player experimentation. Why did they decide to give players that much freedom mid-run?

“Two reasons, honestly,” they explained. “The first is replayability — we wanted players to feel free to experiment with different builds. If you’ve put a treasure on Zapurr and you suddenly realize it would actually be wild on Pyropeep, you should be able to make that move. That kind of experimentation is where a lot of the ‘oh, what if I…’ moments come from, and those moments are what bring people back.

The second reason is simpler: it’s just more fun. Locking choices in permanently is a design pattern that works in some games, but for a party-based roguelite it felt like it would punish curiosity rather than reward it. We’d rather players take risks and discover weird combos than play it safe because they’re afraid of wasting a slot.”

This freedom to experiment naturally leads to some wild synergies, which brings up the question of inspiration. While the gameplay loop tips its hat to the genre titans, the tactical depth was inspired by classic RPGs, and the visuals aim for a very specific, nostalgic tactility.

“On the gameplay side, the obvious roots are Vampire Survivors and Brotato, they basically defined the modern survivor roguelite, and you can’t make a game in this space without acknowledging that. Hades was a big influence on how we think about run structure and making each attempt feel meaningful. And Divinity: Original Sin, maybe surprisingly, shaped a lot of our thinking around party composition and how characters’ abilities should interact with each other rather than just stack.

On the look and feel side, we wanted something that felt nostalgic without being a copy of anything. The voxel direction came from wanting the chunky, toy-like charm of pixel art, but in 3D space — so each Lumina ends up feeling like a little figurine you could pick up.”

The Nightmare of Balancing

Of course, letting players combine 8 unique characters and 90 different treasures into a three-hero party sounds like a balancing nightmare. When prodded for the messy details, the developer admitted that traditional stat-tuning goes out the window when balancing interconnected parties.

“Honestly, the hardest part has been, and still is, the fact that we’re not balancing characters in isolation. We’re balancing parties. When you’ve got three Luminas combining their abilities and treasures, the question isn’t ‘is Zapurr balanced?’, it’s ‘is Zapurr balanced when paired with these two specific Luminas and these specific treasures?’ That math (and the excel formulas) gets out of hand fast.

So our process became less about tuning individual numbers and more about playing every possible party composition we could think of, then chasing whatever felt off. Sometimes a treasure that looked totally fine on paper would turn into something completely broken (for example the critical chance stat) the moment a specific Lumina picked it up, and we’d realize the problem wasn’t the treasure, it was the interaction (for example critical chance is affected not only from treasures). Those are the hardest ones to spot, because they only appear when the right (or wrong) combination shows up.

There were definitely a few synergies that took multiple passes to land. We’re keeping the specifics under wraps — partly because we don’t want to spoil the fun for players who’ll find them, and partly because some of them are still being tuned.”

The Sprint Through Early Access

SOTO Game Studio has set an ambitious eight-month roadmap for their Early Access period. It’s a tight schedule that requires a delicate dance between planned content drops and reactive community management. They are heavily relying on the player base to discover the broken mechanics they couldn’t find themselves. We asked if they could walk us through the plan for adding new maps and Luminas while also responding to player feedback?

“It is tight! Our plan is to ship a major update every one to two months across the Early Access period, so by the end of those eight months we land at version 1.0 with substantially more content than we launched with. Concretely, we want to add five to six new maps, more synergy spells, and meaningfully expanded skill trees for every Lumina.

The trickier part is the feedback loop. We’re going into EA expecting that players will surface things we haven’t thought of — broken combos, balance issues, requests we didn’t see coming — and we want to leave room in the schedule to actually respond to those. So the roadmap isn’t fully locked; the big content beats are planned, but how we sequence smaller fixes and adjustments will depend on what the community tells us. That’s kind of the whole point of doing Early Access in the first place.”

Is there a feature or a specific Lumina that you really wanted to include for the EA launch but had to hold back for the full release? Speaking of which, what’s the most surprising combination you’ve seen between the skill trees and treasures so far? Did you come across a “broken” strategy you didn’t see coming?

“Yes — there are a few things we wanted to ship at EA that we ended up pushing back. We had hoped to include more maps right at launch, but those are still in an experimentation phase and we’d rather give them more time than ship something that doesn’t feel finished. Same goes for additional synergy spells; we want more of them in the game, and they’re coming, just not at day one.

As for broken strategies — yes, absolutely, and some of them genuinely surprised us. There are combinations in the game that we didn’t design intentionally; they just emerged once enough treasures and skill trees existed in the same space. Some of them we’ve nerfed, some we’ve decided to leave alone because they’re fun even when they’re a bit too strong. But we’re not telling you which ones! Half the joy of a roguelite is finding that thing yourself and feeling like you outsmarted the developers. We want to leave that experience intact.”

Power Spikes and Player Vision

One of the game’s major turning points is the “Evolution” state, a mid-run power spike where Luminas transform. Making sure this feels like a genuine reward without making the rest of the stage boring required scaling the world’s threats to match the player’s newfound power.

“The Evolution state is one of the moments we’re most proud of. The way it works: when a Lumina kills enough infected Luminas during a run (maybe you didn’t know this), it transforms into a more advanced version of itself, with new abilities and upgraded stats. It’s meant to be a real ‘yes!’ moment for the player.

The trick to keeping it feeling rewarding without trivializing the rest of the run is on the encounter design side. The waves and threats players face after Evolution are tuned to scale with that power spike — so the player feels stronger because they are stronger, but the world also gets meaner to match. The result, hopefully, is that you earn the power and then get to actually use it against threats that respect it. If the rest of the stage felt like a walk afterward, the moment would lose its weight, so we’ve tried to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

As SOTO braces for the influx of Early Access feedback, they are clear on where they will compromise and where they will hold the line. They are willing to tweak, but they absolutely will not sacrifice their core vision to please everyone.

“We’re genuinely open to player feedback — we’ve already had it shape the game in ways we didn’t expect, and we want that to keep happening through Early Access. The line we draw is around the core mechanics. If feedback is asking us to refine, polish, or expand on what’s already there, we’re almost always going to take it seriously and try to implement it.

If feedback is asking us to change something that would undermine the central thing the game is about — the party-based experimentation, the synergy between Luminas — that’s where we have to push back, even when it comes from people we respect. Not every game is for every player, and trying to stretch a game to please everyone usually ends up pleasing nobody. We’d rather make the version of Luminas we believe in, and trust that the right players will find it.”

Reflections on the Journey

Developing your first major game is notoriously grueling. SOTO’s parting advice to other developers—and their newfound respect for the survivor genre—serves as a poignant reminder that simplicity in game design is often a masterclass in hidden complexity.

“Honestly, the first game is overwhelming. You’re not just making the game — you’re learning how to make games while you make a game, and there are a million problems you didn’t know existed waiting for you in every corner. The standard advice is ‘start small,’ and that advice exists for a reason — it’s true, and we’d echo it.

But the bigger thing for us has been making sure we actually enjoy the journey. We’re three friends building something we genuinely want to play, and that’s what’s kept us going through the hard parts. If you’re grinding on a project you don’t love, the difficulty stops being meaningful — it just becomes painful. Make sure the thing you’re building is the thing you want to be building.

As for the survivor genre specifically — what surprised us most is how much depth lives underneath what looks like a simple loop. From the outside, survivor games look like ‘walk around, kill things, pick upgrades.’ But the moment you start actually building one, you realize how much careful work goes into making that loop feel good — wave pacing, ability feedback, run length, how upgrades interact, when difficulty should spike. Players feel it instantly when any of that is off, even if they can’t always articulate why. We have a lot more respect for this genre now than when we started.”

Luminas: Parasite Reign aims to bring a much-needed layer of tactical depth to the bullet-heaven space. If SOTO Game Studio can stick the landing on their ambitious Early Access plans, they might just redefine what it means to survive. Meanwhile, please check the demo! We checked it out recently and really liked what we saw.

Hotta Studio, the same studio that got famous with Tower of Fantasy, has recently released a game that mixes a supernatural Grand Theft Auto style with a gacha system. It’s free-to-play, and if you decide to play it without reaching for your wallet, you will find some surprisingly fun mechanics. However, Neverness to Everness wants your money and will do its best to pull you in by giving you just enough that you feel like you have no choice but to start dancing to their tune.

The Neon-Lit Hustle

In NTE, you fight weird monsters. Then you brew yourself a nice cup of joe and drive yourself directly into jail.

If you’ve played Genshin and all the clones that have popped up over the years, then you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into. The fighting is fast and uses a four-person squad that you can swap on the fly. You build up a meter by attacking, but if you land a perfect parry, that meter fills up right away.

Once it’s full, you swap characters to set off huge elemental chains. You can mix elements like Cosmos and Anima to spawn a shooting turret. You also have to break an enemy’s stagger bar before you can really hurt them. Parrying and dodging are the fastest ways to do that. It all feels very reactive but combat is just one small piece of a much bigger picture.

Welcome to the Tycoon side. The game splits your energy, and we loved how it encourages us to use a separate weekly stamina pool just for city life. In the moments where the dust has settled, we ran businesses.

We treasured those times when we actually bought ingredients, set the menu, and assigned our characters to work shifts. It adds a nice slice-of-life break between the action. But it’s not all just mindless, boring fun.

As we’ve said, the game reminded us of GTA. So, naturally, we stole a car and had the police chase us across the city. We thought we could escape easily, but we ended up in a dead end and they took us to jail.

This is where the game pleasantly surprised us. The jail is an actual playable area. Of course, you can just pay a fine to leave. Or, you can play the long game and be a good prisoner until you decide to escape à la Shawshank Redemption. For a penalty system, the devs came up with something insanely complex. Just for being there, you can farm special prison rewards. It honestly makes you want to get caught. We were having a blast exploring everything the city had to offer, until we hit that monetization wall.

Finally, we have to talk about the gacha. We hate gacha, and that’s the only reason why we aren’t going to be playing the game anymore. Gacha is a cancer and represents everything that’s wrong with monetization in gaming.

We remember a time when we drained our account pulling for wishes in Genshin. It broke us completely, both financially and psychologically. We thought we had learned our lesson, and then we did the same thing with Honkai.

Getting new characters here is like playing a board game. You roll dice to move a piece around a board, picking up upgrade materials on different tiles. One small mercy here is that there’s no 50/50 coin flip. If you hit an S-Rank on a limited banner, it is 100% guaranteed to be the featured character. You might think that takes away a lot of the usual frustration, but it’s still hard pity on the 90th pull.

Trust us when we say this: this is a game that you simply can’t enjoy unless you’re willing to spend money. A lot of it. We strongly recommend against it. Those free rewards that the devs are giving are just meant to make things worse.

Neverness to Everness is a beautiful city built on a toxic foundation

It hurts to walk away from such fun mechanics, but no amount of cool combos or virtual coffee is worth the real-life stress. It might look like a harmless anime adventure, but we promise you, it’s just not worth the cost.

ID Card:

• Developer: Hotta Studio

• Publisher: Perfect World Games

• Engine: Unreal Engine 5

• Platforms: PC, macOS, PlayStation 5, iOS, Android

• Release Date: April 29, 2026 (Global)

• Genre: Supernatural Urban Open-World RPG

We were extremely excited about Aphelion; we couldn’t wait to see how a studio celebrated for narrative storytelling would attempt to master complex action mechanics. To us, Aphelion initially felt like the love child of Jusant and Banishers, only with a sci-fi spin. The setup itself is genuinely compelling. You are intertwined in a carefully planned and executed story set in 2060, depicting a dying Earth and the frozen, uncharted frontier of Persephone. Following two separated, crash-landed astronauts is a brilliant narrative hook. It seemed like the perfect game, but actually playing it can be a wildly uneven experience.

In Aphelion, we jump between two characters, and the game plays quite differently depending on who we’re controlling. Ariane’s chapters are meant to be adrenaline-pumping, featuring sections where we use grappling hooks, slide across ice, and hide from or outrun menacing aliens. The devs have done a good job, but, sadly, not a great one. In practice, the movement feels remarkably stiff. It clearly wants to emulate the flow of an Uncharted game, but it lacks that crucial fluidity.

Missing a jump usually means instant death and a frustrating hike back from an unforgiving checkpoint. And the QTEs—oh lord, the quick-time events. Almost every time we jumped, we had to press a button to avoid slipping and falling to our death. It happens way too often; it’s not fun, just tiring. It feels like every time we jump, there’s an 80% chance for a QTE to be triggered. The stealth is similarly punishing, demanding a level of pixel-perfect precision that quickly drains the terror out of the encounters, leaving only irritation behind.

Between missions with Ariane, we switch to Thomas. Not only is he injured, but he is also tied to a limited oxygen supply, causing his sections to sometimes slow to a crawl. This isn’t necessarily a flaw; rather, it’s a drastic change of pace that allows us to breathe and focus on solving environmental puzzles. While undeniably simplistic, we welcomed each of these segments. The actors did a wonderful job of making us care for the characters—after just the first hour, we truly wanted to be with them, to see them succeed, and to finally witness their reunion.

Aphelion is deeply compelling. It’s a moody sci-fi mystery set in a unique world, elevated by stellar voice acting and a haunting score by Amine Bouhafa. While there are some technical hurdles—specifically with stuttering and optimization—they aren’t quite deal-breakers. The QTE climbing can be bothersome and the stealth sections could have been more refined, but the story, the acting, and the beautifully designed world ultimately melted our frustrations away.

This is clearly another labor of love. It is an ambitious project that perhaps lacked the resources to fully realize its grand vision. If you loved DON’T NOD’s previous titles, we highly recommend giving this one a try. Their creative DNA is present throughout and, with a little patience, you will likely find yourself enjoying this surreal journey.

ID Card

• Developer: Don’tNod

• Publisher: Don’tNod

• Engine: Unreal Engine 5

• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

• Release Date: April 28, 2026

• Genre: Narrative Adventure / Sci-Fi Survival

Welcome to the PC Game Pass Suggestions series. Every two weeks, we look through the huge Game Pass library to find the most interesting hidden gems and big new games that are truly worth your time.

If you are new here, what is Game Pass? Think of it as “Netflix for video games.” It is a service that gives you unlimited access to hundreds of great games for one monthly fee. It’s a great way to try new types of games and find unexpected favorites without spending extra money.

Hades II: The Heavy Burden of Family

You play as Melinoë, the Princess of the Underworld and sister to Zagreus (Remember him, the dude from the first game?). Chronos, the Titan of Time, escaped his prison and captured Melinoë’s family. Your goal is to have her fight her way into the Underworld and up to the surface. Will you be able to save her family? We don’t know. What we do know is you will have hell-of-a-time trying.

Hades II, much like it’s predecesor, is a fast, challenging action game where you explore dungeons. You dash from room to room. You deal with enemies by using an arsenal of weapons while also using magic to launch huge, charged attacks. Along the way, you collect powers from the Greek gods to create wild combat combos. Between your fights, you spend collected items to brew permanent upgrades. You do this to make the dying as less frequent as possible. The more you play, the stronger and smarter you become. You learn enemies paterns and you adjust your strategies properly. It’s a grind for sure, but it’s a grind worth doing.

The game looks beautiful. It mixes hand-painted Greek mythology backgrounds with dark witchcraft themes. The sound is just as good and it features amazing music and wonderful voice acting. There’s always some pleasant surprise to discover between the runs. Hades II is everything the first game was, and more.

Vampire Crawlers: The Thrill of Breaking the Rules

If you haven’t been living under a rock, then you’ve heard of Vampire Survivors, the game that launched a thousand clones. This new title from the same devs drops the familiar heroes into a dark, multi-floor dungeon. It keeps the original spooky feel but motivates you to push deeper into the dark to collect weird treasures. Yup, you need that power—otherwise, you won’t survive the endless onslaught of monsters for long.

Also, this is a very fast card game. You don’t shoot here automatically. Nope. You use cards to play slowly and carefully, or to rush through your turns at top speed. Whatever you decide, triggering huge attacks that clear the whole screen is immensely satisfying.

It perfectly captures the classic, pixel-art look, sound and design of the original game, so if you were a fan of that game you’ll feel right at home here.

Kiln: The Joy of Making and Breaking

Kiln lets you play as a competitive little spirit in a bright world made entirely of clay. Your spirit lives inside clay pots, vases, and jugs. But just existing isn’t enough. So you try to make something beautiful with your friends. What’s better than that you ask? Well, you can then immediately take it into an arena to smash it to pieces.

As an online multiplayer fighting game, Kiln is split into two parts. As we’ve said above, first you sit at a realistic pottery wheel and you shape and paint your own clay pot. It matters whether you make it tall, wide, or tiny. Those parameters change your health, speed, and attacks. Once your pot is baked and ready, you enter team arenas to fight. The goal here usually is to break enemy pots, collect the water they drop, and put out the other team’s fire to win. The digital clay actually seems heavy and wet on the wheel. It’s a fun game and you’ll be missing out if you don’t check it out with your friends.

Thanks for reading!

Game development is usually about chasing a childhood dream. But for Mary Hermes, Director at Grassroots Indigenous Multimedia, it’s about keeping a language alive for the next generation. After a brutal five-year dev cycle, Reclaim! Azhe-giiwewining is finally out—and it’s way more than just a game. It’s a lifeline for the Ojibwe language (Ojibwemowin).

Leveling Up a Language

Talking to Hermes, you quickly realize Reclaim! Azhe-giiwewining isn’t your standard, dry “edutainment” title. The team didn’t just throw darts at a board to pick a genre; the classic, 90s-style point-and-click mechanics were the direct result of on-the-ground community testing.

“We landed on a point-and-click adventure after a year of game development camps in the LCO Ojibwe community,” Hermes explains. “It was the most appropriate technology – and Anang (our dev) is an old-fashioned lover of Freddie’s Fish.”

That Freddie’s Fish nostalgia is just the wrapper, though. Hermes has been in the language revitalization trenches for over 25 years. We wanted to know how that background actually translated into Reclaim! Azhe-giiwewining‘s narrative.

“It was everything to me (Mary) – seeing the need for a fun, joyful place to play in the Ojibwe language, getting stories like this full of hope into the youth’s hands, countering the depressing news messages about us… and making a breakthrough for young people into this market. We need a place to show everyone that our language movement is ALIVE and how relevant our languages are.”

Language revitalization needs modern, joyful spaces—and video games are proving to be the perfect medium to show youth that their culture is alive and kicking.

Getting that tone right meant getting out of the studio and into the community. The team ran design workshops with the Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO) band, which turned into a massive, hands-on intergenerational effort.

“This is referenced above, with the Youtube channel,” she notes, reflecting on the community’s involvement. “They were mostly done in the Ojibwe language (which is amazing in itself) and there were about 5-6 different families – grandparents through grandchildren – who came out. We went on forest walks, we talked through design ideas/principles, and eventually ended up creating our puzzle dependency chart from those ideas.”

Turning real-world forest walks into digital puzzles comes with serious cultural baggage, though.

Anishinaabe oral traditions are sacred, and often tied to specific seasons. Baking that folklore into game mechanics without crossing a line is tough.

“This was a question we thought about a lot,” Hermes admits when asked about the spirits and puzzles in the game. “We have Oral traditions – winter-time stories – that are sacred, and we did not want to violate that in any way. So we simply made it a reference, a clue from the blue jays or from Boozhii, to give insiders a lift! and to make other people curious. We did not even use any “real” names of spirits, because we did not want to call them up or offend them. Our Elder, Niib (David Abid), was very good at instructing us in riding this fine line.”

Authentic cultural representation sometimes means knowing what not to show. Working directly with Elders helps devs walk the fine line between honoring traditions and exploiting them.

Lore aside, they still had to dodge the biggest trap in “educational” gaming: making something kids actually want to play. When I asked Hermes how they balanced teaching Ojibwemowin with engaging game design, her answer was brilliantly straightforward.

“Fun, fun – won every time. No didactic teaching methods for us! Play it, enjoy it, be left with a sense of wonder and curiosity, after all, none of us knows everything…”

Prioritizing fun didn’t magically make the work easy, of course. A five-year dev cycle is tough on any indie team. Doing it fully voiced in an endangered language? That brings a whole different level of stress.

“You could ask Anang this, she would say the bugs,” Hermes laughs. “I would say 1500 individual lines recorded with individual line id’s, 12 different actors, across two nations, the elders not fluent in our dialect, whew. That was a long process! And there are still some corrections we’d like to fix up.”

Indigenous dev teams face logistical nightmares most indie studios never think about—like wrangling non-fluent voice actors across different dialects and nations.

Hermes is pretty realistic about what it takes to pull something like this off. When asked what advice she’d give to other Indigenous creators wanting to build games in their native languages, she offered a sobering mix of caution and encouragement.

Reclaim! Azhe-giiwewining proves there’s a better way to make games. When we asked if she had any parting thoughts for other indie devs wanting to try community-based design, she brought it right back to the land.

Top News: Love at First Flight in Central London

Ever wanted to fly over a 1:1 scale recreation of London to find your feathered soulmate? Pigeon: A Love Story just dropped a demo, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. There’s no combat or timers—just you, maybe a friend in co-op, and hundreds of thousands of autonomous birds. It sounds like a bizarre joke, but scanning the flock is actually a brilliantly relaxing, low-stress escape from modern gaming.

[Read more]

Review Spotlight: Blood Reaver

Early Access games are always a gamble. Blood Reaver definitely shows its rough edges right now with a clunky UI, a single map, and brutal difficulty spikes. But honestly? The core loop is violently fun. It mashes Doom‘s punchy gunplay with the tension of Call of Duty Zombies, tossing in a wildly chaotic magic system for good measure. It’s starving for content right now, but Hell Byte Studios has built a hell of a foundation.

[Read more]

Interview of the Day

We sat down with the team at Hell Byte Studios to discuss the grueling reality of indie multiplayer netcode, balancing deep magic systems, and how they plan to survive in such a competitive market.

“The biggest consideration as an indie developer is finding your niche. Don’t try to compete with an oversaturated genre, look to find the players that are underserved within that genre. Those players are your community, and they’re the ones you’ll want to listen to when making decisions.”

[Read the full interview]

That’s all for today! I’m honestly still deciding whether I want to spend my Friday night getting absolutely swarmed by demons or just aimlessly floating over Big Ben looking for a digital date. Let me know which one you’d pick in the comments below. Have a fantastic weekend, play something fun, and I’ll catch you in the next one!

Cheers,

Her Journey in Project Management: Janette Lipinski on Leadership and Growth at Gameforge

Efficiency and precision are paramount in gaming project management, where deadlines often loom large. Janette shared her adaptable approach to methodologies:

“Nowadays, we have various methodologies to choose from. I can choose a more classic approach for projects with clear requirements and known technology, work with agile methods when it comes to innovative projects, or even mix and do hybrid Project Management. To come up with the best possible approach, I always check on the project and team’s needs and preferences, as well as the environment I work in.“

Beyond selecting the right framework, proactive management is key.

“It is important to me not just to spend time on an initial plan but also to monitor progress, manage risks and stakeholders, and report and adjust planning if necessary as early as possible.” To facilitate this, Gameforge leverages specific tools. “For tools, we decided to use Jira for overall task tracking and managing agile-approach projects while working on initial plans or more classic-driven projects in MS Project. As we created a production-wide project process, we adjusted Jira to match the process and used additional add-ins for MS Project to connect both tools.” However, Janette underscores the human element. “But soft skills should not be underestimated either. Communication is key when it comes to anticipating risks and potential delays and managing expectations. That’s why I also focus on this in my day-to-day work.”

Navigating the complexities of coordinating between different departments and stakeholders, especially when priorities clash or project scopes shift, requires a well-defined process. Janette explained Gameforge’s approach:

“Over time, we developed a good process, including steps for changes to project scope, budget, or schedule. We always check a project’s priority and how we can align all projects in terms of shared resources and the benefits they bring to the company.” Clear guidelines are essential for effective decision-making. “We have clear prioritization rules, which provide us with a framework for navigating our projects within the portfolio.” To maintain a comprehensive overview, a dedicated role exists. “Furthermore, we have one dedicated person managing the big picture of our portfolio projects in terms of the overall planning roadmap and all resources working on them. Having a conflicting priority, they are the people to go to look for solutions.”

For those aspiring to excel in gaming project management, Janette offered crucial guidance, emphasizing the need for flexibility and clear communication.

“One of the main skills a project manager needs is the ability to adapt and communicate effectively. Changes to your project can happen every day, either through a sudden absence of key resources, changing market situations, or higher prioritization of other projects or daily business. Never look for culprits but solve the problem that arises and find out if you could have foreseen it.” Proactive problem-solving and transparency are paramount. “As Project Managers, it is our responsibility to foresee changes and their impact as early as possible, offer solutions, create transparency, and manage expectations. Effective communication is mandatory for this.” The traditional, rigid approach to planning is no longer viable in the agile gaming environment. “The days of making a plan that had to be adhered to at all costs and that did not allow for any adjustments are over. Otherwise, community feedback and necessary adjustments to systems to address bugs would not be possible, decreasing the overall quality and value of the project’s output.”

Recognizing the often high-stress nature of project management, Janette shared valuable advice specifically for women navigating this environment and aiming for career advancement.

“Most people think Project Management is just creating a plan. But there is a lot more which is part of our daily work. We are the glue that keeps the collaboration going in the team, helping others to see the big picture they are working on and to keep them focused.” She emphasized the importance of resilience and self-care. “Keeping an overview, reacting to changes, and managing them—sometimes for multiple projects at the same time—can be very stressful. Therefore, I’d recommend working on your resilience and communication skills. Invest time in finding your own strategies for dealing with stress. These might include reading something, doing sports, meeting with friends, or doing breathing exercises. With training on your own resilience, you also learn a lot to teach your project teams how to deal with stress, so the whole project team benefits.” Viewing mistakes as learning opportunities is also crucial. “Making mistakes is part of the learning process; we want to avoid making them twice. My advice: Reflect on stressful situations or mistakes, don’t take them by heart but use your experience to learn and become better.” Ultimately, passion fuels success. “Finally: Enjoy your work. Everything is easier if you do it with joy.”

Janette Lipinski’s insights provide a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted role of a project management leader in the gaming industry. Her emphasis on adaptability, communication, resilience, and the importance of enjoying one’s work offers valuable guidance for anyone navigating this demanding yet rewarding field, particularly for women striving for success.

Top News

Grid-Free and Ruthless: Annulus is Shaking Up Tactical RPGs

The highly anticipated dark fantasy tactical RPG Annulus has finally dropped on PC and mobile, and it is aggressively throwing out the traditional rulebook. Instead of letting you hide behind static defenses, the game forces you into a constantly shifting, gridless battlefield where adaptability is your only lifeline.

You’ll need to master chaining complex hero abilities together to survive bosses that actively alter the terrain mid-fight just to ruin your carefully laid plans. If the developers can keep the free-to-play mechanics balanced, this punishing title might just become a permanent fixture for hardcore strategy veterans.
[Read more]

Review Spotlights

The Occultist
The Occultist takes the tired “missing dad” paranormal trope, drags it to a gloomy 1950s British island cult compound, and actually makes it terrifying. You play as a seasoned professional armed only with a mystical pendulum used to manipulate the environment and solve tactile puzzles.

There is absolutely zero combat here, meaning you will spend your time holding your breath and tracking ghost patrols in pure, hide-and-seek survival horror vulnerability.

The art direction from Spanish indie studio DALOAR is breathtakingly gorgeous, utilizing Unreal Engine 5 to build a suffocating, macabre atmosphere. Plus, having Doug Cockle—the iconic voice of Geralt of Rivia—grumbling his way through the chilling narrative totally elevates the experience.

It’s a polarizing, tense thriller that fully commits to its defenseless core, making it an absolute must-play for fans of old-school horror.
[Read the full review]

Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel – Conan DLC
If you prefer breaking skulls over hiding in the shadows, the bizarre but brilliant Conan DLC for the Norse roguelite Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel is exactly what you need.

Tossing the legendary Cimmerian barbarian into a Diablo-esque auto-shooter sounds chaotic on paper, but the heavy, momentum-based execution is deeply satisfying. Conan actually feels weighty, forcing you to actively bulldoze through massive swarms using a brutal new Ram ability rather than just waiting for cooldowns. The quirky addition of a mid-carnage slot machine “Fate system” breaks the pacing slightly, but rolling the perfect buff right before a boss fight feels undeniably awesome.

It doesn’t rewrite the core game, but it injects a violent, heavy-metal shot of adrenaline into an already fantastic indie title. This is a wonderfully unhinged crossover that proves sometimes the best strategy is just swinging a massive sword.
[Read the full review]

Interview of the Day - Inside Snowcastle Games’ Bold New World in Lysward

Surviving the indie game industry often requires the exact same gritty resilience needed to navigate a deadly, sun-scorched wasteland.

We sat down with the minds at Snowcastle Games to discuss their upcoming harsh survival title, Lysward, where players must avoid the lethal rays of a perpetual sun while exploring philosophical themes of amnesia and identity.

Beyond the fascinating mechanics of their new game, the team offered a refreshingly blunt look at what it takes to keep an independent studio afloat for over 16 years amid constant industry turbulence. When asked about their secret to longevity, the team confessed:

“It is a combination of the early goal of building an IP world, a story world of Earthlock, and just pure stubbornness. There have been several times in the past 16 years when any rational and sensible person would have given up.”

[Read the full interview]

That’s all for this week, folks! I’m going to spend the rest of my weekend trying not to get caught by 1950s ghosts—though let’s be real, I’ll probably just end up playing the Conan DLC so I can smash skeletons without thinking too hard. What are you playing this weekend? Hit reply and let me know, I genuinely read every single message.

Catch you next week!

Cheers,

Her Code, Her Impact: Yuka Chen on Development and Diversity at Gameforge

One of the core responsibilities of a software developer in the gaming sector is ensuring a smooth and secure user experience. Yuka shed light on a significant hurdle her team faced: the persistent threat of botting. “We faced botting issues where automated scripts were exploiting our platform’s registration and account creation processes,” she explained. “One of the biggest challenges was balancing security with user experience.”

The approach to this complex problem was multi-faceted.

“To tackle this, we identified patterns of unusual behavior and implemented measures such as CAPTCHA and two-factor authentication (2FA), along with more sophisticated systems designed to distinguish human users from bots,” Yuka elaborated. The team’s proactive stance didn’t stop there. “Additionally, I introduced rate-limiting and throttling on specific APIs that bots were targeting. We had to constantly stay ahead of evolving bot techniques, which required continuous research and adaptation. Ultimately, these efforts had a positive impact, significantly reducing bot activity while ensuring an optimal experience for legitimate users.“

This anecdote underscores the constant vigilance and innovative thinking required to maintain the integrity of online gaming platforms.

Beyond the technical intricacies, the interview also touched upon the crucial aspect of diversity and inclusion within development teams. As a female developer, Yuka shared her positive experience at Gameforge.

“As a female developer, I’ve always felt welcomed and valued from the first day I joined, and it’s inspiring to see the number of female developers steadily increasing over the years.” However, she also emphasized the ongoing need for industry-wide progress. “The industry can further promote diversity and inclusion by offering training and mentorship programs, fostering open communication, and actively encouraging diverse groups, as we do at Gameforge.”

The rapid pace of technological advancement in gaming necessitates continuous learning and adaptation. Yuka expressed her enthusiasm for embracing new tools and programming languages.

“As a backend developer, I’m most excited that I’ve learned Kubernetes to orchestrate our microservices, which has greatly streamlined our deployment and delivery, allowing us to efficiently manage complex applications with minimal manual intervention.” She also highlighted the collaborative learning environment at Gameforge. “New technology trends have been exchanged inside the company constantly. Recently, we are actively exploring how AI tools can enhance our workflows, while carefully considering any potential security risks.“

This proactive approach to adopting cutting-edge technologies is vital for staying competitive and delivering innovative gaming experiences.

Finally, the conversation shifted to strategies for attracting and retaining more women in software development within the gaming industry. Yuka believes that passion for gaming can be a powerful motivator.

“Firstly, I believe many young women, like myself, have a natural passion for gaming. Converting that enthusiasm into the motivation to work in the gaming industry requires a collaborative, inclusive work environment free from gender bias, where everyone feels valued to contribute, as well as a strong work-life balance to support women’s personal commitments.” She also stressed the importance of visibility. “Additionally, showcasing female role models in software development would be instrumental in fostering a more welcoming and empowering culture.”

Yuka Chen’s insights offer a valuable perspective on the multifaceted world of game development. Her experiences at Gameforge highlight the critical role of technical expertise, creative problem-solving, and a commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment. As the gaming industry continues to evolve, the dedication and passion of developers like Yuka will undoubtedly shape its future, coding not just games, but a more equitable and innovative landscape for all.

Her Vision for Live Games: Allegra Israel at Gameforge on Engagement and Stability

The responsibility of ensuring a smooth and engaging live experience for players comes with a unique set of hurdles. Allegra highlighted the delicate equilibrium required:

“Live Producing comes with a unique set of challenges because we’re not just launching a game; we’re keeping it alive and evolving. One of the biggest challenges is balancing stability with new content. Every update introduces risks, and even minor issues can impact thousands of players.” She also emphasized the constant negotiation between player desires and development realities: “Another key challenge is managing player expectations while working within development constraints. Players want frequent updates and fixes, but resources are limited, and some improvements take longer than others.” The unpredictable nature of live operations adds another layer of complexity. “Lastly, unexpected incidents—server outages, critical bugs, or negative player sentiment—often require immediate attention, which means constantly adjusting priorities.”

Allegra’s approach to navigating these challenges is firmly rooted in a player-centric philosophy.

“When it comes to prioritization, my approach is always player-focused. Anything that impacts game stability, player retention, or monetization takes top priority.” Her decision-making process extends beyond immediate concerns. “Beyond that, I assess issues based on urgency, impact, and the long-term benefits of fixing them. It’s also important to balance quick fixes with sustainable improvements, ensuring that we’re not just patching problems but actually solving them. And, of course, I always keep the team’s workload in mind—Live Producing is fast-paced, so preventing burnout is just as important as meeting deadlines.”

The industry’s significant shift towards “games-as-a-service” models has profoundly reshaped the role of Live Producing. Allegra explained this transformation:

“The shift toward the Games-as-a-Service model has also transformed what it means to be a Live Producer. In the past, maintaining a live game was mostly about stability – keeping servers running and fixing bugs. Today, it’s about engagement, retention, and long-term growth. A live game isn’t a finished product, it’s a constantly evolving experience.” This new paradigm demands a different skillset and approach. “One of the biggest changes is the reliance on data-driven decision-making. Instead of guessing what players want, we track engagement metrics, spending behavior, and player feedback to shape updates. The introduction of seasonal content, battle passes, and live events means we need to plan months ahead while staying flexible for adjustments.”

To thrive in this evolving landscape, Live Producers have had to adapt and acquire new competencies.

“To adapt to this shift, Live Producing had to develop new skills. For example, it followed a more agile, pragmatic approach to project management to handle frequent updates or put emphasis on cross-team coordination to align development, marketing, and community efforts. A strong focus of our daily work lies on crisis management to handle live incidents quickly and effectively. Being adaptable and proactive is key to keeping a live game successful.”

Leading a team in the high-pressure environment of live operations requires a specific leadership style. Allegra emphasizes fostering a collaborative and supportive environment.

“Leading a Live Producing team means juggling tight deadlines, unexpected challenges, and high player expectations while keeping the team motivated. To create a supportive and collaborative environment, I focus on clear communication and transparency. People work best when they understand the bigger picture, so I make sure the team knows not just what we’re doing but why.” Empowerment and a blame-free culture are also crucial. “I also encourage proactive problem-solving—instead of just reporting issues, I want the team to feel empowered to suggest solutions. In a live environment, things will go wrong, so I prioritize a blame-free culture where we focus on fixing the problem rather than pointing fingers. This helps build trust and keeps morale high.” Recognizing the demanding nature of the work, Allegra prioritizes team well-being. “Since Live Ops can be unpredictable, flexibility is key. I always leave room in our plans for adjustments and make sure we’re not overloading the team with unrealistic expectations. And finally, I believe in recognizing hard work. Whether it’s celebrating a successful update or just acknowledging someone’s effort after a tough week, small moments of appreciation go a long way in keeping a team engaged and motivated.”

As a woman in a leadership role within the gaming industry, Allegra offers an empowering message to other women pursuing their careers.

“The gaming industry is constantly evolving, and we need more diverse voices in leadership to help shape its future. My biggest message to women in gaming is: you belong here. You earned your space, so own it.” She encourages self-confidence and advocacy. “Be confident in your expertise – don’t downplay your achievements or hesitate to speak up. Find your allies, whether it’s mentors, colleagues, or industry communities that support you. Advocate for yourself and others; whether it’s pushing for a promotion, negotiating your salary, or calling out bias, your voice matters.” Allegra also highlights the importance of choosing the right work environment. “And lastly, make sure the place where you decide to work is right for you. At Gameforge, we enjoy the kind of work environment that ensures women are treated not just with respect, but also as equals. This may not always be the case in an industry that continues to evolve with a growing number of women joining its workforce, and that is something important to consider when evaluating different career opportunities and job prospects.” Her final words offer encouragement and a sense of collective progress. “Challenges will always exist, but resilience and adaptability will help you push through. The gaming industry is changing, and we are part of that change.“

Allegra Israel’s insights provide a valuable glimpse into the multifaceted world of live game production. Her dedication to player satisfaction, team well-being, and fostering a more inclusive industry underscores the crucial role of leadership in navigating the ever-evolving landscape of online gaming.

Her Community, Her Voice: Johanna Gielen at Gameforge on Player Engagement

Maintaining a positive and engaging community for a game with a long history presents unique challenges. Player concerns can be deeply rooted, and negativity can easily take hold. Johanna emphasizes the delicate balance required:

“It is important to understand that, especially with long-standing games, some concerns and wishes of the community can also be long-standing topics. To have an engaging community, one has to understand that not every interaction can actually be positive, and negativity like frustration has its own place within the discourse between players and the company.“

Her strategy for navigating this complexity hinges on transparency and accountability.

“The best way to achieve that is to be as transparent as possible, be accountable, and also make sure that players feel heard and understood, even when they lash out in frustration.” Beyond open communication, moderation plays a vital role. “Furthermore, a quite basic thing to do is to moderate the community of course. We have rules and guidelines for communication on our platform, and those need to be enforced from time to time, so that negativity does not escalate into toxicity. This is quite challenging, because it is proven that the anonymity of the internet does provide easy access to troll and/or spam accounts.”

As a Product Community Manager, Johanna acts as a vital conduit between the player base and the development team. She shared a tangible example of her impact:

“Since I started working at Gameforge, my main interest in my communities has always been improving transparency and answering long-standing questions. After following up with the development team for one of the communities I supervise, I was able to communicate long-awaited answers.” Her role extends to the daily pulse of the community. “On a more ‘daily business’-note, I have communicated bugs that have been fixed or was able to improve situations in the game that players wished to be dealt with.” This highlights the direct influence a PCM can have on shaping the player experience.

Fostering a sense of belonging and inclusivity within diverse gaming communities is paramount. Johanna’s approach is rooted in understanding and adapting to the unique dynamics of each community.

“My first approach to any community is to get a feeling for their way of communicating. Some communities are more serious than others, some like to be more leisure and use a lot of memes for example. To foster a sense of belonging and inclusivity, I like to try to match that energy, but still maintain a professional way of communicating.” She believes in the organic development of community culture. “A community will develop their own way of communicating by itself and form their own diverse ‘vibe’ if different backgrounds are mixed from the beginning. It is however important to figure out which backgrounds/cultures are active in your community, to be able to identify potential hot topics and handle those accordingly.“

The interview also addressed the critical issue of creating welcoming and respectful environments for women in online gaming communities. Johanna emphasized the importance of clear boundaries and consistent enforcement.

“As stated before, anonymity does invite a certain danger of abuse, therefore it is important to set boundaries from the start, which include rules to set a safe space for everyone and to enforce said rules on every platform, which also means directly in the game. Enforcing rules also means educating the community on why certain behavior is not okay and to set an example on how to treat each other better and welcome each other, regardless of gender.” She also suggested proactive measures. “I believe that online gaming communities can foster a more welcoming and more respectful environment for women by shining a spotlight on events like International Women’s Day on their socials, for example. Depending on the game, even in-game events could be a good fit to reach more players.”

Johanna Gielen’s insights underscore the pivotal role of community management in the success of online games. Her dedication to fostering transparency, inclusivity, and respect within Gameforge’s communities demonstrates the vital connection between the game itself and the players who bring it to life. As the gaming world continues to expand, the expertise of professionals like Johanna will be instrumental in building thriving and welcoming spaces for all.

Top News

The Division Resurgence: Big Apple, Tiny Screen

Cramming a massive cover shooter onto a phone usually means terrible controls and cramped thumbs. But Ubisoft actually went and did it with The Division Resurgence. It bridges the story gap between the 2016 original and the D.C. sequel, and honestly? As long-time fans, we’re surprised by how well it actually works.

[Read more]

A Costly Hope: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Expansion Sparks Faction Warfare

GSC Game World just announced the first premium add-on for their survival shooter. Dropping in Summer 2026, “Cost of Hope” isn’t just a quick epilogue—it’s kicking off a massive three-part story arc that’s going to significantly expand the core experience of the Zone.

[Read more]

Review Spotlight

Last Man Sitting

Sooner or later, we all have one of those days where we want to take a twelve-gauge to a Monday morning all-hands meeting. Last Man Sitting actually lets you do it. You slide around a survival arena propelled entirely by weapon recoil while strapped to an ergonomic mesh chair. It’s loud, undeniably stupid, and yet it is easily the most fun office meeting you’ll ever survive.

[Read the full review]

Interview of the Week

“I needed a change of scenery from the towering monoliths of the gaming industry... Station Command is an incredibly personal project born out of a desire to rediscover the simple joy of game creation.”

Context: Daniel Baumann spent his career in the trenches of EA, Blizzard, and Tencent. We sat down with him to talk about his transition from AAA burnout to founding his own indie studio, Respite Games.

[Read the full interview]

Until Next Time...

That’s all for today’s round-up! I’m genuinely curious to hear if any of you are actually going to try playing a massive shooter like The Division on your phones, or if you’re just here for the office chair mayhem. Drop a comment and let me know.

Have a great week, and I’ll catch you in the next one.

This is why we decided to make a list of the most electrifying novels based on video games.

Assassin’s Creed books have dominating the market for a while now and readers can continue the adventures with eight books, written by the talented Oliver Bowden. There’s a book for each key game of the series and you can find them in printed, electronic or audio form.

BioShock games are deeply inspired by Ayn Rand works, especially the book Atlas Shrugged. The moment you devour this book, make sure you shift your focus to BioShock: Rapture. John Shirley has outdone himself and the readers can expect an even more detailed and more ardent world than the one seen in the games. For better insight into the creative process and the choices imposed on Ken Levine, read the novel BioShock Infinite: Mind in Revolt.

The first Borderlands game was a welcome surprise that blew gamers away by combining Diablo elements from a shooter perspective with a wicked humor and cartoony graphics. The second game took it to the next level and left us wanting to prolong our stay in Pandora for as long as possible. While waiting for Borderlands III, spend some quality time with the trilogy of the books, written by John Shirley. Each of the books does a wonderful job of fleshing out the main characters and forces you to see the residents of Pandora in an unexpected light.

It is unrealistic to hope for Crysis IV, but breathe a new life into this sci-fi universe with two relatively enjoyable books. In addition, while Crysis: Legion covers the events of the second game, Crysis: Escalation is a set of short stories that fill in the gaps from the second as well as the third game.

Darksiders 3 is slowly preparing its comeback, but you can take away some of the pressure by reading about the adventures of the first horseman. The Abomination Vault covers the events between the first and second game.

Dead Island hype was built on an extremely touching trailer that even now, years later, still manages to shake us to the core. The drama we witnessed there, however, is non-existent in the games and it feels like it has been surgically removed from an otherwise immensely fun game. Mark Morris and his book Dead Island try to remedy this and to add more layers of complexity.

The studio responsible for Dead Space survival horror games is long gone, but the terror that dwells in the books is ever-present and it wants, nay, demands your undivided attention. With Dead Space: Martyr and Dead Space: Catalyst, author Brian K. Evenson reviews events before the first game.

The latest Deus Ex game did not go as well as the publisher wanted, so there will be a while until the next game is released. In the meanwhile, those hungry for the dark universe where people are torn between the desire to preserve their humanity and augment their experience can look forward to two exquisite novels by James Swallow. The author braves sensitive topics with unapologetic fervor and promises unforgettable adventure that is only limited by your imagination.

Blizzard are amazing developers and if you are a fan of their games, then, boy, do we have a surprise for you! There is a ton of books on Diablo, Starcraft and World of Warcraft and most of them are refreshingly good. So, grab a book or dozen, cancel everything, crawl into your favorite armchair and dig in!

Doom has managed to climb to the top thanks to its latest iteration but those who would like to go back a spell can seek comfort in six amazing novels. The first four are by Dafydd ab Hugh and Brad Linaweaver, but the last two come from the disturbing mind of Matthew Costello.

The Dragon Age novels are an amazing piece of art, thanks to the wonderful talents of David Gaider. After the first three books, however, David had to dedicate himself to other, more pressing projects and the fourth DA novel came from Patrick Weekes. Liane Merciel wrote the fifth one. We wish we knew which one is our favorite. They are that good!

Eve Online is the MMO for epic space simulations and if you want to familiarize yourself with the lore better, then you most certainly have to check the three novels dedicated to the universe. The honor of writing the first and the third book goes to Tony Gonzalez, whereas the second novel is by Hyalti Danielsson.

To say that Guild Wars 2 has a great story would be an understatement of epic proportions, something that is painfully evident in the vanilla game. Things seem to be improving with each expansion, but the underlying fact is that the story is not where Guild Wars 2 shines. The three novels try to change this and, to a certain degree, are successful in pulling you in and making you want for more.

Unless you have been living under a rock, then you must have heard about Halo. Well, Halo has 13 novels. Start with Halo: The Fall of Reach, then slowly transition to Halo: Cryptum and completely lose yourself with Halo: Broken Circle.

Drew Karpyshyn’s novels about the life of young David Anderson are a must for every Mass Effect fan. Sure, William Dietz dropped the ball with the fourth Mass Effect novel and the moment you are done with the first three books we would kindly nudge you towards skipping the fourth novel and reading the two Mass Effect: Andromeda novels. You should definitely go with the audio versions since they are read by the female Pathfinder.

Resident Evil VII breathed new life into an old and stagnated series and if you are one of the many who stared into the face of horror and survived than you should move on to one of the six books which, for better or for worse, are more action oriented.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2 books) и Star Wars: The Old Republic (4 books) are highly recommended for fans of these two completely different games. When it comes to Star Wars: The Old Republic we recommend you stick with the audio books since they are enriched with immersive audio effects and music.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell has six novels, five written by Raymond Benson under the pseudonym David Michaels and one written by Peter Telep. If you are a fan of techno-thrillers with one of the most intriguing operatives, then you should not give Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Fallout a pass.

There are four novels based on Tomb Raider and the only one that we could hesitantly recommend would be the last one. Dan Abnett and Nik Vincent wrote the Tomb Raider: Ten Thousand Immortals but even they failed to keep the readers engaged and what we are left with is an uninspiring run of the mill action.

Those were the novels based on games that we simply had to point out. However, much more are at your disposal, so make sure you continue reading!

Alan Wake

Baldur’s Gate, three novels (Baldur’s Gate, Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn, Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal)

Battlefield – two novels (Battlefield 3: The Russian, Battlefield 4: Countdown to War)

Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway

Dishonored The Corroded Man

Fable – three novels (Fable: The Balverine Order, Fable: Blood Ties, Fable: Edge of the World)

Five Nights at Freddy’s – three novels (Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Silver Eyes, Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Twisted Ones, 3rd Five Nights at Freddy’s)

Gears of War – five novels

God of War – two novels

Hellgate: London – three novels

Hitman – two novels (Hitman: Enemy Within, Hitman: Damnation)

King’s Quest – three novels (The Floating Castle, Kingdom of Sorrow, See No Weevil)

Metal Gear Solid – Three novels (Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriot)

Mortal Kombat

Quantum Break: Zero State

RuneScape – three novels (RuneScape: Betrayal at Falador, RuneScape: Return to Canifis, RuneScape: Legacy of Blood)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – two novels (Southern Comfort, Northern Passage)

Shadow Warrior – two novels (For Dead Eyes Only, You Only Die Twice)

Street Fighter: Dream Never Ends

The Elder Scrolls – The Infernal City, The Lord Of Souls

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon – three novels (Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon, Combat Ops, Choke Point)

Total War Rome: Destroy Carthage

Watch Dogs: Dark Clouds

X-Com UFO: Defense

Have fun reading!