 tactical adventure, but it’s also a game that is a bit old school in its approach. It’s a challenging game that demands a lot from   With SRPG games going through a


resurgence in popularity at the moment, it   contemporaries and give it the best shot possible to stop the game from getting lost in the crowd.


That meant the development team needed to try and get away from comparisons to games that already exist for people to play, and do its best to approach designing for its game from a 


as far back as the original PlayStation and its grand multi- disc adventures, which were often packed to the brim with high concepts and memorable ensemble casts you just wanted to be around. “We were inspired by older RPGs like Xenogears. Xenogears is about a group of friends going on a grand    a pirate’s treasure, and the dark struggles of a teenage scavenger and his telepathic dog living in a post-nuclear horror world. “We also looked, strangely enough, at movies like The Goonies. The Goonies is about a group of young kids going on an adventure, and they’re a bunch of over the top but well rounded characters. It was actually a strong  at things like A Boy and His Dog. The surrealness of the apocalypse in that movie was 


HEARTBREAK HOTEL   a lot of time looking at a very particular modern RPG sub- genre that continues to grow in popularity, despite a reputation for brutal challenge. “We looked at Soulslike games,


where failure is just a part of  a game which also encourages


50 | MCV/DEVELOP July 2023


“It took a lot of work to blend the stealth game and strategy RPG game styles together.”


“We wanted to ensure the game feels like a genuine tactical experience, and not just button clicking to success, so the game is tuned for players who really want their brain to be challenged in multiple ways. We  X’, and make our games more like puzzle games with 


  systems; that could completely change the direction of


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